Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Will all whites go to hell? So says the man to whom Obama gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Obama & Lowery
Pastor Joseph Lowery delivered the benediction at President Obama’s inauguration.  Saturday, he spoke at a  Southern Christian Leadership Conference event in Georgia.  According to the Monroe County Reporter, he declared that "all white folks" are going to hell:
Lowery said that when he was a young militant, he used to say all white folks were going to hell. Then he mellowed and just said most of them were. Now, he said, he is back to where he was.
He had this to say about the current election:
"I don't know what kind of a n----- wouldn't vote with a black man running," said Lowery. "All that he did with the stimulus was genius. Nobody intelligent would risk this country with Romney."

Next, demonstrating a complete lack of self-awareness, the good pastor says:
"I'm frightened by the level of hatred and bitterness coming out in this election," said Lowery.
Yes, the Pastor Lowery who says that all whites are going to hell and that "nobody intelligent" would vote Romney is the same Pastor Lowery who deplores "hatred and bitterness."

Hat tip: Instapundit.

PREVIOUSLY on racism:
Former Mayor Marion Barry declares that Asians are "dirty"
Dem. Rep. says Rep. Allen West resembles a hyena
Is it racist to require a photo ID to buy drain cleaner?
NY Times: Midwesterners have low-sloping foreheads
Don't understand what was said? Then it must be racist!
California offers student tutoring but only for students belonging to the right races
For liberals, "affirmative action" means "keep the Asians out"
Occupy Portland protesters hurl racist taunts an African American
Democrat: "Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men"
The subtleties of White Privilege
Racist cupcakes
Is witch doctor image racist?
Obama ally: "I hate white people...."
“You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”
"The city wasn't ready to hire a white police chief."
A prominent black politician says the white incumbent cannot properly represent black voters.
San Franciscans discriminate against blacks.
"He's not black and he can't represent me, that's just the bottom line."

Monday, October 29, 2012

NobamaNevada, Part 2

Presidential elections are decided in swing states. Nevada is one and California is not. So, the NobamaNevada project was formed to arrange for San Francisco Bay Area activists to travel across the Nevada border to Reno to help make Obama a one-term president.

Nevada was chosen for this effort, in part, because it is also a swing state for the US Senate.  After Sen. John Ensign resigned from office, Governor Sandoval appointed Dean Heller as his replacement.  Sen. Heller (R-NV) is running against Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) in a tight race.

NobamaNevada's first trip, timed according to the release of absentee ballots, was on the weekend of September 28.   The second NobamaNevada trip was last weekend, during the height of Nevada's early voting process.  On Friday, one hundred and ten activists from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond drove to Reno. They met for dinner Friday night at the Eldorado Hotel in Reno:


Project leader Sally Zelikovsky arranged for some after dinner entertainment and had lots of swag to give away:


The chairman of the Washoe County (Reno) GOP, Dave Buell, gave an after-dinner speech explaining how much NobamaNevada's efforts mean to the GOP and the campaign:


Later, Will Batista, the Romney campaign's regional field director (red jacket), explains the ins and outs of precinct walking to many who had never done it before:




Dinner was adjourned late Friday and the crowd gathered again for breakfast Saturday morning:



After a hearty breakfast, the volunteers picked up their precinct assignments:


On the first trip, the goal was to query voters of unknown allegiance and identify Romney-Ryan-Heller supporters.  This trip, the goal was to get out the vote of identified Romney supporters.

Using data from the elections office, the campaigns and the independent groups make daily updates of their lists of identified supporters who haven't yet voted.  Precinct walkers are sent out only to talk to those who haven't voted.  In a swing state like Nevada, some areas are so thick with precinct walkers that a house may be visited two or more times in one day by walkers from different groups.

Americans for Prosperity, one of the independent nonprofit (501c4) groups doing get-out-the-vote efforts in Nevada, warns of a new Obama tactic.  They say Obama supporters are trying to video accidental meetings on the street between Romney campaign volunteers and AFP volunteers.  Their goal is to claim that such meetings constitute coordination of activities in violation of campaign laws which require that such activities be "independent."  The claim would be ridiculous.  Also, in my observation, the campaign and the AFP maintained complete operational separation.  Truth, however, is likely irrelevant because the goal would be to create legal and political mischief and that they might achieve.

Think about that for a moment: under America's arcane campaign finance laws, friends accidentally meeting on the street and talking about what they are doing could constitute a violation of law.  Such is the state of America where the courts have made the First Amendment into Swiss cheese.

The success of NobamaNevada is the result of its indefatigable leader, Sally Zelikovsky.  NobamaNevada was a joint project of Sally's Bay Area Patriots and of MyLiberty of San Mateo County.  Co-sponsors include the Conservative forum of Silicon Valley, Gilroy-Morgan Hill Patriots, and Marin Republican Women Federated.

If you care about the future of America as a free country, there is still time for you to do something.  If you live in California, the Romney campaign is organizing a one last long-weekend effort to get out the vote in Nevada.  Wherever you live, you can phone bank from your local campaign office or from your own home.  If you are an Easterner, consider helping Volunteers for Virginia.

Steve Kemp has more photos of this trip.

PREVIOUSLY on NobamaNevada:
Romney campaign ups its game, imitates Tea Party San Francisco 
NobamaNevada: first weekend in Nevada
2012: the year of innovative tea party projects

PREVIOUSLY on other recent SF Bay Area political activities, left and right:
San Francisco Tea Party greets Obama; Picks up the trash (Oct. 2012)
San Franciscans protest against Obama (June 2012)
Obama visits the San Francisco Peninsula and a Tea Party breaks out
Global warming provokes laughter, even in the San Francisco Bay Area
OccupyFail: the "general strike" that wasn't
San Francisco Tax Day Tea Party
San Francisco: inmates run asylum
SF Churches rally: has a second front opened in the war for freedom?
Reluctant California bureaucrats are shamed into saying the Pledge of Allegiance

Romney campaign ups its game, imitates Tea Party

For months, Bay Area tea partiers, grassroots conservatives and republican activists had been planning to precinct walk in Reno for Romney-Ryan.  Dubbed NobamaNevada, the San Francisco Tea Party and MyLiberty San Mateo had been slowly registering participants for this massive get-out-the-vote (GOTV) effort for months and had been coordinating with the Romney HQ in Reno--NobamaNevada would supply the people, the campaign would coordinate the actual precinct walking--supplying maps, addresses, etc.  But as the number of volunteers who registered for NobamaNevada  rose to 70, then 90, then 115…the campaign stood up and took notice, realizing the potential of having helpful hands from neighboring states come into Nevada to GOTV. Turned out, California is a veritable gold mine of activists who wanted to make a difference in the presidential election. Nevada was the place to do it.  These 115 people were offering to pay their own way to go to swing-state Nevada--just across the border from California--and precinct walk in Reno on September 29th for the Romney-Ryan ticket.  Up until then, Reno only had a handful of volunteer walkers on a given weekend.  By Thursday, September 27th,  the campaign hired its own full-time coordinator to arrange and pay for bus trips, food, and lodging for blue-state Californians to travel to Nevada to volunteer.

The first of the campaign's sponsored trips, on the weekend of Oct. 6, did not go as well as the first NobamaNevada trip.  The Romney campaign learned that, if one offers people an all-expense paid trip to Reno, many don't show up or prefer gambling to precinct walking.   After asking the San Francisco Tea Party for help finding quality volunteers and enlisting the aid of the Romney County Chairs in California, subsequent trips worked extremely well, with two to three bus loads of volunteers from Northern California arriving in Reno each weekend.

The project expanded well beyond the San Francisco Bay Area.   The Romney campaign also coordinated bus trips for volunteers from Southern California to Las Vegas.  And, the independent group, Americans For Prosperity, started offering LA to Vegas bus trips for volunteers with the first trip arriving in Vegas on October 13.  The idea has since expanded even beyond Nevada: starting October 18, the Romney campaign has had buses taking volunteers from Idaho to swing-state Colorado.  On October 26, there was a campaign bus trip from pure-red Utah to Colorado.

As a side benefit, NobamaNevada inspired Nevada residents to volunteer.  Dave Buell, chairman of the Washoe County NV GOP, increased his volunteer force by telling local Republicans that, if Californians are willing to drive to Nevada to volunteer, the locals owe it to the country to do more also.  To emphasize the point, he took pictures of the hundred+ SF Bay Area tea partiers lining up at the Reno campaign office and emailed them to potential local volunteers.

The second of the NobamaNevada  trips took place October 26th-27th.   The photo below shows some of the 110 tea party volunteers picking up the precinct packets Saturday morning:


NobamaNevada, which has been in the works since April, was made possible by its tireless leader, Sally Zelikovsky.  It was a joint project of Sally's Bay Area Patriots and of MyLiberty of San Mateo County.  Co-sponsors include Novato Republican Women Federated, the Conservative forum of Silicon Valley, Gilroy-Morgan Hill Patriots, and Marin Republican Women Federated

There is still time to help.  If you live in California, the Romney campaign is organizing a one last long-weekend effort to get out the vote in Nevada.  Wherever you live, you can phone bank from your local campaign office or from your own home.  If you are an Easterner, consider helping Volunteers for Virginia.

[Last revision: 10/30/2012]

ALSO on NobamaNevada:
NobamaNevada: second weekend in Nevada
NobamaNevada: first weekend in Nevada
2012: the year of innovative tea party projects

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Is it legal to photograph or video a TSA checkpoint at the airport?

Yes, mostly, it is legal as long as you don't interfere with operations or photograph the monitors.  According to the TSA's blog:
We don’t prohibit public, passengers or press from photographing, videotaping, or filming at screening locations. You can take pictures at our checkpoints as long as you’re not interfering with the screening process or slowing things down. We also ask that you do not film or take pictures of our monitors.
The TSA claims that, however, that there might be some unspecified local laws that may prohibit photography:
However… while the TSA does not prohibit photographs at screening locations, local laws, state statutes, or local ordinances might. Your best bet is to call ahead and see what that specific airport’s policy is.
Even if what you are doing is legal, the TSA still reserves the right to hassle you about it:
It’s important to note that we know there’s a difference between someone taking a casual photo and someone doing surveillance, but if you are taking pictures at or near the checkpoint, don’t be surprised if someone (TSA, airport police, or a curious passenger) asks you what you’re up to.
For supporting information on the general issue of the legality of photography,  U. Tenn. Law Prof. Glenn Reynolds recommends Morgan Manning’s excellent piece on photographers’ rights, as well as an article that he wrote with John Steakley: a due-process right to record the police.

RELATED:
TSA Confiscates Camera, Deletes Footage of Checkpoint
TSA Goon Caught Stealing iPad By ABC News; Blames His Wife

PREVIOUSLY on the TSA:
TSA harasses elderly man who needs pacemaker and oxygen machine 
Does the TSA prevent hijackings? No.
The TSA's new slogan (comic)
Remembering Flight 93
Profiting from goods the TSA confiscates from travelers
Obama's TSA proposes expanding searches to trains and buses
New slogan for the TSA
Napolitano and the Christmas bomber
Arab Technology meets German Engineering (humor)

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

6 scientists convicted in Italy in a Salem witch trial in reverse

L'Aquila in 2009
School kids marvel at how people in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692-93, could have been so foolish as to have believed in witches.  Things have changed little though.  In Italy, six scientists were just convicted of failing to predict the April 6, 2009 L'Aquila earthquake.  Now, current science has no way of predicting earthquakes.  The only way that they could have predicted this one would be if they had supernatural powers.  The scientists were convicted, in essence, of not having supernatural powers.

Their convictions were on charges on manslaughter and the six were sentenced to six years in prison.

While earthquakes cannot be predicted, science can talk about probabilities.  Generally, seismologists look over past earthquakes and see what is the largest earthquake that typically happens in a 100-year period.  They then dress that up and say something like "there is a 30% chance of such an earthquake happening in the next 30 years."   That's about it.

We may think that we live in a modern and sophisticated world but the public is just as likely to confuse science and witchcraft today as it was in Salem in the 1690s.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Four debates and no mention of "climate change"

This year, for the first time since 1984, global warming climate change was not mentioned in any of the debates in the presidential contest.

The reason that Romney and Ryan didn't bring it up seems clear: their strategy for winning is to have the electorate to focus on the economy.

But why didn't Obama or Biden mention it?  Climate change, including funding "green energy" and attempting to pass cap-and-trade, was a central focus of their first term.  Further, Democrats claim that anyone who rejects the catastrophic global warming climate change theory is an anti-science luddite.  So, why not mention it?  One suspects that they know that the public is not buying into it like it used to.

REMINDER: Over 30,000 American scientists, including over 9,000 Ph.D.s, have publicly signed this petition skeptical of global warming alarmism.

MORE: A video history of global warming in presidential election year debates going back to Bentson-Quayle is here.

PREVIOUSLY on eco-hypocrisy:
Obama is not carbon neutral II
Pres. Obama is not carbon-neutral
Study: Environmentalists more likely to "cheat" and "steal"
The UN's global warming advocates vs. their own carbon footprint
Eco-hypocrite of the day: supermodel Giselle
The ever-increasing energy use of Al Gore's mansion
With five private jets, Travolta still lectures on global warming.

PREVIOUSLY on the public response to global warming:
Global warming provokes laughter, even in the San Francisco Bay Area
Public not buying UN IPCC propaganda 

PREVIOUSLY on this Fall's debates:
Obama-Romney final (3rd) debate recap: who won?
Romney-Obama 2nd debate: instant poll results on who won
Biden-Ryan VP Debate: Instant poll results on who won 
2nd debate: Did Obama really call Benghazi an "act of terror"?
VP Debate follow-up: White House claims ignorance as its defense

Obama-Romney final (3rd) debate summary: who won?

Tonight was the third and last debate between Obama and Romney. Before the debate started, Ms. Bookworm presciently wrote:
If Obama tells the truth, he’ll be in trouble, so he’ll lie
And, that is what he did.  Obama talked about how he is a good friend to Israel, his belief in free enterprise, his successful war effort in Afghanistan, and he bragged about his forceful opposition to Iran's nuclear program.  All are lies, of course.

Romney agreed much of Obama's foreign policy claims.  This seemed to be strategy.  If Romney were to criticize, say, Obama's failures in Afghanistan, then Obama could accuse him of being dangerous and pro-war.  Romney, however, appears to want to keep the focus on the economy.  By agreeing with Obama wherever possible on foreign policy, he removed it as a campaign issue.

Ms. Bookworm also predicted:
I fear, though, that Romney will sound more than usually tongue-tied, since foreign policy is something he knows in his head, but doesn’t feel in his gut.
This also seemed quite true.  Romney's best moments seemed to be when he launched into pre-planned talking points.  Romney, by nature, is a manager and not a philosopher.  Ronald Reagan, by contrast, spent decades developing a coherent philosophy and explaining it to the public.  Romney has no such background and it shows.

So, who won?

Obama's supporters will undoubtedly love Obama's aggressive manor and snarky comments.  His supporters will not be bothered by his lies.  The pro-Palestinian left, for example, will have no problem with Obama's profession of loyalty to Israel as long as they believe that he is lying.  After all, if the left had ever been bothered by lies, Bill Clinton would not be their hero.  For them, politics is a game to be won by any means necessary.  Obama supporters will think Obama won by a knockout

Independents, by contrast, are more influenced by character than by issues.  Whether its Palestine vs. Israel or Keynesianism vs. monetarism, independents are happy to trust someone else to figure it out.  What is important to them is that the president be a responsible and trustworthy adult.  In 2008, Obama pretended to be such an adult.  In 2012, Obama has to run on his sad record and consequently he comes across as snarky, condescending, peevish, and small.  And with that, among the independent voters who decide the election, Obama loses the debate.

FLASHBACK: In a 1984 presidential debate, Reagan was asked if he was too old to be president:

Just after Reagan answers the question, note Walter Mondale's good-spirited laugh and smile. Although Mondale was a liberal, he didn't have the bitterness that characterizes the current generation of liberals.

PREVIOUSLY on this Fall's debates:
Romney-Obama 2nd debate: instant poll results on who won
Biden-Ryan VP Debate: Instant poll results on who won 
2nd debate: Did Obama really call Benghazi an "act of terror"?
VP Debate follow-up: White House claims ignorance as its defense

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Rather than live under Obama's regulations, Americans renounce citizenship

The Wall Street Journal reports:
When Scott Schmith finally got his Swiss passport last month, it was time for him to take a drastic step: hand back his American one.
Although living and working in Switzerland, his Swiss bank told him that, because of Obama-era regulations, it would be closing his bank account along with those of all other Americans:
"It was the straw that broke the camel's back," says Mr. Schmith of the consequences of the Fatca regulation. In June, the 50-year-old photographer received a certified letter from Swissbankers Prepaid Services saying the firm was terminating the relationship because of his American citizenship. The company, which is owned by several Swiss banks, asked Mr. Schmith for an address to send his account balance.

Thomas Beck, chief executive of Swissbankers, confirms that the company canceled accounts with U.S. clients because of the administrative costs of complying with the law for the relatively small number and sizes of accounts.

"Two months later, I got my Swiss citizenship, and I decided to renounce," says Mr. Schmith.
"Fatca" refers to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010 which was sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana) and passed into law under Pelosi, Reid, and Obama.

Notice that Mr. Schmith is not renouncing citizenship because of  high US taxes.  He is renouncing because US regulations which made the simple act of having a local bank account impossible.

Mr. Schmith is not alone in deciding that American citizenship is not worth it.  Renunciations have spiked under Obama (click to enlarge):
American citizenship used to be a privilege.  Now, it is a burden.

PREVIOUSLY on FATCA regulations:
Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin renounces US citizenship

People of Color in San Francisco rally against Obamacare

Anyone who depends on the MSM for news likely thinks that all who oppose Obama and Obamacare are evil and white and Republican and racist.  Consequently, I doubt that the MSM will do any reporting on the Stand Up for Religious Freedom rally held in San Francisco on Saturday.  People of all colors gathered there in united opposition to Obamacare and its mandates and call on all to vote accordingly in November.

Although it was pea soup fog all morning, the sun came out when the crowd assembled for the rally.  The shadow over the crowd in the photo below is cast, literally and figuratively, by the SF Federal Building which houses the regional offices of the US Dept. of Health and Human Services, the bureaucracy which is managing Obamacare:


There was an all-star cast of excellent speakers, including Dion Evans:


Craig DeLuz of the Frederick Douglass Foundation:


Kevin McGary of the Frederick Douglass Foundation:


Marie Conway Stroughter of the African-American Conservative Blog Talk Radio Program:

Maria Hazel Lewis:


Emilia Calderon of Sacramento State University's pro-life club:


Dr. Timothy Johnson of the Frederick Douglass Foundation:


Rachelle Conner:


Rev. Antoine Lamar Miller:


And, Walter Hoye who organized the rally:


Heckling the speakers were four members of San Francisco's Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.  The "Sisters" are a group of gay men who dress up, in pancake makeup, as nuns and mock religion:


The name "Cordileone" in the signs above is a reference to San Francisco's new Catholic Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone who is an opponent of gay marriage.

The "Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence" group bills itself as a "leading-edge Order of queer nuns."  Its "nuns" typically wear bras on their heads.  In a further insult the Roman Catholic church and its traditions, the "nuns" often adopt sexually suggestive names such as "Sister Anni Coque l'Doo," "Sister Dinah Might, If You Ask Her Right," and "Sister Mina J'Trois."

In a not very successful attempt to minimize the disruption, rally participants tried to place this sign between the "sisters" and the rest of the rally:


The "sisters" were outraged by the sign and declared its depiction of Obama to be "racist!"  They never explained what exactly was supposed to be  "racist" about comparing Obama to French royalty.

Take a moment and savor the irony:  Here we have a rally organized and led by African-Americans.  Accusing them of bigotry are members of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence which is an anti-religious hate group composed largely of white men.

As the "sisters" are leftists, it won't be much of a surprise that it didn't take long before they were in trouble with the police.  Here, two of San Francisco's Finest patiently explain to the "sisters" that there are limits to their right to disrupt the rally:


The "sisters" left the rally not long after that.

Below are several photos of  people attending the rally:










Lastly, there were kids at the rally having fun:


Some at this rally had a full appreciation of the value of freedom.  The Frederick Douglass Foundation, for example, is dedicated to promoting the "free market and limited government."  Others there were perfectly happy having the government take over control of health care but are shocked and surprised that the government then issued edicts ordering them to violate their consciences.  

This rally was organized by Walter B. Hoye II and his California Civil Rights Foundation.  Many of the speakers are associated with the Frederick Douglass Federation of California.  This rally was part of the nationwide Stand Up for Religious Freedom rallies.

WELCOME to readers of IOwnTheWorld.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

President Obama's "not optimal" statement in context

To excuse President Obama's dispassionate and dismissive characterization of the murder of four Americans by terrorists as "not optimal," some point out that his interviewer, Jon Stewart, used the the word "optimal" first.  In context, however, Obama's statement is even worseFrom The Atlantic Wire, here is the transcript, :
Stewart: "Is part of the investigation helping the communication between these divisions? Not just what happened in Benghazi, but what happened within. Because I would say, even you would admit, it was not the optimal response, at least to the American people, as far as all of us being on the same page."

Obama: "Here's what I'll say. If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal. We're going to fix it. All of it. And what happens, during the course of a presidency, is that the government is a big operation and any given time something screws up. And you make sure that you find out what's broken and you fix it. Whatever else I have done throughout the course of my presidency the one thing that I've been absolutely clear about is that America’s security comes, and the American people need to know exactly how I make decisions when it comes to war, peace, security, and protecting Americans. And they will continue to get that over the next four years of my presidency." [Emph. added]
Although the question appeared to be a "puffball" about the "not optimal response" to the murders, Obama answered by calling the murders themselves, not the response, "not optimal."

This is reminiscent of Gov. Dukakis' uncaring response to a question in a 1988 presidential debate about the (hypothetical) rape and murder of his wife.  In Obama's case, his answer appears equally telling about his lack of empathy.  Obama's views, ranging "you didn't build that" to his desire for electricity prices to "skyrocket," all betray an extraordinary disregard for the lives of Americans.

Also, note Obama's admission that "the government is a big operation and any given time something screws up."  It would have been nice if he had considered the full implications of that before forcing Obamacare upon us.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

How much difference is there between "likely voters" and "registered voters"?

The difference is quite a bit.  Here are Gallup's current poll results:

According to this poll, Romney leads among "registered voters" by a mere 1% (48 vs. 47).  His lead among "likely voters," however, is a strong 7% ( 52 vs. 45).  In other words, the difference between "registered voters" and "likely voters" can be, in this case, the difference between a statistical tie (48 vs. 47) and a landslide (52 vs 45).

There is a fairly consistent trend: "registered voters" are to the left of "likely voters."  Thus, the less interest one has in politics, as evidenced by not voting even though registered, the more likely that that person is to have liberal opinions.

This large difference is also one reason by polls are unreliable as a predictor of election outcomes.  It is difficult enough for pollsters to reach a large and representative sample of adults and get them to answer the survey.  The pollster also has to estimate (guess) how likely these respondents are to vote in an upcoming election.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

The Obama campaign's adolescent rhetoric

Stephanie Cutter, Obama's deputy campaign manager, sent out a campaign mass email today. In reads in part:
Romney was shifty when it came to women's issues. He gave an awkward and dishonest answer about his refusal to stand up for legislation that helps women fight back when they don't receive equal pay for equal work.  [Emph. added]
It would be difficult to catalog everything that is wrong with this claim.  She is talking about "equal pay for equal work" legislation. This is highly controversial because, unlike an "equal pay for same work" policy, this requires the government to define what is "equal work."  Is being a firefighter, for example, "equal work" to being a secretary?  The legislation is an end run around market pricing of labor and would be an administrative nightmare, both of which good reasons to oppose it.  However, Cutter does not say that Romney opposes it.  She talks about Romney's "refusal to stand up for" this legislation as if, in her imaginary world, Romney would support it except that, in the face of unspecified bullies, he is too cowardly to "stand up" for it.

Cutter continues:
Romney also didn't tell the truth about his plan to take away women's access to affordable contraception by repealing Obamacare, or his support of an extreme proposal to put employers in charge of whether female employees can get contraception through their insurance plan.  [Emph. added]
Of course, no one is proposing to take away "access."  The debate is about who pays.  What exactly is Romney's "extreme proposal"?  His "extreme proposal" is to continue to obey the First Amendment's freedom of religion clause and, unlike Obamacare, not require third parties to pay for someone else's abortifacients.  It is Obama's proposal that is extreme.

What these two passages have in common is a combination of self-delusion, self-righteousness, and primitive emotional reasoning.  It is like Cutter is expecting her audience to think like teenagers.

PREVIOUSLY on Democrats and their childlike view of the world:
Democrats "stand up" to imaginary bullies
A Democrat's inner child
Obama's childlike view of the world
CNN: Thinking of states like they are the federal Gov.'s children
Soldier objects to liberal infantilization: we are not your "sons and daughters"
Seeing the US president as your father
US Government as "parent"
Economic policy by analogy to "standing up" to a bully
Thinking of an industry as an overindulged "child"
Dr. Helen Smith on Democrats and their lack of good father figures

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Romney-Obama 2nd debate: instant poll results on who won

Romney & Obama
So far, there appear to be two scientific polls about tonight's presidential debate at Hofstra University:
  • CBS News: Obama won by 37% to 30% among "uncommitted voters"
  • CNN/ORC: Obama won by 46% to 39% among "registered voters"
Since the polls were among two different groups, "uncommitted" vs. all "registered," the results are not necessarily inconsistent.

There is also a Xbox/YouGov poll, which says Obama won, but it is unscientific.

The CNN poll also asked how the debate would influence their vote.  Even though the CNN respondents said Obama "won," the debate was a tie as far as its effect on the vote:
What will it all mean in November

On that measure, the debate can best be described as a tie. One-quarter of debate-watchers said the event made them more likely to vote for Obama, and an equal amount said it made them more likely to vote for Romney. Half said it would have no effect on their vote.
In the brief online write-ups, neither poll claimed to be of "likely voters" and therefore the results likely skew left relative to those who will actually vote.

MORE: Frank Luntz's focus group says, after this debate, it likes Romney.  See videos here and here.

UPDATE:  On September 20, the White House denied that it ever called Benghazi a terrorist attack.  Candy Crowley admits that Romney was "right in the main" about the White House's obfuscations.

PREVIOUSLY on this Fall's debates:
Biden-Ryan VP Debate: Instant poll results on who won 
VP Debate follow-up: White House claims ignorance as its defense

Did Obama call Benghazi an "act of terror"?

For weeks after the Benghazi attack that killed Ambassador Stevens, Pres. Obama seemed to claim that the attack was a spontaneous response to a youtube movie trailer.   Tonight, during the debate, Obama claimed to have known and said that it was actually an act of terror (under US law, that means a premeditated act) as early as September 12.  Did he?

Obama's remarks (transcript here) do include the phrase "act of terror."  Sean Hannity claimed tonight on Fox that, when Obama used that phrase, he was referring to 9-11-2001.  Actually, the remarks are quite ambiguous: it is unclear whether he was applying that phrase to the Benghazi attack or 9-11-2001 or to some other unspecified events.  Note what else is in the transcript, though:
Since our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths.… We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others.
That is consistent with all of Obama's subsequent attempts to blame the attacks on a youtube-inspired demonstration in Benghazi, which we now know never happened, and not Al Qaeda.

Pres. Obama `spiked the football' over the death of bin Laden. It is now apparent, however, that Al Qaeda is not only resurgent, it is feeling bold enough to commit an act of war against the US.  That means that, after four years, Obama's terror policy is an abject failure.  It is no wonder, then, that Obama spent two weeks pretending that the Benghazi attack was merely about a bad movie review.

UPDATE:  On September 20, the White House denied that it ever called Benghazi a terrorist attack.  Candy Crowley admits that Romney was "right in the main" about the White House's obfuscations.

Green Party candidates arrested at site of Presidential debate

Honkala & Stein
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The Green Party presidential candidate and her running mate were stopped and arrested Tuesday afternoon as they tried to enter the grounds of the presidential debate site in Hempstead, N.Y., in a protest over debate rules that barred them from taking part in the forum.

Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala, the party’s presidential and vice presidential candidates respectively, were both charged with disorderly conduct, a Nassau County Police Department spokesman said. [Emph. added]
Leftists behave like irresponsible children.  It is no wonder that left-wing regimes so often end in disaster.

PREVIOUSLY on green party presidential candidates:
Fraud and Deceit in 2004

Monday, October 15, 2012

Judge says there was enough vote fraud to overturn an election

The LA Times reports on vote fraud in a small California city:
A hearing officer on Monday concluded that voter fraud occurred during Vernon's June City Council election, throwing out seven of the 64 ballots cast and declaring a new winner in the race.

The decision by former Superior Court Judge Debra Yang came after an unusual hearing process last month at City Hall in which dozens of voters were questioned about their commuting patterns, financial histories and even Facebook pages. Yang concluded that five of the voters in question were not residents of the city. Two others, she said, did not properly mail in their ballots.
In some cases, the fraud was blatant and openly admitted to:
Bernard Roberts, for example, openly admitted during his testimony that he lived in Arizona. “I just visit [Vernon]; I don’t live here. I visit all over the country, if I get the chance,” the 90-year old Roberts said.
Democrats maintain that vote fraud is rare. I think that it only appears rare if you are not looking for it.

PREVIOUSLY on the subject of vote fraud:
Four Democrats plead guilty to vote fraud
Obama Admin supports vote fraud 
Is it racist to require a photo ID to buy drain cleaner?
2 Democrats plead guilty in vote fraud case
Who counts ballots: SEIU union members
How vote fraud is done in New Jersey
Obama DoJ: vote fraud helps "increase turnout"
More vote fraud: New York State
How to buy a vote
NJ Dems demand equal rights for fraudulent voters
Nevada accuses ACORN of 39 felonies
Three Obama supporters plead guilty
Another ex-ACORN worker pleads guilty
An insider's guide to vote fraud
Vote fraud update
Absentee ballot and dishonest elections
Fraud and Deceit in 2004

The Biden Effect

One consistency in the responses to last Thursday's Biden-Ryan debate was that women were turned off by Biden's boorish behavior. Now, polls of 'likely voters' show that women are swinging away from Obama-Biden and are embracing Ryan's math agenda. USA Today reports:
Mitt Romney leads President Obama by four percentage points among likely voters in the nation's top battlegrounds, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, and he has growing enthusiasm among women to thank.

As the presidential campaign heads into its final weeks, the survey of voters in 12 crucial swing states finds female voters much more engaged in the election and increasingly concerned about the deficit and debt issues that favor Romney [Emph. added]
Even so, there is still a strong gender gap:
The Republican nominee has pulled within one point of the president among women who are likely voters, 48%-49%, and leads by 8 points among men.
PREVIOUSLY on Vice President Joe Biden:•Biden claims ignorance as his defense
Biden-Ryan VP Debate: Instant poll results on who won
Joe Biden gets economic advice from crooks?
Biden praises Obama as "articulate and bright and clean"
VP Biden offers medical advice

News bias

With the approach of the election, news bias appears ever more obvious. In this video, UCLA Professor of Political Science and Economics, Tim Groseclose, explains his studies quantifying how much news bias there is and how it affects our democracy:

Hat tip: IOwnTheWorld.

Let's get fiscal (sanity)!

Talking to Paul Ryan, she says: "they want us to think you're bad but I can the math." How can you resist a singer who wants America to return to a AAA credit rating?

When "change" is not so sweet

From Steve Crowder and Chris Loesch, here is an updated version of David Bowie's 1970s classic "Changes":

Hat tip: Instapundit and GatewayPundit.

PREVIOUSLY on Steve Crowder and Dana Loesch videos:
Gawker misunderstands words. Assumes they must be racist!

PREVIOUSLY on music for Tea Parties:
"Do the Paul Ryan"
Krista Branch: "Remembering Honor"
Krista Branch: "I am America"
The Voters: "Blame it on Bush!":
Jamie Teachenor & Ben Clark: "Never Gonna Stand for This"
Joe Dan: "Watching Freedom Burn"

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Big Bird and Obama's priorities

One the dole
Pres. Obama has vowed to protect government subsidies for "Big Bird."  Big Bird, however, is not exactly needy.  International Business Times reports:
According to the latest Form 990 from Sesame Workshop, the educational nonprofit behind PBS’ “Sesame Street,” Big Bird puppeteer Caroll Spinney was compensated $314,072 in 2010. Spinney, who has been with the show since its inception, also provides the voice and puppet work for Oscar the Grouch.

As a tax-exempt nonprofit organization, Sesame Workshop is required to make its financial information public.[Emph. added]
Does that make Big Bird a "one-percenter"?

Also, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Sesame Street operation is not needy, having over $134 million in operating revenue.

What the real "war on women" looks like

From Michael Ramirez:
Hat tip: IOwnTheWorld

Friday, October 12, 2012

Obama Admin. forcing schools to use racial quotas to limit punishments

The Competitive Enterprise Institute reports:
Under pressure from the Education Department, which investigated it over “racial disparities” and “disparate impact,” the Oakland, California, school system has agreed to impose “targeted reductions in the overall use of student suspensions; suspensions for African American students, Latino students, and students receiving special education services; and African American students suspended for defiance.”
The consequences of such a policy are pretty obvious as CEI writes:
At a widely-read education blog, a teacher describes the violence and disorder that occurred when her school adopted racial quotas in school discipline:
I was the homeroom teacher in an incident in a school that tried to implement just this criteria for discipline. One kid (scrawny 7th grader) had the {bleep} beaten out of him by a 6-foot, fully-muscled 7th grader – two different races. The little kid was suspended before his copious blood had been cleaned up off the floor. The big kid never did have ANY punishment – that particular ethnic group had been disciplined too many times.

Need I mention that it was a tough month, as word quickly spread that violence against the “under-disciplined” ethnic group was treated as a freebie?
Policies like this appear to be illegal but such details won't stop the Obama administration.

 PREVIOUSLY on racism:
MSNBC coverage of GOP convention is openly racist
Rev. Wright claims colleges infect black people's brains with "white racist DNA"
Left-wing racism: Marion Barry doubles down on "dirty" Asians
Dem. Rep. says Rep. Allen West resembles a hyena
Is it racist to require a photo ID to buy drain cleaner?
NY Times: Midwesterners have low-sloping foreheads
Don't understand what was said? Then it must be racist!
California offers student tutoring but only for students belonging to the right races
For liberals, "affirmative action" means "keep the Asians out"
Occupy Portland protesters hurl racist taunts an African American
Democrat: "Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men"
The subtleties of White Privilege
Racist cupcakes
Is witch doctor image racist?
Obama ally: "I hate white people...."
“You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”
"The city wasn't ready to hire a white police chief."
A prominent black politician says the white incumbent cannot properly represent black voters.
San Franciscans discriminate against blacks.
"He's not black and he can't represent me, that's just the bottom line."

Democrats are the party of hate

Democrat supporters of Elizabeth Warren mocked one of Sen. Brown's (R-MA) aides, shouting at the aide: “you sound gay!” and “you take it up the a**!”.  Below is a video of one of the Democrats repeating the slur:


The staffer in question is a former intern with GOProud. The Warren campaign has issued an official apology.

For more on this, see LOTUSblog, the Weekly Standard, and Twitchy. Hat tip to Instapundit and LegalInsurrection

Democrats talk about tolerance and diversity but all it is is talk.

PREVIOUSLY of liberal hate:
Homophobia and liberals
Tammy Bruce: "The real story of bigotry and intolerance is the fact that it lives and thrives on the left"
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