Showing posts with label Mitt Romney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mitt Romney. Show all posts

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Terry Rakolta and Mitt Romney in ''Married ... With FOX'' ?

Mitt Romney's "Married ... With Children" Connection

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a former brother-in-law to Terry Rakolta. Ms. Takolta's relationship with Mr. Romney stems from her sister, Ronna Romney, who is the ex-wife to Mitt's brother, G. Scott Romney. This complex relationship matters.

Ms. Rokolta launched a one-woman letter writing campaign against the Fox Broadcasting Company sitcom, Married... with Children.

In the late 1980's, "Married ... With Children" was the most successful series on the FOX Broadcasting Company, and the controversy over the show's content attracted viewers once word about Ms. Takolta's morality campaign spread. Not only did the ratings of the sitcom "Married ... With Children" benefit from Ms. Takolta's boycott, but so did the situation of the FOX Broadcasting Company, when the company was still struggling.

The link between FOX and Mr. Romney's family was first brought to my attention by Russ DiBello, who posted this information on Facebook.

How does Mr. Romney or his family figure into this scenario ? Some people are questioning why does Rupert Murdoch sometimes express indifference or even disdain toward Mr. Romney, for example, Mr. Murdoch has opposed some elements of Mr. Romney's financial and investment strategy.

But no matter that Mr. Murdoch had to personally "evolve" on Mr. Romney's campaign. Mr. Murdoch nonetheless owes some major gratitude to Mr. Romney's family. For, without Ms. Rakolta's morality campaign, "Married ... With Children" might not have been such a success, much like FOX Broadcasting Company.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Frank Rich and Fran Lebowitz - A Review of the Town Hall Conversation

A State of the Union Conversation : An Evening With Frank Rich and Fran Lebowitz

Two plush chairs sat empty on an area rug in the middle of the stage last night at the Town Hall, near Times Square in New York City. The setting was meant to be cozy, but early on the anticipation and tension was already palatable.

Some people who bought tickets were so late taking their seats that, twice, the early birds amongst the audience made noise to bring out the stars of the evening, who eventually took to the stage about 8:15 p.m. or so.

Frank Rich, the former op-ed columnist and drama critic for The New York Times, and Fran Lebowitz, the author and social critic, took to their chairs and shared a conversation about the 2012 presidential election with the audience.

"The whole United States is a protest zone," said Ms. Lebowitz.

Recording devices were banned, so I live-Tweeted some of the more memorable remarks of their conversation.

The Town Hall offered an intimate setting for the conversation. At many times, Mr. Rich and Ms. Lebowitz received loud cheers in recognition of their especially brilliant observations from the audience. A few people even shouted affirmations or retorts, whenever the conversation touched a nerve. At one point, when the same gentleman in the audience made two loud comments in reply to Ms. Lebowitz's witticisms, she said, "Let us know where you are appearing tomorrow, so we can attend." Lots of people wanted to dive into the luxury of taking part in this conversation, because just sitting in their wise presence just wasn't enough.

Mr. Rich and Ms. Lebowitz spoke about the tour that their "conversation" was taking them : they had recently appeared in Las Vegas and in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Rich began their conversation on a sick and twisted (my words, not his) puff piece published by The Times in which Mayor Michael Bloomberg criticised President Barack Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Ms. Lebowitz offered a simple explanation for Mayor Bloomberg's interloping : he is envious that he could not become president.

Ms. Lebowitz said that when she saw Mayor Bloomberg get all involved up in Albany over last year's push for marriage equality in New York State, she said she hoped that Mayor Bloomberg would inspect Park Avenue for potholes as he was driven up to Albany, because potholes in New York City was his elected responsibility as a municipal administrator. This hilarious comment elicited many laughs from the audience.

At some point, Mr. Rich observed how none of the debates have touched on issues of LGBT equality. And Ms. Lebowitz observed that she was left confused by the LGBT equality movement's focus on getting married and joining the military, because, she said, when she was young, the two advantages of being gay was that you didn't have to get married, and you didn't have to go fight in any wars. There was also the obligatory joke about baby strollers. Her dry wit makes Ms. Leibowitz so attractive to people, who are sick and tired of the political spin of the talking heads on television news.

Mr. Rich circled back to the Bloomberg article in The Times and the observations were made about the shortcomings of the mainstream media.

Ms. Lebowitz couldn't resist making a joke about Jim Leher getting rolled over in the first presidential debate between President Obama and former Mass. Governor Mitt Romney.

The conversation by Mr. Rich and Ms. Lebowitz was very current, you could not tell if any parts of their talk had already been shared at prior speaking events, but Ms. Lebowitz and Mr. Rich did touch on some very basic concerns among progressive voters.

Eventually, the moment of glory : the conversation was opened up to questions from the audience.

Ms. Lebowitz's wisdom and humor was praised by many people in the audience, she is such an insightful thinker and speaker.

Her use of humor must have been an embarrassment to many politicians, and Ms. Lebowitz was bipartisan in her criticisms of Mayor Bloomberg, who she called the #Moncarchofminutiae, and of the New York City Council, who did not do anything to keep the NYPD in check as it set out to deliberately crush the #OccupyWallStreet movement. Ms. Lebowitz made the observation that when Mayor Bloomberg shut down efforts by protesters to demonstrate against the invasion of Iraq and against the Republican National Convention in 2004, he did so by trying to designate restricted areas, where activists could hold their protests. Ms. Lebowitz was infuriated. She said that the mayor did not know how the U.S. Constitution worked. Mayor Bloomberg could not restrict areas where protesters could hold their demonstrations. "The whole United States is a protest zone," said Ms. Lebowitz.

Ms. Lebowitz said at one point in the conversation that she didn't believe that voters were interested enough to hear the truth and facts in the news. She said that she thought that people were more interested in hearing lies. She made this observation in connection to some of the salacious political television ads now being aired in the Las Vegas television market. (Her observation was no doubt informed by other experiences.) She said that our whole culture is geared toward fantasy. No child asks their parent, "Daddy, tell me some more statistics before I go to sleep," or some outlandish request along those lines, is what she said. And she is correct. Ms. Lebowitz has rightly tuned into the fact that people are interested in hearing fabrication and lies -- a story of pure make believe. Early on, Ms. Lebowitz also expressed criticisms about the style of reporting in newspapers that placed an emphasis on elaborate literary descriptions of quaint village settings over just reporting facts, which, she said, normally showed up in the third paragraph.

Many people in the audience deliberately took seats that put them closer to the stage, which was a hassle to the staff at the Town Hall, who had to check tickets and move people back to their rightful seats.

For my part, I would like to register a complaint : even though I bought and paid for my ticket online from Ticketmaster to sit in the second row, for which I paid a fee of $12.55 for that "convenience," and another $1.00 fee for the "facility," the Town Hall still saw fit to charge me $5.00 to pick up my tickets at the Box Office. When I demanded a receipt, the box office assistant refused to give me a receipt.

Our lives are at the mercy of all these fucking fees ! In the "Twilight Zone" that is our political reality in the United States, they can nickel and dime people trying to access a little bit of REAL TALK about the State of the Union. Note how the controversial issues discussed during last night's conversation never seems to take place right on the front pages of The New York Times, not even the issue of race, which, both Mr. Rich and Ms. Lebowitz claimed is the motivation behind the GOP hatred of President Obama. I had to pay an unfair extra $5 for the privilege of hearing Mr. Rich and Ms. Lebowitz, but I wonder what is the real price society-at-large pays for being shut out of this critical conversation ?

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Romney Uses Job Intimidation To Extort Votes ?

In a leaked audio recording, GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney is heard telling employers to bully their employees to vote against Barack Obama.

I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope — I hope you pass those along to your employees. Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business, because I think that will figure into their election decision, their voting decision and of course doing that with your family and your kids as well.

Friday, October 19, 2012

Romney Ohio Voting Machine Scandal

Updated 20 October 2012 : 3:40 p.m. Forbes Magazine Article : Romney Family Investment Ties To Voting Machine Company That Could Decide The Election Causing Concern

From Politicol News :

The new owners of Ohio’s voting machines under the brand name HART Intercivic is none other than Tagg Romney the son of one of the candidates Mitt Romney. In recent weeks Tagg has taken a more “active role in his father’s campaign management” but when you look further, he also has a major problem with that role.

By virtue of conflict of interest alone, this role should be investigated by the DOJ preferably involving the addition of the FBI, Homeland Security and the CIA to ensure this connection will not endanger the vote in Ohio and other states.

Protest at Al Smith Dinner Against Budget Cuts

Hundreds of activists comprised of members of Healthcare for the 99% Working Group of Occupy Wall Street, PNHP, ACT UP, the Granny Peace Brigade, Occupy Queens, OCCU EVOLVE, and other groups protest against impending budget cuts to Medicare and healthcare across the street from the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where President Obama and Mitt Romney were participating in the annual Al Smith Wall Street fundraiser.

ACT UP activists also rallied in support of a Financial Transaction Tax to raise money to pay for healthcare and treatments to break the HIV infection curve and end AIDS.

Activists first started a moving picket on the sidewalk in front of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, but police closed the public sidewalk to only registered guests of the hotel and to persons paying at least $2,500 to have dinner at the annual Al Smith Wall Street fundraiser.

Inside the hotel, President Obama and Mitt Romney dined on a luxurious menu that included poached lobster tail and dark chocolate tropical fruit cadeau ; meanwhile, due to the fact that Democrats and Republicans refuse to raise taxes on the top 1% of income earners, the federal government faces draconian budget cuts to core programs, such as Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid.

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Stein, Honkala Denied Entry To Presidential Debate; Arrested

Democratic and Republican Parties Shut Out Third Party Candidates

Green Party running mates Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala denounced the Commission on Presidential Debates as an "unfair entity" set up by Democratic and Republican leaders to lock third party candidates out of the democratic process, reported Gawker.

From Huffington Post :

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested outside of Hofstra University on Tuesday after attempted to enter debate grounds.

According to Stein's campaign press statement, Stein and running mate Cheri Honkala joined supporters outside the Hofstra campus at 2pm, where Stein declared, "We are here to bring the courage of those excluded from our politics to this mock debate, this mockery of democracy." When they started to walk onto the debate grounds, they were stopped by police officers, and then the two women sat down on the ground. ...

Green Party Candidates Get Arrested Outside Hofstra Debate

Jill Stein, Cheri Honkala Arrested Before Hofstra Debate

Jill Stein And Cheri Honkala Were Arrested Before Hofstra Debate

From Huffington Post :

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested outside of Hofstra University on Tuesday after attempted to enter debate grounds.

According to Stein's campaign press statement, Stein and running mate Cheri Honkala joined supporters outside the Hofstra campus at 2pm, where Stein declared, "We are here to bring the courage of those excluded from our politics to this mock debate, this mockery of democracy." When they started to walk onto the debate grounds, they were stopped by police officers, and then the two women sat down on the ground. ...

Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala protest and get arrested at Hofstra Debate

Jill Stein And Cheri Honkala Were Arrested Before Hofstra Debate

From Huffington Post :

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested outside of Hofstra University on Tuesday after attempted to enter debate grounds.

According to Stein's campaign press statement, Stein and running mate Cheri Honkala joined supporters outside the Hofstra campus at 2pm, where Stein declared, "We are here to bring the courage of those excluded from our politics to this mock debate, this mockery of democracy." When they started to walk onto the debate grounds, they were stopped by police officers, and then the two women sat down on the ground. ...

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Obama Romney Budget Deficit Tax Reality Check

It's untruthful for both President Barack Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney to be running away from having some responsibility in the horrible federal budget deficits.

President Obama signed an extension of the Bush era tax cuts, and the GOP rigged it to be that way.

Austerity is in our future, because both the Democrats and Republicans in Washington are afraid to raise taxes on the 1%. And nobody gets pressed on the Robin Hood tax.

Instead, watch the livestream by Democracy Now. Democracy Now is expanding the debates and letting alternative candidates (like Jill Stein) participate in the presidential debates in real time.

Watch live streaming video from democracynow at livestream.com

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Mitt Romney on Obama's 47% Voters

During a private fundraiser earlier this year, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a small group of wealthy contributors what he truly thinks of all the voters who support President Barack Obama. He dismissed these Americans as freeloaders who pay no taxes, who don't assume responsibility for their lives, and who think government should take care of them.

Read more : SECRET VIDEO : Romney Tells Millionaire Donors What He REALLY Thinks of Obama Voters

Friday, September 7, 2012

CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer Reacts To Romney Felony Accusations

Cenk Uygur breaks down CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer's reaction to Stephanie Cutter (Obama campaign representative) accusing Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney of a felony. Blitzer's reaction is a perfect representation of how the main stream media has reacted to this charge, Mr. Uygur said.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Will Betty White Be A Mystery Speaker At DNC ?

A Facebook page called Bring Betty White to the DNC is leading a social media campaign to recruit the lovable Hollywood comedian Betty White to be a "mystery speaker" at the Democratic National Convention in an effort to lampoon Clint Eastwood's controversial appearance at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.

Betty-White-DNC-Mystery-Speaker, Betty-White-DNC-Mystery-Speaker

Follow the social media campaign on Twitter with this hashtag : #BettyWhiteDNC and a you can sign a Change.org petition.

Betty-White-Empty-Chairs-2012-DNC, Betty-White-Empty-Chairs-2012-DNC

Betty White DNC Facebook Group Goes Viral

Yesterday, somebody created a Bring Betty White to the DNC group on Facebook in an effort to lampoon Clint Eastwood's controversial appearance at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. Just a few minutes ago, the group had less than 4,000 "likes." As of this posting, the Facebook page is short a few more likes in order to hit 5,000 "likes." The page is going VIRAL.

Betty-White-DNC-Clint-Eastwood-RNC-Mitt-Romney-Empty-Chair, Betty-White-DNC-Clint-Eastwood-RNC-Mitt-Romney-Empty-Chair

Follow the social media campaign on Twitter with this hashtage : #BettyWhiteDNC and a Change.org petition.

Betty-White-DNC-Clint-Eastwood-RNC-Mitt-Romney-Empty-Chair-Rebuttal, Betty-White-DNC-Clint-Eastwood-RNC-Mitt-Romney-Empty-Chair-Rebuttal

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Rupert Murdoch Endorses Paul Ryan

Rupert Murdoch endorses Paul Ryan selection for GOP VP candidate.

News Corporation Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch tweeted yesterday that he supported Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as the vice presidential running mate for the 2012 GOP presidential ticket. Mr. Ryan has a history of trying to destroy Medicare.

Rupert Murdoch ‏@rupertmurdoch : Thank God! Now we might have a real election on the great issues of the day. Paul Ryan almost perfect choice.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Senior Citizen Arrested For Asking Paul Ryan Question About Medicare Cuts

Mitt Romney's newly announce vice presidential running mate, Paul Ryan, has announced his support for severe cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, along with other controversial policies.

At a community meeting, Mr. Ryan was speaking about Medicare cuts when a senior citizen rose out of his chair and spoke in protest. Tom Nielsen was then promptly grabbed by police and security, and Mr. Nielsen was dragged to another room, where he was shoved to the ground and handcuffed. Meanwhile, Mr. Ryan was making unbelievable jokes about the poor senior citizen, who paid into Medicare his whole life, and only whats given to him what he paid for and what the government promised him now he has reached 71 and is in his old age years.

Friday, August 10, 2012

Golden Girls Attack Ad

Exclusive - Election Center - Jon Stewart produces a hilarious Golden Girls Attack Ad. Since Barack Obama became president, America has lost 75% of its "Golden Girls."

Note that the embedding code has been disabled by The Daily Show, please click through to The Daily Show website for a link to the funny Golden Girls Attack Ad clip.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Mitt Romney Hamptons Protests : OWS Electoral Politics

Mitt Romney appeared in campaign fundraisers in the Hamptons last weekend, where he raised close to $4 million dollars. But his campaign fundraisers, in the exclusive VIP enclave, became the impromptu backdrop for Occupy Wall Street-inspired protests. The protests seem to be the first major time that Occupy Wall Street protests take part in 2012 Presidential Election politics, rather than the movement organising truly autonomous, grassroots demonstrations, depending on the editorial portrayal of yesterday's demonstrations.

Monday, May 28, 2012

LGBT Equality Presidential Debate

Seeing as how Vice President Joseph Biden put marriage equality on the national agenda as a presidential campaign issue, LGBT civil rights activist need to band together and organise a national presidential debate dedicated to LGBT equality, kind of like the ''Meeting LGBT pour l'égélité,'' which took place in Paris on March 31 in the final lead-up to the French presidential election there.

Whatever your political party, it is important that voters know what you think about LGBT equality.

Watch above how voters responded to President Nicholas Sarkozy's lack of policies to end discrimination against French LGBT citizens. President Sarkozy's representative was booed off stage. No wonder he lost the election.