Mar 5, 2012 || World News

Monday, March 5, 2012

The Week Ahead: GOP field heads to Super Tuesday contests, Obama is the Likely Winner

The Week Ahead: GOP field heads to Super Tuesday contests
By Emily Goodin - 03/05/12 05:00 AM ET

The GOP presidential race will likely be the dominant story this week
as 10 states hold their nominating contests.

Ohio will be the state all observers are watching on Super Tuesday.
Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have been essentially tied in the polls
there. For Romney, a win in this critical general-election state would
help seal the argument he is the inevitable nominee and could shorten
the GOP nomination process. For Santorum, a win there would give his
campaign a big boost and help prolong the storyline that conservatives
cannot coalesce around a candidate.

President Obama will visit the critical election states of North
Carolina and Virginia to talk about the economy.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the budget battle continues with several
Cabinet secretaries testifying before committees.

And expect healthcare to remain a big issue this week. House
Republicans are launching an all-out assault on the healthcare law's
Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a cost-cutting panel
created by the healthcare reform law. And it's unlikely that the
controversy around contraception will go away.

More:
http://thehill.com/homenews/news/214021-the-week-ahead-gop-field-heads-to-super-tuesday-showdown

The danger of deadlock
By Dick Morris - 03/05/12 05:00 AM ET

If Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich split the remaining primaries and
caucuses – even if Romney wins most of them – we will not have a
nominee until the summer and may not have one until the convention in
late August.

In that case, kiss our chances of beating Obama good-bye!

With a majority of the delegates to be chosen through proportional
representation, Romney would have to win virtually all of the
winner-take-all states and do well in the others to get the nomination
before the convention in late, late, late August.

If Santorum or Gingrich upend Mitt in even a handful of key states, we
will have a deadlock.

Here's how it stacks up.

• Let's assume the best case for Romney: He wins these winner-take-all
states: North Dakota (28 delegates), Vermont (17), Virgin Islands (9),
Guam (9), Puerto Rico (23), Illinois (69), District of Columbia (19),
Maryland (37), Wisconsin (42), Connecticut (28), Delaware (17), Rhode
Island (19), Indiana (46), West Virginia (31), Nebraska (35) losing
only Pennsylvania (72) to Santorum and Georgia (76) and North Carolina
(55) to Gingrich.

• And then assume that Romney "wins" these proportional representation
states but has to split the vote with the other three candidates:
Alaska (27), Idaho (32), Massachusetts (41), Ohio (66), Virginia (49),
Wyoming (29), Kansas (40), Hawaii (20), New York (95), Maine (24),
Oregon (28), Kentucky (45). Assume that Romney "loses" these
proportional representation states but still gets his share of the
delegates: Loses to Newt: Arkansas (36), Alabama (50), Mississippi
(40), Louisiana (46). Loses to Santorum: Oklahoma (43), Tennessee
(58), Colorado (26), Minnesota (40), Missouri (52).

Then, in that case, here's how the delegate total would stack up on May 22nd:

Romney: 837

Santorum: 332

Gingrich: 336

Paul: 127

With 1,144 needed to nominate a candidate. We would be well into May
without a nominee.

• Then, let's assume that Santorum and Gingrich win Texas (155 by
proportional representation) but Romney gets his proportional share (a
third of Texas's delegates are chosen on winner take all. Assume Newt
wins them). Then assume Romney and Santorum split Iowa (28) and Mitt
wins the proportional representation battle in Washington state (43).
Still no majority for anyone.

It would not be until June 5th that a nominee would emerge if Romney
wins the winner-take-all states of California (172), Montana (25) New
Jersey (50), South Dakota (28), and Utah (40) and won the proportional
state of New Mexico (23). At that point, Romney would have 1,250
delegates, about a hundred more than he would need for a majority.

Waiting until June 5th for a nominee against an incumbent president is
an unacceptable risk.

But what if Romney loses just a handful of these states? It would
throw the convention into deadlock. Nobody would have a first ballot
majority and this internecine warfare would drag on until the
convention itself.

If we are to avoid a deadlock, we have to hope one candidate or
another wins them all. And that probably, at this stage, means
Romney.

More:
http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/dick-morris/214023-the-danger-of-deadlock

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Re: The Illegals: Another Angle

so far as I know, only communism and Americanism have tried to
eradicate religion. - Fred Reed

On Mar 5, 12:26 pm, MJ <micha...@america.net> wrote:
> The Illegals: Another Angleby Fred Reed
> From many Americans, though from fewer who have any idea what they are talking about, you could get the idea that illegal immigrants are brown sludge, the lazy and shiftless, the least intelligent of their countries, those unable or unwilling to make a living at home, who therefore go the the US to live on welfare. A certain paucity of logic informs much of this. If they come to live on welfare, how do they take the jobs of Americans, a crime of which they are regularly accused? But I note this only in passing. I do not mean to suggest that logic or knowledge have a place in politics.
> The fact is that the illegals come to work, and do, well and hard, which is why conservative patriotic businessman block attempts to restrict immigration.
> Which would be easy to do. Again, they come to work. Don't hire them, and they won't come. Illegals don't take jobs from Americans. Americans give them the jobs.
> But, whatever you think of the Latin hordes, it may be interesting to know a little about them. Let's wing it.
> Consider a man of twenty living in the slums of , say, Tegucigalpa with his wife and two small children. The local economy is a disaster. He can barely feed his kids, much less send them to school. "Barely feed them" is not a concept many Americans understand. It means that their stomachs hurt, that their physical development is threatened, that they cry and ask for food. Any parent who doesn't do anything possible to feed them, to include robbing banks, is irresponsible. Ask yourself what you would do.
> So Pablo and Maria talk it over, and decide that the only way out is for him to go to the US, work, send money home and, just possibly, eventually bring the family to America. There are good reasons why Americans might not approve his plan. From Pablo's point of view, watching his kids starve, it is the only plan.
> Getting from Honduras to San Francisco or South Carolina is dangerous, very dangerous. Crossing the Guat border means braving the Mexican police, who are brutal and corrupt. Typically the migrants go north through Mexico by riding on the roofs of cargo trains. It is not for the weak. On the trains they are subject to attacks by gangs, as for example Mara Salvatrucha, products of Reagan's romantic meddling of El Salvador. The "Mara" is from "marabunta," a swarm of army ants. The Maras are savage, sadistic, and live by robbing migrants of the money they have saved for the coyote, often beating them into cripples and raping the women. I would much rather do a tour on the ground in Afghanistan than ride those trains. It is safer. In Afghanistan you eat, do not have to drink from filthy pools beside the tracks, and do not spend nights on top of a box car in jeans and tea shirt during a sleet storm. Call the migrants anything you like, but leave out "gutless."
> Women also make this trip, for the same reason: to send money home for their kids. Don't, please, tell me about oppressed co-eds at Dartmouth.
> So Pablo, perhaps months later, gets to Laredo. Let us say that he started out with $2000 US, which is roughly what a coyote costs, and has managed not to be robbed of it. If he has it, it was probably put together by his extended family by forgoing shoes, food, what have you. He now finds himself in a city that preys on people like Pablo. He has little idea what he is doing. Twenty years in a slum in Teguce doesn't make you wise in the ways of the Mexican-American frontier. The police will rob him, perhaps torturing him to find out where he has stashed the money, if indeed he has any, and send him back to Honduras. Nasty gangs will do the same, except for deporting him. Migrants drown trying to swim the Rio Bravo.
> Several ways exist of crossing into the US. You can find a desert crossing poorly guarded and hope not to be killed by rattlesnakes or get lost and die of thirst. In the Mexican press I have read of tunnels thorough which 150 illegals pass per night. At $2k each, that's $300,000 a night in a great tax bracket. Or a coyote can get you across and, if he doesn't just take your money and disappear, he may put you into a van, and off you go. Bingo.
> Once away from the border, things get easier for Pablo. He may work a few days to get bus fare to Raleigh-Durham, where he has a friend. With the friend's help, he gets a job in construction. Here the American national hypocrisy works to his advantage. The construction firm of course knows perfectly well that Pablo is undocumented. Companies love illegals. It means that they can pay him dirt, no benefits, no Social Security, and he can't complain without getting deported. In any contest between money and patriotism, money wins. American immigration officials catch just enough Pablos to keep the rest intimidated, but not enough to reduce the supply of cheap labor. It is a sweetheart deal for businessmen.
> Pablo may or may not be a model uncitizen, may drink too much, may use drugs,or go into crime. Or he may not. He is very likely to send money, substantial amounts of it, back to Tegucigalpa. In Jalisco, where I live in Mexico, remittances from migrants are a crucial part of the economy. Pablo also is not unlikely to begin planning to bring his family to the US.
> Family values. Putting his life on the line for his children. The work ethic. All that.
> Is massive immigration good for the US? I doubt it. Are all the illegals wonderful people? No. In the long run will there be a happy ending? I don't know; to date there hasn't been.
> Yet men and women who will claw and save for a coyote, and ride that godawful train, at dead serious risk of being raped, robbed, tortured and beaten into medical curiosities left beside the tracks, who will cross into a hostile country whose language they do not know, and live in constant fear of being caught, all to feed their families and just maybe give them a better life in a better place – I think they deserve other than utter contempt.www.fredoneverything.com

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Obama, Netanyahu emphasize common bond, common enemies

Obama, Netanyahu emphasize common bond, common enemies
By Amie Parnes and Jeremy Herb - 03/05/12 12:54 PM ET

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
accentuated their unity Monday ahead of a high-stakes meeting at the
White House focused on the rising threat posed by Iran.

Obama sought to assure Netanyahu that all options remain on the table
to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, while the Israeli
leader reserved the right for a unilateral strike by his country.

"I reserve all options and my policy is not going to be one of
containment," Obama told Netanyahu in the Oval Office, before a gaggle
of reporters. "My policy is prevention of Iran obtaining nuclear
weapons."

For the second day in a row, Obama said there's "still a window that
allows for a diplomatic resolution" to the Iranian nuclear threat and
that the United States, together with other countries, would continue
to "tighten pressure" and put forth the "most crippling sanctions" to
date.

But Obama, who in a Sunday address to the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee emphasized that he "had Israel's back," said that if
the Iranian regime didn't move in the right direction, he would
consider other options.

"As I indicated yesterday in my speech, when I say all options are on
the table I mean it," Obama said.

Netanyahu, who sat beside Obama in the Oval Office, took a more
hawkish approach, saying Israel "must reserve the right" to act
unilaterally.

"Israel must have the ability to defend itself, by itself, against any
threat," Netanyahu said. "When it comes to Israel's security, Israel
has the right, the sovereign right, to make its own decisions. I
believe that's why you appreciate, Mr. President, that Israel must
reserve the right to defend itself.

"My supreme responsibility as prime minister of Israel is to ensure
that Israel remains the master of its fate," Netanyahu added.

The prime minister, who thanked Obama for his "strong" speech on
Sunday, also touted his country's relationship with the United States.

"We face common enemies," Netanyahu said. "Iran's leaders know that,
too. For them, you're the great Satan. We're the little Satan. For
them, we are you and you are us. And you know something, Mr.
President? At least on that last point, I think they're right."

As the two leaders wrestled with arguably their weightiest issue to
date, the meeting on Monday appeared far less tense than their meeting
last year, when Netanyahu appeared to lecture Obama on the history of
Israel.

On Monday, before a one-on-one meeting followed by a working lunch,
the two leaders both highlighted their common bond, sending a strong
message to Iran and other nations about their unity.

"As I've said repeatedly the bond between our two countries is
unbreakable," Obama said. "My personal commitment, a commitment that
us consistent with the history of other occupants of this Oval Office,
is rock solid, and as I've said to the prime minister in every single
one of our meetings, the United States will always have Israel's back
when it comes to Israel's security."

Natan Sachs, a fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center,
said Monday's meeting will help Obama and Netanyahu coordinate their
private strategies as well as their public messages.

"Confusion and mixed messages create uncertainty, which can be very
dangerous in a situation that's ripe for war," Sachs said.

Speaking to Netanyahu on Monday, Obama said it's "unacceptable from
Israel's perspective to have a country with a nuclear weapon that has
called for the destruction of Israel."

"But as I emphasized yesterday, it is profoundly in the United
States's interest as well, to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear
weapon," he added. "We do not want to see a nuclear arms race in one
of the most volatile regions of the world. We do not want the
possibility of a nuclear weapon falling into the hands of terrorists
and we do not want a regime that has been a state sponsor of terrorism
being able to feel that it can act even more aggressively or with
impunity as a consequence of its nuclear power."

More:
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/214123-obama-netanyahu-emphasize-strong-us-israeli-ties-at-meeting

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Television: Rogue, Rube or G.O.P. Star: Portraying Palin in "Game Change"

Rogue, Rube or G.O.P. Star: Portraying Palin

Phillip V. Caruso/HBO
Julianne Moore as Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, running for vice
president in 2008, and Ed Harris as Senator John McCain, the
presidential candidate, in "Game Change," Saturday on HBO.

By BRIAN STELTER
Published: March 4, 2012
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CloseDiggRedditTumblrPermalink "Game Change" the book is an
authoritative 448-page retelling of all 500 or more days of the 2008
presidential campaign. "Game Change" the film, to be shown by HBO on
Saturday night, is a reconstruction of the two months when Sarah Palin
was running for vice president on John McCain's ticket.

Related
In Video, Palin Rebuts Portrayal in HBO Movie (March 1, 2012)

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Todd Heisler/The New York Times
Sarah Palin, as the governor of Alaska. Her 2008 run for vice
president is the subject of "Game Change" on HBO.
The difference between the two has sparked conspiracy theories among
conservative allies of Ms. Palin, who comes across in both the book
and the film as woefully unprepared for the campaign and for the vice
presidency. The film, they assert, was conceived by Hollywood liberals
to undermine a future run for president by Ms. Palin, who has
pre-emptively attacked the film as a work of fiction, though she says
she has not seen it.

Others also have questioned the focus on Ms. Palin, among them the
conservative columnist Byron York, who wrote last month, "Why did
Hollywood focus on only one-half of 'Game Change'? The other half
would have made a great movie."

The answers are numerous — and probably disappointing to
conspiratorialists. "There were a number of films in the book," said
Len Amato, the president of HBO Films. "Our job was to zero in on the
best one."

HBO at first tried to translate the hard-fought primary campaign
between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton into movie form, but
the script for it was unwieldy (and the prospect of casting an actor
to play a sitting president was noxious to some people involved). On
the other hand, the selection of Ms. Palin, then governor of Alaska,
as a vice presidential candidate was compact enough for a two-hour
movie.

"From a storyteller's standpoint this was doable," said John
Heilemann, who, with Mark Halperin, wrote the book and were
extensively consulted on the film.

It's not unusual for a book adaptation to assume a life of its own on
film. But HBO's "Game Change" sits right at the intersection of
politics and storytelling, so it faces an unusual amount of scrutiny,
just as the book did upon its release two years ago.

Julianne Moore plays Ms. Palin and Woody Harrelson plays the campaign
manager Steve Schmidt in the film, which was written by Danny Strong
and directed by Jay Roach. In some scenes Ms. Palin is depicted as a
inspirational leader who impressed campaign staffers with her
Republican National Convention speech; in many other scenes she is
portrayed as unable to answer basic political questions.

In the film, while Ms. Palin prepares for her first television
interview, Mr. Schmidt asks her, "Governor, do you know what the Fed
is?" and she stares blankly at him. When he asks, "Governor, do you
know why we're in Iraq?," she says, incorrectly, "Because Saddam
Hussein attacked us on 9/11." Then Mr. Schmidt says to a senior
adviser to Ms. Palin, Nicolle Wallace, "Well, she's a great actress,
right?" Ms. Wallace answers, "The best," and he says, "Why don't we
just give her some lines?"

Discussing the depiction of Ms. Palin, Richard Plepler, a co-president
of HBO, said in an interview last week: "Danny, Jay and Julianne did a
brilliant job in conveying what made her compelling, empathetic and
interesting to a certain part of the citizenry. I think they also made
it clear how far over her head she really was. I don't think the most
loyal Republican would disagree with that."

Mr. Plepler and Mr. Amato denied that the film had a political agenda
or that its release during the 2012 Republican primaries had any
strategic purpose. Although no evidence exists to suggest otherwise,
they know the accusations will be made. In a Fox News interview on
Saturday, Ms. Palin cast the film as a product of a "pro-leftist,
pro-Barack Obama machine," and added, "Hollywood lies are Hollywood
lies."

Mr. Strong's rebuttal is simple: "The film's true." He said he
supplemented the book with 25 of his own interviews. Because more time
had passed since the election, he said: "Some people who weren't
comfortable talking right after the election were now ready to talk
about it. And, boy, did they talk."

Related
In Video, Palin Rebuts Portrayal in HBO Movie (March 1, 2012)

Breaking news about the arts, coverage of live events, critical
reviews, multimedia and more.

Go to Arts Beat »

A sortable calendar of noteworthy cultural events in the New York
region, selected by Times critics.

Go to Event Listings »
The film feels like an update to the book's Palin chapters. For
instance it plays up Ms. Palin's preoccupation during the campaign
about her standing in Alaska. "In my interviews it just kept coming
up," Mr. Strong said.

Ms. Palin's own memoir, "Going Rogue," was also a source for the
screenplay. "The whole movie was informed by having her point of view
read out loud to us in her voice," Mr. Roach said.

Mr. Roach first suggested dramatizing the McCain-Palin campaign on
Sept. 27, 2008, while schmoozing at HBO's lavish party celebrating its
Emmy Award wins. Mr. Roach had just received an Emmy for directing the
film "Recount," about the disputed 2000 election, for HBO.

"I'm fascinated by the rooms where political strategy is worked out,"
he said in an interview.

Mr. Roach was interested in the campaign that year, and in Ms. Palin
in particular, because she was a surprise pick for vice president and
was seen as a fix for a flailing Republican Party. Unbeknownst to him
Mr. Halperin and Mr. Heilemann had already pitched their book to HBO
executives with the hope that the network would buy the movie rights.

HBO did, and had an Obama-Clinton script commissioned, but it did not
satisfy the people involved. "I found it to be very interesting,
compelling, but it just seemed like it needed a mini-series to cover
it all," Mr. Roach said.

In the spring of 2010 at another HBO party — this time for its film
"The Special Relationship," about Bill Clinton as president and Tony
Blair as the British prime minister — Mr. Roach talked with executives
about pivoting toward the McCain-Palin chapters of the book.

Then he called his friend Mr. Strong. When screenwriters like Mr.
Strong read books, they naturally imagine how they would rewrite the
scenes as a movie or TV show; when he first read "Game Change," months
before Mr. Roach's call, he doubted that repetitive Democratic and
Republican primaries would work well on screen. "You're having the
same sequence over and over again, and that's the death of a
screenplay," he said.

Furthermore, he thought, the tension between Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton
was just as evident in public as it was in private, spoiling some of
the thrill for viewers who had already watched the campaign play out
on television. But in the Palin chapters, he said, "what was happening
behind the scenes was 10 times more amazing than what was happening in
the public eye." When he reread the chapters after Mr. Roach's call,
"I was amazed by how beautifully it was going to beat out as a movie."

And so the writing commenced, then the casting and producing, and
"Game Change" became, in Mr. York's words, "a Palin biopic."

To Mr. Roach, at least, it makes perfect sense. "No one," he said,
"changed the game more than Sarah Palin."

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/arts/television/game-change-on-hbo-with-julianne-moore-as-sarah-palin.html?pagewanted=2

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Breitbart’s Last Column – The Vetting Begins

New post on Fellowship of the Minds

Breitbart's Last Column – The Vetting Begins

by lowtechgrannie

Wow! Don't miss it!

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/03/04/obama-alinsky-love-song

lowtechgrannie | March 5, 2012 at 9:06 am | Tags: Andrew Breitbart, Barack Obama, big government, Communist Party, community organizer, Saul Aulinski, vetting | Categories: 2012 Election, Culture War, Liberals/Democrats, Media, The Powers That Be, US Presidents | URL: http://wp.me/pKuKY-cUU

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Drill Baby Drill, Redux, False Republican Claims About Gas Prices

Drill Baby Drill, Redux

It's campaign season and the pandering about gas prices is in full
swing. Hardly a day goes by that a Republican politician does not
throw facts to the wind and claim that rising costs at the pump are
the result of President Obama's decisions to block the Keystone XL
pipeline and impose sensible environmental regulations and modest
restrictions on offshore drilling.

Next, of course, comes the familiar incantation of "drill, baby,
drill." Mr. Obama has rightly derided this as a "bumper sticker," not
a strategy. Last week, he agreed that high gas prices were a real
burden, but said the only sensible response was a balanced mix of
production, conservation and innovation in alternative fuels.

There are lots of reasons for the rise in gas prices, but the lack of
American production is not one of them. Domestic crude oil production
is actually up from 5.4 million barrels a day in 2004 to 5.59 million
now; imports have dropped by more than 10 percent in the same period.
Despite a temporary slowdown in exploration in the Gulf of Mexico
after the BP oil disaster, the number of rigs in American oil fields
has quadrupled over three years. There have been new discoveries and
the administration has promised to open up more offshore reserves. To
say that Mr. Obama has denied industry access is nonsense.

Equally nonsensical is the Republican claim that Mr. Obama's proposed
repeal of $4 billion in annual tax breaks for the oil and gas industry
— whose five biggest players posted $137 billion in profits last year
— would drive prices upward. As is Newt Gingrich's claim that a
proposal now taking shape in the Environmental Protection Agency, and
fiercely opposed by refiners, to lower the sulfur content in gasoline
would add 25 cents to the cost of a gallon. Agency experts say it
would add about a penny.

The truth is that oil prices are set on world markets by forces
largely beyond America's control. Chief among these is soaring demand
in countries like China. Unrest in oil-producing countries is another
factor. The Times noted fears in some quarters that gas could jump to
$5 a gallon if the standoff with Iran disrupted world supplies.

Therein lies the biggest weakness in the Republican litany. A country
that consumes more than 20 percent of the world's oil supply but owns
2 percent of its reserves cannot drill its way out of high prices or
dependence on exports from unstable countries. The only plausible
strategy is to keep production up while cutting consumption and
embarking on a serious program of alternative fuels.

American innovation is a big part of the answer. Two byproducts of the
automobile bailout were the carmakers' acceptance of sharply improved
fuel economy and a new commitment to building cars that can meet those
standards. The new rules are expected to cut consumption by 2.2
million barrels a day — more than America now produces in the gulf.
These and other measures are not nearly as catchy as "drill, baby,
drill." But they have a far better shot, long term, of lessening this
country's dependence on oil imports and keeping gas prices under
control.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/opinion/drill-baby-drill-redux.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

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The Last Gasp of the disarrayed G.O.P.?

The Last Gasp of the G.O.P.?

Some saw Barack Obama's election four years ago as proof of a
demographic shift that would continue to help Democrats. Now the
president is enjoying relatively high approval ratings, despite having
inherited a deep recession and two wars. What does all this mean for
the future of the G.O.P.? Will the 2012 election be the last gasp of
the Republican Party?

A Swing, but Not a Permanent One

-by Glenn Greenwald

The recent history of partisan politics is that supporters of the
dominant party of the moment typically believe that their dominance
will endure for at least a generation, a belief that quickly proves to
be grounded in wishful thinking rather than reality. After impressive
G.O.P. victories in the 2002 and 2004 elections, Karl Rove boasted he
wanted a Republican majority "that would last for a generation" and
"wind up profoundly changing the relationship between citizen and
state in this country," while right-wing pundits excitedly proclaimed
the country on the verge of a "permanent Republican majority."

Partisans are naturally eager to believe that their party's victory in
one or two elections signals the national acceptance of their views.
These bold proclamations were not merely unrealized, but completely
obliterated, when the Democrats won both houses of Congress in 2006
and then the White House in 2008. Similar Democratic euphoria in the
wake of President Obama's 2008 election was swept away by the huge
G.O.P. win in 2010.

And so it goes. With President Obama's re-election looking
increasingly likely, and the G.O.P. field in disarray, we now hear
this familiar hubris from Democratic Party loyalists, as epitomized by
Jonathan Chait, who last week announced in New York magazine that the
G.O.P. was "staring down its own demographic extinction." Like similar
manifestations that preceded it, this partisan triumphalism is likely
to prove short-lived and wrong. The two major political parties have
proved themselves quite adept at changing form in order to ensure
their competitive viability.

This partisan cockiness typically assumes — wrongly — that the two
political parties are wedded to a fixed set of political principles.
That's not what the two parties are. They're far more akin to
products: specifically, brands. Recall that Advertising Age's Marketer
of the Year award in 2008 — chosen by the nation's "brand builders" —
went to the Obama campaign team for its excellence in branding its
product. When ordinary products begin to fail on the market, they are
simply rebranded: a car company associated with obsolete or clunky
designs revises its image into a newer, sleeker version of itself.

When a political party begins to fail competitively, as the G.O.P. is
clearly doing now, it, too, simply rebrands itself. Recall that in
2008, the G.O.P. was assumed by pundits to be dead for a generation
because of the profound, historic unpopularity of George W. Bush and
Dick Cheney. But the G.O.P. simply re-invented itself with a new brand
identity (the Tea Party) and swamped the Democrats a mere two years
later. If the G.O.P. is weighed down by obsolete or unpopular
associations — anti-immigrant or anti-gay animosity — it will simply
jettison those planks or change their image, just as Democrats did
under Bill "New Democrat" Clinton to escape the stigma of Jimmy
Carter, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis.

Similarly, the assumption that President Obama's Wall-Street-friendly,
status-quo-perpetuating first three years in office would cause him to
lose base enthusiasm is likely to be negated by his aggressive
rebranding under way this election year: he runs around the country
giving uplifting, energized speeches depicting himself as some sort of
populist hero of the 99 percent, and presto: the magic returns.
Branding is very potent.

Partisans are naturally eager to believe that their party's victory in
one or two elections signals the national acceptance of their views.
But American elections aren't determined by such high-minded
considerations. They're little more than vacuous reality shows where
today's losers, with some slight image retweaking, become tomorrow's
winners — and vice versa. Anyone who doubts that should simply review
the manic swings in party fortunes over the last two decades.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/04/is-the-republican-party-almost-over/a-democratic-majority-maybe-but-not-a-permanent-one
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

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Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

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"Dupont Circle Rally on Syria"

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SUMMARY:Dupont Circle Rally on Syria
DESCRIPTION:Amnesty International USA Washington\, DC Chapter\nTuesday\,
March 6 at 6:00 PM\n\nInstead of our Regularly Scheduled meeting we will
be rallying at Dupont Circle on Syria! Come Join us!\n \nWe will be tar
geting Russia with our petitions...\n\nDetails: http://www.meetup.com/ai
usa536/events/51710852/
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Amnesty International USA Washington, DC Chapter
Date: Monday, March 5, 2012
Subject: Tomorrow: Join 5 Human Rights Proponents at "Dupont Circle Rally on Syria"
To: majors.bruce@gmail.com

<http://www.meetup.com/t/img/md2o/10075860/logo_52x35.gif>

tomorrow

Dupont Circle Rally on Syria

Amnesty International USA Washington, DC Chapter

Tuesday, March 6, 2012
6:00 PM

Dupont Circle
Northwest
Washington, DC 20036

Will you attend?
Yes No
5 Human Rights Proponents going, including:
<http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/member/3/a/5/1/thumb_11594929.jpeg>
Carmen Radu
MA Candidate, Comparative and Regional Studies-Europe, American University School...
<http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/member/1/1/0/3/thumb_9124355.jpeg>
Daniel Maloney
Area Coordinator for Washington DC
<http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/img/noPhoto_50.png>
Tara DiNardo
I have been involved with Amnesty International for 7 years. In college I was both...
<http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/member/8/0/c/2/thumb_43172962.jpeg>
Khristina Rhead
Hi everyone! I'm Khristina and I'm a anthropology student at University of Maryland,...
<http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/member/a/b/7/3/thumb_13963891.jpeg>
Nick Geballe
Instead of our Regularly Scheduled meeting we will be rallying at Dupont Circle on Syria! Come Join us!
We will be targeting Russia with our petitions and actions asking their support of Humanitarian action in Syria.
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Re: Brietbart- Had Obama College Films

operative word: had

I hope he sent a few copies to friends.

On Mar 5, 9:21 am, Bruce Majors <majors.br...@gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>
> Subject: [TruthSeekersElection2004] Brietbart-was he killed? Had Obama
> College Films
> To: !TheMulti-D <TheMulti-DimensionalNewsPor...@yahoogroups.com>
>
>
>
> butlincat2012
> BREIBART - WAS HE WHACKED?
> Thu Mar 1, 2012 06:03
> 89.243.200.102http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=140288
>
> Breitbart: I Have Obama College Films
> {http://12160.info/video/breitbart-i-have-obama-college-films?xg_sourc...
> }
>
> Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart claims to have film of US President
> Barack Obama during his young, radical college years. He tells the CPAC
> audience th.....
>
> Breitbart: I Have Obama College Films
>
> '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
>
> The Huffington Post
>
> http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2012/03/01/huffington-drudg...
>
> ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
>
> Andrew Breitbart Dies at 43www.thedailybeast.com
>
> http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/01/andrew-breitbart-vid...
>
> ...b.
>
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>
> Visit Your Group
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> Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use
> .
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Re: White Applicants Blast FDNY After Being Denied Entry To Preparation Class

those who use their minority status for an advantage are something
other than Americans

On Mar 5, 10:26 am, Travis <baconl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> **
> New post on *Scotty Starnes's Blog*
> <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/author/scottystarnes/> White
> Applicants Blast FDNY After Being Denied Entry To Preparation
> Class<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/white-applicants-blast-...>by
> Scotty Starnes <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/author/scottystarnes/>
>
> The reverse discrimination continues because of affirmative action policies.
>
> *NEW YORK (CBSNewYork<http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/01/white-applicants-blast-fdny-af...>
> )* — Applicants are letting loose on the FDNY, saying the department engages
> in reverse discrimination<http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/01/27/police-lieutenant-files-discri...>
> .
>
> There were hurt feelings and racial tensions as white applicants were left
> standing outside a prep class on Wednesday night, reports CBS 2's Lou Young.
>
> "Whoever's name is not on the list is not getting in, so were just
> following orders. That's just the way it is," the applicants were told.
>
> Joseph Basile was one of those who didn't get in.
>
> "It wasn't a good feeling. It felt like it was discrimination," Basile said.
>
> The class was conducted by the Vulcan Society, a group of African American
> firefighters in an overwhelmingly white
> department<http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/10/05/judge-independent-monitor-to-o...>.
> Many applicants who were turned away preregistered online on forms that did
> not ask for their race, which made for testy moment.
>
> Translation: The black applicants were let in while the applicants who were
> discovered to be white, were left outside. In today's liberal world, skin
> color means more than merit.
>
> Continue reading>>><http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/01/white-applicants-blast-fdny-af...>
> *Scotty Starnes
> <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/author/scottystarnes/>*| March 5,
> 2012 at 7:30 AM | Tags: affirmative
> action <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=affirmative-action>,
> African-American
> firefighters<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=african-american-firefighters>,
> FDNY <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=fdny>, reverse
> discrimination<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=reverse-discrimination>,
> Vulcan Society <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?tag=vulcan-society> |
> Categories: Political Issues
> <http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/?cat=35145>| URL:http://wp.me/pvnFC-6Ly
>
> Comment<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/white-applicants-blast-...>
> See all comments<http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/white-applicants-blast-...>
>
> Unsubscribe or change your email settings at Manage
> Subscriptions<https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=7f89380f46003915c34c2cdd2b126a38...>.
>
> *Trouble clicking?* Copy and paste this URL into your browser:http://scottystarnes.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/white-applicants-blast-...
> Thanks for flying with WordPress.com <http://wordpress.com/>

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White Applicants Blast FDNY After Being Denied Entry To Preparation Class

New post on Scotty Starnes's Blog

White Applicants Blast FDNY After Being Denied Entry To Preparation Class

by Scotty Starnes

The reverse discrimination continues because of affirmative action policies.

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Applicants are letting loose on the FDNY, saying the department engages in reverse discrimination.

There were hurt feelings and racial tensions as white applicants were left standing outside a prep class on Wednesday night, reports CBS 2's Lou Young.

"Whoever's name is not on the list is not getting in, so were just following orders. That's just the way it is," the applicants were told.

Joseph Basile was one of those who didn't get in.

"It wasn't a good feeling. It felt like it was discrimination," Basile said.

The class was conducted by the Vulcan Society, a group of African American firefighters in an overwhelmingly white department. Many applicants who were turned away preregistered online on forms that did not ask for their race, which made for testy moment.

Translation: The black applicants were let in while the applicants who were discovered to be white, were left outside. In today's liberal world, skin color means more than merit.

Scotty Starnes | March 5, 2012 at 7:30 AM | Tags: affirmative action, African-American firefighters, FDNY, reverse discrimination, Vulcan Society | Categories: Political Issues | URL: http://wp.me/pvnFC-6Ly

Comment

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Hockey players record a PSA for gay equality,.

Brian Burke, the GM for the Toronto Maple Leafs, lost his gay son to a
car accident last year. And with his family has been carrying on his
sons fight for equality in sports.

The video has sever of the top NHL players in it. The pro Hockey for
those not into sports.

Bria Burke is known as one of the toughest guys in hockey. As a
player, coach and now GM. so to see him take up the banner for his son
increased my respect for him greatly.

You can see the video here: http://youcanplayproject.org/

Bear

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Obama impersonator dead at 48

New post on Fellowship of the Minds

Obama impersonator dead at 48

by Dr. Eowyn

Four days ago, Andrew Breitbart -- who had vowed his release of Obama's college videos would change the 2012 elections -- suddenly died, after he collapsed while "walking near his home" in southern California. His media organization Breitbart.com says it's from "natural causes," although the L.A. coroner's office hasn't even completed an autopsy.

Now, yet another thorn in the side of Obama was found dead at 48, once again "from natural causes."

Comic actor and impersonator Steve Bridges, known for his impressions of U.S. presidents, especially -- with the help of prosthetics -- of Barack Obama, was found dead at his Los Angeles home on Saturday.

It is believed Bridges died of natural causes. An autopsy is scheduled, but the Los Angeles County coroner's office said foul play was not suspected.

Brietbart- Had Obama College Films

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Subject: [TruthSeekersElection2004] Brietbart-was he killed? Had Obama College Films
To: !TheMulti-D <TheMulti-DimensionalNewsPortal@yahoogroups.com>

butlincat2012
BREIBART - WAS HE WHACKED?
Thu Mar 1, 2012 06:03
89.243.200.102
http://disc.yourwebapps.com/discussion.cgi?id=149495;article=140288

Breitbart: I Have Obama College Films
{http://12160.info/video/breitbart-i-have-obama-college-films?xg_source=activity}

Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart claims to have film of US President Barack Obama during his young, radical college years. He tells the CPAC audience th.....

Breitbart: I Have Obama College Films

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

The Huffington Post

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2012/03/01/huffington-drudge-and-beck-on-andrew-breitbarts-death/

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Andrew Breitbart Dies at 43
www.thedailybeast.com

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/03/01/andrew-breitbart-videos-blogger-dies-at-43.html

...b.

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Google privacy policy: Mozilla add-on Collusion reveals who is spying on internet users

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2109223/Google-privacy-policy-Mozilla-add-Collusion-reveals-spying-internet-users.html

Fwd: [I-S] Rally for Rush

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From:
Date: Monday, March 5, 2012
Subject: [I-S] Rally for Rush
To: Gathering_Conservatives_News_Group@yahoogroups.com, DeBaters_Gathering@yahoogroups.com

Rally for Rush

................• Carbonite: OK. Now we'll talk Carbonite. And about Mr. McLaughlin of Sleep Number. And two of the co-founders of Legal Zoom. Carbonite's statement was especially and curiously unctuous, its withdrawal of sponsorship coming as it did after Rush's apology. Here is Carbonite's CEO David Friend: ...Now. Carbonite really deserves some special attention...................... MoveOn.org, America Coming Together and Democracy for America, all three listed here as George Soros funded groups, the latter set up by Howard Dean. Texans for Truth also drew Mr. Friend's support. This group, according to Wikipedia, was set up by MoveOn.org spin-off Drive Democracy.org in 2004....

http://spectator.org/archives/2012/03/05/rally-for-rush/print

Click here: The American Spectator : Rally for Rush

.

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Dogs know

New post on Fellowship of the Minds

Dogs know

by Dr. Eowyn

Have you ever heard that a dog 'knows' when an earthquake is about to hit?

Have you ever heard that a dog can 'sense' when a tornado is stirring up, even 20 miles away?

Do you remember hearing that before the December tsunami struck Southeast Asia, dogs started running frantically away from the seashore, at breakneck speed?

Do you know that dogs can detect cancer and other serious illnesses and danger of fire?

Somehow they always know when they can 'go for a ride' before you even ask.

How do those dogs and cats get home from hundreds of miles away?

I'm a firm believer that animals - and especially cats and dogs - have keen insights into the Truth.

And you can't tell me that dogs can't sense a potentially terrible disaster well in advance.

Simply said, a dog just KNOWS when something isn't right...when impending doom is upon us.

They'll always try to warn us!

We should have listened....

H/t our Miss May

~Eowyn

Dr. Eowyn | March 5, 2012 at 3:00 am | Tags: Barack Obama | Categories: Animals, Humor, United States, US Presidents | URL: http://wp.me/pKuKY-cUd

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