Both being states that have dared to pass voter ID laws.
Madison (AP) — U.S. Justice Department officials say they plan to monitor elections in Wisconsin and Florida on Tuesday.
The Justice Department routinely deploys observers to monitor elections across the country, with an eye toward discriminatory voting practices, harassment and intimidation.
Both Florida and Wisconsin will hold primary elections on Tuesday.
The agency issued a statement Monday saying it plans to monitor polling sites in Florida’s Collier, Hendry, Lee, Osceola and Polk counties as well as in Milwaukee.
They can clarify all they want, but the fact of the matter is Biden was speaking to a largely black crowd in a majority black city that has a long history of racial tension. Telling them Romney/Ryan are going to “put them back in chains” is indefensible.
From the Obama campaign: “For months, Speaker Boehner, Congressman Ryan, and other Republicans have called for the ‘unshackling’ of the private sector from regulations that protect Americans from risky financial deals and other reckless behavior that crashed our economy. Since then, the Vice President has often used a similar metaphor to describe the need to ‘unshackle’ the middle class. Today’s comments were a derivative of those remarks, describing the devastating impact letting Wall Street write its own rules again would have on middle class families. We find the Romney campaign’s outrage over the Vice President’s comments today hypocritical, particularly in light of their own candidate’s stump speech questioning the President’s patriotism. Now, let’s return to that ‘substantive’ debate Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan promised 72 hours ago, but quickly abandoned.”
According to today’s issue of El Fegr, “Elements of terrorist, jihadi organizations distributed leaflets today inciting for the killing of Copts in Suez, Ismailia, and Upper Egypt, promising them [Copts] a tragic end if they do not return to the truth.”
An image of a copy of the letter appears on El Fegr’s website. Titled “An Urgent and Important Notice,” it begins by calling on “all brothers and sisters” to “kill or physically attack the enemies of the religion of Allah—the Christians in all of Egypt’s provinces, the slaves of the Cross, Allah’s curse upon them…” It proceeds to promise a monetary reward for whoever helps “achieve Allah’s rights against his enemies.”
As a testimony to how safe the jihadi organizations of today’s Egypt feel under the new president, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Muhammad Morsi, the usual cryptic language is dropped, as the letter names contact points and even a mosque, Sheikh Ahmed Mosque in Kasfrit, where those interested should rally “after Friday prayers where new members to the organization will be welcomed.”
Speaking about Gov. Romney’s opposition to wind energy production in a speech in Iowa today, President Obama made an apparent reference to the Romney/Seamus ‘dog on top of car’ incident.
“You can’t drive a car with a windmill on it… now, I don’t know if he has tried that, I know he has had other things on his car”
Update: Something tells me Obama won’t be making any more Seamus jokes.
“With Lolo, I learned how to eat small green chili peppers raw with dinner (plenty of rice), and, away from the dinner table, I was introduced to dog meat (tough), snake meat (tougher), and roasted grasshopper (crunchy).”
Former Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL) on Rep. Ryan’s fiscal policies and what they mean for seniors. Grayson says, “Seniors are waking up and realizing Republicans really want to take your social security money and hand it over to Wall Street.” Stephanie says this is a game changer in a bad way for the Republican Party. Grayson says that democrats need to drive the point home that the Ryan plan will “throw grandma off the train.”
This morning in Virginia, Vice President Joe Biden dropped some shocking and offensive language in ripping into Mitt Romney’s economic plans. Stooping to a new low, Biden said, “Romney wants to let the—he said in the first 100 days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules–unchain Wall Street. They gonna put y’all back in chains.”
The southern accent Biden adopts for that last line is deeply disturbing; it’s a clear reference to slavery. The city of Danville, where Biden was speaking, has a black population of 48.6 percent; 19.8 percent of all Virginians are black. Those facts surely did not go unnoticed by Biden. This is race-baiting as its finest. It is despicable.
. . . Speaking to Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC, Stephanie Cutter , Obama’s Deputy Campaign Manager, said that the Romney campaign was engaging in “faux outrage” and that the Obama camp has no problem with Biden’s comments in their full context.
“We have no problem with those comments,” said Cutter.
The Romney campaign is reacting harshly to Vice President Joe Biden’s accusation that Mitt Romney and Wall Street will put Americans “back in chains.”
“After weeks of slanderous and baseless accusations leveled against Governor Romney, the Obama Campaign has reached a new low,” press secretary Andrea Saul said in a statement. “The comments made by the Vice President of the United States are not acceptable in our political discourse and demonstrate yet again that the Obama Campaign will say and do anything to win this election. President Obama should tell the American people whether he agrees with Joe Biden’s comments.”
Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod pummeled Mitt Romney and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Tuesday, saying their plan would send Medicare into a “death spiral.”
He also responded to GOP accusations that President Obama cut $700 billion from the program.
“The changes that the President made in the Affordable Care Act, taking subsidies away from insurance companies within the Medicare system, helped us lengthen the life, the viability, financial viability, of Medicare by almost a decade. They would repeal that and Medicare would be bankrupt by 2016,” Axelrod said on CNN. “So right away, there are concerns for seniors about what they would do. But in the long-term, what they would do is turn Medicare into a voucher program. They would cap that voucher so that over time, more and more of the burden would be shifted to seniors who would be left to contend on the private insurance market or choose a very weakened Medicare alternative.
U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz. cannot escape the questions about his now infamous call to boycott Arizona — even when he’s in the most friendly of confines.
Speaking Monday to the Democrats of Greater Tucson, the five-term congressman seeking re-election in Congressional District 3 received a standing ovation and warm applause throughout his speech.
But during questions, he was asked yet again about his boycott call in 2010, in which he urged conventions and businesses to avoid Arizona in order to show how destructive SB1070 was.
As he’s done in the past, Grijalva stood behind his decision, while offering some insight about his thought-process:
“My opponents are running on the fact that ‘Oh my God, he said the ‘b’ word and he has caused all this dire consequences to come the state. Let me be unapologetic: we needed to nationalize this SB1070 issue. We couldn’t let it go in to the dark corner and just be a funny, little thing that happened in Arizona. This was a precedent, and the Supreme Court ruled on the precedent that it was unconstitutional in many aspects.”
“We asked the Attorney General to intervene, we asked the administration to intervene. And we said there is going to be economic consequences and there should be. For a state that can be this punitive, there is going to be consequences.”
“Have I taken some hits on that? Absolutely. But the unapology is about this: We are elected and sometimes, there is a direct attack, there is a direct issue that affects a group of people that are being marginalized. . . I’m not going to tolerate it. I’m going to speak up every time. I spoke up then and God willing, it will never happen again.”
President Barack Obama is beating Gov. Mitt Romney on the so-called “beer test” of likeability, but the president doesn’t want to have beer with Republicans.
A revealing moment came Monday, when Obama told a tent of drinkers at the Iowa State Fair that he’d buy a round of beers for 10 people, but not for one person carrying a sign of support for Gov. Mitt Romney.
At the beer tent, the drinkers “started chanting, ‘four more beers!’” according to the pool report.
“Potus said, ‘I’ll tell you what, except for Romney sign, I’ll buy beers for ten people,’” the report added.
Obama also refused to eat pork cops until he asked for a knife and fork.
Documents and a whistle-blower affidavit obtained by The Daily Caller charge that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., and Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., participated in an unethical — and possibly illegal — effort to force 76 employees of an Illinois state agency to engage in political activity on the taxpayers’ dime.
According to the whistle-blower, Rev. Jackson also encouraged the government employees to load first-generation and low-income college students up with student loan debt — because Democrats in Congress, he allegedly promised, would eventually pass laws to forgive that debt later. “[T]hose people will continue to vote Democratic,” Jackson Sr. said, according to the whistle-blower.
On March 3, Pelosi flew to Chicago to endorse Rep. Jackson Jr., 17 days ahead of a heated March 20 Democratic primary he later won. Pelosi was scheduled to make the endorsement at a press conference later in the day, after she participated in an hour-long “forum” hosted by the elder Jackson at the headquarters of his progressive Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
Pelosi politicized that forum, jumping the gun and endorsing Jackson Jr. earlier than planned.
(INN) — Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will discuss, in coming days, making changes in the Camp David Accord signed with Israel. The changes will allow Egypt “to implement its full sovereignty over the Sinai Peninsula.”
Morsi’s advisor told an Egyptian newspaper, Al Masri al Youm, that despite the fact that Al Masri dismissed the entire top echelon of Egypt’s security mechanism, there is no bad blood between the Military Council and the elected president.
The decision regarding whom to appoint as the new Defense Minister and Chief of Staff was taken by the Morsi, the advisor said, without the intervention of the Military Council.
Morsi has appointed Abdul-Fatah al-Sessi as Defense Minister and Lieutenant-General Sidki Sayed Ahmed as Army Chief of Staff.
To give you an idea how much of an Obama hack Soledad O’Brien is, she was caught earlier in the day using a print out of lefty blog Talking Points Memo during a debate on Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan.
Erskine Bowles: “Have any of you all met Paul Ryan? We should get him to come to the university. I’m telling you this guy is amazing. … He is honest, he is straightforward, he is sincere. And the budget that he came forward with is just like Paul Ryan. It is a sensible, straightforward, serious budget and it cut the budget deficit just like we did, by $4 trillion. … The president as you remember, came out with a budget and I don’t think anybody took that budget very seriously. The Senate voted against it 97 to nothing.”
Apparently low on bombers, al-Qaeda is running a (short-term) employment advertisement on its Shumukh al-Islam Internet forum. Under the heading “Area of activity: The planet Earth,” the ad seeks jihadists to carry out suicide attacks.
Applicants must be Muslim, mentally mature, dedicated, able to listen, and utterly committed to completing their mission, the Hebrew daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Tuesday.
Several email addresses are provided for applicants. While their real names are not required, candidates are asked to send details of their nickname or handle, their age, marital status, languages spoken and a list of passports in their possession.
The ad on the forum, which is accessible only to al-Qaeda members, specifies the targets of the terror attacks that applicants will be expected to carry out, including “People who fight Islam and Muslims” and enemy “financial, military and media targets.”
The ad indicates that the anticipated attacks will be solo operations: “Only one person will be in charge. He will gather all of the intelligence, he will prepare the operation — and he will complete the attack.” However, it continues, “a military panel” will oversee the bomber’s training and select the target.
The job description promises only a “very slight chance of being caught.”
The ad has elicited several positive responses, the Yedioth article claimed. One forum participant requested that Germany, Denmark and Sweden be specified as potential targets. The same participant warned the forum to be very careful about what it publishes, for fear that the enemy may see what the group is planning.
A debate has been raging about what to call our enemy – the terrorists and radical Muslim leaders who have committed themselves to bringing death and destruction to America, Israel, and allied democracies. President Bush has used the term “Islamic fascists” to describe the threat we face, while Senator Feingold argues that phrase is offensive and misleading. While I respect Russ and consider him a friend, I strongly disagree with his premise.
Words matter, especially when defining the multifaceted enemy that extends beyond national boundaries and operates as a network of jihadists waging war on the West. If we can’t even define what we are fighting against, how are we ever going to win? For this reason, we must strive to use the most accurate term – not necessarily the most politically correct one.
“Islamic fascism” expresses the essence of the violent, extremist, religion-driven movement that confronts us. Both words apply, but they must be used together in order to convey the proper meaning and make the crucial distinction between peaceful Muslims and the murderous extremists of al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and similar groups that distort Islam and seek to dominate or destroy those who disagree with them.
Although the term “fascist” has often been misused, carelessly or consciously, the traditional understanding of fascism as exemplified by Mussolini’s Italy, Nazi Germany, and Franco’s Spain is a governing philosophy that is totalitarian, imperialistic, and militaristic. Fascism rejects the governing system and modern society, is hierarchical, and pursues the subordination of the individual. It’s also fueled by racism, anti-Semitism, and resentment kindled by defeats or perceived loss of power.
Stephen Morris, a fellow at JohnsHopkinsUniversity’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, has written that fascism “refers to a revolutionary political mass movement or regime that aims to achieve national greatness by radically transforming political and social life with totalitarian rule and by a policy of imperial expansion. Fascist ideology is reactionary in that it aspires to re-create a mythical past.”
JAY LENO, HOST: You trained your whole life, you win. How did you celebrate? What did you do?
GABBY DOUGLAS: We didn’t have time to celebrate. It was team finals and had to turn the page all-around finals and event finals after that. But, after the competition, I splurged on an Egg McMuffin at McDonald’s.
LENO: Egg McMuffin.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Yeah, Gabby, we don’t, don’t encourage him. [Laughter] I’m sure it was on…
DOUGLAS: A salad.
OBAMA: a whole wheat McMuffin.
LENO: It was on a whole wheat bun.
OBAMA: Yeah.
LENO: So an Egg McMuffin, Very good.
[Light laughter]
OBAMA: You’re setting me back, Gabby.
DOUGLAS: Sorry.
OBAMA: It’s so hard.
LENO: So what were you eating, was it just like protein and cereal and all this. Do they watch you? Oh, you get like one cup of this and two? When you, what is your diet when you’re doing that? Is it really strict?
DOUGLAS: Well, yeah, we have to kind of watch what we eat sometimes, and just keep our bodies in shape, and the more protein the better because it recovers our muscles and we like to drink a lot of vitamin D. So, every day I had chicken or beef and cereal every morning. So, it was very good.
George R.R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones that were adapted into HBO’s hit series took to the web this past weekend to air his grievances with the Republican Party.
In an angry post on his blog (LiveJournal? What is this, 2002?), the author ranted about what he believes to be “ongoing attempts at voter suppression in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Iowa, and other states where Republicans and their Teabagger allies control key seats of power.”
“It is one thing to attempt to win elections,” he continued. “But trying to do so by denying the most basic and important right of any American citizen to hundreds and thousands of people, on entirely spurious grounds… that goes beyond reprehensible. That is despicable.” [...]
Continuing on his anti-GOP rant, the sci-fi author concluded that “the people behind these efforts at disenfranchising large groups of voters (the young, the old, the black, the brown) are not Republicans, since clearly they have scant regard for our republic or its values. They are oligarchs and racists clad in the skins of dead elephants.”
