The True Meaning of the Symbol

Whack-a-Mormon

Presidential Debate 
October 16, 2012 
Moderator: Candy Crowley 
Place: Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY 
Format: Town Hall 

Tuesday night was the second presidential debate and I was glad it was a town hall setting; I knew President Obama excels in that environment and I was right. President Obama was outstanding, so much different than during the first debate where most of us felt that his body was there but his mind and spirit where somewhere else and we kept waiting for him to wake up. This time, this time he was excellent and if he disappointed someone it was probably the people at Fox News. 

The debate began with a student, Jeremy Epstein, who asked the following question: “Mr. President, Governor Romney, as a 20-year-old college student, all I hear from professors, neighbors and others is that when I graduate, I will have little chance to get employment. What can you say to reassure me, but more importantly my parents, that I will be able to sufficiently support myself after I graduate?” 

I will not be providing Romney’s full answer to every question because if I do you will need three days to read this article. Instead I will just provide the “key” parts of some answers. Romney's answer to Jeremy's question was “…So what we have to do is two things. We have to make sure that we make it easier for kids to afford college and also make sure that when they get out of college, there's a job. When I was governor of Massachusetts, to get a high school degree, you had to pass an exam. If you graduated in the top quarter of your airlines, we gave you a John and Abigail Adams scholarship, four years tuition free in the college of your choice in Massachusetts; it's a public institution. I want to make sure we keep our Pell grant program growing. We're also going to have our loan program, so that people are able to afford school. But the key thing is to make sure you can get a job when you get out of school. And what's happened over the last four years has been very, very hard for America's young people. I want you to be able to get a job.”

 

In his plan, A Chance for Every Child, page 31, first paragraph, you’ll find how Romney is planning to help students from low to middle-income families to attend college, or at least it was back in May of this year… before he decided that in order to get the vote of young people he needed to change his tune and be a huge supporter of Pell grants, but that will not be what he will do if he ever gets in the Oval Office. 

This is what he says on the paragraph in question: “Last but not least, families must be supported in their efforts to plan ahead and save for their children’s higher education. A Romney Administration will aim to increase the opportunity to save and invest for higher education, particularly for low- and moderate-income families. With better information and more affordable options, financing higher-education can once again become an attractive opportunity instead of an overwhelming burden.” 

Of course, for a person that believes a middle-income family makes between $200,000 to $250,000 a year, this is a very doable proposition. The problem is, his figures are wrong. Middle-class income is somewhere around $50,000 and his strategy its completely impossible to do for low-income families. Once more, only the wealthy are worthy of higher education. Romney keeps mentioning that his Education plan while he was governor of Massachusetts was a success, but a recently Faculty Research Paper published by the Harvard Kennedy School of Government reveals that the contrary its true. If you wish to read it, click here.  

The next question was directed at President Obama and was asked by Phillip Tricolla: “Your energy secretary, Steven Chu, has now been on record three times stating it's not policy of his department to help lower gas prices. Do you agree with Secretary Chu that this is not the job of the Energy Department?” 

I must admit that President Obama didn’t answer the question; instead he began to mention all the things he has accomplished or wishes to accomplish regarding energy. But Romney, his answer was terrible, providing the wrong figures and what is worse supports the Keystone XL Pipeline, which the majority of Americans are against. Romney, mocking the president, said if he gets to be president: “We're going to bring that pipeline in from Canada. How in the world the president said no to that pipeline? I will never know.” 

Perhaps Mr. Romney hasn’t heard of all the environmental damages this pipeline represents. That dirty tar sands oil is not ours, it belongs to Canada and it will be shipped out of the US as fast as it’s being extracted. This will only benefit Transcanada, not our country and not our environment. But of course, Romney doesn’t care about either; he only serves the big oil moguls and the mighty buck, the rest can go to hell for all he cares.

Romney continued to say, “Talk to the people that are working in those industries. I was in coal country. People grabbed my arms and said, "Please save my job." The head of the EPA said, "You can't build a coal plant. You'll virtually -- it's virtually impossible given our regulations." When the president ran for office, he said if you build a coal plant, you can go ahead, but you'll go bankrupt. That's not the right course for America.” 

President Obama gave us a hint at Mitt Romney's chameleon opinions:  “…And when I hear Governor Romney say he's a big coal guy, I mean, keep in mind, when -- Governor, when you were governor of Massachusetts, you stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said, "This plant kills," and took great pride in shutting it down. And now suddenly you're a big champion of coal.” As usual, President Obama was telling the truth, if you don't believe me, watch Mitt Romney's video stating it.

 

Romney accused the president of reducing production of oil in federal land, the President kept persisting that oil production in Federal land has gone up, not down. According to CNN, the President is right and, as usual, Romney is wrong. Click here to read CNN's article. 

Mary Follano directed her question to Romney. She asked him: “You have stated that if you're elected president, you would plan to reduce the tax rates for all the tax brackets and that you would work with the Congress to eliminate some deductions in order to make up for the loss in revenue. Concerning these various deductions, the mortgage deductions, the charitable deductions, the child tax credit and also the education credits, which are important to me, because I have children in college. What would be your position on those things, which are important to the middle class?” 

Romney replied, and this time I will quote his entire response: “Thank you very much. And let me tell you, you're absolutely right about part of that, which is I want to bring the rates down, I want to simplify the tax code, and I want to get middle- income taxpayers to have lower taxes. And the reason I want middle-income taxpayers to have lower taxes is because middle-income taxpayers have been buried over the past four years. 

You've seen, as middle-income people in this country, incomes go down $4,300 a family, even as gasoline prices have gone up $2,000. Health insurance premiums, up $2,500. Food prices up. Utility prices up. The middle-income families in America have been crushed over the last four years. So I want to get some relief to middle-income families. That's part one. Now, how about deductions? 'Cause I'm going to bring rates down across the board for everybody, but I'm going to limit deductions and exemptions and credits, particularly for people at the high end, because I am not going to have people at the high end pay less than they're paying now. The top 5 percent of taxpayers will continue to pay 60 percent of the income tax the nation collects. So that'll stay the same. 

Middle-income people are going to get a tax break. And so, in terms of bringing down deductions, one way of doing that would be say everybody gets -- I'll pick a number -- $25,000 of deductions and credits, and you can decide which ones to use. Your home mortgage interest deduction, charity, child tax credit, and so forth, you can use those as part of filling that bucket, if you will, of deductions. But your rate comes down and the burden also comes down on you for one more reason, and that is every middle-income taxpayer no longer will pay any tax on interest, dividends or capital gains. No tax on your savings. That makes life a lot easier. If you're getting interest from a bank, if you're getting a statement from a mutual fund or any other kind of investment you have, you don't have to worry about filing taxes on that, because there'll be no taxes for anybody making $200,000.00 per year and less, on your interest, dividends and capital gains. Why am I lowering taxes on the middle-class? Because under the last four years, they've been buried. And I want to help people in the middle-class. And I will not under any circumstances, reduce the share that's being paid by the highest income taxpayers. And I will not, under any circumstances increase taxes on the middle-class. The president's spending, the president's borrowing will cost this nation to have to raise taxes on the American people. Not just at the high end. A recent study has shown the people in the middle-class will see $4,000.00 per year in higher taxes as a result of the spending and borrowing of this administration.” 

Mitt Romney has no idea what it’s considered to be a middle-class income. For a man that has never been “middle-class,” he thinks that $250,000 its what constitutes the annual income of those from the middle-class. He has no idea that middle-class earnings are about $50,000 a year. So when you hear him puffing about our President raising the taxes on the middle-class, bear in mind that he is referring to those making from $200,000 to $250,000. For a man that makes in dividends millions of dollars those that earn a quarter or half of what he makes without moving a finger, it’s the middle-class.  The real middle-class are those that he was despotically referring to as lazy and government leaches that don't want to take responsibility for their lives.  Remember that!
 

Ironically, Romney believes that the top 5% pays about 60% of their income in taxes and as far as I know, that is not true. The maximum amount for an individual making over $379,150 is 35% and that’s before all the loopholes which the very wealthy are “entitled” to and which allows individuals like Mitt Romney to pay less than 13% in taxes while the rest of us pay an average of 23%.  The same is true for Corporations. 

The Tax Policy Center believes that Romney’s tax plan doesn’t have a leg to stand on and that the math simply is not there. To see the report, click here.

Katherine Fenton asked Romney a great question: "In what new ways to you intend to rectify the inequalities in the workplace, specifically regarding females making only 72 percent of what their male counterparts earn?

Romney never provided an answer to that question. Must of us just only remember his now famous “binder full of women” because apparently there were no women available in Massachusetts to do the required job, so he had to “go and find them.” While it is true that he had 9 women in his cabinet, the previous governors from Michael Dukakis to Jane Swift, all of them had women in their cabinet, including the present governor Duval Patrick. The honor of having more women in cabinet positions belongs to Paul Celluci, Republican, who governed Massachusetts from 1997 to 2001. However, the question was not about his opinion about hiring women, the question was about equal pay which Romney refused to answer and, during a Presidential Debate where so much is at risk not answering this very important question means that he agrees that women should earn less than their male counterpart. What’s more, when pressed by Crowley, his replied was: “I'm going to help women in America get good work by getting a stronger economy and by supporting women in the workforce.”

Is he serious? Women don’t need “support” to be part of the workforce, women have been part of the workforce for over half a century. Women have been getting “good work” for a long time now. What women are not getting is equal pay for that “good work” and that was precisely the question. His stand on this subject reflects how distant Romney is from what women need and how deaf he is to women’s pleas… He ignored it completely and it is obvious that he like things just the way they are. Another thing one must keep in mind is his hiring record while he was running Bain Capital… He hired no women while at Bain  and you can rest assured that he will overturn the Lilly Ledbetter Bill since it allows women to file suit, retroactively, against the companies that pay less to women for equal work. All Romney wants to protect are the interests of Corporate America, not the workers and certainly not the women... after all, unlike President Obama, Mitt Romney only has sons and for him and his religion, women are second-class citizens.

Defacing a Nation

"We have a tidal wave of red ink that is coming in this country that no major civilized country has ever seen before. This is how great empires fall. And this is the tidal wave of debt that is coming in this country and the greatest driver of this red ink, we all know, is this program: Medicare" Paul Ryan at the House Budget Committee Reconciliation Markup, March 15, 2010.

Paul Ryan is calling Obamacare, an insurance program that will be paid by Americans and not the government, an “entitlement."  For Republicans anything that helps the middle class it's an entitlement: Social Security, Unemployment Insurance and Medicare, which are all funded by the working class, with the exemption of Unemployment which is funded by the employer.  I have no idea where do they get the idea that these programs are crumbs thrown to the lazy population by the magnanimous government. We worked for them, and so far it has been the piggy bank of the excesses in Washington, that is why these programs are bankrupt.

Paul Ryan said during the VP Debate that his plan will not eliminate Medicare for the poor or for those that would prefer Medicare (as it exist today) over private insurance. I want to ask any of you, why would anyone go through the trouble of finding an insurance offering everything that Medicare offers its recipients - and which many of us wished we all had (public option) - if Medicare will be available? The Path to Prosperity - Ryan's economy budget plan - slashes Medicare and replaces it with a voucher. 

During the debate we could see that he didn't like the word "voucher" and tried to change it to a check in the mail, but that is what it is, a voucher or if you prefer, a coupon. Our seniors will have to decide which insurance premium they can afford, what they need and what are the advantages of one plan over another. At an age when some of them don't even remember or recognize their own family, they will have to make sense of these provisions that not even us, younger and with a clearer mind, can understand at times. Not every senior have children or surviving children, some have no one to help them with the basics but they will be left on their own with a check (that I can guarantee you will not pay for a good insurance policy), with the sharks selling insurance confusing them even more in order to get that magical voucher and their juicy commission. Now, Romney and Ryan are saying they will not hurt seniors and they will not eliminate Medicare.

Many in Washington consider Ryan a numbers guy. If that is true, I must be Einstein! He is proposing to triple the Defense Budget (the largest in the world) and making permanent the Bush Tax cuts to the wealthy, these two items alone increase the debt, it does absolutely nothing to reduce it.

Romney is eager to start a war, I think he believes that this will assure him more than a paragraph in the history books, which is all it matters to him. He has set his eyes on Iran and is dreaming of the day when he too can invent an excuse to invade the country and start his beloved war. That will also add trillions to an already inflated deficit. So far, everything they're proposing does nothing to create jobs or reduce the deficit - actually, it's the opposite.

They also say as of late, that they will reduce the taxes for everyone, which translates into a higher deficit. When asked how would the government, if they get elected, get any income with these tax cuts, they claim that they will accomplish it by "eliminating the loopholes." Which loopholes?  Nobody knows... it's a secret!

I am assuming that whoever is reading this has at least a basic education that included math. The numbers don't add up, plain and simple. As I have mentioned before, the income collected by this country and which makes the economy wheels move is mainly whatever its collected from income tax. If the rich are going to get a "bonus" from the government permanently, if the workforce will get their taxes reduced... where will the money come from? What loopholes are they talking about if Corporations will get a check from the government and not the other way around?

What they are refusing to say is that they will eliminate what they consider "entitlements." Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Welfare will either be eliminated or if lucky, privatized. Drastic reductions will be made to Education, after all none of their kids attend a public school, and Pell Grants will be significantly cut.  It is in their benefit if the working class is not educated, it offers a cheaper labor to those corporations.

Don’t believe for a minute that this pair care at all for you, they don’t. Their loyalty is to themselves, their kind; the wealthy.  All benefits and “entitlements” are for that group, welfare will be replaced with wealthfare.

We, the 47% mentioned in Romney’s speech,  are worthless to them and as Romney said in that infamous videotape: "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it -- that that's an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. ... These are people who pay no income tax. ... My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."

Those were his words when he thought we, the 47%, were not listening... Those are his true believes and not the robotic Romney he is when we are around.  Wake up, use your brain and vote on November 6, and unless you are wealthy, vote for those who will work for you.  

Vote Obama/Biden for four more years!

Cat and Mouse Debate

Last night was the first Presidential Debate. I’ve been anxiously waiting for it, as I was sure that President Obama was going to destroy Romney in a one-to-one debate. However, nothing could be further from the truth; unfortunately, it was the other way around.

Coincidentally, last night was President Obama’s wedding anniversary and actually he opened his statement by mentioning it. Was this the reason why President Obama looked so sad, uninterested and basically distant during the debate? I have no idea but whatever it was I hope it is a temporary thing.

We have all grown accustomed to believe and accept that President Obama is great at delivering speeches, as an orator. Even the Right-Wing acknowledges this, but last night he stuttered quite a lot, he didn’t portray himself as the self-secure, firm and resolute individual we have seen so many times during the last 5 years. Sadly, last night President Obama looked like a cornered mouse and Romney as the hungry cat.

Is David Plouffe advising the President to be humble, meek and to play the “poor me” role? Last night, after the debate, Plouffe was interviewed by MSNBC and he was quite pleased with the outcome. He mentioned that President Obama was great at presenting what needs to be done during the next four years and that is up to a point true. The problem is, President Obama didn’t debunk one single lie presented by Romney – even when we have an arsenal of information on record about what Mitt Romney has stated up to last week. President Obama was unmoved by the lies, didn’t bother to expose Romney and his lies.

Then there was the body language. While Mitt Romney projected a self-secured image of himself (a man that lost so many points in the polls after his fateful 47% video) President Obama looked frail, insecure, humble, weak and uninterested… I was waiting for him to yawn at any time!

There have been so many excuses given to justify President Obama’s performance, one of them is that he hasn’t debated in four years but I differ. President Obama debates (or at least I hope he does) on a daily basis when confronting a Republican Congress that objects to everything he proposes. Last night was no different but the message the President sent the American people was that he was not in it. If he can’t fight his contender with passion and determination, how are we supposed to believe that he will fight for us in Congress?

I’m begging President Obama to change strategy. I suggest that he stops playing the “cool”, “reasonable” or “victim” role and play the role he holds: the Presidential role. At this point when we elections are around the corner is about the time when a candidate has to show the American people and the world that they have blood running through those veins instead of cold water, to show passion and determination, to stand firm and unmask your opponent. In other words, it is the time to grow a spine and a big set of balls!

Dreaming

“So my dad never had the money or time to get a college degree. Without a college degree, became head of a big car company and ultimately a governor. And believed in America, believed in the opportunity in this country, never doubted for a moment that he could achieve his dreams. And Ann's dad, my wife's dad, was born in Wales. His dad was a coal miner. This coal miner got injured in a coal mining accident; realizing that there was no future there for him or his four children, he came to Detroit and worked in the auto factories until he could save enough money to bring his kids over, which he did. And then they got together as a family and said, you know, to be successful in America, you've got to get an education. And they couldn't afford an education. And the kids and the parents said you know, if we all work, and we all save, we could afford to send one of us to college. And they, they sent my wife's dad.”

Mitt Romney said the above statement during a fundraising event in Boca Raton, Florida in May 2012 and which was secretly videotaped.

I find it amusing and repulsive that this man is against immigrants unless they have specialized skills. George W. Romney was born in Mexico and his family moved back to the U.S. during the Mexican revolution. As a child he worked the fields and helped his father in construction. G.W. Romney’s family was on welfare for many years to make ends meet. G.W. Romney was not a good student, went to many universities and never graduated from any of them. In high school, he was not exemplary actually he was far from it. Those humble beginnings is what made G.W. Romney a more compassionate man, much more than his son will ever be. 

Ann (Davies) Romney’s parents were immigrants too. Ann’s father was Edward R. Davies and he came to the United States after his father, David Davis, a coal miner who had acquired black lung disease and who had been injured in a mining accident had migrated to the United States in 1929 and after working at a Ford plant he sent for his wife and son, Ann’s father, shortly after. Edward R. Davies was an avowed atheist until the day he died, he despised religion and never changed his mind about it. However, not even a year had passed after his death (September 8, 1992) when Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann ignored the essence of the man and baptized him post-mortem. In my opinion this is just one more example of how disrespectful and selfish these two individuals are, they can’t even honor the wishes of a dead man.

Both their own families came to this country in search of a better life for themselves and their family. Neither one of these families were wealthy when they got here or possessed any extraordinary skills: one a carpenter the other a sick coal miner. Yet, the desire for a better life drove them here and this country welcomed them, allowed them to work and to prosper. 

They were just the previous generation of Mitt and Ann Romney, not their great-grand fathers, not 3 or 4 generations ago. These people were their own parents. How can they now show so much disdain for the immigrants that come to this country in search of the same thing their parents came here for? Mitt Romney keeps repeating that he wants to bring people from other countries but only if they have special skills, I wonder what skills he is thinking off, will he accept carpenters, injured miners, wheat, potato and sugar beet field workers, or would any of those “skills” not be special enough for him? 

Mitt Romney has promised to veto the “Dream Act” which is allowing those that were brought to these shores as children by their parents and who are undocumented by no fault of their own. He will not think twice about it. He will destroy the dreams of these young men and women who are studying, trying to get ahead in life, serving our country and defending this country as their own – after all, they know of no other country – he will deny them the same opportunity his own father and his father-in-law had to succeed. What’s more, he will follow Arizona’s immigration law deporting more immigrants just because they come from South of the border and came here with no “special skills” but the ardent desire to provide their families a better life, to earn a decent living with the sweat of their brow, the work of their two hands and the strength of their heart… all to provide their children a better future than they had. 

That is what Gaskell Romney and David Davies did and no one kicked them out of this country. 

For Romney all of the above doesn’t matter, the opportunities his family had and he had were well deserved and they “earned” it… Perhaps, they “earned” it because they were white and spoke English, and the undocumented immigrants are brown and speak Spanish, and then he wants the Latino vote, in his dreams!

A Fistful of Dollars

Let me begin by saying that I am no finance expert nor do I consider myself an economist. I am just using common sense and as Bill Clinton said, arithmetic.

The government of the United is funded mostly by taxation.

The Great Depression started by the end of 1929 and ended by the end of 1940. During those tough times, the wealthy responded to the crisis not by taking their money somewhere else or by hiding it, they loved their country and were willing to do whatever was necessary to help America come out of the predicament it found herself in. The tax rate for individuals from 1932 to 1963 making over $200,000 was brutal (to see the rates, click here), yet they paid it and we came out of the Depression and flourished. Corporations were not as willing or perhaps the government was as usual more lenient on them, from 1929 until 1939 the maximum tax rate corporations paid was 19% but in 1940 their rates jumped, literally from one year to the next to 38.3% and by 1952 the corporate tax rate for any income above $25,000 was a whooping 52%! That sacrifice from both the wealthy and corporations is what helped this country to move forward and to cement us as the richest country in the world.

By the end of 1989 or beginning 1990, Grover Norquist introduced the concept that taxes could not be raised to any corporations or the wealthy and that is what has caused the steady economic decline of this country. The government of the United States of America does not produce anything, does not sell anything and it depends solely on taxation to survive. It is precisely during a financial crisis those taxes must be raised or we will never get out of the recession and will only keep increasing our national debt.

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The total revenue collected by the United States (in millions) from 2000 to 2012 as taxes (I = Individual Taxes) (C = Corporate Taxes) and (O = Other) were as follows:

2000 – $2,025,191 (I) $1,004,462; (C) $207,289; (O) $813,440
2001 – $1,991,092 (I) $994,339; (C) $151,075; (O) $845,668
2002 – $1,853,136 (I) $858,345; (C) $148,044; (O) $846,747
2003 – $1,782,314 (I) $793,699; (C) $131,778; (O) $856,837
2004 – $1,880,114 (I) $808,959; (C) $189,371; (O) $881,784
2005 – $2,153,661 (I) $927,222; (C) $278,282; (O) $948,107
2006 – $2,406,869 (I) $1,043,908; (C) $353,915; (O) $1,009,046
2007 – $2,567,985 (I) $1,163,472; (C) $370,243; (O) $1,034,270
2008 – $2,523,991 (I) $1,145,747; (C) $304,346; (O) $1,073,898
2009 – $2,104,989 (I) $915,308; (C) $138,229; (O) $1,052,452
2010 – $2,162,724 (I) $898,549; (C) $191,437; (O) $1,051,452
2011 – $2,303,466 (I) $1,091,473; (C) $181,085; (O) $1,030,908

From the taxes collected, about 85% of the total amount came from individual taxes, 12% from corporate taxes and 3% from other taxes.

In average, corporations made from 2002 to 2011 around $5.4 trillion dollars in profits and paid $2.8 billion in taxes while individual taxes for the same period were $19.7 billion. According to the Small Business Administration, there were 27.5 million companies in the United States in 2009, that is the latest data I could find. Considering all the taxes loopholes, foreign banking, etc. corporations are literally getting a “free ride.” Even Social Security and Pensions paid more than corporations.

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The days when privileged people and businesses were concerned about the well being of the country are long gone. The very rich just want more and more money and don’t have any shame in admitting it and the country can go down the drain for all they care; the only thing that matters to them is money. The patriots that during the depression contributed at times with more than half of their earnings to help the country is a thing of the past. Back during the Great Depression these companies didn’t think of dismantling their businesses and take them somewhere else. They understood what  needed to be done and everyone benefited from their sacrifice, the economy finally flourished and businesses bloomed.

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Republicans keep insisting in extending the Bush tax cuts for the very wealthy, refusing to raise the taxes of those making huge profits during a recession while increasing the taxes on the middle class and the elderly. Not satisfied with this, they are persisting in engaging in more wars and refusing to make cuts to the Defense budget or reducing Defense expenses. Their sense of balance, fairness and simple arithmetic its non-existent.

According to Statista.com, the above statistics show corporate profits after tax in the United States from 2009 to 2011 Corporate profits are defined as the net income of corporations in the National Income and Product Accounts (NIPA). In 2010, corporations made profits of $1.4 trillion AFTER tax.

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This trend of less revenue and more weapons has to stop; no country can sustain an economy where the money that comes in is below to what goes out. As usual, Republicans want to make cuts to balance the budget on the things that help the poor and elderly survive, on education, scientific research, police and everything but the kitchen sink in order to keep giving to the rich and stealing from the poor, in order to keep the war machine going and the fat cats purring. I wonder how much money do the weapons manufacturers “donate” to these loyal Republicans, there has to be big money involved for the GOP to be so faithful… they would sell their soul to the devil for a fistful of dollars.

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There is absolutely no way that we can ever balance our budget and come out of a recession unless we take drastic measures. Our obsession with war has to come to an end, we can’t continue on this trend where there is no end and no matter how armed we are, it seems it’s never enough. Our desire to be feared (which some call it “respected”) is nothing but cowardice, masquerading as a Good Samaritan and the main reason most of the world hate us and distrust us. Would you trust someone coming to your aid that has a bloody axe on his shoulder? Neither would I!


Sources:

White House Budget
Bureau of Economic Analysis
Statistica.com
Small Business Administration
IRS

USGovernmentspending.com

The Man That Wants To Be King But Will Settle For President

I went to see President Bill Clinton give a speech at FIU, U.S. Century Arena on Tuesday, September 11. Needless to say, I was extremely excited and I was even more excited when I got to sit in the front row. I was so close that I swear could smell him!

Clinton’s speech, beside a brief recount about where he and his family were during the fateful attacks of 9/11, was a short version of his speech during the DNC Convention. No doubt that Clinton is the “Secretary of Explaining Stuff” as President Obama, jokingly but rightfully, has called him. To see the video of Clinton’s speech at FIU, click here.

Then I returned home to find out about what had taken place in Lybia and Egypt. What horrors these representatives of our country in faraway lands must have endured! I felt so sorry for their families here and abroad. I learned that one of the biggest advocates for the people of Libya succumbed to the irate mob – died by the hands of those that he was always defending. Ambassador Chris Steven was the loudest voice Libyans had in the United States, but a movie produced and directed by a Sam Bacile, a real-estate developer from California – according to the Wall Street Journal - aired in YouTube depicting the prophet Mohammad as a homosexual. To make matters even worse, it was uploaded dubbed into Arabic, if that wasn’t a clear and irresponsible provocation then nothing is. According to the article from WSJ, Sam Bacile tried to incriminate the Jewish community by claiming that he was a Jewish-American and that he received over $5 million in donations from the Jewish community to create the clip in question but, after some research by WSJ it seems that “Bacile” is Coptic, has an Egyptian background and is fluent in Arabic, the film was promoted by Morris Sadek, head of the National American Coptic Assembly. It is obvious to me that the film was released to provoke an uproar, to incite Muslim fanatics to do precisely what they did and, by linking the film to the Jewish community create a conflict between the Muslim countries and Israel. There must be an in depth investigation about this but for some strange reason I think, I sense that those with enough power in this country and who are desperately wishing for a war in the Middle East to “defend” Israel might be behind this (Sheldon Adelson comes to mind), all of those involved should be brought to justice because they knew perfectly well what the outcome of their actions would be.

Mitt Romney couldn’t keep his mouth shut and this is one of the reasons why I suspect Sheldon Aldeson to be behind this. Romney has not picked up any points after the RNC Convention; he is trailing behind and in a desperate effort to discredit the President decided to make a public announcement about what took place in Libya and Egypt. Following is his attack on President Obama and his administration about it:

“I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi.

It’s disgraceful that the Obama Administration’s first response was not to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with those who waged the attacks.”

The above message on the subject cannot be found on Romney's website, but I had the clarity of mind to take a picture of the screen, to see it click here. Apparently Romney took it down after being severely criticized by the media and by many influential Republicans that were openly saying that he (Romney) was not fit to lead on foreign policy. As it is customary with Romney, he bluntly lied about the stand of our President and even though it has been proven that President Obama did not do such a thing, that hasn’t stopped Romney from airing ads maintaining and spreading the lie. He is a disgrace, a wannabe president eager to start a war, any war with anyone, take your pick: Russia, China, Iran, Libya, Egypt, Cuba, and Venezuela among others.

President Obama did speak about the uproar in Libya and Egypt. He delivered a presidential speech that not only rejected the actions that had taken place but also was trying to appease a very sensible situation in those countries while reaffirming our beliefs and clearly stating that we will not tolerate attacks against our citizens. Unlike Romney, President Obama was consciously preventing matters from escalating into a possible war. To read the transcript, click here.

Romney tried to pin on the President and his administration a message posted by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo while the protests were taking place, the message has been deleted from the Embassy website but this is what was posted by them on September 11, to see the picture of their website click here:

U.S. Embassy Condemns Religious Incitement

September 11, 2012

The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others.

The U.S. Embassy in Cairo didn’t follow protocol to clear the messages through the White House first, but we must understand that they were under siege at the time and desperately posting on their official site as well as in Twitter without clearance, we can all identify with their fear.

The embassy also posted several messages in Twitter, which for the most part have been removed; to read them, click here.

Once more, Mitt Romney publicly displayed how incompetent he is and what little, if any, decorum he has. This is not a man that cares for the American people, for strengthening our relationship with the world or for our economy. This is a man too eager to become president to start a war, ignoring diplomacy over aggression and disregarding our already shaken economy. What does he think, that the U.S. Treasury has a Swiss account like he does? Is Romney planning to pay for these wars with a voucher? Giving tax breaks to the wealthy and engaging in more wars equates to the total collapse of the United States, he is so arrogant that he doesn’t give a damn about it, he just wants to be king!

2012 RNC (Reaffirming No Compassion) Convention

That should be the real name for the RNC. This is the party of No Compassion other than the compassion shown when the very wealthy lose a few thousand dollars in the stock market, or when the very wealthy are charged a fair tax rate, then they all in unison cry out that there is class warfare.

For them it is perfectly fair to strip the elderly of their safety net, after all these are unproductive people that are sucking dry the funds of the nation. Who cares that they worked all their lives, contributed to this country by serving in the armed forces, worked, paid taxes, contributed to their SS… that doesn’t matter at all, that money in the Social Security funds, which not one penny has come out from the U.S. Treasury, could be put to work for a better cause than helping the depositors; things that are truly important like wars in the Middle East.

The GOP has come up with a great plan: Eliminate Medicare. By the eradication of Medicare as we know it, they are hoping that those senior parasites that in their view serve no good to society will die quicker. It is known that the life span now is greater than years ago, in part thanks to medical advances that are prolonging life and because our seniors lead a healthier lifestyle. If the access to medical care is made harder and inaccessible, logic tells us that seniors lifespan will drop, and drop fast at least for the regular senior, not the rich who can afford the best doctors.

Then, if that wasn’t enough, the GOP is removing the safety net from the poor. They want to strip them from all form of help such as Medicaid, Welfare and food stamps. The Right Wing is also working hard at making abortion illegal and contraceptives difficult to get if you are poor. The result of this agenda will translate in further poverty when these families and in particular women that are already struggling to survive, will find themselves having more children than those they can support, pushing them farther from ever coming out of poverty. Planning further into the future, the GOP wants to get rid of higher education financial aid, this is to ensure that the thousands if not million of children that will be born due to their reproductive laws, will never get an education. This will create a new generation of under educated people that in less than 20 years will enter the work force uneducated, creating a new form of slavery, where they will work for almost nothing and be thankful for the scraps or join the lower ranks in the armed forces to fight the never-ending GOP wars.

The American people are concerned with what is taking place right now and that will affect them in the very near future. Even the regular Republicans, when concerned about further down the road what concerns them is the financial debt of the country. None of them, right or left, seem to see the bigger picture and what everything that is being proposed by the GOP means to all of us. If we follow their agenda, we will be a third world country with two highly defined social classes: the very wealthy and the extreme poor.

I know that the people from the right reading this will accuse me of propaganda, of spreading fear, etc. But I ask, what will be the results if the GOP agenda comes through? So far we have bills making it almost impossible to get an abortion if you are poor (defunding Planned Parenthood); removing the coverage of contraceptives from tax payers funded insurance (Medicaid); eliminating Medicare by turning it into a voucher system, this translates into less preventive medical attention; defunding education programs which will make it impossible for poor kids to obtain a college degree; eliminating Social Security with the rhetoric that we shall plan for the future and be responsible for that future – which is exactly why we contributed to Social Security to begin with. I see no other result other than more people, less education which equals lower pay rates and less jobs in as short as 18 years. It is a grim future if the Right gets its way.

Now, the RNC (Reaffirming No Compassion Party) is holding their 2012 convention in Tampa, Florida, I can’t wait to hear what new "ideas" they will bring to their already outrageous agenda. It has been said that they plan to “unveil” a new idea that will bring more Latinos to their side. Other than the self-deportation and the electrified fence, Romney has promised to overturn the Dream Act, so that can’t be it. Perhaps they will suggest a voucher that will give the undocumented workers a permit to stay if they work for free for a certain number of years but it will not surprised me if they suggest to the undocumented immigrant to commit self-slaughter, anything is possible and I can’t wait to learn what new lies they concoct next.

Elephants Do Love Nuts

It is amusing what is taking place in American politics. Has the Right wing gone completely insane? The 2012 Presidential Elections will forever be remembered as the wackiest in history.

Politics has always been, and will always be, dirty business but the level of dirt shown by the Right during these campaigns is off the charts. We’ve gone from a system of government with predominantly two parties, Democratic and Republican, who used to differ in many aspects but capable of finding a median ground where they could work and collaborate for the good of the country to what we have now, which is a completely dysfunctional system where if the Democratic Party says yea the other one by force must say nay, even if what they are rejecting are their own ideas. If instead of political parties leading a nation these were parents raising a child, that child would be removed from that household and placed in foster care due to abusive parents and child neglect. Yet we, the hypothetical children of these parents, are stuck with these parents where at least one of them couldn’t give a damn about us but we don’t have a Department of Children and Families to look after us and save us from these monsters. 

I am beginning to think that there is a secret competition among Republicans to see who does or says the craziest thing and gets away with it. It is almost as if they want to test how solid their base is, if they follow and are loyal to the Party because of the ideology or because of stupidity, and stupidity is winning. How else could you explain what is happening?

On September 12, 2011 at the GOP/Tea Party Express Debate, Wolf Blitzer asked an hypothetical question about a healthy 30 year old man who chose not to have health insurance and all of the sudden gets sick and needs intensive care for six months. When the Blitzer asked Ron Paul if society should let him die, there were people in the audience cheering and yelling “Let him die!” Ironically, the majority of those people call themselves Christians.  Ron Paul didn't agree, none of the candidates did but not a single one of them made a comment against what those in the audience yelled, and we all know that silence speaks volumes.

During the Republican Presidential Candidates Debate at Reagan’s Library in Texas, Brian Williams asked: “Governor Perry, question about Texas, your state has executed two hundred thirty four death row inmates more than any other governor in modern times [applause], have you struggled to sleep at night with the idea that anyone of those might have been innocent?” When the audience heard “more than any other governor” they went wild applauding and even whistling in approval and Governor Perry far from showing an image of concern or consternation, openly showed a smile, a smile that can only be described as content and pride for holding such a record. Governor Perry went on to explain that he didn’t lose any sleep over it. Apparently everyone that is in death row in Texas is guilty without a shed of a doubt even though there has been proof all over the United States of people in death row that later were found to be innocent, without a trace of a doubt. But Perry doesn’t let that bother him. For me that is a man clearly without a conscience; I do not say that he should have been apologetic, after all the Death Penalty is legal in Texas but… not being or expressing any concern for executing an innocent person? That is heartless and barbaric and does not make him any better than a murderer or terrorist. 

There was a time when those running for any office, whether it is for an Executive or Legislative position, would not dare touch the subject of Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security because they did not want to alienate the senior citizens. Not anymore. Today they go rampant and feel free to say that they will privatize the only safety net most seniors have… and the Republican seniors cheer with huge smiles on their faces! The same goes for women, Right wing women. The Republicans running for office or already holding a position such as Governor, Representative or Senator have decided that a woman’s vagina is one of the few things that are public domain and that government has a right to dictate what a woman can and can not do with what she has between her legs. They have suggested probing, testing, poking and everything you can think of with or without the woman’s consent. In my books, that is known by one word: RAPE. Yet, many of the Republican women sitting in Congress have approved of this invasion of their privacy. More unthinkable is the fact that there are common women affiliated with the Republican Party that apparently do not mind this intrusion. They seem to be Republican in soul, body and vagina! This might explain why Rep. Todd Akin believes and publicly said that “if it’s legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down”, perhaps he was referring to the governmental rape which lacks cojones and therefore sperm, and as “to try to shut that whole thing down” is his way of saying that is precisely what the government, if Republican, will do: shut your vaginas down.  Later, Akin tried to rectify his unfounded and ignorant comment retracting from that statement but once a statement like this is recorded, it can not be taken back.  These Republican officials are the same ones that are always claiming they want smaller government, but that only pertains to governmental departments that will keep corporations on check by regulating them, but they are more than willing to create even larger departments to control our bodies and what we decide to do with it.

  

The Republican base has been demanding to see President Obama’s birth certificate since he won the presidency. It matters little to them that he has provided copies of it; they believe it’s a fake and no matter what proof is given they will reject it because no matter what President Obama presents it will not change one simple fact: his race and for as long as the race on the birth certificate reads Black, it will not be accepted by the Right wing but of course, they do not want to be accused of racism so they have to adhere to the birth certificate issue. Now, they have a presidential hopeful that has a history of scheming small businesses for decades, who has cheated this country by hiding his fortune overseas in order not to pay income taxes and when he has paid those taxes (if he has) it has been at a rate of 13% but refuses to show more than an incomplete year of tax returns. The Right wing has no problems whatsoever with Romney’s refusal to provide us with his income tax returns. What’s more, they claim it is not important. Not important? How can they say that? For them it is not important whether or not the person they want to elect for president of this country has systematically and unscrupulously screwed this nation by being a tax dodger, hiding his fortune and outsourcing our jobs.  For them these is fine and dandy, they see nothing wrong with this. 

A little over a week ago Mitt Romney made his choice for Vice President public and the “comeback team” was created. No one has asked “comeback” to where? They were never a team before so they can’t be a comeback team so I am sure they are referring to a time in history. Where to? The Bush-Cheney era, is that where they wish to go back to? Or perhaps they’re dreaming of going back to the Reagan-Bush era? Neither one was good. One we all remember since we are still suffering the effects of that administration, the other one the GOP has worked diligently in one of the best marketing campaigns in history: To make out of a terrible president who was practically insane a hero, a demigod and the face and values of the current Republican Party. It took time, but they erased, altered or dismissed all the bad things that Reagan did, such as the famous "Reaganomics" which ran a huge deficit and fail to produce revenues to sustain the expenses, so in 1986 and as a direct result of "Reaganomics" the United States went from a Lender to a Debtor and the GOP glorifies it.  The GOP has eliminated the contra scandal and substituted it with a fantasy which is that Reagan ended Communism in Europe and hold as proof the “Mr. Gorbachev tear down that wall” speech that Reagan read at the Brandenburg Gate on June 12, 1987. It was an inspiring speech but in and by itself did nothing to open the gates that separated Germany and East Germany. The German people brought down that wall two years later on November 9, 1989, not Gorbachev and not Reagan. But the Right wing do not give credit to the German people for this huge accomplishment, they  give all the credit to Reagan and to a speech that was written for him by Peter Robinson.

  

Since when going backwards moves anything forward? 

The above are just a few examples of the wacky ideology of the new Republican Party and the behavior of their representatives.  I always heard that elephants love nuts, the above just confirms it.

The Death of Democracy

I have no doubt that President Obama would be re-elected if the GOP did not tamper with the elections.    Unfortunately, the Republican Party is a party without honor and who would cheat and suppress voters in order to win, especially when they know that their chances of winning are slim to none.

I feel nauseated to see what is happening and how the GOP is raping our country, our constitution and our rights but most of all I feel sick that we are letting it happen.

Out of the 50 States of the Union, 29 have a Republican Governor and 27 a Republican Legislature. These states are more than willing to do whatever is necessary to win. They have no scruples but that is nothing new; we remember how they stole the elections in 2004! Now, they are at it again but this time they are changing the voting laws in their states to make it more difficult for minorities and seniors to vote. They are well aware that these groups will vote democratic and are either the majority or could tilt the balance towards more electoral votes for President Obama.

We must do everything within our power to help secure the democratic vote. Help people in your area to obtain a valid ID, help them obtain an absentee ballot, offer to drive them to the voting polls. If you can, try to rent a van so you can drive more people to vote. We allowed the Republicans to cheat in the past, but this time we must not sit idle because this time the danger is even greater. We will be allowing a puppet to hold a pen and sign whatever he is ordered by Grover Norquist and the Americans for Tax Reform.

When a country allows things like this to happen, we stop being a democracy and if we just whine but do nothing to stop it we are silent conspirators of the destruction of this society, this country and the collective future of this nation.

***

“Nothing in this Act shall be construed to deny, impair, or otherwise adversely affect the right to vote of any person registered to vote under the law of any State or political subdivision.” - Voting Rights Act of 1965

Which Middle Class is Romney Referring to?

I haven’t been on Romney’s website for a while but yesterday I was back at it, scrutinizing it as usual. I feel embarrassed that while there I saw what at I believed it was Mitt Romney's announcement of his choice for VP.  I was wrong and I do apologize for my mistake, I'll be more cautious in the future.

Moving forward, today's subject will be Mitt’s “Plan for a Stronger Middle Class”. Yes, you didn’t misread… Romney has a plan or so he says. But I wonder which Middle Class is this plan for? I know it is not for our Middle Class. It must be for the ones in his circle, since the people at his financial level have different wealth categories: Poor (≥$1,000,000 ≤$29,999,999), Middle Class (≥$30,000,000 ≤$999,999,999) and Wealthy (≥$1,000,000,000) – I guess Romney is talking about his Middle Class, definitively not ours.

His plan consists of five points: Energy Independence, Skills to Succeed, Trade that Works for America, Cut the Deficit and Champion Small Businesses.

ENERGY INDEPENDENCE: Romney says that he will increase access to domestic energy resources and streamline permitting for exploration and development. All this means is that he will allow more offshore and onshore drilling, lifting restrictions that are currently in place to either protect the oceans or our forest and national parks. This also means fracking and endangering our water reserves everywhere. We are constantly watching the consequences of fracking, but even though there was a time when Romney was against anything that would endanger the environment but that Romney is a thing of the past if he ever existed, especially if by “fracking” the environment he gets elected. There will be no limitations to where the oil moguls can extract the fossil fuel that keeps our umbilical cord forever attached and dependent of oil. And that is what Mitt Romney calls “energy independence.”

Further on the same issue, he promises to eliminate the regulations that are restricting the coal industry. Once more he will be helping the middle class group in his world. The environment can go to hell; our air can be contaminated as long as the coal industry is happy and their campaign dollars keep pouring in.

Last on this point and just to reinforce his complete disregard for this planet and its inhabitants he promises that he will approve the Keystone XL Pipeline project!

SKILLS TO SUCCEED: Romney offers what he thinks is his educational plan but it is not, since it has been proposed before. He mentions that he wants to give every family access to a great school and quality teachers. How many students will be able to go to a “great school” if everyone has access to it? What he is proposing is nothing more than a voucher system that will benefit those kids from wealthy neighborhoods but do nothing for kids from the ghetto. Quite the contrary, while the schools that are considered to be the best will attract the best teachers and the largest quantity of kids and therefore more substantial funding the schools in the poor districts will hire those teachers that are not as good hence receiving less funding than an A school, providing a mediocre education to children in the poor neighborhoods.

He also mentions that he will make higher education more affordable and effective. Is that what he meant when he replied to a student that he should shop around to find, not the best college but an affordable one? I guess the access he mentions must be a list of crappy colleges that the poor (our poor) kids can afford. No more Pell grants or financial aid.

For adults, Romney says he will focus on job training programs, which by the way, it already exists so all he will be doing is continuing it instead of eliminating it… Unless he will eliminate the funding of these programs and charge the unemployed to receive the necessary training which wouldn’t surprise me. These job training programs are nothing more than vocational schools which are offered at many vocational schools and at night at most high schools throughout the country and which will prepare you for a blue collar job.

Romney also wants to “attract and retain the best and the brightest from around the world”, not being content with outsourcing our jobs to foreign countries now he wants to “insource” the workers from foreign countries. This means that we will be losing our jobs both to abroad and in our country as well. These “best and brightest” will work for less than an American with the same skills would, since for them coming to America with a work permit and the promise of a green card a few years later is incentive enough to accept the job for much less, actually it would be their dream come true.

I would love to know how does this help the REAL American Middle Class? So far, all these points benefit Romney’s “middle class” not ours.

TRADE THAT WORKS FOR AMERICA: On this topic, Romney, once more, singles out China. I agree that China has taken advantage of us and that something must be done; I just don’t think that being so openly hostile during the presidential run will help at all in dealing with China, who practically owns us, in the future if, may the FSM protect us, Romney becomes president. This constant attack on China can be dangerous, China might demand we pay them what we owe them and we all know we can’t pay back at this time. Of course, maybe Romney is planning to pay our debt to China with his own money in which case I will be all for it.

Romney wants to open new markets for American goods and services. He fails to mention that thanks to him and Bain Capital we barely have “goods and services” that we can sell to anyone. Besides oil, movies, automobiles (most parts are made overseas) and Monsanto’s poison… what “goods” are we currently manufacturing that we can export?

Latin America seems to be very attractive to Romney, he keeps mentioning that he wants to build stronger economic ties there. I guess he is probably thinking that is a good place to outsource more jobs; they’re closer which will mean cheaper import charges and cost and a place where he might find those “bright and best” workers that he wants to attract and retain.

Last on this issue is the damn “Reagan Economic Zone” which is nothing more than a group of countries that will trade among themselves, but excluding those that might not be in agreement with us such as Cuba, Venezuela, China and perhaps Russia. There is already a group that does not restrain countries: The World TradeOrganization.  Romney seems not to like this organization since it does not have the ridiculous nonsensical name of “Reagan Economic Zone”. Wait, I get it! Reagan was senile and had Alzheimer, is he talking about creating an Old and Crazy Economic Zone? Yes, that’s probably it, encoded!

CUT THE DEFICIT: Romney promises to reduce non-security discretionary spending by five percent and Cap federal spending by 20% of the economy. That means cutting on Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps and all the public services offered to the poor, our poor, and the elderly – the parasites of society according to the GOP. Once more the ones that need help the most will be the one “saving” the economy while the fat cats rejoice in their good fortune.

He also wants to delegate to the States the responsibility for these programs, and we know what a disaster that would be. We have seen how compassionate some of these Governors can be towards our seniors, our poor and our veterans; all we have to do is take a look at Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, etc.

Mitt Romney is also proposing to align the salaries of federal workers with those in the private sector. Will that include members of Congress? If it does, I am all for it but I seriously doubt it!

CHAMPION SMALL BUSINESS: Taxes (which Romney refuses to show) will be once more reduced for job creators through individual and corporate tax reform. This is nothing more than the so well known trickledown economics that have yielded so many jobs during the decade they’ve been in place. This is nothing more than a permanent extension or increase of the Bush tax credit for the wealthiest Americans. He is also proposing to get rid of taxes altogether and instead increase the sales tax across the board to approximately 23%, this sounds very nice and fair until you start thinking about it. Let’s say you want to buy a new car.  The price of the car is $25,000 and the sales tax would be $5,750 plus interests. If your salary is $51,000 (average middle class salary) the sales tax you will be paying for your car represents 11% of your net salary. Now, let’s assume you are among the wealthiest American, those that enjoy having one billion dollars or more and you want to buy the most expensive new car in the world, the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport with a price tag of $2,400,000.  The sales tax for this baby would be $552,000 and most likely you would not pay interests because you can buy it on the spot without the need to finance it. Assuming you only have one billion dollars and not a penny more, you will be paying 0.06% of your net worth. The same goes for everything else, from eggs to a home. Does this “tax reform” still look fair to you? I don’t think so.

Romney will eliminate regulations because according to him it’s damaging “job creators.” Mitt wants Wall Street, the Oil Industry, the Coal mining industry and any other industry currently being regulated to do as they please. I can’t believe that deregulating is back on the scene, it  barely has been four years since we experienced the worst global economic collapse since the Depression as the result of this dangerous tactic and from which we haven’t emerged yet but apparently Romney believes it worked just fine.

Unions didn’t go unnoticed in Romney’s plan, after all they work to protect and defend the rights of workers against greedy and unfair employers. That is unthinkable in Romney’s world! So in his plan he promises to protect “workers” and businesses from labor unions. What he will really be protecting is the corporations not the workers.

And finally, Romney promises to replace Romneycare… I mean, Obamacare and replace it with Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” where Medicare and Medicaid will be privatize and only the wealthy will be able to afford excellent insurance coverage while the true middle class and the poor will have to content with a second-rate health care plan since the voucher they will be getting will not allow them to afford a good or excellent insurance coverage.