NBC News has confirmed that one woman received a settlement from the National Restaurant Association after complaining about inappropriate sexual conduct by Herman Cain.
NBC News is not disclosing the name of the woman nor characterizing who she is.
Two-thirds of likely voters say the American middle class is shrinking, and 55 percent believe income inequality has become a big problem for the country, according to this week’s The Hill Poll.
A recent study of concentration of corporate control says that 737 entities have accumulated 80% of the control of the 43,060 Transnational Corporations (TNCs) listed in the Orbis database. I describe the methodology of the authors here, and it appears to be a sensible contribution to the task of identifying control in the complex ownership structures that make up the economy. There are valid criticisms of the results, but I believe it provides evidence that we live in an Oligarchy.I don't know what the answer is, but I think it involves lower taxes for rich people and less regulation.
Romney, supposedly the Republican most electable next November, is a recidivist reviser of his principles who is not only becoming less electable; he might damage GOP chances of capturing the Senate. Republican successes down the ticket will depend on the energies of the Tea Party and other conservatives, who will be deflated by a nominee whose blurry profile in caution communicates only calculated trimming.You know it's bad when Village Republicans are hoping those incredibly popular Teabaggers will bail them out.
“On the domestic side, both Democrats and Republicans have really made it very difficult for the president to be anything like a chief executive,” Daley says. “This has led to a kind of frustration.”Yes, one party routinely compares the president to history's greatest monsters, votes en masse against every piece of legislation he champions and has publicly stated time and time again that they're single greatest priority is removing him from office -- and then there's that pain-in-the-ass Nancy Pelosi.
Block has been accused of voter supression and was banned from running Wisconsin political campaigns for three years to settle accusations he coordinated a judge's re-election campaign with a special interest group.
Records show Block has faced foreclosure on his home, a tax warrant by the Internal Revenue Service and a lawsuit for an unpaid bill. He also acknowledges he was arrested twice for drunken driving.
Right now, this very moment, we have a candidate for the GOP nomination who is, by far, the biggest alpha male conservative in a generation.Bloomberg:
Rick Perry, whose performance in a series of Republican presidential debates has corresponded with a steep decline in his polling, plans to limit participation in future face-offs ahead of early state nominating contests.Being too scared to face your opponents is very manly!
The concession by the Texas governor, made by an aide on CNN last night, could benefit former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who has taken a lead over his party’s contestants in the states with the first four primaries and caucuses.
In the modern Republican Party, tax policy isn't really about tax policy anymore. It's mostly just meant to be evocative, a demonstration that you're really, truly part of the family. So the crazier it is, the better. Nobody — least of all Republican voters — seriously expects any of these proposals to become law.This is absolutely true. The real problem, however, is that no one in the media (or Democratic leaders, for that matter) acknowledges that this is all make believe craziness. These proposals are treated seriously and given careful consideration and analysis.
Success is the national religion, and almost everyone is a believer. Americans love winners. But that's just the problem. These guys on Wall Street are not winning – they're cheating. And as much as we love the self-made success story, we hate the cheater that much more.In this country, we cheer for people who hit their own home runs – not shortcut-chasing juicers like Bonds and McGwire, Blankfein and Dimon.
That's why it's so obnoxious when people say the protesters are just sore losers who are jealous of these smart guys in suits who beat them at the game of life. This isn't disappointment at having lost. It's anger because those other guys didn't really win. And people now want the score overturned.
All weekend I was thinking about this “jealousy” question, and I just kept coming back to all the different ways the game is rigged. People aren't jealous and they don’t want privileges. They just want a level playing field, and they want Wall Street to give up its cheat codes...
Florida should be drug-testing the Republicans who voted for this law.A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked Florida's controversial law requiring welfare applicants be drug tested in order to receive benefits.
Judge Mary Scriven issued a temporary injunction against the state, writing in a 37-page order that the law could violate the Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on illegal search and seizure.
"The constitutional rights of a class of citizen are at stake," Scriven wrote in an order filed in the Middle District of Florida Orlando Division.
[...]
"If invoking an interest in preventing public funds from potentially being used to fund drug use were the only requirement to establish a special need," Scriven wrote, "the state could impose drug testing as an eligibility requirement for every beneficiary of every government program. Such blanket intrusions cannot be countenanced under the Fourth Amendment."
In 1971, Marco was born in Miami to Cuban-born parents who came to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover.It now reads,
Marco was born in Miami in 1971 to Cuban exiles who first arrived in the United States in 1956.Even "exiles" seems like quite a bit of a stretch, given that Batista's army routed Castro and Guevera's ragtag forces in December 1956.
The government has released the first official payroll data for 2010. As you might expect, the numbers aren’t too encouraging. The “raw” average wage--net compensation divided by total number of workers--was $39,959.30, according to the data from the Social Security Administration. But the median wage is far lower: 50 percent of workers earned less than or equal to $26,363.55 for 2010.
Reacting to the flurry of stories about his abortion position, Herman Cain just tweeted, “I’m 100% pro-life. End of story.”You wish, dude.
When wingnuts attack NPR or the New York Times or Wonkette or call for boycotts of CBS or Katie Couric or whatever they're having a ragegasm about that day -- I shrug. I honestly could care less what they think of those media organizations -- which I have no emotional attachment to.This is Adam Levine of the band Maroon 5.
If you have tween-age daughters or aspiring pop star sons, you know who this guy is. And yes, you may even have been guilty of downloading his songs on iTunes or buying his CDs.
Pleading guilty.
Well, if you also happen to be conservative and enjoy Fox News, Adam Levine doesn’t want your money.
He doesn’t want Fox News playing his music.[...]
There’s a word for this kind of irrational, self-defeating, blanket hatred: Bigotry.
While there were plenty of negative words associated with Romney, such as "boring" and "fake," the most extreme negativity was reserved for Rick Perry. After "Texas" (55 mentions), the most common response to Perry was "No" (16 mentions) and "Idiot" (15 mentions).
I do hope Perry is pressed on his statement: “We don’t need to be subsidizing energy in any form or fashion.” That would seem to mean that the Texas governor is against all the tax breaks for oil and gas. Is that really his position now?I'm going to go with 'no.'
"You ask the questions -- I get to answer like I want to."Cringe-worthy.
A new NBC/Marist poll out today shows Rick Perry in third place in two key primary states. In South Carolina, he's at 9 percent, behind Herman Cain at 30 percent and Mitt Romney at 26 percent. The standings are similar in Florida, where Perry has 8 percent, Cain has 32 percent and Romney has 31 percent.
George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush ought to be embarrassed that they invited Limbaugh to the White House. The Claremont Institute, whose work I often respect, ought to be mortified that they sullied their Statesmanship Award by bestowing it upon Limbaugh. Shame on National Review for celebrating one of conservatism's most controversial figures in a symposium that didn't even acknowledge his many critics on the right. In it Heather Higgins remarked on "Rush's long track record of accurate predictions and analyses," Kathryn Jean Lopez commented on his "graciousness and humility," Mary Matalin said "he epitomizes what we all aspire to be, both as citizens and individuals," Andrew McCarthy claims his message is "always" delivered with "optimism, civility, and good humor," and Jay Nordlinger asserted that "he is almost the antithesis of the modern American, in that he doesn't whine." Every last claim is too absurd to satire, let alone defend.And lest we forget, he was the keynote speaker at CPAC.
Shame on The Heritage Foundation for sponsoring Limbaugh's radio show, and on the Media Research Center and Human Events for honoring Limbaugh's excellence ... and the list goes on, including the millions of people who support his radio show because they agree with Limbaugh's ideology, even though they'd be outraged if a liberal trafficked in similarly poisonous rhetoric.
Because nothing says "liberty" like trillions of dollars of taxpayer-funded bailouts.
Some Tips For The Simpletons of 'Occupy Wall Street'And, for the last time -- the fact that people purchase products made by some corporations doesn't mean they can't criticize criminality/fraud/greed by other corporations.
In mid-September, Rick Perry was the leader in Florida, polling at 29 percent. Mitt Romney was at 20 percent, and Herman Cain was at 6 percent.
What a difference a month makes.
Results from the new InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research poll for the Florida Times-Union (the same poll that last month’s results came from): Mitt Romney (32.6 percent), Herman Cain (30.2 percent), Newt Gingrich (11.7 percent), Rick Perry (2.9 percent), Ron Paul (2.7 percent), Michele Bachmann (1.6 percent), and Jon Huntsman (0.2 percent).
As the 99 percent movement protests spread across the globe, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) finally agreed yesterday that “there is too much income disparity” in the U.S. and determined that the government should rely on America’s wealthy to take care of this “complaint.” Continuing this theme, Cantor announced today that he will give an address on income disparity “and how Republicans believe the government could help fix it” on Friday. According to his aide, Cantor will specifically focus on how Washington can help “a single working mom…a small business owner..and how we make sure the people at the top stay there.”This is just terrible messaging by Cantor. First, he admits wealth inequality is a problem -- it's an article of faith among wingnuts that it's not. Second, he says government can make people's lives better. Third, the "people on the top" thing is just classic.
By a 67 - 23 percent margin, New York City voters agree with the views of the Wall Street protesters and say 87 - 10 percent that it is "okay that they are protesting," according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
Agreeing with the protesters views are Democrats 81 - 11 percent and independent voters 58 - 30 percent, while Republicans disagree 58 - 35 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Even Republicans, however, agree 73 - 23 percent with the protesters right to be there.
Reagarding a photo of protesters with a "Class War" sign -- which might shock the Little Old Lady from Dubuque, if no one else -- Ole Perfesser Instapundit lays on the bullshit:Heh.And Reuters ran this pic, but I doubt many newspapers front-paged it as they would have a similar photo of masked Tea Party protesters proclaiming some sort of war...Yeah, the MSM commissioned it and ran it -- but they didn't run it big enough to suit the Perfesser, the Perfesser bets!
Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, is 8.3% in mid-October -- down sharply from 8.7% at the end of September and 9.2% at the end of August. A year ago, Gallup's U.S. unemployment rate stood at 10.0%. While seasonal hiring patterns may explain some of this improvement, the drop suggests the government could report an October unemployment rate of less than 9.0%.
He [Herman Cain] thus neatly encapsulates what has become an article of faith for many white conservatives; namely, that it is they, not black and brown people, who are the true victims of bigotry. Mind you, they have not a shred of a scrap of a scintilla of evidence to support this cockamamie idea, but they believe it anyway. And now they find support for their idiocy in this Negro from Atlanta.
I think now, based on the way the campaign has shaken out, that there probably is a candidate on our side who does embody all three legs of the conservative stool, and that’s Romney.El Rushbo, this week.
Romney is not a conservative. He's not, folks.Think this would give the dittoheads who hang on his every word some cognitive dissonance?
The tea party didn’t come about because of crony capitalism, the tea party was wholly a reaction to the election of Barack Obama. We’ve gone over and over this. The tea party is not some organic movement that just appeared out of nowhere- it was the Republican base re-branding themselves with the help of the Koch brother’s various wingnut welfare organizations, Fox news and Roger Ailes, and out of work conservative political consultants. It wasn’t overtaken by “mainstream” Republicans- it punished all the mainstream Republicans in primaries. That is how we got lunatics like Sharon Angle and the masturbator-hater from Delaware whose name I can not remember.That would be Christine O'Donnell.
Who's behind the Wall St. protests?Personally, I'm not sure, but I'm going to go with George Soros, unions, ACORN and the Black Panthers.
“The left is trying to create a counter force to the tea party, but it’s almost laughable that anyone is comparing the two, because they’re totally different,” said Sal Russo, chief strategist for the Tea Party Express.
Brendan Steinhauser, campaigns director for FreedomWorks, evoked leaders of the civil rights movement in distinguishing the protests, saying the tea party’s tactics resemble those of Martin Luther King Jr., while the Occupy Wall Street protesters are more like Malcolm X and Stokely Carmichael.
“They just seem really, truly very unhappy, angry,” he said of the anti-corporate protesters. Tea partiers, on the other hand are for the most part “kind of cheerful, happy warriors,” he said.
Unprecedented Congressional Obstructionism Is Actually Quite PrecedentedUh-huh.
And who was this speaker? We don't know! The article doesn't say.OCCUPY L.A. SPEAKER: Violence Will Be Necessary To Achieve Our Goals. “Long live revolution! Long live socialism!”
Maybe they should change the name to “Doucheify L.A.” Do the Dems and Obama really want to endorse these guys?
If there’s one thing you can say about President Obama, the Democrats and their Poopstock movement, it’s that they’ve done a bang-up job of dividing Americans like never before. It’s horrible. Class warfare is horrible, and it’s no better than the way Hitler blamed everything on the Jews. Today it’s the Wall Street executives, tomorrow it will be anyone with a job.I wonder if these people realize that 82% of Americans blame Wall Street for the mess we're in.
Republican presidential contender Herman Cain amplified his criticism Sunday of the growing Occupy Wall Street movement, calling the protesters “jealous’ Americans who "play the victim card” and want to “take somebody else’s” Cadillac.
Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin recently said something both profound and essential.Because no one says "profound and essential" like the Quitter.
“We weren’t integrated nearly as rapidly as the North,” she said. “But we’ve always had a different relationship with our blacks than the North has, too. It’s often been said, and I think it’s true, we love them individually and kind of distrust them as a group, whereas in the North, they don’t want to get too close to them individually but they embrace them as a group.”
Now, all eyes turn to Mr. Romney, who is scheduled to speak Saturday at the conference, just before Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis for government and public policy at the American Family Association. Mr. Fischer is known for his strident remarks on homosexuality, gay rights, Muslims and Mormons.
Following up on this morning’s job numbers, it’s worth reemphasizing a point the right generally prefers to ignore: spending cuts are making unemployment worse. Dealing with the jobs crisis is hard enough, and conservative policies are akin to throwing an anvil at a drowning economy.
Where I get a little impatient with Steve these days is, while it's true that conservative polices are screwing us, who said this just 3 months ago?
Government has to start living within its means, just like families do. We have to cut the spending we can’t afford so we can put the economy on sounder footing, and give our businesses the confidence they need to grow and create jobs.
Hint: it wasn't John Boehner.
1) right-wingers, when told to STFU, frequently whine that their "First Amendment rights" are being trampled;And right on cue:
They really are just incredibly stupid people.AFTER ESPN SUSPENDS HANK JR. FOR ONE-WEEK, HANK JR. DECIDES TO PULL HIS SONG FROM BEING USED ON ESPN FOR REMAINDER OF SEASON!
"After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment
Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It's been a great run." -- Hank Williams Jr
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): ‘Time to kill the wealthy,’ says fan of Occupy Wall Street. “And now, the same people who insisted that a U.S. map with crosshairs symbols on it somehow caused an act of horrible violence — by someone who never even saw that map — will insist that the Occupy Wall Street geniuses bear no responsibility for the actions of this lunatic.And who sent this email? We don't know -- the article doesn't say. But whoever it was, it's totally the same thing as the Quitter's gun porn!
Probably for the better in the drive to unseat Obama, but only because of the political corruption of the media and establishment Republicans, who have been relentless in their attacks on her. It disgusts me that a candidate of such quality cannot run as a practical matter, and that we are left with second and third choices. But reality is reality, and it would have been a tough road to overcome the past three years.Yes, the fact that the Quitter is one of the most reviled figures in politics -- and that over 70% of Teabaggers didn't want her to run -- is all because they read too much of the New York Times.
At a moment when Erickson could have shown himself to be a mensch he showed himself to be a schmuck.On which planet is Erickson ever a "mensch"?
"I was talking with a businessman this morning up in Minneapolis," she said. "And he was up in Williston, North Dakota, where the Bakken oil field is producing."
"Someone told me that last year that North Dakota was the only nation that actually was running a surplus. And it's because they're utilizing their natural energy resources," Bachmann added.
The congresswoman calling North Dakota a "nation" was clearly misspeaking. But more glaring: North Dakota was one of four states to run a surplus last year.
See, Perry’s not a racist. But if Perry did do anything racist, it’s because he used to be a Democrat (heh). Yet the real victims here are white people, and once upon a time Herman Cain looked like he might be a hero to the white race. Now we see, though, that he’s just another black politician being all “racist racist racist racist” to get ahead just like the rest of them. The fact that actual African-Americans, including African-Americans with deranged right-wing views on non-racial issues, find Perry’s conduct problematic is immaterial to Reynolds’ assessment of the situation. After all, since white conservatives are the primary victims of racism in contemporary America, who better than Reynolds to put Cain back in his place and tell him how it is?
You might have anticipated that Perry would face a firestorm for being associated with the property, but it's Cain whose remarks are drawing the most criticism from the right. At RedState, Erick Erickson concluded, "It also seems to be a slander Herman Cain is picking up and running with as a way to get into second place." Glenn Reynolds remarked that until now, Cain's "big appeal is that he's not just another black race-card-playing politician." Over at the Daily Caller, Matt Lewis called Cain's remarks "a cheap shot, and, perhaps a signal that Cain is willing to play the race card against a fellow Republican when it benefits him."Just another black politician. Lovely.
...no one thought Cain was "playing the race card" when he said in the same program that black people are "brainwashed" into voting for Democrats and suggested that black people who vote Republican are "thinking for themselves." Cain wasn't rebuked by conservatives when he previously suggested President Barack Obama was not "a strong black man," implied liberals were out to commit genocide against blacks through support for abortion rights, and said he wouldn't appoint a Muslim to his cabinet.Of course not. Because as Putz notes, those are not examples of "siding with the media against other Republicans."
“The President’s party want to take from some and give to others,” Romney said in a recent debate. “That isn’t the way to lift America.”Ronald Reagan:
We’re going to close the unproductive tax loopholes that allow some of the truly wealthy to avoid paying their fair share. In theory, some of those loopholes were understandable, but in practice they sometimes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying ten percent of his salary, and that’s crazy.The Birchification of the Republican Party is complete.
“There should be no government intrusion in the pulpit,” said the Rev. James Garlow, senior pastor at Skyline Church in La Mesa, Calif., who led preachers in the battle to pass California’s , which banned . “The freedom of speech and the freedom of religion promised under the First Amendment means pastors have full authority to say what they want to say.”Yeah, that's fine. Just as long as you pay taxes like the rest of us, Jim.
