Keep (Super Bowl) Chattin’

Beyonce performs during the Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show, February 3

Rise and Shine

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NYT Editorial: This is how voter intimidation worked in 1966: White teenagers in Americus, Ga., harassed black citizens in line to vote, and the police refused to intervene. Black plantation workers in Mississippi had to vote in plantation stores, overseen by their bosses. Black voters in Choctaw County, Ala., had to hand their ballots directly to white election officials for inspection.

This is how it works today: In an ostensible hunt for voter fraud, a Tea Party group, True the Vote, descends on a largely minority precinct and combs the registration records for the slightest misspelling or address error. It uses this information to challenge voters at the polls, and though almost every challenge is baseless, the arguments and delays frustrate those in line and reduce turnout.

The thing that’s different from the days of overt discrimination is the phony pretext of combating voter fraud. Voter identity fraud is all but nonexistent, but the assertion that it might exist is used as an excuse to reduce the political rights of minorities, the poor, students, older Americans and other groups that tend to vote Democratic.

More here

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Michael Tomasky: The release of the Romney tax returns is so amateurish that it almost offends me…..

Romney had pledged, in that ABC interview in Israel, that he’d never paid less than 13 percent to the feds. But to make that true for tax year 2011, the campaign admits that he artificially refused to take some deductions so that the rate would stay above the magic number.

But wait a second. Isn’t this the same Mitt Romney who said back in January: “I don’t think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes.”

In fact, it is. So he just released returns that, when stacked against his earlier statement, disqualify him for the presidency by his own lights. Amazing…..

More here

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‏@BarackObama

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Demonstrators hold up signs as Mitt Romney’s motorcade passes enroute to a campaign fundraiser in Hillsborough, California, September 21

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Washington Post editorial: Going with the best-defense-is-a-good-offense approach, the Romney campaign is accusing President Obama of being a — gasp! — redistributionist. In a rather pale replay of 2008’s Joe the Plumber spread-the-wealth debate, the GOP dredged up a 14-year-old video.

…. The campaign apparently thinks that voters will find “redistribution” a scary word. But does Mr. Romney really disagree with the belief that part of government’s role is, in Mr. Obama’s words, to help “make sure that everybody’s got a shot”? To tax is to redistribute. To govern is to redistribute….

…. It’s indisputable that Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama have diverging views about the danger posed by increasing income inequality and the degree of redistribution in which government should engage. But the Romney campaign’s desperate, clownish portrayal of Mr. Obama does this important debate a serious disservice.

Full editorial here

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Thank you DesertFlower!

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Greenville, September 19 (Christopher Dilts for Obama for America)

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1:30 Vice President Joe Biden and wife Jill campaign at a rally in Merrimack, New Hampshire

6:40: President Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event at Henry Maier Festival Park in Milwaukee (I need to check that time, CNN’s live streaming schedule has a habit of getting these things wrong)

7:30 ET: Michelle Obama will address the Congressional Black Caucus – live on C-SPAN

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Morning everyone 😉

tragic news: the half-termer isn’t running

Time: Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will not seek the Republican nomination to challenge Barack Obama for the White House, she said in a statement sent to TIME.

“After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States,” Palin wrote in a statement from her home in Wasilla, Alaska. “As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.”

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A statement from God: “Leave me out of it, freak.”

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I entered the interwebs’ dark side ….. it’s like a funeral over there. Sorry, I shouldn’t 😆

I’m crushed, but not yet sure I believe it.

we have all suffered a great loss

Romney is getting the nomination. I am beyond pissed

This country is through. It’s all over.

Why did she have us wait?

I thought she loved America? I feel sick to my stomach. She owes those of us who bought her books and supported her financially a explaination and an apology.

Well, sh!t. It looks more and more like we’re going to be stuck with Romney.

This was the worst decision she could have made……I am crushed beyond belief and wonder what they threatened her with to get her out, she was always running and we all knew it.

I will not be supporting her in the future, she left us hanging and hoping and YES I’m disappointed but now I will send my support to Mr. Cain. I guess I’ll eat ‘crow’ for the next few weeks, just today I stopped by walmart and bought her video…it is unopened so I will return it.

Sarah is NOT running… I am sorry. God must have another plan for her.

She is letting her country down and that is a disgrace. Doesnt she have any guts at all ? She just freaking rolled over and conceded victory to her enemies. she does owe people an apology and an explaination. What the hell is wrong with her ?

I feel so sad and I don’t know why.

Just read it on Fox. I am saddened at this news. Now what? 😦

sick to my stomach ….crushed….totally gobsmacked

What the hell is wrong with her ? Does anyone have an answer ? If this is how she is, I wouldnt hire her to run an ice cream shop. She is a person with little purpose nationally now and I can believe she just folded like a coward.

Palin could have turned it around. There isn’t another Palin in the wings. America is finished, and Palin did it.

…her decision has hurt so many people…..people who had built great hope with this woman…..as well as I….personally I don’t want to hear or see her for a great while.

She will be on the record with Greta tonight and for the first time I WILL NOT be watching….betrayed is not the word that is strong enough for me, I was ready to help, I was ready to give, and I will NOT be running over to Walmart now for the DVD, which I went to get at 5am this morning….glad I didn’t get it.

While I am bummed, I have a strong feeling, Palin is being led by God.

Oh crap! I have no one to support now!

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90% of them say they’ll support Cain now. Why? One of them posted this:

They’re a classy bunch, eh?

light relief?

night ;-)

(The song is ‘Half Light’ by Athlete)

hey big spender….

GOPolitico: Newt Gingrich, a fiscal conservative? Not when it comes to Tiffany’s. In 2005 and 2006, the former House speaker carried as much as $500,000 in debt to the premier jewelry company…

Gingrich, who represented Georgia in Congress for two decades, retired in 1999. But his wife, Callista Gingrich, was employed by the House Agriculture Committee until 2007, according to public records. She listed a “revolving charge account” at Tiffany and Company in the liability section of her personal financial disclosure form for two consecutive years and indicated that it was her spouse’s debt. The liability was reported in the range of $250,001 to $500,000.

When asked by POLITICO whether Gingrich has settled this debt, and why he owed between a quarter-million and a half-million dollars to a jeweler, Rick Tyler, Gingrich’s spokesman, declined to comment.

Full article here

‘night everyone

rest in peace

President Obama ordered special honors in memory of Frank W. Buckles, the last surviving U.S. veteran out of more than 4.7 million who served the nation during World War I. Buckles, who enlisted in the Army at the age of 16, died Sunday at 110 at his farm in West Virginia.

Here is what the President proclaimed:

“As a mark of respect for the memory of Army Corporal Frank W. Buckles, the last surviving American veteran of World War I, and in remembrance of the generation of American veterans of World War I, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, that, on the day of his interment, the flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds, at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions until sunset on such day. I further direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same period at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.”

have a perfect weekend, everyone ;-)

(The song is ‘Half Light’ by Athlete)

hey, it’s valentine’s eve!

(The song is ‘Half Light’ by Athlete)