It seems that today's political dialog has become contaminated with pure bullshit. Politicians as well as their blogging advocates no longer even try to hide their dishonesty. Words no longer have meaning. Constructive debate appears to have been overcome with shear delusional lies. Lies, after being debunked, are repeated as if reality wasn't even a factor. This blog is intended to address the nonsense that many of today's politicians and their blogging cohorts try to pass off as real. Comments are welcomed but must stay within the parameters of reality while maintaining an objective of dialog rather than diatribe.


Comments are welcomed and excepted, even if you disagree with the content. It's understood that political conversation, especially when challenged, is going to bring heated debate and there's nothing wrong with that. However, respect is required. Comments that contain childish slurs such as "Repukes", Demoncrats", "Odumbo", etc, will be promptly removed. If your rebuttal can stand on it's own merit, then there's no need for such bull crap

Friday, October 26, 2012

Fli Flop Mitt

“I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years we should sustain and support it.”  Source
“Roe v. Wade has gone too far.” Source

“I don’t line up with the NRA.” Source
“I’m a member of the [NRA].” Source

“I like mandates. The mandates work.” Source 
“I think it’s unconstitutional on the 10th Amendment front.” Source 

“I respect and will protect a woman’s right to choose.” Source
“I never really called myself pro-choice.” Source

“I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.” Source
“I did not see it with my own eyes.” Source

“I supported the assault weapon ban.” Source
“I don’t support any gun control legislation.”  Source

“I think the minimum wage ought to keep pace with inflation.” Source
“There’s no question raising the minimum wage excessively causes a loss of jobs.”  Source

“I will work and fight for stem cell research.”  Source
“In the end, I became persuaded that the stem-cell debate was grounded in a false premise.”  Source  

“I would like to have campaign spending limits.”  Source  
“The American people should be free to advocate for their candidates and their positions without burdensome limitations.”  Source  

“I’m a strong believer in stating your position and not wavering.” Source
“I changed my position.” Source 

“Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.” Source
“I’ll take a lot of credit for the fact that this industry’s come back.” Source

“I’m not in favor of privatizing Social Security or making cuts.” Source 
“Social Security’s the easiest and that’s because you can give people a personal account.” Source

“I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.” Source
“Ronald Reagan is… my hero.” Source  

“I’ve been a hunter pretty much all my life.” Source
“Any description of my being a hunter is an overstatement of capability.” Source 

“If Massachusetts succeeds in implementing it, then that will be a model for the nation.” Source 
“What works in one state may not be the answer for another.” Source

“It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam.” Source
“I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there.” Source

“It’s a tax cut for fat cats.” Source
“I believe the tax on capital gains should be zero.” Source

“It’s not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person.” Source
“He’s going to pay, and he will die.” Source 

“Relative to the leading candidates, some people see me as being more conservative.” Source
“I’m not the most conservative candidate.” “I’m not the most conservative candidate.” Source

“The TARP program… was nevertheless necessary to keep banks from collapsing in a cascade of failures.” Source

“When government is… bailing out banks… we have every good reason to be alarmed.” Source

“These carbon emission limits will provide real and immediate progress.” Source
“Republicans should never abandon pro-growth conservative principles in an effort to embrace the ideas of Al Gore.” Source

“This is a completely airtight kennel mounted on the top of our car.”  Source
‘They’re not happy that my dog loves fresh air.” Source

“Those… paying taxes and not taking government benefits should begin a process toward application for citizenship.” Source
“Amnesty only led to more people coming into the country.” Source

“When I first heard of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, I thought it sounded awfully silly.” Source
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has worked well.” Source 

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Sitting Ryan Straight

  ThinkProgress On Paul Ryan's Floria Speech

Ryan Touts Medicare Program He Wants To End At Florida Rally




   





CLAIM FACT
RYAN: “The President raided $716 billion from the Medicare program to pay for the Obamacare program.” Obamacare’s $716B in Medicare cuts, which Ryan included in the GOP budget, would slow the growth of Medicare over the next decade (2013-2022) and would not affect seniors’ benefits. Instead, the savings would eliminate overpayments to private insurers, reform provider payments to encourage greater efficiency, tie reimbursements to improvements in economic productivity, and reduce fraud and abuse. As a result, the solvency of the Medicare trust fund is extended by 8 years.
RYAN: “He puts a board of 15 unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in charge of Medicare, who are required to cut Medicare in ways that will lead to denied care for current seniors.” The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is tasked with making binding recommendations to Congress for lowering health care spending should costs increase too rapidly. The panel’s plan will modify payments to providers but cannot “include any recommendation to ration health care, raise revenues or Medicare beneficiary premiums…increase Medicare beneficiary cost- sharing (including deductibles, coinsurance, and co- payments), or otherwise restrict benefits or modify eligibility criteria” (Section 3403 of the ACA). Its members are appointed by the president but confirmed by the Senate. Ryan himself proposed two IPAB-like structures in a 2009 health plan.
RYAN: “One out of six of our hospitals and our nursing homes will go out of business as a result of this. Four million seniors are projected to lose their Medicare Advantage plans that they enjoy and they chose today under this Obamacare plan.” Far from destroying Medicare Advantage, the choices available through the program are “stronger than ever.” Premiums for the program are lower and enrollment has increased since Obamacare became law. Studies have also shown that the provider cuts in the law will lead doctors and hospitals to improve productivity and efficiency, resulting in substantial savings throughout the health care system.
RYAN: “Our solution to preserve, protect and save Medicare does not affect your benefits [for those 55 or older].” By repealing Obamacare, Romney and Ryan would affect the 16 million seniors receiving preventive benefits without deductibles or co-pays as a result of the law and the current beneficiaries who have saved more than $3.9 billion on prescription drugs. Romney/Ryan’s plan to introduce “premium support” into the Medicare system could also increase premiums for existing beneficiaries as private insurers lure healthier seniors out of the traditional Medicare program.
RYAN: “[F]or those of us who are younger, when we become Medicare-eligible, we get a choice of guaranteed coverage options, guaranteed affordability, including traditional Medicare.” Under the Romney/Ryan plan, future retirees will have a choice of traditional Medicare or private insurance and will receive a pre-determined government “premium support” payment with which to purchase coverage. That support will not keep up with health care costs and seniors could pay up to $5,900 more by 2050. The plan saves the federal government money by shifting costs to beneficiaries, but does not say how it will lower health costs throughout the health care system.




Friday, August 17, 2012

Ryan Blames Bush Failure On Obama

Paul Ryan blames Obama for GM plant that was closed in under the Bush administration. The dishonesty seems to have no bounds. GM closed the Janesville, Wisconsin production facility in 2008. If I'm not mistaken and if Ryan's rewriting of history doesn't trump reality, George W. Bush was president then.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Drudge Report Misleads Intent to Bailout

The Drudge Report deceptively edited President Obama's words to claim he wants to bailout every industry. Politico first ran a story indicating the same thing but later updated with the following: "Clarification: This post was updated to reflect the president's intent to express his support for manufacturing success. An earlier version was unclear of the intent". But even after the clarification, The Drudge still runs an outright dishonest posting. Here's the President's speech:
THE PRESIDENT: When all of us share in prosperity, we all do better. (Applause.) That's the choice in this election. That's why I'm running for President -- because I believe we're all in this together. (Applause.) We've got a bunch of examples of the differences, the choice in this election. When the American auto industry was on the brink of collapse, more than 1 million jobs at stake, Governor Romney said, let's "let Detroit go bankrupt." AUDIENCE: Booo -- THE PRESIDENT: I said I believe in American workers, I believe in this American industry, and now the American auto industry has come roaring back and GM is number one again. (Applause.) So now I want to do the same thing with manufacturing jobs not just in the auto industry, but in every industry. I don't want those jobs taking root in places like China. I want them taking root in places like Pueblo. (Applause.) Governor Romney brags about his private sector experience, but it was mostly investing in companies, some of which were called "pioneers" of outsourcing. I don't want to be a pioneer of outsourcing. I want to insource. I want to stop giving tax breaks to companies that are shipping jobs overseas; let's give those tax breaks to companies that are investing here in the United States of America, making American products with American workers and selling them around the world. That's why I'm running for a second term. (Applause.)

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Right News Outlets Cherry Picking Obama Speech

True to their mission, Fox News distorts Obama's speech in in Roanoke, VA.


To be clear, let's look at what President Obama actually said;
OBAMA: [L]ook, if you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business -- you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet. The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don't do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires. So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That's how we funded the GI Bill. That's how we created the middle class. That's how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That's how we invented the Internet. That's how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that's the reason I'm running for President -- because I still believe in that idea. You're not on your own, we're in this together.
Yet "fair and balanced" Fox and Friends chooses to deliberately take statements out of context and give them an entirely different meaning. Fox later runs the headline, “Obama Insults Small Business Owners,”. Redstate follows suit with a 12 second video claiming The Denigration Of Honest Hard Work. Right wing blogs quickly picked up on the edited version. It’s pretty sophomoric but when the well of rational arguments and intellectual honesty runs dry, I guess that’s all you have left. When you can’t find something with an iota of credence to it, just make something up.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

The Voter ID Scam


The Lonely Conservative blog, which mainly focuses on spinning reality, still wants to pretend that there's a voter fraud problem because someone sells bulk names to voter registration groups. The moderator chose not to allow my post as it pretty much destroys their nonsense.


Liberal Group Sends Voter Registrations to Dogs, Cats, Kids and Non-Citizens

A liberal group has taken it upon itself to send out millions of voter registration forms to people they think should sign up to vote. But they aren’t just sending them to American adults, they’re going out to dogs, cats, children and non-citizens.
But residents and election administrators around the country also have reported a series of bizarre and questionable mailings addressed to animals, dead people, noncitizens and people already registered to vote.
Brenda Charlston wasn’t the only person to get documents for her pet: A Virginia man said similar documents arrived for his dead dog, Mozart, while a woman in the state got forms for her cat, Scampers. …
Several election officials said they believed the voter registration systems were secure enough to catch people who might improperly submit the misdirected documents, since registrants typically have to furnish ID and election managers use databases – such as death records – to see if someone should be disallowed.
But administrators in New Mexico, a potential swing state in the presidential race, warned that ineligible voters who complete the documents could make it onto the rolls.
New Mexico is one of two states in which noncitizens can qualify for a driver’s license by simply proving residency – not necessarily legal residency – and state elections officials have no way of verifying the legal status of those who file registration documents.
Ken Ortiz, the chief of staff at the New Mexico secretary of state’s office, said some noncitizens have contacted the state asking why they received the forms when they’d previously been told that they could not vote.
“We fear that some of these individuals who receive this mailing may feel that they are being encouraged to vote by our office or county government,” Ortiz said. …(Read More)



4 Responses to Liberal Group Sends Voter Registrations to Dogs, Cats, Kids and Non-Citizens
just a conservative girl on July 14, 2012 at 2:47 pm
I have a friend who is moving to Florida to work on the Romney campaign. We had a going away party for her last night. The restaurant we were in allowed Planned Parenthood to come a do a voter registration. We decided we needed to have a little talk with them.
In my state all you have to do is sign something and you are registered. I am not sure what type of check they do.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5Reply
Ronald J. Ward on July 15, 2012 at 8:30 pm
Your comment is awaiting moderation.You don’t mention the state you’re from but Mozart’s from Virgina. It takes something more than “signing something” in Virgina and the following is why this is a specious argument that has no validity in promoting the voter ID scam. It’s just another example of how voter suppression advocates turn a non story into some plague of voter fraud.
Granted, a voter registration group buys bulk mailing lists and sends them out accordingly. And by that definition, it somehow means that “In Virginia, dead dogs are potential voters? No, it does not. Not even close. Let’s look at this with the assumption that Mozart isn’t instantly detected as a dog.
In Virginia, Mozart the dog nor Kermit the frog can vote simply because someone mailed them an invite and said it’s okay. Mozart would still have to use a DMV’s driver’s license/ID card application to indicate he/she would like to apply to register to vote or change voter information. If Mo’s a citizen of the United States and wishes to apply to register to vote, the dog would answer the citizenship and voter registration questions on the application with “Yes” and then be provided with a voter registration application to complete. Following the instructions on the voter registration application carefully, Mo would then complete all boxes and provide complete information on the voter registration application and then sign and date the voter registration application.
Mo may also use the driver’s license/ID card application to change the mutt’s voter registration name or address. Or, Mo may use the separate driver’s license/ID card address change request form. That’s a pretty tall order for Mo, be him/her dead or alive. But Mo’s not done yet.
Mo’s not registered to vote until his/her voter registration application is approved by the local voter registrar. If approved, Mo should receive, within 30 days, a voter registration card showing the voting location and election district.
Even prior to the voter ID law changes, had Mo showed up without an ID, the dog would have had to sign an affidavit swearing to be a registered voter. You see, dogs, cats, and dead people can’t do that.
Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0Reply
This is another example of how blogs will distort the truth in order to make a cheap sale to those not educated on how the registration system works. There is no voter fraud problem.
The Voter ID laws were likely the GOP scam of the year as they have absolutely nothing in the world to do with fraud but rather to suppress Democratic voters.
Dorothy Cooper, 96 of Chattanooga, after voting since she was 18, is denied voting next year because of a technicality. Virginia Lasater, 91 cannot stand in the long DMV lines so for the 1st time in her adult life, won’t be able to vote. Thelma Mitchell, 93, even after a 30 year career of cleaning the TN state capital building, is unable to vote because the midwife in 1918 never registered her for a birth certificate.
Under Wisconsin law (and others are similar or as asinine), you need a photo ID to get a birth certificate. The only catch is that the birth certificate requires a photo ID. Usually, this can be resolved with a $20 or higher fee which is in reality, an unconstitutional poll tax. And for those willing to pay, many can’t endure the long DMV lines.
So one would think that when these problems are identified, they’d be tweaked or adjusted. But in WI for example, Gov Scott pushed to close 16 DMVs in Democratic leaning precincts while actually opening several in Republican precincts.
The Associated Press reported that South Carolina’s voter I.D. law “appears to be hitting black precincts in the state the hardest.” Wesley Donehue, a political strategist for the South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus that actually championed the law’s passage, Twittered that the AP report “proves EXACTLY why we need Voter ID in SC.”, a sheer admission that it had nothing to do with voter fraud but rather about suppressing votes of blacks, other minorities, the poor, the elderly, and people that as a rule, vote for Democrats. With voter fraud convictions being at .0002%, anyone of reasonable knowledge of the issue understands that this was all about voter disenfranchisement and had nothing to do with voter fraud.
But this issue really isn’t arguable as any way you slice it, the fact are indisputable and speak for themselves. It’s purely intended to disenfranchise voters and nothing else. Th following questions come from language or rules implemented in state so called voter fraud ID bills.
1) Why was there an all out push to have such a controversial fight to solve a nonexistent problem? (.0002% voter fraud or you’re 39 times more likely to be struck by lightning)
2) Why have most states refused to work with Universities in order to except student IDs? However, in Texas, a concealed weapons permit (applies to more Republicans) is acceptable where a university ID is not.
3) Why would Governors, after learning that Democratic area DMVs were bottle necked with applicants, intentionally close said DMVs yet open more in GOP precincts?
4) Why the barriers for registration. The GOP seems to follow a playbook state to state discouraging drives such as Rock the Vote and the League of Women Voters with huge fines and/or imprisonment for minute and irrelevant glitches or failure to turn in a registration within 48 hours?
5) Why have states, after researching that many of the poor, elderly, and college students often wait until closer to voting date to register, eliminate same day registration or move registration deadlines further from the voting date?
6) Why wouldn’t states do something to correct the problem that many can’t get a photo ID without a birth certificate but they can’t get a birth certificate without a photo ID?
7) Why have several states prohibited ex-felons(which again, seldom vote for GOP) of nonviolent or less severe crimes from voting?
At the end of the day, everything validates the intention to suppress the Democratic voters. And all the GOP can do is cry “voter fraud” which is non existent. Even many legislators such as State Sen. Chuck McIlhinney (R-PA) has openly admitted that there’s no evidence of fraud yet like others, he was pushing it anyway.
And just recently, House Majority Leader Mike Turzai (R-PA) that the House’s intention on Voter ID was for political gain, even admitting; “We are focused on making sure that we meet our obligations that we’ve talked about for years, Pro-Second Amendment? The Castle Doctrine, it’s done. First pro-life legislation – abortion facility regulations – in 22 years, done. Voter ID, which is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania, done.”

Any way you slice it, the ID laws are likely the GOP scam of the year.