NYT’s Maureen Dowd Compares Paul Ryan To The Taliban…

Assaults Paul Ryan in NYTimes as 'Fresh Face on a Taliban Creed'

For the third time in three columns, the New York Times's Maureen Dowd brutally assaults Paul Ryan, this time calling him "a fresh face on a Taliban creed" of He-Man Woman-Hating.

Other Republicans are trying to cover up their true identity to get elected. Even as party leaders attempted to lock the crazy uncle in the attic in Missouri, they were doing their own crazy thing down in Tampa, Fla., by reiterating language in their platform calling for a no-exceptions Constitutional amendment outlawing abortion, even in cases of rape, incest and threat to the life of the mother.

Paul Ryan, who teamed up with Akin in the House to sponsor harsh anti-abortion bills, may look young and hip and new generation, with his iPod full of heavy metal jams and his cute kids. But he’s just a fresh face on a Taliban creed -- the evermore antediluvian, anti-women, anti-immigrant, anti-gay conservative core. Amiable in khakis and polo shirts, Ryan is the perfect modern leader to rally medieval Republicans who believe that Adam and Eve cavorted with dinosaurs.

Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal couldn't have been happier, posting to his Facebook subscribers:

OK, I'm not entirely neutral here, because she is a colleague and a friend, but I thiink you should Maureen Dowd's fantastic column on Todd Akin, Paul Ryan and Republican attitudes toward women in general. It's disturbing, but spot on.

Via: Newsbusters

Continue Reading...

RUSH: 'MANIACAL' DEMOCRATS 'SET TO IMPLODE'

PALM BEACH, Fla. – With Election Day less than 11 weeks away, top-rated radio host Rush Limbaugh says Democrats are “set to implode,” becoming more “maniacal” and going to war against each other.

“Obama isn’t looking happy. Nobody on the Democrat side is looking happy,” Limbaugh said this afternoon. “These people are at war with each other and they’re getting, even if it’s possible, more maniacal in their TV appearances.”

Two national polls out today by Gallup and Rasmussen have Mitt Romney ahead of President Obama by two percentage points, while an Associated Press/Gfk poll has Obama leading by one point.

While analyzing the surveys, Limbaugh explained, “You can detect trends, and in swing states, Romney and Ryan are gaining ground. And in some places, it’s small but it’s perceptible. There’s something happening out there. And I frankly have been of the opinion that – and I’ve been very careful saying this – but you’ve heard me say it. If the election were held today, I think we’re looking at landslide. I thought that a week ago. I don’t want to say this too often because political situations are too volatile as the [Todd] Akin thing illustrates.”

Akin is the six-term Republican congressman from Missouri whom some Republicans are urging to quit his race for the U.S. Senate after suggesting a woman’s body can shut down a pregnancy after a “legitimate rape.” Akin has apologized for the remark and said he will not withdraw from the race.

Limbaugh said Democrats are “saying some of the craziest, wackiest things, and the Akin thing is unfortunate, but I think the Democrats are – I don’t want to say this too loud either ’cause I don’t want to affect what their inclinations are – but I think they’re set to implode over this. They have these hot-button, boilerplate issues that cause them to go to Page Two of their playbook that’s 30 years old.

Via: WND

Continue Reading...

The Warren Report

Harvard professor, Democratic Senate candidate touts Center for American Progress as PPP Poll shows her down by 5

On the same day a poll was released showing Sen. Scott Brown (R., Mass.) holding a 26-point edge among independent voters in Massachusetts, his Democratic opponent, Harvard professor Elizabeth Warren, appeared at a press conference for a far-left organization racked by scandal.

On Tuesday, the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling released a new poll showing Brown leading Elizabeth Warren by five points, 49 to 44 percent. Brown leads Warren 58 to 32 percent among independents. He has also won over 20 percent of Democrats. 54 percent of those polled said Brown is “about right” ideologically, while only 27 percent said the same of the Republican Party.

Independents comprise 48 percent of Massachusetts voters.

“Scott Brown’s been able to hold up his image as a moderate and that has him in a good position right now,” Public Policy Polling president Dean Debnam said in a statement.

Warren’s unfavorability rating in the poll has increased 10 points in the last five months, during which time the controversy surrounding her heritage and academic career badly damaged her campaign while exposing voters to her left-wing policy positions.

Via: Washington Free Beacon

Continue Reading...

Report: 174 ACORN Groups Still Active Under New Names…

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now or ACORN famously came under fire a few years ago because its political affiliates engaged in electioneering and lobbying. There was also an embezzlement scandal, allegations of facilitating voter fraud and a notorious video sting by conservative provocateur James O’Keefe. The organization officially announced the closure of its offices in 2010 after losing government funding due to the controversies.

But that doesn’t mean it vanished from the landscape altogether. The nonprofit watchdog group Cause of Action published a list today of “still-active ACORN entities, ACORN allies, and rebranded ACORN organizations.”

The connections between these groups and the old ACORN groups include: having the same physical location, sharing leadership or staff or having the same tax ID number. “For some of these groups, all they did was legally change their name. Nothing else changed. The corporate structure, leadership and staff are the same,” said Karen Groen Olea, Cause of Action’s chief counsel.

At least two of the groups, Affordable Housing Centers of America and Mutual Housing Association of New York, have received federal dollars, Cause of Action said.

Via: Washington Examiner

Budget analysts project $1.1T federal deficit

 Fourth Straight Year Exceeding $1 Trillion…

Prepare for another year of $1 trillion-plus deficits. 

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected Wednesday that the deficit for 2012 will run $1.1 trillion, the fourth year in a row the shortfall will exceed $1 trillion. 

The projection is down a bit from an earlier estimate pegging the deficit this year at $1.2 trillion. 

The report also warned that a new recession is likely if an ongoing stalemate over tax and spending cuts continues between Democrats and Republicans. 

In its annual summertime report, the budget office said Wednesday that letting decade-old tax Bush tax rates expire and sweeping spending cuts occur in January -- which will happen without congressional action -- "would lead to economic conditions in 2013 that will probably be considered a recession."

If that happened, the economy would contract by 0.5 percent -- a gloomier projection than the budget office made earlier this year when it envisioned slight growth under that scenario. Unemployment would rise to around 9 percent by late next year if the standoff persists, the analysts said. 

The budget office's latest warning came amid a presidential and congressional election year in which neither President Obama nor congressional Republicans have shown any signs of giving ground in their protracted battle over taxes, spending and the budget. The lethargic economy and massive federal deficits are top-flight issues in this year's campaigns. 

Via: Fox News

Continue Reading...

Team Romney calls out Obama for misspelling 'Ohio' at campaign stop

Smartest President In The History Of The World Can’t Spell ‘Ohio’…

President Obama needed a do-over to spell “Ohio” correctly on the campus of Ohio State University this week. 

Although Obama and several students at a campaign stop Tuesday morning at Sloopy’s Diner on the campus of OSU tweeted out photos of the president correctly posing as the “I” in Ohio, another student supplied a photo of a spelling mishap to Mitt Romney’s campaign.

The photo, tweeted by Romney’s Ohio communications director, Christopher Maloney, shows Obama and three students all a little confused about how to spell the state’s name, with Obama holding his hands up in what seems to be an “H” and as the third letter. 

“A word of advice to @BarackObama: It's ‘O-H-I-O’ that has 18 electoral votes, not 'O-I-H-O,’ ” Maloney tweeted.

Christopher Maloney@CHRISMAL0NEY

A word of advice to @BarackObama: it's "O-H-I-O" that has 18 electoral votes, not "O-I-H-O" pic.twitter.com/babXzAtp

22 Aug 12

The Washington Post incorrectly reported the photo was doctored, but Maloney told The Hill it is authentic. He said the photo was passed along to him directly by a student. There were several photos being taken by students at the diner.

Via: The Hill

Continue Reading...

California poised to grant driver's licenses to young illegal immigrants

California is on the verge of allowing hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants to receive driver's licenses for the first time in nearly two decades.

The key question is how to do it.

The issue of granting driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants has raged in the Legislature for much of the past decade, without resolution, but fighting is largely moot now due to a new federal policy.

President Barack Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals gives a select group of undocumented immigrants the right to live and work in the United States for two years without fear of deportation.

California is laying the groundwork for extending the privilege to driving, too, for an estimated 400,000 immigrants.

"It appears that young people who receive federal deferrals will be eligible for California driver's licenses," the Department of Motor Vehicles said in a written statement Tuesday.

"But it remains uncertain whether clarifying legislation or regulations will be necessary," the DMV statement said.

Gil Duran, spokesman for Gov. Jerry Brown, said the DMV statement reflects the governor's position but that he could not elaborate.

The glitch is that state regulations allow only certain types of federal immigration documents to support the issuance of a driver's license.

If President Obama's Deferred Action program provides participants with "new or different immigration documents," then legislation or regulatory clarification may be needed, the DMV said.

Via: Sacramento Bee

Continue Reading...

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/08/22/4746634/california-poised-to-grant-drivers.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

In 1991 Harvard Law School yearbook, Obama called for ‘mutual respect and tolerance’

A copy of Harvard Law School’s yearbook from 1991 — the year Barack Obama graduated — is for sale on eBay, and it provides an as-yet-unseen look into the future president’s views on the kind of “mean-spirited” campaign discourse that some Republicans say has characterized his own re-election campaign.

The seller, who first listed the item for sale July 17, provided scanned images of pages where Obama appeared, including his self-written “Student Profile.” In the essay, Obama mentioned “diversity” twice, including one mention of “faculty diversity,” a concept for which future first lady Michelle Obama — then Michelle Robinson — argued strongly in a 1988 Harvard Black Law Students Association (BLSA) essay.(RELATED: In Harvard essay, young Michelle Obama argued for race-based faculty hiring)

A note next to Barack Obama’s official yearbook photo also identifies him as a member of the BLSA.

His central message in 1991 concerned his desire for greater civility.

“After three years, I continue to be struck by the tremendous talent and energy among HLS students and faculty,” Obama wrote. “The diversity of campus life challenges all of us to question our assumptions, listen to other viewpoints, and articulate our values in a spirit of mutual respect and tolerance.”

By contrast, Republicans both inside and outside of GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney’s campaign have complained in recent weeks that the tone of Obama’s re-election effort has grown in coarseness and aggression.

Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter accused Romney on July 12 of being either a liar or a felon, following the Boston Globe’s disclosure that Romney maintained legal title to Bain Capital well after his departure in 1999 to run the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

Via: Daily Caller

Continue Reading...

Jarrett Towers White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett’s real-estate investment jumped in value between 2010 and 2011, documents show

President Obama with Valerie Jarre

Senior White House adviser and long-time Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett’s role in a number of controversial Chicago housing developments has garnered her investments worth millions of dollars while highlighting the administration’s extensive business ties to presidential donors.

Before joining the Obama administration in 2009, Jarrett was president and chief executive officer of the Habitat Company, a real estate development firm founded by major Democratic donor Daniel Levin. Before that, she served three years as commissioner of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development under Mayor Richard Daley.

Jarrett currently owns an 11-percent equity interest in Kingsbury Plaza, a 46-story luxury apartment complex developed by Habitat between 2005 and 2007 at a cost of more than $100 million.

She valued the investment at between $1 million and $5 million on her 2011 financial disclosure form, up from $250,001 in 2010. A Jarrett spokesmantold the Washington Times that the investment was “a direct result of her 13 years working for Habitat.”

Cook County records show the Kingsbury property is worth around $27.2 million, but thanks to a series of legal appeals beginning in 2003, the land and building are assessed at a much lower value for tax purposes. Since 2008, the property has been designated a “special commercial structure” and is taxed at a value of just $6.8 million, or 25 percent of the actual value.

Asked how such a property could enjoy such a low taxable value, an official with the Cook County Assessor’s Office told the Free Beacon that the property’s owners “must have good attorneys.”

Via: Free Beacon

Continue Reading...

Labor Department spends stimulus funds for ads during Olbermann, Maddow shows

The Labor Department paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal stimulus funds to a public relations firm to run more than 100 commercials touting the Obama administration’s “green training” job efforts on two popular MSNBC cable shows, records show.

The commercials ran on MSNBC on shows hosted by Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann in 2009, but the contract didn’t report any jobs created, according to records recently reviewed by The Washington Times.

Spending reports under the federal Recovery Act show $495,000 paid to McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations LLC, which the Labor Department hired to raise awareness “among employers and influencers about the [Job Corps] program’s existing and new training initiatives in high growth and environmentally friendly career areas” as well as spreading the word to prospective Job Corps enrollees.

Ultimately, the firm negotiated ad buys for “two approved spots” airing 14 times per week for two months on “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” and “The Rachel Maddow Show,” according to a project report, which listed the number zero under a section of the report asking how many jobs had been created through the stimulus contract.

Via: The Washington Times

Continue Reading...

Obama National Campaign Co-Chair Donated $10,000 to Paul Ryan

A big-time donor to President Barack Obama is also a financial supporter of Paul Ryan. Marc Benioff, a national campaign co-chair for President Obama's reelection campaign, donated $10,000 to Ryan's political action committee earlier this summer, in June, according to CNN.

Benioff has helped raise more than $500,000 for Obama's re-election effort, and even hosted a $35,800-a-plate fundraiser featuring Stevie Wonder and hip-hop artist Will.i.am.

The founder and CEO of Salesforce.com is also an Obama national campaign co-chair, a distinction awarded to select Democratic heavyweights like Rahm Emanuel, Dick Durbin and Russ Feingold.

"I'm squarely a supporter of the president, and he is absolutely the right man for the job," Benioff said Monday.

But the tech executive is also a fan of Ryan -- Mitt Romney's running mate and a rising Republican star. In June, Benioff donated $10,000 to Ryan's political action committee after meeting with the candidate, who at the time had not been named to the GOP ticket and was running for re-election in the House.

Benioff tells CNN: "The nation's fiscal difficulties must be addressed, the CEO said, and Ryan's ideas offer 'a lot of the right long-term thinking for the country.'"

Via: The Weekly Standard

Continue Reading...

VA under investigation over $5M conferences featuring 'Patton' parody

• Secretary Eric Shinseki's Veterans Affairs Department is under fire for $5 million spent on two conferences, featuring a pricey parody of the movie "Patton."

On the heels of the GSA spending scandal in Vegas, employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs are now under investigation over a pair of Orlando conferences that ran $5 million and featured a pricey video parody of the movie "Patton." 

The price tag on those conferences, held last summer, far exceeds the roughly $830,000 spent by the General Services Administration in Las Vegas. The VA inspector general's office says it's been investigating since April and is preparing to release a report by next month. 

The potential spending scandal sequel has now caught the eye of House oversight committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who fired off a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki last week pressing the department for answers. 

Issa revealed several conference details, including the claim that $52,000 was spent "to produce an 18-minute video starring a paid actor satirizing the opening scene from the movie Patton" -- the 1970 film starring George C. Scott as Gen. George Patton. 

Issa questioned why the VA hired an outside group to make the video when the department "has videographers and editors on staff." 

Issa also wrote that another $84,000 was spent on "promotional items such as branded pens, highlighters, hand sanitizers and USB drives." 

Via: Fox News

Continue Reading...

BEST PLACES FOR JOB GROWTH LARGELY RED STATES

Texas is a great place to move if you’re looking for work.

Duh.

Of course it is; Texas is a red state. And one example is Fort Bend County, which once was famous for farming, but now attracts company after company looking for a business-friendly environment. Texas doesn’t kill businesses with taxes, the county has a strong school system, and it’s close to Houston, so corporations are flocking to Fort Bend. Among them are a Fluor Enterprises, an engineering firm that is purchasing land for a plant that will add 2,000 jobs; oil services firm Schlumberger, which has a 240-acre campus; CVR Energy, whose headquarters reside there; and Team Industrial Services, which intends to relocate its headquarters and 100 jobs to Fort Bend.

It’s not just Texas; in this era of rampant unemployment, guess which color states had the lowest unemployment in July? The top four were red: North Dakota, at 3.0%, Nebraska, 4.0%, South Dakota, 4,4%, and Oklahoma, 4.9%. 

And the elites on the coasts think they’re so much smarter.

Via: Breitbart

Continue Reading...