“All It Took to Get Obama to Stay in Line Was to Show Him the Zapruder Film”

The murder of former star Philadelphia prosecutor Beverly Campbell on February 11, 2016.
 
Cliff Arnebeck
July 26, 2016

ARNEBECK LAW OFFICE

Clifford O. Arnebeck, Jr.
1021 East Broad Street
Columbus, Ohio 43205
614-224-8771
clifford.arnebeck@gmail.com

July 25, 2016

Offices of the President and Vice President
United States of America
Via Email

Dear Messrs. President Obama & Vice President Biden:

I believe former star Philadelphia prosecutor Beverly Campbell was assassinated because Karl Rove operatives believed she was about to reveal to you, before it unfolded, the wholesale corruption of the electronic voting process in the 2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primary.

On January 15, 2016, I met privately with Beverly at lunchtime. Beverly told me that she believed your son, Mr. Vice President, had been assassinated. She also said she thought you probably suspected that to be the case. When Bev returned home she began writing a letter to you as follows:

“It is interesting how our lives keep crossing. I first met you, Mr. Vice President, shortly after you were first elected to the US Senate. I was in one of the very earliest classes to attend Delaware Law School and worked in your second senate campaign. Later practicing law in Philadelphia and Delaware County, PA our paths crossed a few times and you never forgot that I had worked in your campaign. Many years later I had moved to Ohio and ran for the Ohio House of Representatives and then the Ohio Senate. You graciously endorsed and supported me in those races.”

I represented Beverly in litigation before the Ohio Elections Commission in regard to her 2006 election campaign. Prior to that I had represented a number of public interest groups and citizens in high profile election litigation against the Ohio and U.S. Chambers of Commerce, and against Karl Rove and Dick Cheney et al. in regard to the theft of the 2004 Presidential Election.

The day in 2008 when you, Mr. President, were in Columbus to address a Bernie Sanders’ scale crowd of supporters on the Statehouse lawn, Beverly told me of the social relationship a high level CIA agent, she referred to as “Mark,” had initiated with her. After your election, according to Beverly, Mark assumed a high level position with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while concurrently doing contract covert activity on behalf of a variety of interests. Mark referred to himself as a “thug,” accepting assignments from whomever wanted to pay him the most money. He told Bev he was making $3.5 million a year.

The first secret revelation from Mark that Bev shared with me—in strictest confidence, with the caveat that she would deny telling me if I ever attributed it to her—was that: “911 was an inside job.”

The second was Mark’s boast that: “All it took to get Obama to stay in line was to show him the Zapruder film.”

Based upon her knowledge of Mark’s whereabouts and travel at Christmas 2009, Bev told me she suspected that Mark was the American intelligence officer who supervised and cleared the “Underwear Bomber’s” travel from Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, on Christmas Day, 2009.

I lent my copy of JFK and the Unspeakable, and Why We Need to Know About It, by James Douglass to Bev. After reading it she asked: “How can he still be alive?” Bev knew from her intimate relationship with Mark how murderous were the criminals occupying positions of power within the government.

Mark told Beverly that he had personal bodyguards-and people watching his intimate partner for possible leaks of his information. Mark also warned Bev many times that they were being monitored by a security team whenever he spent time with her at her home in Gahanna, Ohio. These minders would kill her and her sons if she betrayed his confidences. 

Bev told me Mark also referred to the possibility of taking out the “big kahuna,” which I inferred was a reference to me because of my extensive litigation activity against Karl Rove and the Chamber of Commerce since the 2000 election.

On July 17, 2008 I pointed out that Karl Rove had breached the general rule of a successful racketeering enterprise by employing his IT/Webmaster guru, Mike Connell, across the full spectrum of his criminal activities. Mike Connell’s presence was a sure marker of Karl Rove’s involvement. It is now my belief that Karl Rove made the same mistake in having Beverly’s Mark serve as his chief of executions as to all executions in which he was involved.

We learned through our opposition research team from the 2012 election cycle that Benghazi was but the first of three planned attacks upon American overseas government personnel, to serve as props for Karl Rove’s Operations Security (“OpSec”) advertisement. This ad argued that President Obama’s decision to reveal to the public how the take down of Osama bin Laden was accomplished was to serve his selfish political goal of being reelected President and that the disclosure of these methods jeopardized overseas personnel of the United States.

Because of Mark’s high level of service in the CIA and pay grade of $3.5 million afterwards that he claimed to Bev, Mark would have been a likely candidate, if he was not the person finally settled to orchestrate these planned attacks – beginning with Benghazi. I believe Mark gave the stand down order to CIA contractors a few moments away from being able to rescue Ambassador Stevens.

I believe Bev Campbell was assassinated on February 11, 2016, by the minders of her relationship with R. Nomura which had just terminated. I am transmitting Bev’s files related to this to Acting US Attorney Ben Glassman and Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker for review by appropriate investigative agencies for use in bringing to justice those responsible for Bev’s death.

I have been litigating against Karl Rove’s corrupt election practices since the 2000 general election cycle. In this 2016 Democratic Presidential primary election cycle, our opposition research and investigative team has determined that an advanced technology election hacking system invented by Karl Rove’s technical genius, Mikey Cunnyngham, was successfully implemented.

Who are the Psychopaths That Rule the World, the Tiny Occult Elite?

The Corbett Report
Published on March 15, 2013

SHOW NOTES: http://www.corbettreport.com/?p=7094

In this sixth part of the ongoing Sibel Edmonds Gladio B conversation, we ask the question: Who is at the top of the pyramid. We look beyond the usual suspects and follow the money back to the industries and lobbies whose existence depends on the perpetuation of boogeymen enemies.

Follow the money, which gives you power. The winners of war are the people who are able to make a lot of money from it. Follow the money to see who are the ultimate winners. Look at the War Industry [Boeing, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, etc.], Oil, Financial Institutions [Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, etc.], and Heroin [the CIA traffics heroin and other drugs and uses the drug money to fund covert operations].

You Have Owners, They Own You; It's a Big Club and You Ain't in It!

George Carlin "The American Dream" Best 3 Minutes of His Career

Stand Up Comedy. George Carlin. Life Is Worth Losing. Full Show 2005 | Best Comedian Ever

Comprehensive List of Increased State Taxes and Fees in Maryland - Exposing Martin O'Malley as a NWO Crony

When It Rains, It Pours Tax Dollars In Maryland

January 3, 2014

Forbes - It seems like every year state and federal lawmakers pass legislation that either a) increases an existing tax rate or b) levies a new tax or fee on constituents. Whether the tax is applied to income, property, sales, vehicle registration, inheritance, or even death itself, legislators are continuously thinking of new ways to get an extra penny out of the American people.

While some “red-state” governors – such as Rick Perry (TX), Sam Brownback (KS), and Rick Scott (FL) – have fought to keep the overall tax burden of their state’s residents relatively low, center-left politicians, such as Governor Martin O’Malley (MD) and Governor Jerry Brown (CA), continue to hike tax rates to cover the cost of wasteful government spending. Maryland, for example, has had 40 new taxes signed into law by Gov. O’Malley since he took office in 2007. The most oppressive of those taxes is the one being levied on rain.

If you’re expecting a punch line from that last sentence, you’ll be waiting awhile, because it is no joke. Maryland is the only state in the country that taxes the amount of rain that falls.

Formally known as HB 987 or the Stormwater Management-Watershed and Restoration Program, the “rain tax” – passed by the state legislature and signed into law on May 2, 2012 – was in response to a 2010 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandate aimed towards reducing the pollution levels in the Chesapeake Bay. While the EPA’s $7.7 billion project called on the seven surrounding states to pass legislation recommendations contained within the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) report, Maryland is currently the only state to have actually listened to the federal agency.

So what exactly is the “rain tax,” and who must pay it?

This tax is an annual fee on impervious surfaces such as roofs, driveways, sidewalks, garages, and any other surface that could create drainage problems and water contamination situated on property owned by an individual or a business. However, the tax is not applied to every city or county in the state.

In fact, only nine counties (Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Charles, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, and Prince George) and the city of Baltimore – out of twenty-four total counties in Maryland – are responsible not only for paying this fee, but their local officials must determine and set the dollar amount their constituents will pay. This leaves the aforementioned jurisdictions with 10 different “rain tax” rates. For example, Charles County levies a flat fee of $43 per property, while Montgomery County has fee rates ranging from $29.17 to $265.20 depending on size of impervious surfaces.

Not only are the rates different for each, but so are the amount of square feet used to calculate the Equivalent Residential Unit and Impervious Unit: the unit of measurement to base the total fee per ERU or IU. One unit of ERU in the city of Baltimore is 1,050 sq. ft., while one ERU in Anne Arundel County is 2,940 sq. ft. Out of all the areas impacted by this fee, only two use the square footage amount per IU.

And of course no tax hike would be complete without government agencies, such as the Department of Navy, that own land with impervious surfaces resisting and declining to pay the newly enacted law.

Instead, middle-class families and business owners are stuck paying for a multi-billion dollar EPA program no other state bordering the Chesapeake Bay would help finance. If government entities aren’t going to follow the law they passed in the state, why should any Marylander be forced to pay a fee for a project on which they did not directly vote?

When the state legislature reconvenes on January 8, 2014, the first order of business should be for state senators and representatives to rally behind all legislative initiatives, such as state senator Allen Kittleman’s pre-filed bill, that fully repeal this business-crippling tax. With local leaders – such as Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman – speaking out against the negative impact this fee has on local business and residents, lawmakers in Annapolis need to head their words and take action.

By keeping the law as written, the Governor and members of the General Assembly might as well help pack-up the offices and warehouses of local businesses that will undoubtedly relocate across state lines. Gov. O’Malley claims he wants to help working, middle-class Marylanders, here’s his chance. Start with the full repeal of the “Rain Tax.”

40 O’Malley-Brown Tax Hikes Will Cost $20 Billion by 2018

May 2013

ChangeMaryland – Change Maryland released today stunning new figures on the tax impact that is accruing to Marylander’s since 2007. In two separate reports released today, Change Maryland documents the cumulative impact to 2014 and the one projected to 2018, the latest year for which there are official government estimates.

From 2007 to 2018, Marylander’s will have paid nearly $20 billion in additional taxes and fees stemming from 40 separate O’Malley-Brown increases – an amount which is over and above the tax burden as it existed before 2007 and assumes no additional levies are enacted.

“Nobody expected the total impact to be this staggering, not even me,” said Change Maryland founder and Chairman Larry Hogan. “Struggling Maryland families and small businesses simply cannot afford another four years of an O’Malley-Brown tax and spend binge.”

Governor Martin O’Malley is backing Lt. Governor Anthony Brown as the heir apparent to the state’s top office upon the expiration of his term in 2015. The Lt. Governor has stated a need to continue record “investments” in state government – code word for increasing taxes.

“The prospect of another four years of these policies will have a devastating effect on the productive components of the economy – increasing tax flight, continuing the small business exodus and large corporate headquarters relocating to other states,” added Hogan.

Since 2007, nearly 31,000 Marylander’s fled to other states, the highest in the region, 6500 small businesses have left or shut down, the second-highest in the region, and just three Fortune 500 companies remain in the state. This is a sharp contrast to 24 large corporate headquarters in Virginia and 23 in Pennsylvania.

The cumulative tax impact from 2007 to 2014 – the eight years of the O’Malley Administration – is $9.5 billion. The dramatic spike of the cumulative tax burden, an over two-fold increase in four years, is due to the phasing in of the gasoline tax and related transportation levies. Additionally, the massive sales, corporate income and sales tax increases from 2007 are recurring revenue generators that, combined with subsequent revenue measures, increase the size and scope of government beyond anything ever witnessed in Maryland history.

“This is not just an argument about big government,” said Hogan. “It’s about a government that is on auto-pilot to grow exponentially, beyond anything any of us have ever seen in our lifetimes and that comes directly at the expense of the private sector economy that we desperately need to diversify our employment base.”

Previously, Change Maryland released a report that updated tax and fee increases following the 2013 session, which brought the total to 37 increases that remove $3.1 billion annually over and above the existing tax burden. These latest reports adds new fees for gun purchases, enacted in 2013, and two newly-discovered measures buried in omnibus legislation and not subject to normal legislative procedures.

Change Maryland is the largest and fastest growing citizens organization in the state, made up of nearly 40,000 people. Its tax reports are derived from official government revenue estimates.

###
Cumulative 2007-2014
Cumulative 2007-2018

Change Maryland: 32 New Taxes and Fees – and Counting

March 2013

ChangeMaryland – Change Maryland released an updated list of tax, fee and toll increases enacted under the O’Malley Administration. This latest report shows 32 increases that remove $2.3 billion out of the economy annually. As final passage in the legislature of yet more record-high taxes and fees appear imminent, the list is a reminder of the ever-increasing amount struggling Marylander’s are being asked to pay for the big-government ambitions of politicians.

Fully sourced using Department of Legislative Services analysis, executive branch budget documents and fiscal notes from bills, the list is the only comprehensive analysis of what Marylander’s are paying in levies over and above existing taxes and fees since 2007.

“This will not be a slide in the Governor’s power point presentations,” said Change Maryland Chairman Larry Hogan. “We’re finding yet again, it’s time to pull the curtain back on this Administration. Elected officials and bureaucrats don’t want their tax, fee and toll increases to be public and understandable, so we did it for them in the interest of promoting fiscal responsibility and transparency.”

Sorted by date, the revenue measures chronicle the state’s emergence as a national leader in imposing broad levies either through either traditional forms, or more recently, in novel ways such as to advance narrow policy agendas. The General Assembly’s presiding officers and the Governor are making a unified push in 2013 to raise motor fuel taxes and to pay for offshore wind by increasing utility bills to customers. Change Maryland will footnote those proposals as they work through the legislative process and add those in another list to be released separately.

1. In 2012, increases centered on raising revenues on individuals in the form of new tax brackets for those making just $100,000 – taking the class warfare argument down to an entire new income level.

2. That year also saw the creation of a new role for state government in local land use decisions – in the form of a stormwater management fee that essentially taxes rainwater and that is expected to collect over $300 million annually for government coffers.

3. The year 2011 was noted for record toll increases – $90 million extra to pay for using tunnels, bridges and toll roads.

4. Together with 2012, this was also the years of fee increases on literally all aspects of human life including additional levies to buy alcohol, obtain a birth certificate, a death certificate, a contractor’s license, a license plate, to stay in a hospital and use indoor plumbing.

5. In 2009 and 2010, Marylanders were forced to pay more to fish and drive a car thanks to additional fees for licensing and a speed camera system that doesn’t work and that elected officials are now trying to distance themselves from.

6. The Change Maryland analysis includes the extraordinary special session of 2007, a year that saw the ill-conceived computer services tax and massive revenue generators including increases in the individual income, sales and corporate income taxes.

All told, legislation of the special session of 2007 adds nearly $1 billion in revenues to the state each year. The computer services and millionaire’s taxes, two measures that caused Maryland to be a national embarrassment in the eyes of the business community, are listed but not included in the revenue that is generated as these measures are no longer in effect.

The grassroots organization periodically updates this list based on newly-discovered measures often buried in legislation and counts separate revenue-raising components individually when they are rolled into omnibus legislation.

“It’s hard to believe but they’re not done yet”, said Hogan. “The Governor and his enablers in the legislature are asking for even more tax increases in the next few weeks. This may very well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. One-party monopoly rule is just too expensive. We need balance and a healthy and competitive two-party system. The taxpayers of Maryland have had enough.”

Background: “Maryland Tax and Fee Increases 2007-2012
http://www.changemaryland.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Tax-Fee-v.2-3.21.13.pdf

Md. Gas Tax Increase Goes Into Effect July 2013

The General Assembly on March 29, 2013, gave final approval for a bill that will apply a possible 5 percent sales tax to the wholesale price of gasoline and will tie the current 23.5-cent excise tax to inflation, meaning it will likely go up each year.

The sales tax on wholesale fuel will be phased in, and its net effect on gas prices will depend on the price of fuel, but a state legislative analysis predicts the following increases:

• 4-cent increase July 1, 2013, to 27.5 cents
• 4-cent increase Jan. 1, 2015 to 31.5 cents
• 4-cent increase July 1, 2015 to 35.5 cents
• 3.5-cent increase Jan. 1, 2016 to 39 cents
• 3.5-cent increase July 1, 2016 to 42.5 cents

By fiscal 2018, the gas tax is predicted to total 44.6 cents.

The estimates assume that gas prices will rise by 3 percent each year, and inflation will rise by 2 percent each year. [Source]

June 20, 2013

WJZ - Wallets are tightening and tempers are flaring as Maryland drivers get ready to pay the state’s first gas tax hike in 20 years. It’s meant to fund transportation projects statewide. But the price hike couldn’t come at a worse time for some drivers. Many are worried their personal budgets can’t keep up with the gas tax increase.

“I understand why they would like to do it because of the need for our whole state of Maryland. But it’s going to really hurt a lot of us,” said Hilda Kellum Aston, Southwest Baltimore.

Have You Had Enough Yet? A Comprehensive List of Increased Taxes and Fees, Under O'Malley's Democrats

July 7, 2012

RightCoastConservative -  It it seems like we are getting taxed to death in Maryland, we are! Every time I turn around, Martin O'Malley has approved or orchestrated another tax increase, and here's proof it just doesn't seem that way.

Govenor O'Malley's administration and his democratic controlled house, have been busy. It seems like all O'Malley has done is spent money and proposed and succeed in "raising revenue" through more and more of Maryland's hard earned money.

I got to wondering just how many taxes and fees have gone up since O'Malley has been running Annapolis, so I did a little digging and decided a list of taxes and fee increases might be good to examine.

Starting back in the 2007 Special Session, Martin O'Malley and the democrats implemented the Largest Tax Increase In Maryland’s History (so far anyway):

• 20% Increase in the Sales and Use Tax (From 5% to 6%) 
• Also included an expansion to Computer Service which was repealed in the ’08 regular session and replaced with the “Millionaire’s Tax”, a 6.25% tax rate on incomes over $1 million.  The “Millionaire’s Tax” sunsetted on December 31, 2010.
• 18 % Increase in the Corporate Income Tax (From 7% to 8.25%)
•  20% Increase in Vehicle Excise Tax
• 117% Increase In Vehicle Titling Fee
• 100% Increase in Cigarette Tax 
• 5%  Income Tax Increase on Incomes over $150,000 (4.75% to 5%)
• 11% Income Tax Increase on Incomes over $300,000 (4.75% to 5.25%)
• 16% Income Tax Increase on Incomes over $500,000 (4.75% to 5.5%)

I am not sure how much additional "revenue that netted the state annually or how much in confiscated wages it cost in taxes, but it had to be significant. But they weren't done....

As housing values continued to take a noise dive and high unemployment remained static, the federal stimulus money dried up. Instead of cutting and downsizing, this group in Annapolis increased spending and demanded more of your money. And so they took it.

2011 Toll Increases:

“…largest package of toll increases in the state’s history…” Baltimore Sun, 9/22/11

• Key Bridge/Fort McHenry Tunnel/ Harbor Tunnel - 50% increase from $2 both ways to $3 both ways effective November 1 - 33% increase from $3 both ways to $4 both ways effective July 1, 2013 - Total increase 100% from 2011 to 2013.
• JFK Memorial Highway Section of I-95/Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge - 33% increase from $6 to $8 effective July 1, 2013 
• Bay Bridge - 60% increase from $2.50 to $4 effective November 1 - 50% increase from $4 to $6 effective July 1, 2013 - Total increase 140% from 2011 to 2013
• Harry W. Nice Bridge - 33% increase from $3 to $4 effective November 1. - 50% increase from $4 to $6 effective July 1, 2013 -  Total increase 100%  from 2011 to 2013

Taxes and Fees Increases in the FY 2012 Budget/BRFA:

• Vehicle Titling Tax doubled  $50 to $100
• Vanity Plate Fee doubled from $25 to $50
• Land Recording Fees – doubled  $20 to $40
• Birth Certificate Fees – doubled from $12 to $24
• Increase in Hospital Assessments adding 2.5% to rates
• Increasing Nursing Home Tax from 4% to 5.5%
• Parole Supervision Fee – doubled from $25 to $50 
• New Taxes and Fees in the FY 2012 Budget/BRFA
• 2% Premium Tax on the Injured Worker Insurance Fund (IWIF)
• Payroll Garnishment Fee for State Employees
• Maryland Higher Education Commission Program Approval Fee

Other Bills With Tax and Fee Increases from 2011 Session:

HB 1196 – Increases the maximum fee imposed by Maryland Historical Trust from 1% to 3%.

HB 362 – Increases Licensing Fees for the Home Improvement Commission by $25 for each type of license and a new $20 fee for all initial applications.

HB 1213 (SB 994) – Increases sales tax on alcohol 50% from 6% to 9%

HB 195 – Increases the licensure fee for a secondhand precious metal object dealer or pawnbroker from $75 to $300

HB 1022 – Establishes a registration and renewal fee of $1,000 for Debt Settlement Services

HB 881 – Establishes an application fee of $100 and a $100 per vehicle registration fee for transporting waste kitchen grease.

HB 523 – Requires the State Court Administrator to assess a $100 fee for the special admission of an out-of-state attorney.

Now we go to present day, and of course they are not done.

In the 2012 Regular Session there is a lengthy list of fee increases in the FY 13 budget.

Office of Health Care Quality Fees:

• Ambulatory Surgical Centers – 471% increase (from $700 to $4000)
• Residential Service Agencies – 100% increase (from $500 to $1000)
• Assisted Living – 567% increase (from $150 to $1000)
• Laboratories – 200% increase (from $100 to $300)
• Abortion Surgical Centers – $1500 (new fee)

Food Control Fees (applicable to all food processing operations in the state, shellfish (processing, food manufacturing, etc.):

• Processing Facilities – 167% increase (From $150 to $400)
• Plan Reviews - $400
• Newborn Screen Fee – 43% increase (from $70 to $100)

Other Tax/Fee Bills:

• HB 446– Environment – Bay Restoration Fund – Fees (Administration)  = $55 Million - Doubles Flush Tax for Septic Users from $30 to $60 per year. - Fund is not protected from future raids. - Exempts areas outside of Chesapeake Bay Watershed (areas in Garrett and Lower Shore)
• HB 1087 – Telecommunications Companies – Universal Service Trust Fund –Surcharge (Hixson/Davis)  - $1.6 million - Expands Universal Service Trust Fund (USTF) surcharge to all telecommunications services in the state. - Current surcharge is $0.18/month but can be as high as $0.45 per month. - Previously, USTF charge only applied to landlines - $12 million of this special fund’s fund balance has been siphoned off in BRFA’s over the last 3 years.

This brings us to current day. Now we have a "Special Session" and the mantra yet again is "Raise taxes" Well, we've done that over and over again to the point we are slaves to this over spending, money grabbing, Maryland democrats.

I only wish I had the actuall dollars of the additional revenues in the above areas. Is anyone can get their hands on that, let me know.

Today, we learned there is yet another Income Tax increase:



Then, there's this:

Gov. Martin O'Malley and leading lawmakers say they've agreed on a budget plan that they expect to be approved during a 3-day special legislative session next week, including income tax hikes on people making more than $100,000.

Related:  

Union Rally Draws Thousands to Annapolis to Protest Pension Reform Sought by Maryland Gov. O’Malley

Obama Family's Large JP Morgan Account

Obama Financial Forms Show Big JP Morgan Account

May 15, 2012

The Ticket - Maybe it's a case of putting your mouth where your money is.

President Barack Obama praised JP Morgan Chase in an interview recorded Monday as "one of the best managed banks there is" and its CEO, Jamie Dimon, as "one of the smartest bankers we got."

On Tuesday, the White House made public financial disclosure forms showing the president and First Lady Michelle Obama had between $500,001 and $1,000,000 in a "JP Morgan Chase Private Client Asset Management Checking Account."

The annual peek into the Obamas' finances showed that the president held between $1,000,001 and $5,000,000 in U.S. Treasury Notes, generating between $5,001 and $15,000 in interest. They also held between $500,001-$1,000,000 in Treasury Bills.

Obama, who recently said he had only paid off his student loans eight years ago, has been doing pretty well by daughters Sasha and Malia: The disclosures show four college savings accounts each with between $50,001 and $100,000 in them.

Obama's "Dreams From My Father" book pulled in royalties between $100,001 and $1,000,000. "The Audacity of Hope" had more modest earnings, making the Obamas between $50,001 and $100,000. Obama's "Of Thee I Sing: A Letter To My Daughters" children's book generated between $100,001 and $1,000,000 (though the forms noted that those funds will go to the Fisher House Foundation for a scholarship fund honoring children of fallen or disabled soldiers).

The Obamas reported a regular JP Morgan Chase checking account, this one worth between $1,001-$15,000, and listed interest of less than $201.

(In his wide-ranging conversation on ABC's "The View," Obama also said that JP Morgan Chase's $2 billion trading loss is "going to be be investigated.")

The only liability listed in the Obamas' disclosure form was the mortgage on their home in Chicago. The first couple is paying 5.625% interest on a 30-year loan of between $500,001 and $1,000,000.

For readers who want more on the President's finances, here's a link.

Vice President Joe Biden also released his financial disclosure forms, which are far more modest than the Obamas' (repeat national bestsellers have a way of pumping up one's bottom line). But they include one intriguing item: A gift. According to the disclosure, Biden accepted a Vulcain Cricket Watch, with an estimated value of $800.

"The Vice President received a Vulcain Cricket watch from the proprietor of a small jewelry store while on an official trip to Finland," a Biden aide said on condition of anonymity.

"The Vice President accepted it in keeping with a tradition established by the proprietor's family of presenting this watch to U.S. Presidents visiting Finland, including Presidents Ford, Reagan, Herbert Walker Bush, and Clinton," the aide said.

The aide pointed Yahoo! News to a blog post describing that tradition.

Read More...

Only 23 Percent of Americans Satisfied with the Direction of the Country

Obama begins second term facing pessimistic public: Poll

January 1, 2013

The Ticket – As President Barack Obama heads into his second term, he faces a pessimistic and weary public, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll released late Tuesday.

The percentage of Americans satisfied with the direction of the country stands at a paltry 23 percent in a poll taken Dec. 14-17. By a margin of 50 to 47 percent, respondents said the country's best years are over.

Fifty percent of respondents said it is somewhat or very unlikely that today's youth will have a better life than their parents.

That pessimism and negativity extends to the president, according to the poll.

When respondents were asked to choose adjectives to describe their feelings about the president's re-election, the poll showed the excitement and pride many Americans felt about the president's first term has diminished.

Sixty-seven percent of respondents in November 2008 said they felt optimistic about the president's election and the same percentage said it made them feel proud. Last month those numbers fell to 52 percent for optimistic and 48 percent for proud. Forty-three percent of Americans surveyed also said they feel pessimistic about the president's re-election and 36 percent said it made them feel afraid—both increases from 2008.

The president's approval rating, however, hovered at the 50 percent threshold in the USA Today/Gallup survey. This is 1 percentage point above George W. Bush as he headed into his second term, but below the 58 percent rating held by Bill Clinton and 59 percent held by Ronald Reagan.

The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Romney's Son Says He Never Wanted to be President Anyway

Mitt's Son Says He Never Wanted to be President Anyway

December 23, 2012

The Atlantic Wire - If you thought the tale of how Mitt Romney lost the general election was already told, you would be wrong. Because there is so much left to tell, like how Mitt never wanted to be President anyway. 

At least, that's what Tagg Romney says in this new Boston Globe report on what went wrong with Romney's campaign. While the rest of the piece seems to say the problems lay in the Romney campaign's lack of technical advantage, and refusal to introduce the world to Mitt Romney, the human being, this little morsel from the Republican's son points to a larger problem:

“He wanted to be president less than anyone I’ve met in my life. He had no desire to . . . run,” said Tagg, who worked with his mother, Ann, to persuade his father to seek the presidency. “If he could have found someone else to take his place . . . he would have been ecstatic to step aside. 

So, yeah, that might explain why Mitt lost. Not wanting the job you need to publicly campaign for more than a year to get is step one in the "Not Getting Elected Guide for Dummies" book. Again, the rest of the mammoth piece, which you really should read, paints a larger picture of the struggle between Mitt's inner circle and his campaign advisors over whether they should humanize Mitt, which was ultimately their downfall. And, also, the Obama campaign had more staff and cooler tech stuff, like an app named Gordon, "after the person who punched Houdini in the stomach shortly before the magician died," and Narwhal, named after the Internet's favorite arctic whale.  

Election Graphics Show How Obama Won

Election Graphics Show How Obama Won

Click image to see slideshow of maps that break down how Obama won.

November 14, 2012

The Ticket - The presidential election is over, and now there are some cool tools to show just how Barack Obama won re-election.

One that's getting plenty of attention on the Web is a new take on a familiar image—maps.

The series of graphics show the election results illustrated by population, not geography.

Republicans were surprised by the win. Many had assumed—wrongly—that young people wouldn't come out as much as they did in 2008. The New York Times graph shows that not only did Obama nab young voters, but also that the numbers of young voters who voted for Obama actually increased from 2008.

While white male voters supported the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, Obama held his support with women, increased his support with Hispanic voters, and improved young voter turnout where it mattered: in the swing states.

For serious political junkies, another graphic from the New York Times shows lots of fun facts about how voter groups since 1972 have swayed election results.

For example, Romney got the "dad" vote, while Obama secured support from voters under 30.

Some Members of Congress Believe Petraeus Scandal Circumventing Benghazi Investigation

Former CIA Director David Petraeus will testify before the House Intelligence committee Friday on events that led to the death of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in an attack on the U.S. Consulate at Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11. Spokesmen for the committee say the hearing will be closed to the public.

Petraeus resigned from the CIA last week after acknowledging an extramarital affair. The liaison was discovered during an FBI investigation of harassing emails allegedly sent by Petraeus' biographer and mistress, Paula Broadwell, to Tampa socialite Jill Kelley. Broadwell allegedly saw Kelley as a rival.

The probe expanded to include Kelley's copious communications with the top U.S. commander In Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John Allen. [Source]

Some Members of Congress Believe Petraeus Scandal Circumventing Benghazi Investigation As we have written more than once, the news media’s collaboration in the Obama administration’s coverup of the Benghazi scandal is a scandal in itself. There are, of course, a few exceptions, most notably Fox News. But in general, Benghazi has not received anywhere near the attention it deserves from journalists. I think most voters are generally aware that the administration provided inadequate security prior to the terrorist attack on September 11. I would guess that around one-half of voters understand that the administration tried to pass off a terrorist attack as a spontaneous protest over a YouTube video. And maybe 25% or so are aware of the charge that the besieged Americans at the Benghazi consulate called repeatedly for help, but were ignored by President Obama. Moreover, beyond any bare awareness of the facts, there is a big difference between what we see today–Bengahzi consigned to the back pages or not reported on at all, as in the case of the New York Times–and what we should be seeing, i.e., questions about Benghazi featured on every front page and the evening news. [Source]

The sex scandal has also robbed intelligence committees of Petraeus' testimony about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. That attack claimed the lives of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens. Petraeus had personally flown to Libya on a fact-finding mission in late October. [Source]

Three key questions on the Benghazi scandal 

November 13, 2012

FoxNews.com - Washington is still reeling from the resignation of General David Petraeus as head of the CIA just days before he was supposed to testify on Capitol Hill about what the CIA knew about the deaths of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi on September 11, and when it knew it.

The many questions surrounding that scandal–including why the FBI was reading the CIA director’s emails and Petraeus’s mistress’s bizarre claims about a secret prison in the Benghazi CIA annex -- just add to the picture of an Obama administration out of control on national security—and the conclusion that someone knowingly put an American ambassador at risk to his life; left him there to die; and then lied about it afterwards.

As Congressional hearings on Benghazi start up again this week, three key issues demand answers.

First, why did the Obama administration ignore repeated pleas to strengthen security for our people in Libya, not only from State Department security chief Andrew Wood and the man on the ground in charge of security, Greg Nordstrom; but from Ambassador Christopher Stevens himself, who sent a memo on June 25 headlined “fragile security deteriorating, “ noting the rise of pro-Al Qaeda sentiment across Libya–and why it refuse Stevens additional security for his trip to Benghazi, knowing it might cost him his life?

Second, when did the president and/or his national security staff become aware that an attack was underway at the Benghazi compound, and why was their response so lax?  We now know that warning of an imminent attack reached the compound a full hour before it happened.

We also have the compound’s email calling for help reaching the State Department and White House Situation Room just twenty-five minutes after the attack began–an attack that would go on for the next seven and a half hours while jet fighters, armed drones, and Specter AC 130 gunships could have been over Benghazi in matter of minutes, and a Special Ops team in Italy in less than two hours.

We know from Fox News’s Jennifer Griffin that the security staff at the Benghazi CIA annex,  including ex-Navy SEAL Tyrone Woods, offered twice to go to the ambassador’s aid, but were twice ordered to do nothing (orders they finally disobeyed). We also know that at 5:15 Washington time, less than an hour and a half into the attack, an unmanned drone was providing live video feed of the scene, including to the White House Situation Room. A NSC official has said the president never saw it.  If not, why not?

The president has said on October 25 that the minute he heard what was happening he ordered the CIA and military to “make sure we are securing our personnel and doing whatever we need to do.”  Yet the general in charge of Africa Command has said he received no such directive.

Indeed, it was not until the attack spread to the CIA annex Defense Secretary that Leon Panetta finally stirred into action at 8 pm Washington time (4 am Benghazi time)–four hours into the fight.  Panetta, however, ordered deployments for a hostage rescue mission only, rather than using missile-equipped drones or C-130 gunships to clear out the attackers.  Yet Tyrone Woods died painting the attackers’ mortar position with a laser for guiding precisely that kind of armed response, while radioing target coordinates.  Why would he deliberately expose his position this way, if he didn’t believe air support was on its way?

Third, who first concocted “the spontaneous reaction” to a YouTube  video explanation for the attack, ignoring both the Libya CIA station chief’s assessment and that of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research in the first 24 hours, that this was a planned and coordinated terrorist operation–and claims on Facebook and Twitter by an Al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist cell that it was responsible? Was it the same person or persons who decided to stick to that explanation and have UN ambassador Susan Rice repeat the same lie on national television and six times in the president’s speech at the United Nations–even, most chillingly of all, have Secretary of State Hillary Clinton repeat it to Tyrone Woods’ parents over the coffin of their dead son at Andrews Air Force Base, saying she would “make sure the person who made the film is arrested.”
Mitt Romney chose not to shine the light of truth on this sordid, tragic mess.  That might have cost him the election.  Now it’s up to Congress.  If they do their job, they will earn the gratitude not just of the families of the dead, but the entire nation.

Historian Arthur Herman is the author of the just released "Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II" (Random House May 2012) and the Pulitzer Prize finalist book "Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age" (Bantam, 2008).  

10 Dire Consequences of Obama’s Re-election Victory

10 Dire Consequences of Obama’s Re-election Victory

November 7, 2012

Natural News - As of this writing, it looks like Obama has a lock on the electoral college victory, although it simultaneously appears he has lost the popular vote to Romney.

What does an Obama re-election mean for the next four years in America? Now that he’s in his second and last term, of course, Obama no longer needs to restrain his actions according to popularity. He can simply unleash any desirable executive order and rule by decree, bypassing Congress as he has frequently promised to do.

This puts America in a very dangerous situation, given Obama’s well-demonstrated desire to destroy freedom and liberty in America. Remember: Obama is anti health freedom, anti food freedom, anti GMO labeling, anti medical freedom and anti farm freedom. He’s the one who issued an executive order claiming government ownership over all farms and farm equipment, in case you forgot that little fact.

He’s also the guy who just recently issued an executive order merging Homeland Security with local corporate entities to grant the executive branch of government a power monopoly over the nation, bypassing the courts and Congress. You probably haven’t even heard about that one, because he secretly signed it during Hurricane Sandy.

Given Obama’s atrocious track record on freedom during his first four years in the White House, here are my top 10 predictions for the next four (if America even lasts that long before ripping itself apart):

#1) Huge expansion of TSA and the surveillance state

Watch for TSA to expand its occupation of America by setting up checkpoints on roadways, sporting events, malls and “surprise” locations. Expect to see TSA agents become even more belligerent and lawless as they ramp up their sexual molestation of innocent victims.

#2) Expansion of secret arrests of American citizens

Obama secretly signed the NDAA, legalizing the secret arrests of U.S. citizens while denying them due process. Obama also authorized secret “kill lists” that claim to authorize the U.S. government to assassinate targeted individuals.

With his re-election in place, expect Obama to start issuing a mass of “kill orders” that will even start targeting political opponents.

#3) Acceleration of national debt blowout and endless fiat currency creation

Under Obama, the national debt experienced a massive blowout where Obama added trillions of dollars to the existing debt: www.USdebtclock.org

Right now, Obama is overseeing a trillion dollars a year in additional debt — an amount that simply cannot be sustained without running smack into a financial catastrophe. It now appears that financial collapse it going to occur under Obama, not Romney.

#4) Rapid expansion of GMOs and USDA collusion

Monsanto and the biotech corporations have thrived under the Obama administration thanks to USDA collusion and scientific fraud.

Over the next four years, expect GMOs to dominate the U.S. food supply while the Obama White House rejects any effort to try to label GMOs on a national basis.

#5) Increasingly dictatorial government health care

Obamacare will grow like a cancer, pushing Americans into mandatory vaccinations that inject children with mercury, formaldehyde, MSG and aluminum.

Look for the Obama administration to wage even more wars against raw milk freedom, farm freedom and food freedom, all while requiring yet more foods to be pasteurized or fumigated under the guise of “food safety.”

#6) Immediate surge in sales of guns and ammo

Obama has promised to try to destroy the Second Amendment and deny Americans the liberty to own firearms. With his re-election, expect to see a massive surge in gun sales as more people attempt to stock up in anticipation of gun bans (or government gun confiscation).

#7) Accelerated erosion of the Bill of Rights and civil liberties

Under Obama, civil rights, human rights and the Bill of Rights will be rapidly eroded. This goes hand in hand with the cancerous growth of government. As government expands its power and confiscates more economic resources, it simultaneously destroys individual liberties and due process.

This isn’t to say that Romney would have been any better, of course. Both candidates were philosophically invested in the rapid expansion of Big Government.

#8) Continued destruction and looting of the U.S. economy

Under Obama, the financial looting of the U.S. economy by the global bankster elite will continue. The same would have been true with Romney, by the way.

Under Obama, America’s unemployment rate will continue to head skyward, entitlements will be expanded, and the USA will be plunged into a tyrannical welfare state dominated by mindless zombies who have no cognitive grasp of reality.

#9) A “giant sucking sound” of employers leaving America

Ross Perot was right! That “giant sucking sound” is the sound of employers leaving America in droves, hiring offshore workers instead of creating jobs in the USA. And why? Because employers can’t afford to pay Obamacare mandates and still stay competitive in the global marketplace.

#10) Stepped-up attacks on veterans and preppers

Returning U.S. veterans will continue to be vilified by the Obama administration, to the point where even more veterans will be arrested as “terrorists” for engaging in fundamental preparedness strategies such as storing food, water, medicine and ammo.

Watch for the liberal media to join the White House in painting veterans as “dangerous” individuals needing psychiatric medications. Never mind the fact that the media owes preppers a huge apology in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

Obama Takes Charge and Wins Debate

Obama Wins the Second Debate. Too Bad It’s Not the One That Mattered

October 17, 2012

Yahoo! News - When the evening began, one observation dominated the conversation: “If President Barack Obama has another debate like the last one, the election’s over.”

When the evening ended, I was struck by a different thought: If Obama had performed this way at the first debate, the election would have been over.

In every debate, whatever the format, whatever the questions, there is one and only one way to identify the winner: Who commands the room? Who drives the narrative? Who is in charge? More often than not on Tuesday night, I think, Obama had the better of it.

From a substantive view, there was one argument that the president was seeking to make over and over: Don’t let Mitt Romney fool you; he’s a rich guy out to protect the interests of the well-off, not the middle-class.

That’s why he referenced not just Romney’s tax plan, but Romney’s taxes, the fact that the Republican presidential nominee paid a lower rate on his millions than ordinary working-class folks do on theirs, the fact that Romney has invested heavily in China. And when Romney went at Obama with almost the exact same argument he used so devastatingly against Newt Gingrich—“have you checked your pension?”—Obama came back with, “I haven’t looked at my pension; it’s not as big as yours. (For super-wonks it harked back to a 1982 debate between Mario Cuomo and the super-wealthy Lew Lehrman, when Cuomo reached over, grabbed Lehrman’s hand, and said, “Nice watch, Lou!”)

As a tactical matter, Obama executed one of the toughest of maneuvers: the counterpunch. When Romney attacked Obama for hindering the use of coal, the President recalled an appearance of Romney as governor of Massachusetts, where he vowed to shut down a coal-fired power plant. (The fact that Romney was probably right about the danger will be the subject of earnest substantive post-debate analyses that have no place here!)

And in talking about an area where the Obama administration has clear vulnerabilities—the attack on the American consulate in Libya—Obama summoned the inherent high ground of the presidency to condemn the “politicization” of the attack.

To be clear: There was nothing particularly off about Romney. He had several strong moments, most especially contrasting what Obama said he would do in 2008 with what in fact had happened over the past four years. This was, and is, the single most powerful argument against returning Obama to the White House, and Romney deployed it effectively.

It’s just that Obama found what he could not find in Denver—a coherent thread to make the case that he understands the middle-class in a way Romney does not. For those Democratic partisans wondering where “the 47 percent” argument was, Obama was saving it for the close which—because of a pre-debate coin flip—Romney could not answer. In this sense, it was like Reagan’s famous “are you better off?” question from 1980.

In a larger sense, however, Obama’s success is unlikely to have anything like the impact of that 1980 debate, nor will it likely alter the terrain of the campaign as the first debate of 2012 did. Had the Obama of this debate showed up two weeks ago, he might well have ended Romney’s effort to present himself as a credible alternative to the president.

That opportunity vanished that night. While it’s clear that Obama’s performance will revive the enthusiasm of his supporters, it seems unlikely that it will cause those impressed by Romney to reconsider. Like they say in show business, timing is everything.

A Vote for Romney or Obama is a Vote for the Private Oligarchies That Rule America

Don’t Vote For Evil

October 13, 2012

Paul Craig Roberts - Back during the George W. Bush neocon regime, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in his UN speech summed up George W. Bush for the world. I am quoting Chavez from memory, not verbatim.

“Yesterday standing at this same podium was Satan himself, speaking as if he owned the world. You can still smell the sulfur.”

Chavez is one of the American right-wing’s favorite bogyman, because Chavez helps the people instead of bleeding them for the rich, which is Washington’s way. While Washington has driven all but the one percent into the ground, Chavez cut poverty in half, doubled university enrollment, and provided health care and old age pensions to millions of Venezuelans for the first time.

Little wonder he was elected to a third term as president despite the many millions of dollars Washington poured into the election campaign of Chavez’s opponent.

While Washington and the EU preach neoliberalism–the supremacy of capital over labor–South American politicians who reject Washington’s way are being elected and reelected in Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Bolivia.

It was the Ecuadoran government, not Washington, that had the moral integrity to grant political asylum to WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange. The only time Washington grants asylum is when it can be used to embarrass an opponent.

In contrast to the leadership that is emerging in South America as more governments there reject the traditional hegemony of Washington, the US political elite, whether Republican or Democrat, are aligned with the rich against the American people.

The Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, has promised to cut taxes on the rich, taxes which are already rock bottom, to block any regulation of the gangsters in the financial arena, and to privatize Social Security and Medicare.

Privatizing Social Security and Medicare means to divert the people’s tax dollars to the profits of private corporations. In Republican hands, privatization means only one thing: to cut the people’s benefits and to use the people’s tax dollars to increase the profits in the private sector. Romney’s policy is just another policy that sacrifices the people to the one percent.

Unfortunately, the Democrats, if a lessor evil, are still an evil. There is no reason to vote for the reelection of a president who codified into law the Bush regime’s destruction of the US Constitution, who went one step further and asserted the power to murder US citizens without due process of law, and who has done nothing to stop the exploitation of the American people by the one percent.

As Gerald Celente says in the Autumn Issue of the Trends Journal, when confronted with the choice between two evils, you don’t vote for the lessor evil. You boycott the election and do not vote.

“Lessor or greater, evil is evil.”

If Americans had any sense, no one would vote in the November election. Whoever wins the November election, it will be a defeat for the American people.

An Obama or Romney win stands in stark contract with Chavez’s win. Here is how Lula da Silva, the popular former president of Brazil summed it up:

“Chavez’s victory is a victory for all the peoples of Latin America. It is another blow against imperialism.” 

Washington, making full use of the almighty dollar, was unable to buy the Venezuelan election.

How will a Romney or Obama win be summed up? The answer will be in terms of which candidate is best for Israel’s interest; which is best for Wall Street’s interest, which is best for agribusiness; which is most likely to attack Iran; which is most likely to subject economic and war protesters to indefinite detention as domestic extremists.

The only people who will benefit from the election of either Romney or Obama are those associated with the private oligarchies that rule America.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts is the father of Reaganomics and the former head of policy at the Department of Treasury. He is a columnist and was previously the editor of the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, “How the Economy Was Lost: The War of the Worlds,” details why America is disintegrating.

Bad Gets Worse for Romney

"There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax." - Mitt Romney

Republicans: Bad Gets Worse for Romney

September 18, 2012

AP - A bad stretch for Mitt Romney just got worse, and Republican insiders now are growing increasingly pessimistic about the GOP presidential nominee's chances of winning the White House.

The latest heartburn for these insiders is Romney's refusal to back down from his statement that nearly half of Americans believe they are victims dependent upon government.

After his remarks, made to donors at a private fundraiser in May, came to light in a video, the candidate defended his position — and did so again Tuesday. He told Fox News:

"I know some believe that government should take from some to give to the others. I think that's an entirely foreign concept."

Publicly, Romney's campaign shrugs off the criticism. Aides say Romney will try to shift the debate back to the specifics of his vision for the country in hopes of curbing President Barack Obama's momentum before the first debate on Oct. 3 — and then seal the deal.

But, at least this week, there are doubts in GOP circles that he can prevail.

"This is a worst case scenario in some respects," Republican strategist Steve Lombardo said a day after Romney's remarks roiled the campaign. Obama has been painting Romney as an out-of-touch elitist, and Lombardo said the remarks "tend to reinforce pre-existing perception."

"Anytime that happens a campaign has to worry," Lombardo said.

The remarks were just the latest headache for Romney seven weeks before Election Day and with early voting well under way.

Romney critics and backers alike point to his misstep-filled trip abroad in July as an early signal of worry. Then came Romney's nominating convention, where Hollywood actor/director Clint Eastwood stole the show with a rambling conversation with an empty chair representing the president.

Obama's well-received convention followed. And so did a boost for the president in state and national polling.

Last week, Romney tried to use anti-American unrest in the Middle East to seize political advantage, only to be criticized for prematurely assailing the commander in chief before knowing all the facts, including that a U.S. ambassador had died. Then there were reports of infighting among his staff, and calls from Republicans for Romney to do more than just criticize Obama on the economy.

Heeding that advice, Romney began the week aiming to focus more on giving voters a better sense of what he would do as president. Then his remarks from the spring fundraiser surfaced, and he defended himself.

By Tuesday, Republicans were on edge. And some warned that Romney's road to the presidency was getting steeper.

Most of the more than a dozen GOP consultants interviewed for this story wouldn't openly discuss their concerns for fear of angering Romney's inner circle.

But there was an overwhelming sense that Romney needs to do something to shake up the race. Many Republicans said they view the upcoming debates as Romney's last chance to turn the tide — and even then it might be too late, given that a chunk of voters in key states will already have voted before the first debate.

Although they concede that the timing was bad, Romney aides insist he has nothing to apologize for. They say there is more than enough time to recover. They also point to larger polling gaps made up by Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in past elections, and to national tracking surveys that show Romney starting to recover.

Some Republicans see the same trends.

"It's been rough couple of weeks, but better for Romney to be going through a rough patch now than a month from now," said Sara Taylor Fagen, a former top political aide to President George W. Bush. "Forty-nine days is an eternity in politics, and the race remains very close."

Other Republicans fear that Romney isn't listening to advice from core staffers and is too involved in the day-to-day mechanics of the campaign, leading him to make mistakes he wouldn't otherwise make because he's not focused on his primary objective — persuading voters to back him. In GOP circles, there also are grumbles that the campaign is focused too much on the storyline of the day instead of articulating Romney's vision for the country, and that the campaign missed an opportunity to do that with a convention several said fell flat.

"It's incumbent on the Romney campaign to make it about Obama's handling of the economy," said Fergus Cullen, a former Republican Party chairman in New Hampshire. He's among the Republicans who think this is a temporary hiccup that will blow over, saying: "There are seven weeks to go and the topic of conversation will change, literally, from day to day."

Several Republicans noted Romney's schedule of the past few days, saying he was squandering an opportunity to talk to voters in battleground states. He's spent the bulk of the week raising money across the country in states that are not competitive. His last public rally was Friday afternoon outside Cleveland.

It hasn't been an easy period for Romney on the road either.

While he was singing happy birthday and raising millions of dollars on Friday, the tension showed by Sunday.

An event scheduled for Sunday in Colorado was canceled because of a small plane crash at the Pueblo, Colo., airport near the planned rally. Then aides scrambled to respond to a Politico story filled with criticisms about the state of Romney's campaign. Immediately after giving a speech intended to signal a new strategy to right his campaign, Romney faced his latest challenge when the secretly taped-video of the May fundraiser popped up.

It dominated the campaign news for several hours before the campaign called an impromptu news conference at which Romney acknowledged that his comments were "not elegantly stated" but stood by them anyway.

2012 Democratic National Party Campaign Rhetoric Pits the Middle Class Against the Top 1%

Middle Class vs. the 1%: It’s About to Get Really Ugly

September 5, 2012

Breakout - With a campaign slogan like "Forward" you'd think, and hope, the Obama Administration has moved passed the blame game politics of the last four years, pointing the finger at the Bush Administration as the root of all of America's economic problems.

"What you're going to hear is 'we have done everything we could to right the ship, to make sure that we are headed towards recovery. We may not be there yet, but don't change course,'" says Ed Mills, financial policy analyst at FBR Capital Markets. '"If you change course, the people who get the benefit of this recovery are not going to be you, but it is going to be Mitt Romney's pals and the top one-percent."'

And there lies the rhetoric that will pit the middle class against the 1%. Mills points out, it's about to go into overdrive at the DNC. The Democrats will praise President Obama's record by touting the Affordable Care Act, Dodd Frank financial reform, and the Consumer Financial Protection Agency as achievements. He says they'll hit particularly hard on the financial regulation component to create a tough stance on Wall Street, while promoting laws to protect Main Street.

"It's going to be about a clear choice," says Mills. He predicts the tone will be, "we [the Democrats] are the choice of the middle class, Romney is the choice of business and the rich. And if you give him the keys, this is going to go back to the failed economic policies that brought us to the brink in the first place; it is Bush economics on steroids."

That message is right in line with the 2012 Democratic National Platform. Here's one of the first paragraphs from the 40-page document.

The Republican Party has turned its back on the middle class Americans who built this country. Our opponents believe we should go back to the top-down economic policies of the last decade. They think that if we simply eliminate protections for families and consumers, let Wall Street write its own rules again, and cut taxes for the wealthiest, the market will solve all our problems on its own. They argue that if we help corporations and wealthy investors maximize their profits by whatever means necessary, whether through layoffs or outsourcing, it will automatically translate into jobs and prosperity that benefits us all. They would repeal health reform, turn Medicare into a voucher program, and follow the same path of fiscal irresponsibility of the past administration — giving trillions of dollars in tax cuts weighted towards millionaires and billionaires while sticking the middle class with the bill. But we've tried their policies — and we've all suffered when they failed.

"What is key to the message is trying to give Obama some credit, that you can say 'look it's not as good as what we want it to be, but it's far better than what it could have been. And if you give in to the other guys, they are going to take the eye off the ball in fighting for you, and they're gonna fight for their own friends,'" says Mills.

And that's the short list of what we can look Forward to this week and through November 6^th.

Never-before Made Public, the 'Fifth Page' of the U.S. Constitution, a Letter Allegedly Penned by George Washington, Says 'Individuals Entering into Society Must Give Up a Share of Liberty to Preserve the Rest'

Constitution’s Extra Page Shown in Public for First Time

September 14, 2011

National Constitution Center - The National Archives put on public display on Friday the “fifth page” of the Constitution, a document that hasn’t been seen in public before.

The Constitution we all learned about in school and read about today has four pages, and it contains the basic articles that led to the formation of the current U.S. government.

The fifth page is known as the transmittal page of the Constitution and the Resolutions of the Constitutional Convention, and the National Archives will make it available to public viewing for a week in Washington, D.C., starting today.

Link: Read The Page

It was signed by George Washington and it includes the instructions about how the Constitution should be ratified and put into effect.

The document also includes the instructions for how the first presidential election should be conducted, as well as the critical process of how the new government should replace the one established by the Articles Of Confederation.

The event marks a celebration of the 225th anniversary of the ratification of the U.S. Constitution on Monday. The Letter of Transmittal can be seen in the East Rotunda Gallery in the National Archives Building.

The page now lives in an oxygen-free encasement along with the original Declaration of Independence, the four-page Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Archives started work on the current restoration in 1999.

The National Archives also release a video that shows the detailed restoration process involved with the Transmittal page.

A bigger historical mystery is the whereabouts of a sixth page that accompanied the Constitution and Washington’s instructions to Congress. It was transcribed at the time, but it was also meant as a private letter.

Washington penned his own personal note to Arthur St. Clair, the president of the existing Congress. The letter explained why the Constitutional convention met and the rationale behind the new, stronger government.

“Individuals entering into society, must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest,” Washington wrote. “We hope and believe; that [the Constitution] may promote the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all, and secure her freedom and happiness, is our most ardent wish.”

Republican Paul Ryan Backs Democrat Rahm Emanuel in Opposing Chicago Teachers' Strike Because NWO Cronies Plan to Hijack the Vast Wealth of the Public School System for the Top 1% (That's Why They've Jacked Up Public School Funding Over the Past Decade)

House Values Fall 30%, But Property Taxes Keep Rising (December 22, 2010), the nation’s state and local governments will collect an estimated $476 billion in property taxes in 2010–about 90% of state income tax revenues of $250 billion and sales tax revenues of $286 billion combined. A decade ago, property taxes were roughly equivalent to sales taxes. In 2000, property taxes totaled $247 billion and sales taxes came in at $223 billion—a differential of roughly 10%. Sales taxes have increased by 28% since 2000—roughly in line with the rise in consumer prices. State income taxes have risen nationally from $217 billion in 2000 to $250 billion in 2010, after peaking at $303 billion in 2008, just as the global financial meltdown began. That’s a rise of $33 billion, or 15%—actually less than inflation (27% from 2000 to 2010). Add all this up and we can see that local governments have become far more dependent on property tax revenues than they were in 2000. Thanks to stiff increases in junk fees and taxes of all kinds, state and local government revenue has climbed back to its pre-recession height of $1.29 trillion, roughly equal to the $1.32 trillion collected in 2008. In terms of total tax revenue, the recession is over—yet the gap between expenditures and revenues continues to widen in most states and local governments. As their properties continue sliding in value, devastating their net worth, do you reckon the average homeowner might start resenting the rapid rise of the taxes they pay for the privilege of owning real estate? Imagine if your income taxes rose by 27% even as your income declined by 30%. The ultimate tax hostage is the property owner. [Public School Systems Spent Recklessly on Wages, Benefits and Pensions During the Real Estate Bubble Years, and Continue to Do So; Property Values are Dropping But Property Taxes Are Not]

More than $500 billion is spent annually on public education in the United States (state and local spending for kindergarten through 12th grade education more than doubled since 1990). According to New America Foundation: "The federal government contributes about 8 percent of direct funding for elementary and secondary schools nationally (through the U.S. Department of Education, the federal government provides more than $40 billion a year on primary and secondary education programs). The two biggest federal programs are No Child Left Behind Title I Grants to local school districts ($14.5 billion in fiscal year 2009) and IDEA Special Education State Grants ($11.5 billion in fiscal year 2009). States rely primarily on income and sales taxes to fund elementary and secondary education. Property taxes support most of the funding that local government provides for education."

The nation’s public schools employ more than 6 million workers, and instructional staff receive about $295 billion in salary and benefits, according to federal estimates ... All told, personnel costs—the salaries and benefits that sustain the K-12 workforce—consume about 80 percent of school districts' budgets, and many policymakers are determined to drive those expenses down. Yet reducing those costs is not as simple as chopping away at the state or local education budget, or eliminating programs or services. State pension systems, which typically cover teachers, generally are protected by state constitutions and other laws, and courts have made it difficult to reduce benefits for current enrollees. And teachers’ salary schedules and health-care costs are often protected by hard-fought collective bargaining agreements at the local level. There’s a lot of money at stake. [Sean Cavanagh, Personnel costs prove tough to contain, Education Week, January 12, 2011]

Paul Ryan on Chicago Teachers Strike: ‘We Stand with Rahm Emanuel’

September 11, 2012

The Ticket - Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan spoke out against the Chicago Teachers Union strike on Monday, saying he stands behind Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's opposition to the demonstration.

"Mayor Emanuel is right today in saying that this teacher's union strike is unnecessary and wrong," Ryan said in Portland, Ore., according to a pool report transcript. "We know that Rahm is not going to support our campaign, but on this issue and this day we stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel."

More than 26,000 education professionals in the Chicago area did not attend work on Monday over a contract negotiation dispute with the Chicago Board of Education.

President Barack Obama's administration declined to comment on the strike. Emanuel, elected mayor in 2011, was Obama's chief of staff from 2009 to 2010.

Here are Ryan's full remarks:

If you turned on the TV this morning or sometime today, you probably saw something about the Chicago teacher's union strike. I'd like to make a couple of comments about that because it does matter. I've known Rahm Emanuel for years. He's a former colleague of mine. Rahm and I have not agreed on every issue or on a lot of issues, but Mayor Emanuel is right today in saying that this teacher's union strike is unnecessary and wrong. We know that Rahm is not going to support our
campaign, but on this issue and this day we stand with Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

We stand with the children and we stand with the families and the parents of Chicago because education reform, that's a bipartisan issue. This does not have to divide the two parties. And so, we were going to ask, where does President Obama stand? Does he stand with his former Chief of Staff Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with the children and the parents, or does he stand with the union? On issues like this, we need to speak out and be really clear. In a Romney-Ryan administration we will not be ambiguous, we will stand with education reform, we will champion bipartisan education reforms. This is a critical linchpin to the future of our country, to our economy, to make sure that our children go to the best possible school, and that education reforms revolve around the parents and the child, not the special interest group. This is something that's critical for all of us.

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