The Rebeller

Transcript: 'FOXNews Sunday' 1-29-12

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:40:00 +0000

WALLACE: Mr. Speaker, you came out of South Carolina with a big head of steam, according to the Real Clear Politics average of recent polls. Earlier this week, you were leading Romney by seven points. But now, he's leading you by eight points. Question: what's happened?

GINGRICH: Look, Governor Romney has the ability to raise an amazing amount of money out of Wall Street, from Goldman Sachs, to all the major banks.

And he has a basic policy of carpet-bombing his opponent. He doesn't try to build up Mitt Romney. He just tries to tear down whoever he's running against, and it has an effect. And we are in a very tough campaign down here. Ironically, if you look at the three national polls this week, every place elsewhere that he can't carpet bomb, the ideas I'm representing, the scale of change I represent, the conservative movement I represent, we actually have been pulling away from him in national polls. Down here, one of our challenges, two major conservative candidates, between us, clearly beat Romney who is splitting the conservative vote. And I think that's a challenge.

I have been honored to have Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, to drop out and endorse me. Last night, I was delighted to have Herman Cain endorsed me and Sarah Palin has said very positive things. Yesterday, Rudy Giuliani compared me favorably to Reagan and compared Romney unfavorably. So, we're seeing the conservative movement start to come together.

But I give Governor Romney's campaign respect for the sheer volume of negativity that they use and the sheer amount of money they raise on Wall Street.

WALLACE: Six days before the South Carolina primary, you predicted correctly and I think you can sense the momentum there that you were going to win that race and, in fact, you won by 12 points. All right. It's two days before the Florida primary, what's going to happen in Florida?

GINGRICH: I think it is going to be very close. We had a poll a day before yesterday that we were tied. Santorum and I collectively are bigger than Romney, but Romney beats me as long as we split the conservative vote. And we have a tremendous effort underway to reach out to conservatives to get them to see that the only effective to stop a Massachusetts liberal from becoming our nominee is to vote for Newt Gingrich.

I think it's going to be very, very close. We have a good turn out mechanism here. We're very fortunate to have Jose Mallea who ran Marco Rubio's campaign. He's running our campaign. He knows the state really well.

We're going to have Michael Reagan here on Monday, along with Herman Cain. Fred Thompson has been here helping.

WALLACE: Right.

GINGRICH: Todd Palin has endorsed me.

Transcript: 'Meet The Press' 1-29-12

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Full transcript. Excerpt below:

Senator McCain, you know, it was Florida in 2008 where you effectively shut the door and got the nomination. What does Florida mean now?

SEN. JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ): I think it means perhaps even more than it did in 2008 because you've got split between New Hampshire and South Carolina, as you know. So it's a, it's, it's a vital race here and I'm glad to see that Mitt's doing so well.

MR. GREGORY: For your candidate, Newt Gingrich, he's got to be looking at these Florida numbers after a win in South Carolina saying this could put a lot of pressure on him and make

Romney the front-runner again should he win.

FMR. SEN. THOMPSON: Yeah. Well, first of all, I know we both want to express our, our

concern as far as Rick is concerned, his family. Rick's been a valiant warrior and that family's to be greatly commended for the way they've handled the illness of their small child. And we, we hope for the best.

Yeah. Thanks for starting this show off with those poll numbers. Really, really, really perked my day up. But no, it, it looks like--the other thing, if these poll numbers play out, of course, Romney's going to have a victory in Florida and that'll mean what, 10 percent of the delegates will have been, will have been counted. I think it's, I think you're going to look at a longer race. I think, you know, we'll, we'll see the, the, the two wins and the comparisons and the majority. You know, in South Carolina, Newt won practically every, every group there except those with higher incomes and those with advanced degrees and we'll, we'll, we'll see. If it's a victory for Mitt, we'll, we'll break it down and see what it means. But it's, it's probably about 10 percent of the delegates, I would think, only.

MR. GREGORY: Let's talk about some of the dynamics here. You have the establishment of the Republican Party saying Newt Gingrich cannot be the nominee. We were talking before we came on about Bob Dole, former Senator Bob Dole, and he issued a pretty tough statement this week.

We'll put a portion of it on the screen. He said this, "I haven't been critical of Gingrich, but now it's time to take a stand before it's too late. If Gingrich is the nominee, it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state and federal offices. Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him and that fact speaks for itself. He was a one-man-band who rarely took advice. It was his way or the highway." Senator Thompson, you know Gingrich well, served with him.

FMR. SEN. THOMPSON: Yeah.

MR. GREGORY: This is the view, that if he is the nominee, it helps President Obama.

FMR. SEN. THOMPSON: Well, of course I served with him, so I'm one of those people that have endorsed him and there's several others who have served with him, too. But, you know, there's some old score settling going on. Newt, Newt had some run-ins with some, with some people of his own party. But, you know, a lot of them, I'm not talking about Bob Dole who I love, but, but, but a lot of them were holding Newt's coat back when he conceived of a way for the Republicans to take over and have a first Republican House Speaker in 50 years. When they balanced the budget, when he held Bill Clinton's feet to the fire, and finally got welfare reform passed and we were winning elections. And his personality and his leadership skills and all that didn't seem to be a big problem back then, but when those poll numbers dropped off and we started losing some elections we should've won and so forth, everything changed. And now, you know, Mitt's been a frontrunner for a long time and people are piling on the bandwagon and so we...

MR. GREGORY: But is this just score settling, Senator McCain? Or is this a real fear as Governor

Christie said on this program last week, that he's an embarrassment to the Republican Party?

SEN. McCAIN: Well, I, I would not say that, but I would say that we've had some rather unpleasant experiences with Newt Gingrich. And one of them was the government shutdown in 1995. And Bob Dole is the one that finally called a halt to it because it was killing it. I mean, it just--the American people rejected the idea of us shutting down the government.

My problems with Newt have been over earmark spending, billions and billions and billions. They--when Newt Gingrich became speaker, they turned earmarks into an art form and it--as Tom Coburn says, it is the gateway to corruption. And we had members, former members of Congress in jail. Duke Cunningham, Bob Ney, Abramoff, all of this is because of the corruption that is bred by this outrageous, obscene corruption--earmark process. They went in his first year from $7.8 billion in earmarks to two later to $14.5 billion in earmarks. I read up on the floor of the Senate, 52 pages of earmarks. And so that kind of thing, they had this K Street project where there was this incestuous relationship to the lobbyists on K Street. It was not the principles of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan.

And finally, he criticized, on March 21st, 1986, on the floor of the Senate, he said that Ronald Reagan was a failure in the war--in the struggle against the Soviet Union. And so--but--and I want to emphasize, the reason why Mitt's got the electability is because of his experiences as governor, as a businessperson, saved the Olympics in Salt Lake City, and I think people are looking at that as a reason for his electability.

Video: 'Meet the Press' 1-29-12

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:50:00 +0000

- Transcript

Video: 'Face the Nation' 1-29-12

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:44:00 +0000

U.S. Defense Department can't account for billions for Iraq, audit finds

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:43:00 +0000

Not only was the Iraq War started under false pretenses, 10s of billions of U.S. tax dollars were wasted/stolen:

The U.S. Defense Department cannot account for about $2 billion it was given to cover Iraq-related expenses and is not providing Iraq with a complete list of U.S.-funded reconstruction projects, according to two new government audits.

The reports come from the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.

The Iraqi government in 2004 gave the Department of Defense access to about $3 billion to pay bills for certain contracts, and the department can only show what happened to about a third of that, the inspector general says in an audit published Friday.

Although the Department of Defense (DoD) had "internal processes and controls" to track payments, the "bulk of the records are missing," the report says, adding that the department is searching for them.

Other documents are missing as well, including monthly reports documenting expenses, the audit says.

Full article

Video of Occupy Oakland Being Attacked by Police

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:24:00 +0000

Romney will Beat Gingrich Easily in the Florida Primary

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:55:00 +0000

All the polls show Romney surging prior to the Florida primary on Tuesday. RealClearPolitics average of polls currently shows the former Governor ahead by 11 points. The chart shows Romney advantage growing daily.

Gingrich's momentum came to an end with his beating by Romney during the last debate on Thursday. Debating skill was the former Speakers main strength (and he was constantly bragging about it). Additionally, the money advantage and establishment support for Romney has given him the large lead.

The victory in Florida will end any pretense that Gingrich could challenge Romney for the nomination. This race is over come Tuesday. Romney will be the nominee.

Gingrich: Adelson Supports me Because of Israel

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 03:10:00 +0000

Another reason not support Gingrich. He would the crisis in the Middle East even worse:

Newt Gingrich just got asked at an Orange County Liberty Counsel Forum in Winter Park, Florida, about the money that he's been given by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, and whether he can offer reassurances about where he stands on casino gambling - which is an important issue in the state, despite barely being mentioned in the campaign (for obvious reasons).

"Well, let me say up front, at the risk of offending some of my friends who've been very helpful," Gingrich began, "...I worry about the degree to which the poor are the most likely to spend a large percentage of their income gambling."

He added, sounding very much like Mitt Romney as he went to great lengths to create distance between himself and his super PAC, that he hasn't coordinated on money and all he knows of Adelson's support is what he reads in the news.

"Sheldon Adelson has clearly, according to the articles, has been very generous," he said. "Sheldon Adelson's passion in life is (the security of) Israel."

Full article

Exclusive: Romney Family Investment Group Partnered With Alleged Perpetrators Of $8 Billion Ponzi Scheme

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 02:21:00 +0000

Source: Think Progress:

Mitt Romney, his son Tagg, and Romney’s chief fundraiser, Spencer Zwick, have extensive financial and political ties to three men who allegedly participated in an $8.5 billion Ponzi scheme. A few months after the Ponzi scheme collapsed, a firm financed by Mitt Romney and run by his son and chief fundraiser partnered with the three men and created a new “wealth management business” as a subsidiary.

In an exclusive interview with ThinkProgress, Tagg Romney confirmed their business relationship, but falsely claimed that the men were cleared of any wrongdoing associated with the Ponzi scheme. Tagg Romney told ThinkProgress that his three partners collected about $15,000 from their involvement in the Ponzi scheme. Court documents obtained by ThinkProgress show that the legal proceedings are ongoing and the men made over $1.6 million selling fraudulent CDs to investors.

The Ponzi Scheme

In 2009, prosecutors announced charges against the Stanford Financial Group, which managed a portfolio of $8.5 billion, for running a “massive, ongoing fraud” against its investors. The Ponzi scheme bust was one of the largest in recent history, second only to Bernie Madoff, who perpetrated a fraud estimated to be around $17 billion. The Stanford Ponzi scheme wiped out the savings of thousands, including many American retirees across the country. In Texas, 1290 people lost their retirement savings because of the Stanford Ponzi scheme; in Louisiana, several hundred reportedly suffered the same fate.

Full article

Oakland Police Flash Grenades Against 2,000 Occupy Protesters

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:53:00 +0000

It seems the Oakland police have not learned their lesson. They can't seem to realize there is no intimidating of the Occupy movement:

Police used tear gas and "flash" grenades to break up hundreds of Occupy protesters in Oakland, Calif., after officers say some demonstrators threw rocks and flares at them, tore down fences and ignored orders to leave.

Police say three officers were injured and 19 people were arrested.

Oakland police said in a release that the crowd started assembling downtown Saturday morning and then marched through the streets, disrupting traffic.

The crowd walked to the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center, where protesters started tearing down perimeter fencing. Police say they ordered the crowd to disperse at about 3 p.m. and used tear gas after some protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks, burning flares and other objects.

Occupy protesters said earlier this week that they planned to move into a vacant building and turn it into a social center and political hub.

Full article

North Korea Reportedly Outlaws Cell Phones

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:45:00 +0000

The rulers in the North Korea know very well that the greatest threat to their regime is a smart phone. But is it possible to ban something so commonplace in the world? The people there might need to revert to other tools for gaining freedom. They have to resist the regime in ways that will be extremely difficult to stamp out. One way would be gain access to Western culture by way of China or Japan. Even wearing Western style clothing. This means that somehow these items have to be smuggled into the country. Another way is larger numbers of visit from free countries. The people of the North have to be exposed to the World somehow. They must be shown the contrast between their plight and that of the rest of the West. If this can be done then the people of North Korea will begin to demand that their horrendous existence change:

For everyone who protests the new internet restrictions that could have come with SOPA and might still come with ACTA, this one comes from the perspective department: North Korea has threatened to punish anyone using a cell phone as a war criminal.

Reports from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea indicate that the threat of famine is forcing more and more people to flee the country into South Korea, where an estimated 23,000 defectors have already located.

North Korea has long relied on a total restriction of information to maintain control over its isolated citizenry, and in this crucial time of transition between Kim Jong Il and his successor, Kim Jong Un, it appears that the state is clamping down even tighter than usual for fear that information about uprisings like the Arab Spring could trigger unrest, or that outside communication could assist anybody attempting to flee the country.

The North recently accepted private food aid from the South Korean "Korea Peace Foundation" even as they maintain military exercises and standing threats against their neighbor. South Korea has made it clear that they won't provide substantial, government-led food aid until the North makes steps to stop their nuclear program.

Full article

Time Magazine: Why Is No One Talking About the Poor?

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 20:07:00 +0000

For the same reason the word "poverty" never comes out of the mouth of Barack Obama:

I first learned about the World Economic Forum at Davos as a greenhorn in college. At the time, I was knee-deep in coursework on economic development, a field that extols the social and economic virtues of tending to the world’s poor. I was somewhere between Amartya’s Sen‘s 1999 Nobel Prize-winning book Development as Freedom, a cult sensation among wonky Ivy Leaguers and 20-something granolas bound for the Peace Corps, and Joseph Stiglitz‘s 2002 bestseller Globalization and Its Discontents, when I first dreamed of going to Davos to take part in the lofty mission of “solving the world’s problems.”

Those were the years when globalization really earned its bad rap. And as a result, a counter movement, rooted in aspirations of global equity and social good, began to take hold. Anti-globalization protests so disrupted the WEF in 2001 that its organizers had to relocate the event to New York the following year. The anti-globalization movement even erected its own conference, the World Social Forum, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, to serve as a populist counterweight to the elite Davos powwow. By 2002, Porto Alegre had drawn in 50,000 people, triple the number from the previous year. Even the Economist conceded that, in light of popular backlash, the march toward globalization could yet be reversed:

The economic history of the twentieth century is full of reminders that the move towards globalisation is not inevitable. War in 1914 brought an end to a period of economic openness and integration unparalleled even today. The 1930s were more painful than necessary precisely because of beggar-thy-neighbour policies adopted in the wake of the Depression. It is not impossible that governments today will turn their backs on open trade and capital flows. Many of those in Porto Alegre would welcome such a policy reversal.
In WEF-like circles, the biggest critics of globalization then were the defenders of the world’s poor, who cited a growing gap between the fortunes of Western economies and those of the developing world. As the Economist noted:

[Anti-globalizationists] point to the 2 billion or so people who live in countries where poverty has increased, where economic growth is stagnant, and where trade has shrunk as a proportion of GDP. A large chunk of the world, home to a third of its people and including much of Africa and the Muslim world, has been marginalized. Such deterioration in the living standards of so many, argue globalization’s critics, is evidence of the selective benefits it brings: the rich minority thrive at the expense of a much larger group of desperately poor people. It is this message [the World Social Forum] will seek to develop and strengthen.
As I scurried from panel to panel at Davos this year, I realized just how dramatically the perspectives on globalization has changed since those years. No doubt, the topic of globalization is as hot as ever at the WEF. But on the question of what to do about it, on how to make it inclusive and fair, the answers have changed.

Full article

FOXNews Transcript: Newt Gingrich: Old Guard Out to Get Me

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:53:00 +0000

Gingrich rationalizes his beating during the last Florida debate, Thursday:

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, last night, I should tell you that we all thought you were going to come out swinging, and you seemed a little more sober to -- your responses to some of the things that Governor Romney said about your record.

GINGRICH: Well, actually, Mitt was so systematically dishonest...

VAN SUSTEREN: Is that lying?

GINGRICH: Well, I'll let you decide. But he -- the easiest example is he said that he only voted for Tsongas in the Democratic primary because there was no Republican primary. And during the debate, Larry Sabato tweeted that that was baloney, that, in fact, George H. W. Bush and Pat Buchanan were on the very same day.

VAN SUSTEREN: Could he have just a faulty memory?

GINGRICH: Well, he's said enough different things that it strikes me as implausible. I think -- I think that the governor says what he needs to say to get through this minute without remembering that there's a tomorrow.

Which is it? The media is for you or against you:

VAN SUSTEREN: But is it enough for to you say in a debate -- and I know that have you some ads, as well -- is the media with you, do you think, or against you on this?

GINGRICH: I think on this one, oddly enough, the media's with me. And the reason is I think the media is kind of amazed at the level of dishonesty. I mean, I've done three or four interviews today where people have gone, How could he think he can get away with this? I mean, it'll be interesting to watch them when they go talk to Romney because some of these are so factually clearly false that it's very hard for him to claim anything except he just wasn't telling the truth.

Now he knows what it's like being a lawyer:

VAN SUSTEREN: What's he like to you before the debate, during breaks, and after the debate?

GINGRICH: We're collegial. I mean, it's -- you've been a lawyer. It's a little bit like lawyers in the middle of a trial.

VAN SUSTEREN: Oh, no, I never -- I mean, if I was mad at somebody, I was not collegial.

(LAUGHTER)

VAN SUSTEREN: I was not collegial! Believe me, if I thought someone was doing me wrong, I was not collegial. I would be in that person's face.

GINGRICH: No, I think -- I think you -- and this is part of why I debate the way I do. I think you have to, as a potential president, maintain a standard of dignity, or people think you're not capable of being president.

People want a sense of stability because the level of power we give presidents is so great that you want a sense of, This is a person -- it's a little bit like hiring a school bus driver. You don't want to hire a person who might take the bus off a cliff. You want to hire a person who's going to be safe with your children. Well, the president, in that sense, has 305 million people to be safe with.

Read the full transcript

The Republican Establishment is Closing in on Newt Gingrich

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:54:00 +0000

He's still getting it from all corners:

Declaring NASA would have a moon base by the end of his second term, ormer House Speaker Newt Gingrich last week made space exploration part of his campaign.

But not everyone is impressed with Gingrich’s bold plans for the year 2020. On this weekend’s broadcast of “Inside Washington,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer said the moon base idea could be the beginning of the end for the Gingrich campaign.

“I think the moon base was Newt jumping the shark, or to use another analogy, it could have been his Dukakis in the tank moment, because it was a caricature of him,” Krauthammer said. “And Romney used it cleverly to say that Newt was going out around every state promising x, y, and z. And of course, on the space coast in Florida, he would appeal to them.”

Krauthammer went on to say that the must win debate for Gingrich in Jacksonville, Fla. Thursday, critical for his momentum going into the Florida primary next Tuesday, was instead a victory for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

The establishment might not like Romney but they hate Gingrich. Even McCain, who doesn't really like Romney, is going after Newt:

Sen. John McCain on Friday used a pointed quip to mock Newt Gingrich's plan to construct a permanent American base on the moon. "I think we ought to send Newt Gingrich to the moon and Mitt Romney to the White House," he said.

Speaking to about 75 people at a Romney office here, the Arizona Republican also said the GOP presidential debates have "deteriorated into mud-wrestling" and said they should come to an end.

Thursday night's CNN debate was the 19th debate of the primary season and the last until Feb. 22. McCain, the 2008 GOP nominee, called Romney's performance Thursday "a home run" and predicted it would give Romney the momentum to carry Florida on Tuesday and win the nomination.

McCain had earlier sought to downplay debate performance in favor of record, citing Gingrich's earmarks and pork-barrel spending during his time as House speaker. Asked by National Journal/CBS News on Friday whether his focus on Gingrich means he's a threat to Romney, McCain said it's more to do with a lack of threat elsewhere.

Gingrich is left with his daughter running his campaign:

Kathy G. Lubbers says it hasn’t been difficult finding her place in the world — a world in which everyone points her out as the daughter of Newt Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker now fighting it out for the Republican presidential nomination.

“It hasn’t been so difficult as some might think,” Lubbers, 48, says. “It would have been much more difficult if I was a son. … I don’t have to walk in his footsteps like, maybe, a son might think he would need to. I don’t have to compete with my father. I don’t have to live up to what he’s done.”

She has come to be an indispensable piece in her father’s political and promotional machinery. Gingrich’s elder daughter, Lubbers is also the senior adviser of her father’s presidential campaign.

As Real Wages Fall In Fourth Quarter, Americans Save Less

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:38:00 +0000

What these fools in corporate America don't understand is that a poorly paid workforce cannot buy the products that make profits possible. That is why the minimum wage should be increased. Additionally, most high paying manufacturing jobs have been outsourced. You didn't hear these ideas during the State of the Union:

Over the last three months of last year, income growth stagnated and people across the country dug deeper into their savings than they have in years, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. That's despite a pickup in the overall growth of the economy.

[...]On the whole, wages for workers aren't keeping up with the inflation rate, causing them to fork out more just to afford the basics. Median weekly wages rose just 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter over that quarter in 2010. In contrast, prices rose 3.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a result, consumers dipped more into their savings: The annual personal saving rate plunged 29 percent in the fourth quarter (compared with that stretch of 2010), to 3.7 percent. This is the lowest saving rate since 2007's fourth quarter, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Spending failed to keep up with the production of goods at the end of 2011 because most newly created jobs paid close to the minimum wage, Vitner said. Seventy-seven percent of the jobs created since the end of the recession are in the low-paying sectors of retail, leisure and hospitality, home health care and temporary staffing, according to Vitner. With credit still tight and wages falling (once adjusted for inflation), Americans aren't boosting their spending, he said.

The millions of unemployed job seekers have put further downward pressure on low-paying wages.

Full article

Paul Denies Report that he Approved Racist Newsletters

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:01:00 +0000

Only a supporter would believe that he didn't know what was in racist newsletters put out under Ron Paul's name:

"It was his newsletter, and it was under his name, so he always got to see the final product," Renae Hathway, a former secretary in Paul's company, told the Post. "He would proof it."

Paul told CNN on Friday: "She's made that story up. ... It's completely false."

The Post reported that Eric Dondero Rittberg, a former longtime Paul aide, said he witnessed Paul proofing, editing and signing off on his newsletters in the mid-1990s.

Ed Crane, the longtime president of the libertarian Cato Institute, told the Post that he and Paul discussed direct-mail solicitations at the time and that they agreed that "people who have extreme views" are more likely than others to respond.

Full article

U.S. knew about Argentina Junta's Abduction of Children

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:41:00 +0000

http://m.cbsnews.com/storysynopsis.rbml?feed_id=2&catid=57367249&videofeed=38

A former U.S. diplomat testified Thursday that American officials knew Argentina's military regime was taking babies from dead or jailed dissidents during its "dirty war" against leftists in the 1970s, and it appeared to be a systematic effort at the time.

Elliot Abrams testified by videoconference from Washington in the trial of former dictators Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone and other military and police figures accused of organizing the theft of babies from women who were detained and then executed in the 1976-1983 junta's torture centers.

Golden Parachutes: 21 CEOs Landed $100M Plus

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:54:00 +0000

Rewarded for ruining the economy. The criminal enterprise system (not free enterprise system) is nothing but a looting of the American economy. Record profits are not going towards creating jobs or giving workers a decent wage but rewarding greed and incompetence:

According to the study, 21 CEOs received more than $100 million each in “‘walk away” packages. In all, companies like GE, Exxon Mobil Corp., AT&T and Home Depot Inc., have collectively provided nearly $4 billion in golden parachutes. But according to Hodgeson, those figures could be on the low-side.

‘These numbers don’t include the perks – the use of the corporate jet, the corner offices – a lot of the compensation that doesn’t get listed on the public files.’

But despite the staggering amounts, golden parachutes serve a purpose when it comes to wooing a potential CEO to take the helm.

Full article

GDP Rose 2.8 Percent in Fourth Quarter

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:49:00 +0000

That number is a sign of a weak economy that will not create enough employment to get us out of the quagmire we are currently in:

The Commerce Department reported gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a 2.8 percent pace in the last three months of 2011, slightly less than expected but an increase over the prior quarter.

Economists expected a growth rate of about 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter, in part because of strong holiday shopping and car sales.

Real GDP, the output of goods and services produced in the U.S., increased at a revised annual rate of 1.8 percent in the third quarter. The Commerce Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the disappointing figure ahead of the holiday shopping season on Dec. 22. GDP is the value of all goods and services produced in the US, currently about $14 trillion a year in economic activity.

Full article

Video: Jon Stewart Mocks Gingrich's Moon Base Idea

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:07:00 +0000

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Taxpayers Still Owed $133 Billion from TARP Bailout

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:46:00 +0000

That's money that could have been used to bailout the American people:

U.S. taxpayers are still owed nearly $133 billion that companies haven’t repaid from the financial bailout, according to a quarterly Special Inspector General Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) report. The report also states that as of December 31, 2011, the Treasury has “written off $4.2 billion and realized losses of $7.8 billion that the taxpayer will never get back,“ and that it ”predicts losses on other TARP investments.”

But perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, some programs were designed as a “Government subsidy with no return to taxpayers,” according to the report.

Of the $700 billion Congress authorized for the bailout of financial companies and automakers, also known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), approximately $413 billion has been lent. Of the $413 billion, the government has allegedly recovered about $318 billion, or about 77 percent of it, according to the Associated Press.

Source

Transcript: CNN Florida GOP Presidential Debate (1-26-12)

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:21:00 +0000

Full transcript. Excerpt below:

BLITZER: Speaker Gingrich, you had an ad, but you pulled it this week, in which you described Governor Romney as the most anti- immigrant candidate. Why did you do that?

GINGRICH: Why did we describe him that way?

Because, in the original conversations about deportation, the position I took, which he attacked pretty ferociously, was that grandmothers and grandfathers aren't going to be successfully deported. We're not -- we as a nation are not going to walk into some family -- and by the way, they're going to end up in a church, which will declare them a sanctuary. We're not going to walk in there and grab a grandmother out and then kick them out.

We're not going -- and I think you have to be realistic in your indignation. I want to control the border. I want English to be the official language of government. I want us to have a lot of changes.

(APPLAUSE)

I am prepared to be very tough and very bold, but I'm also prepared to be realistic, because I've actually had to pass legislation in Washington and I don't believe an unrealistic promise is going to get through, but I do believe, if there's some level of humanity for people who have been here a long time, we can pass legislation that will decisively reduce illegality, decisively control the border and will once again mean the people who are in America are here legally.

BLITZER: I just want to make sure I understand. Is he still the most anti-immigrant candidate?

GINGRICH: I think, of the four of us, yes.

BLITZER: Go ahead, Governor.

ROMNEY: That's simply unexcusable. That's inexcusable. And, actually, Senator Marco Rubio came to my defense and said that ad was inexcusable and inflammatory and inappropriate.

Mr. Speaker, I'm not anti-immigrant. My father was born in Mexico. My wife's father was born in Wales. They came to this country. The idea that I'm anti-immigrant is repulsive.

Don't use a term like that. You can say we disagree on certain policies, but to say that enforcing the U.S. law to protect our borders, to welcome people here legally, to expand legal immigration, as I have proved, that that's somehow anti anti-immigrant is simply the kind of over-the-top rhetoric that has characterized American politics too long.

And I'm glad that Marco Rubio called you out on it. I'm glad you withdrew it. I think you should apologize for it, and I think you should recognize that having differences of opinions on issues does not justify labeling people with highly charged epithets.

GINGRICH: I'll tell you what...

(APPLAUSE)

I'll give you an opportunity to self-describe. You tell me what language you would use to describe somebody who thinks that deporting a grandmother or a grandfather from their family -- just tell me the language. I'm perfectly happy for you to explain what language you'd use.

ROMNEY: Mr. Speaker, I think I described following the law as it exists in this country, which is to say, I'm not going around and rounding people up and deporting them.

What I said was, people who come here legally get a work permit. People who do not come here legally do not get a work permit. Those who don't get work will tend, over time, to self-deport.

I'm not going to go find grandmothers and take them out of their homes and deport them. Those are your words, not my words. And to use that rhetoric suggests to people that somehow, if you're not willing to keep people here who violated the law, that you're anti- immigrant. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I am pro-immigrant. I want people to come to America with skill and vitality and vibrance. I want them to come legally. There are grandmothers that live on the other side of the border that are waiting to come here legally. I want them to come here, too, not just those that are already here.

(APPLAUSE)

GINGRICH: Well, so we have gone -- we've gone from your Washington attack when I first proposed this and you said it was outrageous; it would be a magnet to you're accepting the fact that, you know, a family is going to take care of their grandmother or their grandfather.

The idea that you are going to push them out in some form by simply saying they can't go get a job -- I think the grandmother is still going to be here. All I want to do is to allow the grandmother to be here legally with some rights to have residency but not citizenship, so that he or she can finish their life with dignity within the law.

(APPLAUSE)

ROMNEY: You know, our problem is not 11 million grandmothers. Our problem is -- all right.

Muslim groups: 'Third Jihad' should cost NYC commissioner his job

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 04:07:00 +0000

Law enforcement agencies are good at fighting crime but don't do a good job at fighting terrorism. The anti-Muslim attitude by the NYPD here shows ignorance. This is why we need a new federal agency that would focus on fighting terrorism (domestic and international). Such an organization would know better than to make sweeping generalizations about a whole group of people:

Two prominent Muslim civil liberties groups called for Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to resign on Thursday because of his participation in a film that they say paints all Muslims as terrorists.

"Involvement with 'Third Jihad' sends a clear message that the NYPD's dealings with New York's diverse Muslim communities are based on bigotry and blanket suspicion," the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) stated in a press release.

Muslim activists say "The Third Jihad," a documentary about radical Islam, vilifies the American Muslim community and teaches police officers to suspect Muslims as terrorists.

Muslim activists are also calling for Deputy Police Commissioner Paul Brown to resign, saying that he first denied and only later admitted that Kelly was interviewed for the film.

"They were not telling the truth about their involvement in the propaganda film against Muslims," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), adding that New York "deserves people they trust who do not discriminate against people."

Full Article

China's Economy may Surpass US Before 2020

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:45:00 +0000

This is a betrayal of America by the two-party system. Shameful. You don't hear the politicians talking about this massive failure very often:

According to preliminary estimates, China's GDP in 2011 was 47.156 trillion yuan, which at the current exchange rate of 6.3138 translates into roughly $7.47 trillion.

By comparison, tomorrow's GDP report for the United States will likely show that 2011 GDP was roughly, or slightly over $15 trillion. That means that China's economy is now nearly half as big as the U.S. economy.

This in turn means that China's economy could become bigger even sooner than previously thought. If the economic growth gap is 6% per year(lower than the average rate the last decade) and real appreciation is 2.5% per year (again, a lot lower than the average rate the last decade) than that would be sufficient for China's economy to become bigger by 2020. If the growth gap and/or real appreciation is closer to the average rate for the last decade, it could happen even sooner.

Full article

Tahrir Protesters to sit-in Until Army Steps Down

noreply@blogger.com (John Rivera) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:07:00 +0000

The people united will never be defeated:

Egyptian youths camped out on Thursday in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and vowed to stay put until the army hands power to civilians, a day after a mass demonstration marked a year since an uprising which brought down Hosni Mubarak.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians poured into the square and onto streets of other cities for the January 25 anniversary of the day the revolt began. Also Thursday, military authorities told several American pro-democracy activists – including the son of a member of US President Barack Obama’s cabinet – they cannot leave the country. One of those affected described the move as a “de facto detention.”

Full article