40 years ago today in history - July 14, 1972 - Democratic National Convention in Miami

Time Magazine : "Obama campaign says Romney is either a crook or a liar" by Michael Scherer

Mitt Romney wants you to know that both of these things are true: 1) He remained the “controlling person” in a number of Bain Capital investments between 1999 and 2002, when he left to work on the Salt Lake City Olympics. 2) He had no actual personal control over those investments during that time.

This is not a particularly comfortable position for a presidential candidate to be in, though it is also not exactly an unusual one for Romney, who has, among other things, both taken credit for President Obama’s bailout of Detroit and opposed Obama’s bailout of Detroit.

snips:

On top of this complex argument, which even a Romney campaign aide admits does not “square with common sense,”

UPDATE: More came quickly. The Huffington Post acquired testimony Romney gave in 2002 to the Ballot Law Commission in Massachusetts, in which Romney said he had “remained on the board of the Staples Corporation and Marriott International, the LifeLike Corporation” and returned to the state for “board meetings, Thanksgiving and so forth” from 1999 to 2002. The Romney campaign says this does not contradict his claim that he had no control over Bain Capital during that time, since there is a difference between Bain Capital and the companies in which Bain had significant ownership stakes

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2012/07/13/obama-campaign-says-mitt-romney-is-either-a-crook-or-a-liar/?iid=tsmodule#ixzz20XSRAyMH

The World according to the Tea Party

Harold Ford, Jr.: smirking sociopath

Harold Ford Jr., sleazy corporatist and nepotist, offers up a particularly grotesque defense of U.S. aggression

By Glenn Greenwald


Harold Ford Jr. (Credit: Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi)

Harold Ford, Jr. is the walking, breathing embodiment of virtually everything rotted and corrupt about the American political class. He entered Congress at the age of 26 only by virtue of nepotistic benefits: while in law school, he ran for the seat long held by his father of the same name (he then promptly failed the test for admission to the Tennessee bar). In Congress, he voted for de-regulation of Wall Street (which helped precipitate the 2008 financial crisis); to authorize the Iraq War (and then harshly criticized Democrats who opposed it and refused to admit its error even as late as 2007); in favor of a Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages (The Advocate branded him “anti-gay”); and was one of the few Democrats to support the credit-card-industry-demanded bankruptcy “reform” bill that made it harder for impoverished consumers to discharge consumer debt.

After Tennessee voters drove him from Congress by rejecting his 2006 Senate bid, Ford immediately cashed in on his servitude to Wall Street and peddled his D.C. influence by becoming Vice Chairman and Senior Policy Adviser of Merrill Lynch. During Ford’s tenure, “Merrill Lynch nearly collapsed, was bailed out by US taxpayers, and went through a troubled merger with Bank of America,” yet he nonetheless received $2 million a year in guaranteed salary plus what were almost certainly substantial annual bonuses. He left what had become Bank of America Merrill to become a Senior Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, at which time he bought a $3 million co-op in Manhattan. Upon leaving Congress, Ford also cashed in by becoming the last Chairman of the corporatist Democratic Leadership Council (“last” because, typifying his career, the DLC ceased to exist under his leadership). He cashed in further by becoming a Fox News contributor, until he left for MSNBC.

Reflecting the interests he typically serves so eagerly, Ford recently attacked Democratic criticisms of Mitt Romney’s career at Bain Capital on the ground that “private equity is a good thing in many, many instances.” So that’s Harold Ford, Jr.: opportunistic, craven, sleazy nepotistic corporatist who has made a career out of converting his unearned political influence and loyalty to the banking industry into large wads of cash

snip:

You just have to watch the reaction of Ford, neocon Dan Senor, and Mike Barnacle to appreciate the soulless rot that leads people so cavalierly to defend and dismiss the continuous killing of innocent Muslims by the U.S. But it’s Ford’s smirking, self-satisfied, effete ignorance — from a warmonger whose delicately manicured hands have never been and will never be near any of the carnage he reflexively defends — that is particularly nauseating. Like most mindless defenders of U.S. violence, Ford just repeatedly utters the word “Terrorist” over and over like a hypnotic mantra.

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/09/harold_ford_jr_smirking_sociopath/

Right Wing Attacks Stephanie Miller, Sobbing Ohioan Hugged by President Obama

For four years, Stephanie Miller, whose 37 year old sister Kelly Hines died of colon cancer four years ago, has wanted to tell President Obama her sister’s story. Yesterday in Ohio, the nation was moved as Stephanie got to not only tell Obama her heartbreaking story, but she also got a big hug from the President.

And then she got the backlash. By last night, the Right wing was in full attack mode, calling her a plant replete with accusations of conjuring evil and issuing fake tears over her sister’s death, claiming her sister deserved what she got because she “chose not to get insurance.”

snip:

Alan Colmes brought up the right wing attacks, but Stephanie is no shrinking violet. She pointed out that while yesterday was the four year anniversary of her sister’s death, she knew there would be a lot of negative reaction but it doesn’t bother her.

For her, yesterday was a once in a lifetime chance to tell the President her sister’s story, “I didn’t think I would actually be able to talk to him (Obama). I was fortunate enough to get close enough to touch him. And I decided it was now or never to tell him her story and he was gracious enough to stand there and let me tell him her story.”

Is the Right wing simply refusing to accept the fact that people in this country actually die from lack of health insurance? They seem to believe that people can afford insurance but choose not to purchase it (this is actually an argument for Obama Care as it will make insurance affordable for everyone, but we’ll let this intellectual lapse go). In Stephanie’s sister’s case, her income was too high for Medicaid. This is a common problem for middle-income families. They make too much to be eligible for help, but not enough to pay the hundreds of thousands of dollars it takes to fight a disease like cancer

http://www.politicususa.com/stephanie-miller-shes-tough-handle-wing-attacks-post-obama-hug.html

Anthem - The Hello People from "Smothers Brother's Comedy Hour". February 23, 1969.

Socialism never took root in America because....

I was a right-wing child star By Jonathan Krohn in salon.com

At 13, I gave a speech at CPAC. Four years later, I renounced conservatives -- and they attacked me for it


A photo of the author at 17


Four years ago, at the age of 13, I gave a speech at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference). To be honest, I had no idea how big a deal it was to make a two-minute appearance on a B-list panel. But the speech blew up, and I became the child star of the right wing — like the conservative Macauley Culkin, except I’ve never had a drug problem or dated Mila Kunis, unfortunately.

snip:

But then, earlier this week, Politico released an interview in which I announced I wasn’t a conservative anymore — and the proverbial crap hit the fan. Since then, I have been treated by the political right with all the maturity of schoolyard bullies. The Daily Caller, for instance, wrote three articles about my shift, topping it off with an opinion piece in which they stated that I deserved criticism because I wear “thick-rimmed glasses” and I like Ludwig Wittgenstein. Why don’t they just call me “four-eyes”? These are not adults leveling serious criticism; these are scorned right-wingers showing all the maturity of a little boy. No wonder I fit in so well when I was 13.

I shouldn’t be too surprised. Political divisiveness in America today is a childish thing anyway. The never-ending war between the left and the right seems to me like a couple of drunken college boys fighting over which one of their fraternities is cooler. Think about it: Once you join a side, you have to obey the house rules, go to all the parties, and defend your status as a member of the greatest club on campus. And this is what drove me away from conservatism to my admittedly center-left position of independent mindedness (if that’s a thing).

I was tired of being a part of the ideological warfare this country is so caught up in. I was tired of the right using me as an example of how young people “get” what they’re talking about — when it’s obvious that I didn’t get what I talking about at all. I mean, come on, I was between 13 and 14 when I was regurgitating these talking points! What does a kid who has never paid a tax bring to the table in a conversation about the burden of taxes? What does a healthy child know about people who can’t afford healthcare because of preexisting conditions? No matter how intelligent a person might be, certain political issues require life experience; they’re much more complicated than the black and white frames imposed by partisan America. (And no, my mother and father didn’t write my material for me. You’d have to be as paranoid as the birthers to think someone’s parents would put them up to all that. Have a bit more faith in the human race, man!) I was just a 13-year-old kid spitting up the nonsense he’d learned. In the future, a good rule of thumb might be: If you’re not old enough to have consensual sex, you’re probably not old enough to make consequential political statements.

read more:

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/08/i_was_a_right_wing_child_star/

Raul Castro, 96-year-old former US ambassador and Arizona governor, detained at Border Patrol

By James Eng, msnbc.com


Castro was governor of Arizona from 1975-77 before serving as U.S. ambassador to Argentina from 1977-80 under President Jimmy Carter. He was U.S. ambassador to El Salvador from 1964-68 and U.S. ambassador to Bolivia from 1968-69 under Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

A 96-year-old former Arizona governor and former U.S. diplomat says he holds no grudges against the U.S. Border Patrol agents who he says detained him at a checkpoint for more than a half-hour in stifling heat after his pacemaker apparently set off a radiation sensor.

Raul H. Castro says although he wasn’t mistreated, agents could have been more sensitive to his age and condition.

“I feel they’ve got a job to do and I don’t condemn them for doing a job,” he told msnbc.com on Thursday, “but once I was identified and I was 96 years of age and told them I had medical treatment the day before, I expected a little more.”

A friend who was driving the former governor at the time wasn’t so forgiving. Anne Doan, who teaches as the University of Arizona, called the treatment of Castro “humiliating” and “absolutely ridiculous.”

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/05/12582496-raul-castro-96-year-old-former-us-ambassador-and-arizona-governor-detained-at-border-patrol-checkpoint?lite

Dinesh D’Souza’s “2016" Feature-length Obama hate film funded by rich conservatives

Arriving this summer in a theater near you: Dinesh D'Souza's anti-Obama documentary, funded by rich conservatives

article from salon.com by Mariah Blake

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/06/dinesh_dsouzas_2016_feature_length_obama_hate/

With the campaign season kicking into high gear, D’Souza is hoping to see the pattern repeated. The flame-throwing pundit has just finished a feature-length documentary, called “2016: Obama’s America,” which will debut in Houston next week and open in roughly 300 theaters across the country later this month. The film — the most recent in a string of mud-slinging election-year releases — revisits the arguments in “Roots,” namely that America is being governed according to a vision dreamed up by Obama’s father, a “philandering, inebriated African socialist, who raged against the world for denying him the realization of his anticolonial ambitions.”

But the film doesn’t just rehash old ideas. D’Souza says it also works in new revelations about Obama’s politics and history, and takes aim at his own critics. More importantly, it rounds out D’Souza’s theory with a raft of grim predictions about what will happen if Obama is re-elected. “If we understand Obama’s compass, we can project what a second Obama term might look like,” D’Souza explains. “Every president is a little different in the second term — they’re less tethered to public opinion and more concerned with what they actually want to do.” In Obama’s case, this means more freedom to pursue his anticolonial goals.

While the film itself was not yet available when this story went to press, the trailer resembles a cross between a high-budget feature and standard Tea Party agitprop. Grainy images of Obama are interspersed with fading “Hope” posters and shots of rioters and garbage-strewn third-world villages. At one point, a young black man in jeans and tennis shoes is show crouched over Barack Obama Sr.’s grave. ”Obama has a dream, a dream from his father,” the narrator intones, “that the sins of colonialism be set right and America be downsized.”

http://www.salon.com/2012/07/06/dinesh_dsouzas_2016_feature_length_obama_hate/

youtube: trailer for 2016