Newt the 'astute', slowly and not so softly killing the 2012 election

'And what of Gingrich's pledge to carry on his crusade all the way to Tampa? That's takeaway number three. ........'

'But in Gingrich's case, he might be serious, so much has he come to despise Romney and the Republican Establishment that has brought down on him a twenty-ton shithammer in Florida, and so convinced is he of his own Churchillian greatness and world-historical destiny. The same antic, manic, lunatic bloody-mindedness that has made him such a rotten candidate in the Sunshine State may be enough to keep him the race a good long time'.

'Waging a protracted battle would likely be an act of futility for Gingrich, but it could turn out to be something much worse for Romney. That is why it's so important for the latter not just to win on Tuesday but to win big — very big. And that, in turn, is why the matter of margins will be the topic of tomorrow's column'.
From : http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/01/newt-mad-and-mental-enough-to-fight-on-after-florida.html

A candidate who 'feels your pain'

A lame expression but it's what people want to hear so politicans keep coming up with them.

'More than half of all registered voters (55%) say Obama understands the problems of average Americans very or fairly well'.

'Only about four-in-ten voters (39%) give Romney high marks for understanding the problems of average Americans.'

'About the same percentage (36%) says Gingrich does very or fairly well in understanding people’s problems'.
http://www.people-press.org/2012/01/30/gop-voters-continue-to-give-field-subpar-ratings/

Bottom line. Would YOU vote for someone who doesn't 'understand' your problems?

Sending in another clown while going the wrong way

'Donald Trump’s top political adviser told ABC News he’s speaking to “high-level political operatives” to explore a third-party presidential bid on behalf of the real estate mogul, in a sign that Trump may not quite be done with the 2012 presidential race just yet'.
From : http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/donald-trump-staff-reaching-out-to-financers-campaign-managers-to-explore-third-party-bid/

Before the New Hampshire & S.C.primary - '51% gave the field excellent or good ratings'.

After the New Hampshire & S.C. primary - 'By comparison, just 46% of Republican voters have positive opinions of the GOP field'.

'At about this point four years ago, 68% of Republican and GOP-leaning voters rated the field as excellent or good'.
From : http://www.people-press.org/2012/01/30/gop-voters-continue-to-give-field-subpar-ratings/

Better then 'death panels'?

'Gilligan found that, over the 108 years covered by his analysis (1900-2007), the age-adjusted suicide rate increased by an average of 9.7 per million over each Republican four-year term but decreased by an average of 11.1 per million over each Democratic term. The age-adjusted homicide rate increased by an average of 3.6 per million over each Republican term but decreased by an average of 4.2 per million over each Democratic term'.

'These differences may sound small, but they are not. According to the CDC’s latest National Vital Statistics Report, there were 37,793 suicides in the U.S. in 2010 (122 per million population) and 16,065 homicides (52 per million population). Applying Gilligan’s figures to those baseline levels (and assuming 1% population growth per year) implies a projected total of 213,000 violent deaths over the next four years under a Democratic president, but 236,000 under a Republican—a difference of 23,000 lives'.
From : http://themonkeycage.org/blog/2012/01/30/politics-is-a-matter-of-life-and-death-times-23000/

The NFL Playoffs - Which have not been kind to me (GRINS!)

SUN, JAN 22
Baltimore at New England - Pick - New England
From the beginning of the year I figured it would be Green Bay v. New England. Come Sunday nighrt we'll see if I was half right anyway.


NY Giants at San Francisco  -Pick -  San Francisco

I have spent most of the year under appreciating them. Then of course I've spent most of the year ignoring the Giants.

The End Of Mitt with the Moderates

Nobody really expects our elected officials to live like us. Oh we'd like to think they do, making them populists but we prefer that they lead us so need to have vision and keep above the common responsibilities of day to day life.

But as voters, there is also a breaking point. A point at which keeping above the fray as it were, becomes just bs.

Mitt Romney has gotten to the point where we either wear boots because it's getting deep every time he talks or we change the channel.

The moderate voters are the ones who will decide this coming election. And most moderate voters are well grounded in the responsibilites of day to day life.

Almost with each passing week, Mitt Romney is creating a bigger and bigger disconnect.

The common man's 'offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands.
'Mr. Romney’s IRA has grown so large, it appears, due to investments in various vehicles managed by Bain Capital, the investment fund he helped found in 1984. His latest financial disclosure report, filed in August, shows that many of the IRAs assets are in Bain-affiliated entities located offshore, including one in the Cayman Islands that the report listed as having a value of between $5 million and $25 million'.
From : http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/01/19/romney-iras-offshore-investments-helping-his-tax-bill/

$374,327.62 is 'not very much' according to Mitt.
"It's probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything," said Romney on Tuesday. "For the past 10 years, my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past, rather than ordinary income or earned annual income. I got a little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away. Then, I get speakers fees from time to time, but not very much."
'Not very much? According to his personal financial disclosure, from February 2010 to February 2011, Romney earned $374,327.62 in speaking fees'.
From : http://news1.capitalbay.com/government-politics/323134-romney-says-374-327-is-not-much-for-speaking-fee.html

Mitt - 'I'm also unemployed'.
'TAMPA, Fla. — Mitt Romney sat at the head of the table at a coffee shop here on Thursday, listening to a group of unemployed Floridians explain the challenges of looking for work. When they finished, he weighed in with a predicament of his own'.
“I should tell my story,” Mr. Romney said. “I’m also unemployed.”
From : http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/16/romney-im-also-unemployed/

Buddy cana you share 10 grand for a side bet?
'If Mitt Romney had said $10 or a $1 million, the line might have flown right by, but offering Rick Perry a $10,000 bet on stage at Saturday night’s debate gave his opponents a perfect new way to cast him as an out-of-touch rich guy'.
From : http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70246.html

Da Playoffs

Holy bad picks Batman!

10...to....31
Cin v. Hou.....Cincy - Loss
Gonna go against the flow and pick Cincy. Houston has lost 3 coming into this and could have a banged up QB or go to Jake. I thinks it's been 2 - 2 1/2 years since Jake has won a game.

23...to...29
Pitt v. Den....Pittsburg - Loss
Tim has a long way to go in trying to match 'miracles' with Ben and company.

28...to...45
Det v. N.O.....New Orleans - Win
Could (and should) be over by half time.

2...to...24
Atl v. NYG.....Atlanta - Loss
Neither teaam is impressive but I'll go with the one that's not limping so badly.

Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.........................
Let's quickly move on to week 2.
Playoffs - Week 2
SAT, JAN 14
New Orleans at San Francisco - Pick - New Orleans
San Fran has the 'D' but I think Brees and Co. will throw more then San Fran can handle. 

Denver at New England - Pick - New England
Gonna go with my gut. I've been asking for the last 6 weeks of so can Denver beat New England? I still don't think Tebow will make it half way through next season.
SUN, JAN 15
Houston at Baltimore - Pick - Baltimore
I don't think Houston will be able to overcome Baltimore's 'D'.

NY Giants at Green Bay - Pick - Green Bay
GB just basicly outscores every opponent.

The Last Of The Millenniums

The reason I started this blog to write down my thoughts on where we, humans are going.

We know where we've been. May disagree but can find common ground on where we are at so by connecting those two points, maybe we can extrapolate where we may be headed.

A couple of years ago on a site, it was being discussed if you could go back in time, where and when would you go and taking 20 people with you, who would they be.

Not too surprisingly most wanted to set up little mini kingdoms or talk to some of the historical figures we've had.

And not to seem like I'm 'special', but my thinking was more along the lines of how about stopping the single (in my opinion) event that most affected our course in history.

The 'Dark Ages'.

The 500 years that followed the fall of the Roman Empire (and the elimination of all the progress that had been made) and the insertion of the two religious factions, waring each other and the dominance of religion in our social, political and even economic structures.

OK. Kind of an ego boost to change history but anyone who reads history also knows of the huge suffering undergone because of the 'Dark Ages'.

So my thinking was to bring physicans, scientists in the fields of engineering, chemistry, geology, linguists and horticulturists along with 6 military personnel. A couple trained in building arms, a couple in military strategy and a couple of experienced hand to hand combat personnel.

You establish a base and then interact with selected 'locals' and begin introducing 'inventions'.

You take what the Romans had bulit and before it begins to decline, re-enforce it, conitnue it adding 'inventive' improvemnets. Directing society towards improving and intergrating a raised standard of living for everyone. Providing housing, food, medical care, education and employment for all.

For instance. Imagine instead of waiting almost 2000 years to invent the internal combustation engine, you 'invent' the electric engine. You'd eliminate the future of political, religious and economic influence of the dominance of fossil fules and even take one the the most harmful enviromential factors out of play.

Not to mention the effect that having electriacl power, lights, engines, etc would have on the advancement of us.

But that's where we've been and the fantasy of what it would be like to change it.

The reality is we are here at a certain point and we are moving forward. The question is where are we headed?

So again going back to if we know where we've been and where we are, we could/should be able to connect the 'dots' and get a somewhat realistic idea of where we are going.

A lot of variables but even some of those, excluding natural disasters, can be somewhat taken into account.

A couple of days ago, the 'Doomsday Clock' was advanced to 5 minutes again
http://thebulletin.org/content/media-center/announcements/2012/01/10/doomsday-clock-moves-to-five-minutes-to-midnight

For most of my life, our tommorrows all too often look like they could be the  worst day since yesterday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGMYwn_NzbI

Maybe if enough of us care, we could change that.

Caturday at the Kane's

Playoffs !!!!!

Playoff........Kane

Cin v. Hou.....Cincy
Gonna go against the flow and pick Cincy. Houston has lost 3 coming into this and could have a banged up QB or go to Jake. I thinks it's been 2 - 2 1/2 years since Jake has won a game.

Pitt v. Den....Pittsburg
Tim has a long way to go in trying to match 'miracles' with Ben and company.

Det v. N.O.....New Orleans
Could (and should) be over by half time.

Atl v. NYG.....Atlanta
Neither teaam is impressive but I'll go with the one that's not limping so badly.

Advise and Consent

Not the Senate's role but those who 'offer' strategic advice to political campaigns.

'Mitt Romney has added a veteran Washington lobbyist — Charlie Black, a top political aide to Senator John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign — to the circle of informal advisers who are trying to help to guide him to the White House'.

'In addition to his extensive corporate work, Black’s client list included (but is by no means limited to) Iraq/Iran’s Ahmad Chalabi, Mobutu Sese Seko, Ferdinand Marcos, Somalia’s Mohamed Siad Barre, Nigeria’s Ibrahim Babangida, and Angola’s would-be dictator Jonas Savimbi. In each instance, Black was paid (handsomely) to boost their access, influence, and stature among U.S. policy makers'.

'And now this same Charles Black is offering advice to Mitt Romney. Maybe some enterprising campaign reporter should ask Romney about this'.
From : http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2012_01/meet_charlie_black034485.php#

Meet Charlie Black :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjCYmjjxp8I&feature=player_embedded

People like this is why our Country is in such a mess. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/us/politics/13black.html

The claim that bussiness is uncertain so won't invest?

'Bank of America Corp., under pressure to raise capital and cut risks, is severing lines of credit to some small-business owners who have used them to stay afloat'.

'The Charlotte, N.C., bank is demanding that these customers pay off their credit line balances all at once instead of making monthly payments. If they can't pay in full, they are being offered new repayment plans for as long as five years, but with far higher interest rates than their original credit lines had'.
From : http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/bank-america-initiated-new-loan-shark

Sunday Picks - Week 17 - Ending on a high note

Well the regular season anyway.

Kane  13 - 3  (256)
Total 156 - 100 =  61%

Below where I'd like to be at 2/3rds but............

Week 16..........Kane
Week 17
SUN, JAN 1
20...to...23 - Win                                    
Sea v. Ari.......Ari.
Seahawks ended with the same win/loss but in more stable shape then last year. They have a QB (although I'm still not sold on him.) Established a running game. Something they haven't had for years. Built up their 'O' line and Defence.  Have to keep a solid running game because next year the NFC West is going to have some high scoring offences. Run the ball. Control the clock and keep the ball away from the other team.

17...to....45 - Win                                    
Car v. N.O.......N.O.
As the year started, so it shall end.........for one of these teams. G.B. vs. N.O.

21...to...49 - Win                                     
Buff v. N.E......N.E.
Brady and company could....go....all....the....way......Well until they meet Rodgers and company! (GRINS!)

17..to...13 - Win                                      
Chi v. Minn......Chi.
Losing the starting QB should NOT have been this bad. Gotta fix that problem.

17...to...19 - Win                                     
NYJ v. Mia.......Mia.
Nothing to see here except Miami will have a much better year next year. NY? You gotta a great QB. Build around that.

34...to...27 -  Win                                    
S.F. v. St.L.....S.F.
A great defence. But winning a game means you score 1 more point then the other team. Their offence has been struggling.

41...to...45 - Loss                                    
Det v. G.B.......Det.
You're playing a team that has their starting QB sitting and 6 other starters and you still can't beat them?
Is it 'how bad are we' or 'how good are they'?
It's how good are they!

10...to...34 - Win                                     
Wash v. Phil.....Phil.
A whole lotta work to do on both teams for next year.

13...to....19 - Win                                    
Indy v. Jack.....Jack.
A huge yerar for Indy coming up. I'd love to see Peyton play but not at the risk of his health. And Luck? How cool to be mentored by one of the greatest QB's in the history of football?

23...to...22 - Win                                     
Tenn v. Hou......Tenn.
Has Matt got another year in him? Houston? It's coachiong that could take them to the next level and deep into the playoffs. But do they have the right coaching?

7...to...3 - Loss                                      
K.C. v. Den......Den.
Bet Tebow doesn't make it half way through next season. K.C. on the other hand wins their Divison.

24..to..45 - Win                                       
T.B.v. Atl.........Atl.
Like Houston, both teams need coaching to get to the next level.

24...to...16 - Win                                     
Balt v. Cin......Balt.
And the Ravens are in the same boat as T.B., Atlanta and Houston. Cincy? start shaking it up or get used to having a repeat.
 
13...to...9 - Win                                      
Pitt v. Cle......Pitt.
Ditto for both these teams. Need to shake it up. Personnel AND coaching!

38..to..26 - Loss                                      
S.D. v. Oak......Oak.
S.D. I have NO idea what the problem is. Oakland? Well get a real QB and keep building on what you did.

14...to..31 - Win                                      
Dall v. NYG......NYG.
Dallas. Needs a new QB, Coach and attitude.

NYGiants? See Dallas.

First annual 'Idiots Delight' year-end awards

Over at Addictinginfo :
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/12/31/idiots-delight-the-annual-edition/

**'John Boehner: Not since the Ford Motor Company decided it would be a good idea to name a car after the son of its founder, has more misfortune befallen one individual'.
'Whether he can survive through this congressional term remains to be seen. What is certain is that the political firestorm that is the House of Representatives will be a sore spot for the GOP throughout the 2012 campaign and for that, Republicans – and Democrats, as well – have John Boehner to thank'.

**'Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain and Rick Perry: Or, as I prefer to call them, Dumb, Dumber and Dumbest. Bachmann, Cain and Perry epitomize the very worst of a polarized and paralyzed political process that has made them the laughing stock of most voters and severely damaged their own party'.

**'Anthony Weiner: And now we come to the greatest shame and waste of 2011. The former Democratic representative from New York was one of the Party’s most articulate, passionate and effective leaders until his fall this past spring'.
'In a House of Representatives that desperately needs sensible alternatives to the madness of the Tea Party infestation, Democrats are still searching for their voice.
Weiner’s departure has left a political vacuum that the Party must fill somehow or risk further collateral damage in 2012'.
'As I said at the time, nice goin’, putz'!

**'The Agents of Intolerance: Whether it was Fox News, or much of the A.M. radio dial, or the Tea Party Express, or some pretend evangelical spewing hate as scriptural doctrine, 2011 was yet another painful reminder of just how far the nation has been dragged into the mud and how much farther it still needs to go to recover; assuming that’s even possible'.

'I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again. The only way the Left can persevere is to resist the urge to one up the Right. Succumbing to its lesser angels not only undermines its moral high ground, it elevates that which it purports to hate the most to the status of equal'.
'And can there be any more revolting a concept as that'?

Acountability of Politicaly Astute Newt

Astute : clever, cunning, crafty

“Politics has become a really nasty, vicious, negative business and I think it’s disgusting and I think it’s dishonest,” Gingrich told ABC News aboard his campaign bus in Iowa'.
From : http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/politics-is-a-nasty-vicious-negative-and-disgusting-business/

Such as his 1996 GOPAC memo urging Republicans to refer to Democratic opponents as :

Pathetic Traitors and much, much more.......................
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4443.htm

Mitt Romney's 'true character'

"The next election isn't about just picking the next president," he said.  "It's about the soul of the country."
From : http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/12/31/new-poll-shows-mitt-romney-on-the-cusp-of-iowa-victory.html

“As to what to do for the housing industry specifically — and are there things that you can do to encourage housing? One is, don’t try and stop the foreclosure process,” said Romney. “Let it run its course, and hit the bottom, allow investors to buy up homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up, and let it turn around and come back up".
From : http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/10/romney-dont-try-and-stop-the-foreclosure-process-video.php?ref=fpa

'Don’t try and stop the foreclosure process.'

'Allow investors to buy up homes'.

Profit in the one hand. People in the other. Three guesses and the frist two are wrong as to who in a Romney Administration is going to come out on top.
http://www.lvrj.com/multimedia/Five-questions-with-Mitt-Romney-132028338.html