Credit: Huffingtonpost.com

Overall, we all know that Mitt has a problem with his Likeability as he trails Obama by over 23 percentage points in the most recent Gallup Likeability Poll. Not sure why that is any surprise given the way Mitt manages to portray himself to the American public. Could just be me but Mitt’s efforts to downplay his stature well up near the top of the 1% don’t seem to resonate with him being common folk.

That doesn’t mean he hasn’t tried to relate to the rest of us.

Couple of examples –

Highlighting he hasn’t paid less than a 13% effective tax rate in the last 10 years was no doubt an attempt to show his sharing the same tax bracket as those common folk making $30K or so (at least the single filers – maybe $80K for those married).

His visit to a hardware store in New Hampshire – when asked what he bought, he quickly offered “hardware stuff” – probably to use when he has to do “stuff” around the house.

As he shopped at a grocery store, also in NH, he offered he was going to be doing the cooking that evening and that he had some people coming over. I guess someone should have informed him that the two ears of sweet corn that he picked up from the stand outside the store would likely fall short in terms of helpings – or maybe he was going to break those ears into several portions – just like the common folk do.

Sure, last time I made a bet with someone, I said , without hesitation, “Bet you $10,000”.

In trying to make connections and show he was one with the myriad of NASCAR fans, he shared that “My friends own NASCAR teams”. I’m sure we all have friends like that.

Like many of us, the Romney’s own a horse. We did for a good number of years. What I missed was anything close to the $77K tax deduction Mitt managed to get for Ann’s dressage horse. Actually, it wasn’t that my deduction wasn’t close, I never got a deduction.

One of my favorite of Mitt’s attempts to relate to the public was on an early campaign stop in Michigan. “The trees are the right height,” he said in Michigan, trying to show his love for his native state. I know I comment on the height of the trees in Pennsylvania all the time. Is Mitt intimating that Michigan trees are somehow better than trees in other states?

Okay, while not really seen as likeable, Mitt does get the nod when it comes to how people see his ability (vs. Obama) to fix the economy. Here he beats Obama 52% to 43%. Of course one key way he will carry out that fix is his management in taxation of Americans. Oh, Wait – something looks askew…

Undoubtedly looking out for the common man!

Before I go, I can’t ignore another bonehead move by Mitt. Again showing he is relatively clueless about what he should say and how it makes him look, he cracked a joke about his own birth certificate while campaigning Friday in his native Michigan. “No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate,” Romney said. “They know that this is the place that we were born and raised.” Given his Likeability ratings among Americans, you would think he would think twice about a comment that immediately puts him alongside one of the biggest assholes ever to grace corporate America – Donny Trump.

Computer generated photo of Mitt and Don – if they had not been separated at birth

Aug 17 2012

Mitt – are you really that stupid?

Mitt – at a fundraising event yesterday in SC. And he needs armed (in combat gear) security because? Maybe because he had a lower tax rate than most Americans over the last decade.

So Mitt shares he has personally gone back to review his taxes (highly doubtful) and he reveals that he has paid taxes contrary to the remarks made by Harry Reid. Ok – but he also includes the fact that in the last 10 years, he has never paid less than 13% effective tax rate. Could just be me but I can’t think that telling the America public that he has paid at an even lower tax rate than we all heard previously would seem to be a great strategic move. I guess it is better than a situation where he paid no tax but not much. His throwing in that if you count his charitable contributions, he is paying over 20% also doesn’t carry much weight for a couple of reasons. First, if I recall correctly, most all his charitable contribution went to the Morman Church. While it works for his church, it somewhat pales in comparison to actually helping others outside your personal circle. Second, last time I looked, charitable contributions are a deduction from taxes so no matter how you looked at it, he didn’t pay 20% in taxes. Lastly, giving to charity is a voluntary action. Unlike, taxes which isn’t really a choice. So when you add it all up, what Mitt pays falls into the same tax bracket for a single person making less than $35K. Take a look – and these are for 2012 – obviously much higher than the last decade. I know it is a bit more complex than this and that tax brackets don’t equate to effective tax rate but directionally not that far off considering his average annual income isn’t even in the six figure range. Hell, I’m figuring I’ll need to be retired before I see that tax rate – mine hasn’t been below 24% in recently memory.

2012 Tax Brackets

So, for being so stupid and trying to answer one problem by waving a flag elsewhere and actually pointing to another problem, I think it is appropriate tha Mitt get today’s “Head in the Butt” award – I think he should share it with his staff given it is obvious no one said “You know, Mitt, might not be a great idea to tell everyone you are actually paying even less tax”.

Mitt – take a bow – carefully…it’s one thing to have your foot in your mouth.

Aug 16 2012

Ricky Santorum – boy have we missed him!

I will admit fodder for blogs was much easier when Ricky was still in the hunt for the Republican nomination. After realizing that most of Republican America still saw him as the jerk and reprobate that Pennsylvania voters realized several years ago, he quickly put his tail between his legs and took refuge somewhere no doubt where 21st century thinking was still decades away.

Freedom – as long as your believe what I do!

But, hallelujah, glory be, HE IS BACK! (that is the closest to a religious fervor I can get). Yesterday, Ricky shared his opinion that President Barack Obama is “directly assaulting” religious freedom and that his administration has implemented policies that force Catholics to abandon their faith. Now, while I understand this is politics and that Santorum plays to a select few (none of whom I can personally admit to being an acquaintance), I think Ricky really needs to understand that most Catholics, if we use their support and aherence to the beliefs of the Catholic faith, have long abandoned the rules set by the Catholic Church without help from the present administration. I also have to wonder where Ricky’s wife, who managed to cohabit, un-married, with a renowned abortion doctor, the founder of Pittsburgh’s first abortion clinic in the 1970′s, for several years pre-Ricky, really feels about all this. She has no doubt hit the confessional a few times – nothing a couple of Hail Mary’s can’t fix.

Let’s take a quick look at the numbers as far as Americans who are Catholic and their adherence to the faith. In full disclosure, I am a longstanding atheist so I have issues with most any religious belief – while I’ll defend to the end your right to believe whatever you want, I’ll still never understand how you can believe what you do. I will admit I just happen to find the Catholic belief structure and the Pope particularly abhorrent.

Hmm…Birth Control – while the more non-catholics find birth control morally acceptable than catholics, it isn’t by much. More important, 8 in 10 catholics don’t align with their faith. I guess most of these people won’t be abandoning their faith because of Obama – they left long ago.

This next chart is even more interesting.

Quite a bit to highlight here – but the data in the chart is pretty clear. The majority of Catholics polled seem to fall on the wrong side of sticking with the mandates of the Catholic faith – even the church going Catholics. Even more amazing is that more church going Catholics see abortion as morally acceptable than non-Catholics. Quite a few of them gambling also.

Here’s another surprise (not) – not alot of support of the Catholic Church in general by Catholics – aside from a great number of beliefs remaining in the dark ages, I guess the abuse of little boys hasn’t help the cause much.

So at the end of the day, Ricky, I give to you the latest “Head in the Butt” award. There was no question among the voters and I expect this will not be the last time you get this honor given there is still a few months to go and you will be out there helping Mitt.

Ricky has also started to weigh in on Paulie R.

“What Paul Ryan stands for in conservative circles and in the media and in this country, for those who know him, is someone who is willing to challenge the status quo and have bold ideas to confront the problems of this country in a truthful fashion,” Santorum said.

Yes, there is no doubt Paulie comes to the table with some bold ideas.

From Thinkprogress.org –

“Ryan embraces the extreme philosophy of Ayn Rand. Ryan heaped praise on Ayn Rand, a 20th-century libertarian novelist best known for her philosophy that centered on the idea that selfishness is “virtue.” Rand described altruism as “evil,” condemned Christianity for advocating compassion for the poor, viewed the feminist movement as “phony,” and called Arabs “almost totally primitive savages.”

Wow – she sounds more like a 2012 Republican than a professed libertarian.

Aug 14 2012

Keep the Federal Govt away – unless it helps me out.

Bloomberg News

Obama Announces Meat Purchase to Help Farmers Through Drought

President Barack Obama, campaigning in Iowa today, announced $170 million in government meat purchases to help farmers struck by drought, helping to send hog prices to a one-week high.

The purchase of as much as $100 million of pork, $50 million of chicken, and $10 million each of lamb and catfish come on top of $30 million in assistance announced last week. Farmers and ranchers are struggling with the worst combination of heat and dryness since the 1950s, the administration said.

…More than half the counties in the U.S. have been declared natural disaster areas by the Department of Agriculture, and 69 percent of the Midwest last week had moderate to exceptional drought, government data show.

…Obama has pledged a wide-ranging response to the drought. His administration is giving farmers and ranchers access to low-interest emergency loans, opening more federal land for grazing and distributing $30 million to get water to livestock.

Okay – what is wrong with this picture. So let’s add it up. Farmers, Ranchers, whatever you call those who raise fish, etc. getting government help to purchase their products. Add on top of that the benefits that come with being declared natural disaster areas. Not to cast a wide net here but I expect a good number of the states, and likely voters, where the loudest noise is based on a desire for less Federal Government in their affairs that are benefiting the most from yet another Federal program that takes my tax dollars and again bails out others who sit dramatically opposite my social and political leanings. I’ll make it pretty clear – what I pay in Federal tax dollars hurts my brain when I do my taxes every year. I see little of that back given my earnings have for years placed me outside of almost every break and benefit available. That’s fine as I realize I get other benefits (but not from outside or government sources). I don’t mind helping others that need help or are less fortunate but it does gall me to see all these people who are the first to shit on the Federal government and anyone who doesn’t believe in what they do or hold their values but yet they are the first to hold their hands out when times are tough.

Okay – now a little test – take a look at these next two graphics and tell me what looks surprisingly similar. While not perfect, I will guess there is a bit of overlap in those states with the greatest drought conditions and the Red states.

Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration –
National Climatic Data Center

Recent historical look Red vs. Blue states

Now, if I can only figure out how to get my two acres here in Pennsylvania declared a disaster area. Or maybe I need to start raising some livestock or fish out in the backyard.

Oh, and lastly, no sense of anything with Global Warming here. Interesting, on the subject of that huge hoax of Global Warming – I did read a recent article in our local paper – which on occasion stumbles on some story of value – of course they took it from another publication in PA. Seems we in the Northeast/Mid Atlantic are seeing some change in our weather – might explain where all that rain from mid-west is going.

Pa. getting ‘extreme’ storms more often

LAURA LEGERE

The Times-Tribune

August 06, 2012

Pennsylvania’s heaviest downpours have gotten wetter and more frequent in the last six decades, according to a report released by PennEnvironment.

Between 1948 and 2011, the state has seen a 52 percent increase in the number of “extreme” storms — those that are among the largest in the state in the last 64 years.

Large storms that used to happen once a year in Pennsylvania now happen every eight months, the report found. The amount of rain or snow in the largest storm each year has also grown by 23 percent over the same period.

The findings were based on data from the National Climatic Data Center collected from 3,700 weather stations across the country.

The frequency and severity of Pennsylvania’s storms largely matched the average increase of the Mid-Atlantic region, but surpassed the national average, the report found.

Extreme storms happened 30 percent more often nationally in 2011 than 1948 and the largest annual storms produced 10 percent more rain or snow.

Maybe I should be looking for Federal Government flood relief aid….

Aug 13 2012

Add one more notch to the belt of NRA

Headlines : Police constable, civilian killed as gunman opens fire near Texas A&M (today), Sikh Temple massacre, Aurora Colorado Movie Theater shootings, a massacre at a Seattle Cafe killing six, Seven dead in Oikos University shooting – these have all occurred since April this year. With the possible exception of today’s murder, all the weapons have been legally purchased. While the NRA and vocal gun nuts out there will continue to spew their usual crap around like “guns don’t kill people…” and continue to inaccurately cite the 2nd amendment, we continue to see blameless citizens killed and injured all around us. To many, these numbers are not large and in the scheme of real numbers of those killed vs. the total population, they are not (aren’t statistics great!) however, I would challenge these people against any changes in gun control laws to show me another country, civilized (and I wonder about us at times) or not, that anywhere approaches a similar number of massacres and killings that we are seeing in increasing numbers. For me, it isn’t about pure numbers – I don’t need to see a certain threshold to see we have a problem here. But then again, I like to think I am reasonably intelligent and can see the forest thru the trees.

Do we think his fingers are still wrapped around that gun?

I don’t expect any NRA member or current anti-gun control person to care but I did find some interesting data that speaks to the growing issue we all face with people (anyone basically) having relatively easy access to weapons. I’m still wondering the need to have assault rifles and high-capacity clip handguns within easy reach but that is just me. Mother Jones, a nonprofit news organization that specializes in investigative, political, and social justice reporting (non-political despite yelling to the contrary), has pulled together some interesting information and statistics tracing the history of mass shootings in the US over the past 30 years.

Suggest you actually read the article (http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/mass-shootings-map) but thought I would give a view into some of the more interesting data I found in the article. Point of consideration when you look at the data, all the shootings that made the “list” happened during a single incident and in a public place and resulted in at least 4 people being killed (not including the shooter if we were so lucky to have him immediately out of society).

All following content credit to Mother Jones.

Credit: Sodahead.com

Aug 8 2012

Romney – the Chameleon

I was actually looking for more detail on the Romney stand on Global Warming this morning when I came across a recently posted article by Paul Davies in the Philly Post. The article,

“Mitt Romney Has Perfected Flip-Flopping – Which side of the Republican candidate would show up at the White House?”

can be found at http://blogs.phillymag.com/the_philly_post/2012/08/08/mitt-romney-flip-flopping/. It is quite a well written piece that I suggest everyone read but more impressive is the video embedded in the article which takes the various and everchanging positions of Mitt over the years and displays them very elegantly and effectively. Say what you will about the Media, it makes it difficult for a politician to duck and run from previous statements and positions they’ve taken. I’ve included that video below. It is a bit longer than most (almost 20 minutes) which speaks volumes as to the contradictions and changes we can see in Mitt over his political career.

Now, if only we had a voting public with the intelligence to realize what it going on and the common sense to see that there is a problem here.

I can only hope but my expectations are low.

Aug 5 2012

The Award of the Day – Recipient #2

Today I am proud to present the 2nd Award of the Day to a local stand-out. I have found this individual often demonstrates the depth of bias and intolerance we see on a national level but after reading her latest letter to the Editor in the Pocono Record (this too a local embarrassment), I didn’t have a second thought in deciding she was deserving of special place in what I expect will be an ever-growing list of people who actually deserve little respect or success in life.

Today’s award goes to a local pastor – one who has consistently demonstrated behavior and opinions that are directly aligned with the intent of the “Head in the Butt” award. Previously bestowed on Rand Paul, Rev. Marilyn D. Smith has risen again to the occasion with her latest letter. Unfortunately, this one isn’t really much different than most she writes. Once again, more reason to embrace being an athiest.

Please take a quick read and I have no doubt you will agree with my decision to give her this prestigious honor.

Not only does Rev. Smith show her great love of everyone, one of the primary tenets of Christianity, she has demonstrated quite an ability to take care of her personal life as she has undoubtedly provided her offspring the same love and guidance she likely shows to the minions of idiots who sit in her church every week. I am always amazed when someone takes information that shows what would seem to be a deficiency in some aspect of life (in this case parenting) and somehow makes it look as if they did something good. I take this next paragraph from the website of Preaching Women.com, which highlights the life of Rev. Marilyn.

“This woman of God knows what it is to be praying mother to see the promises of God fulfilled in each and every one of her promised seed. Pastor Marilyn found herself crying out to God for the lives of her own children. Today, Pastor Marilyn and Pastor Charles is blessed to have seven children, some of whom have tremendous testimonies of deliverance from drugs and alcohol. The same anointing of God has fallen upon their children and four grandchildren.”

Way to go Marilyn – nice job adding some quality people to the world! I have to wonder if being a jerk and a half-wit is also a choice.

Given the percentages, in having seven children, I also wonder which one of them is probably gay.

Aug 2 2012

Lest we all forget – Bachmann and the Tea Party

Not sure about the rest of you but it seems to me like we haven’t heard much as of recent from one of the most uniformed politicians out there – Michele Bachmann. I personally find it a bit disheartening that someone so obviously half brain-dead can have a law degree, let alone play any role in national politics. Makes me wonder about the educational standards we set in some of our law schools. Again, not a surprise but it does also speak volumes of the level of intelligence of a good number of our voting public is given her early run in the Republican presidential campaign.

In any case, I stumbled across this site – http://www.zimbio.com/Michele+Bachmann’s+Craziest+Quotes/articles (kudos and credit to zimbio.com) that provided a quick walk down memory lane as to the long and often confused psyche of this loon. Whether anti-gay, anti-science, conspiracy theory or just downright stupid – she covers it all. Here are some of my favorites –

“Normalization (of gayness) through desensitization. Very effective way to do this with a bunch of second graders, is take a picture of The Lion King for instance, and a teacher might say, ‘Do you know that the music for this movie was written by a gay man?’ The message is: ‘I’m better at what I do, because I’m gay.'” — Bachmann, Nov. 2004

“It’s your state that fired the shot that was heard around the world! You are the state of Lexington and Concord, you started the battle for liberty right here in your backyard.”
—Bachmann recounting her version of the American Revolution while in New Hampshire. Unfortunately, Lexington, Concord and the short heard ’round the world all happened in Massachusetts. March 2011

“I don’t know how much God has to do to get the attention of the politicians. We’ve had an earthquake; we’ve had a hurricane. He said, ‘Are you going to start listening to me here?’ Listen to the American people because the American people are roaring right now. They know government is on a morbid obesity diet and we’ve got to rein in the spending.” –Rep. Michele Bachmann, suggesting at a presidential campaign event in Florida that the 2011 East Coast earthquake and hurricane was a message from God (Aug. 2011)

“Before we get started, let’s all say ‘Happy Birthday’ to Elvis Presley today.” -Rep. Michele Bachmann, while campaigning for president in South Carolina on what was actually the anniversary of Elvis’s death, Aug. 16, 2011 (Elvis was born on January 8)

“The big thing we are working on now is the global warming hoax. It’s all voodoo, nonsense, hokum, a hoax.”
— March 15, 2008

”Why should I go and do something like that? But the Lord says, ‘Be submissive wives; you are to be submissive to your husbands.” —Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), recalling in a 2006 speech at a Megachurch in Minneapolis that pursuing tax law wasn’t her choice, but she did so at the urging of her husband because she was certain God was speaking through him

Two birds of a feather?

Given the Michele is also really all about the Tea Party and all it stands for as well as in recognition of the recent Senate primary win by a Tea Party candidate in Texas, I think we should also highlight exactly what they bring to the table…and there are so many from which to choose.