Reprehensible comments by DNC delegate

Earlier this week, Julia Rodriquez, a DNC delegate from New York, told a reporter at the Democratic convention in Charlotte that if she saw Gov. Mitt Romney, "she would like to kill him."

Her reprehensible comments have (appropriately) drawn the attention of the Secret Service.

The comments were beyond the pale and have no place in the country's political discourse. It's not clear what steps the DNC can take to censure Ms. Rodriquez, but she has no place in the Democratic party.

Are you as well off as 4 years ago? The S&P 500 thinks so

U.S. stock markets opened much higher this morning. Bloomberg reports

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) climbed above the highest closing level since 2008 as the European Central Bank announced specifics of its bond-buying plan and data boosted optimism in the labor market.

You would think that this would carry some weight with the "pro-business" Republican party.

It would be nice to be reporting lots of additional positive economic news, but today's stock market post sure beats the one from nearly four years ago.

Smart growth and the police state

The Washington Post has a fascinating article this morning about how development planning advice from police experts can lead to safer neighborhoods and attractions.

The concept of police working with developers is not unique to Washington, but experts say Lanier’s department is ahead of many of its peers. While some offer a stock list of design recommendations, D.C. police make specific suggestions about safety measures as blueprints are being drawn, well before the first buckets of concrete are poured.

Hmm, planning to increase safety and reduce the need for expensive security measures later. Sounds like smart growth.

No mention though of Agenda 21 or blue helmets.

Thurston and Lovey are at it again

ABC News has two stories today that show how insensitive Gov. and Mrs. Romney (Thurston and Lovey) are to people's concerns.

The day started with the Romney campaign off-shoring a party for top donors by holding it on a foreign-registered yacht.

Gov. Mitt Romney's campaign toasted its top donors Wednesday aboard a 150-foot yacht flying the flag of the Cayman Islands.

The floating party, hosted by a Florida developer on his yacht "Cracker Bay," was one of a dozen exclusive events meant to nurture those who have raised more than $1 million for Romney's bid.

"I think it's ironic they do this aboard a yacht that doesn't even pay its taxes," said a woman who lives aboard a much smaller boat moored at the St. Petersburg Municipal Marina. 

Later, keenly identifying the big obstacle to Hispanic economic and social progress, Mrs. Romney told Hispanics that they need to "get past some of their biases." Really.

Among her other condescending remarks, Mrs. Romney praised the Puerto Rican Governor and First Lady, saying what they "are doing on that little island is quite remarkable" and "I had the most rocking time in Puerto Rico at a political rally than I’ve ever had in my entire life...You people really know how to party."

Sticking with the diminutives, she also offered that her trip to Puerto Rico let her "peak into a culture and a vibrancy and energy, a passion that I saw from that little island that really what represents the best in America."

Outrage over Gov. Romney's birther joke

The Obama campaign is beside itself with indignation that Gov. Romney dared to make a joke today about birth certificates, harrumphing

...Governor Romney’s decision to directly enlist himself in the birther movement should give pause to any rational voter across America.

Pause, indeed. Gov. Romney's comments are beyond the pale. The President's U.S. nationality has been firmly established, and jokes about the President's origins have no place--no place whatsoever--in our political discourse.

As it turns out, the joke was captured on video, so everyone can see how mean-spirited and divisive it was.



Oops, I meant this mean-spirited and divisive joke.



Harrumph!

4-year-old struck by bullet in Raleigh

The News-Observer reports on another innocent victim of gun violence.

A 4-year-old child was hit by a bullet fired outside his house in East Raleigh last night, according to police.

The boy was shot on Melvid Court, off Peyton Street near Poe Elementary School, around 11:30 p.m., police said. The bullet was intended to hit someone else, police said, and no arrests have been made.

The NRA and other gun apologists are sure to appear shortly to explain how this wouldn't have happened if the 4-year-old had been "packing."

Republicans' phony, bogus, and artificial outrage

The list of Republicans pompously bellowing for Missouri Rep. Todd Akin to withdraw from his state's U.S. senate race keeps growing and growing, with NC Senator Richard Burr joining the list.

You can tell that these Republicans are really, really serious because they don't just use one adjective to condemn Rep. Akins remarks, but three!

Sen. Brown: "I found Todd Akin’s comments about women and rape outrageous, inappropriate, and wrong."

Gov. Romney: "Congressman’s Akin comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong."

Sen. Cornyn: "Congressman Akin's statements were wrong, offensive, and indefensible."

Sen. Burr: "Congressman Akin’s comments about rape were outrageous, offensive, and, simply put, wrong."

In the weird math of Republican politics, three adjectives appear to equal one category-5 shit-storm.

The Republicans seem to be saying that Rep. Akin, by his remarks, is unfit, unsuited, and ill-equipped for public office (hey, I can read a thesaurus too).

However, if they are actually concerned with Rep. Akin's fitness to serve, why aren't any of them calling on him to immediately resign his House seat?

BTW, double bonus points for phony outrage go to Sen. Claire McCaskill for her complaint that national Republicans were trying to "dictate" to Missouri's primary voters.

Read more here: http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/burr_calls_for_akin_to_exit_race#storylink=cpy

Another disarming gun story

Another story to file in the "guns make us safer" drawer. The News-Observer reports

A gun dealer shot himself in the hand just before a gun show in northern Charlotte Sunday morning.

Police haven’t released the name of the man, but said he was a dealer at the Dixie Gun & Knife Classic, which was held this weekend at the Metrolina Expo on Statesville Road.

“He was taking the gun out to display it and pulled the trigger and it went off,” said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Capt. William Boger.

I'm sure the unnamed gun dealer is just as competent in running background checks and completing ATF paperwork.

Did Rep. Ryan use inside information to dump bank stocks? The answer is no

Matthew Yglesias cites the Richmonder blog's accusation about Rep. Ryan's inside trading during the early days of the financial crisis.

From the Richmonder

Ryan attended a closed meeting with congressional leaders, Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on September 18, 2008. The purpose of the meeting was to disclose the coming economic meltdown and beg Congress to pass legislation to help collapsing banks.

Instead of doing anything to help, Ryan left the meeting and on that very same day Paul Ryan sold shares of stock he owned in several troubled banks and reinvested the proceeds in Goldman Sachs, a bank that the meeting had disclosed was not in trouble. 

As Yglesias writes, "it's about as clear an example of a public official trying to use his office to obtain personal benefits as you're likely to find."

The Business Insider investigates further. Although the transactions are reported to have occurred on the same day as the Paulson/Bernanke meeting, they may have happened just prior to the meeting.The Business Insider was also not able to obtain confirmation of who attended the meeting.

Given the miraculous timing of the transactions, it seems the Rep. Ryan has some 'splaining to do.

Update (5:16): Yglesias has walked back his story, saying the Richmonder doesn't "have the goods" to make its case. He cites Brad DeLong's analysis of all of Rep. Ryan's trades in 2008 which include numerous other instances of trading bank stocks.

Also, Rep. Ryan's office has offered an explanation that indicates that the timing was a coincidence.

Y'all skidaddle or I'll shoot my roommate again

In a novel home protection strategy, a local man shot his roommate to ward off burglars.

The News and Record reports

Alamance Regional Medical Center treated a 19-year-old man shot during a burglary early Saturday, police said.

James Jenkins of North St. John Street told Burlington police officers that he had been shot during a burglary at his home.

One of two men also in the home at the time of the burglary said he gained control of a firearm and shot at the suspects. According to his report, the rounds inadvertently struck Jenkins. The suspects then fled.

The story is a grim reminder of the dangers of firearms--and of firing into your roommate's arm.

Gov. Romney believes others' tax returns are relevant but not his

Former Mass. governor Mitt Romney thought that "several years" of income tax returns were necessary for him to properly vet his vice presidential candidates but says that one year (and another to follow at some undetermined date) are enough for the public to vet him.
The Caucus reports

A top aide to Mitt Romney said that the campaign had obtained “several years” of income tax returns from potential running mates – suggesting that Representative Paul D. Ryan had produced tax returns for a greater number of years than Mr. Romney has in his run for the White House.

Mitt Romney has repeatedly refused to disclose tax returns for any years but 2010 and 2011, stirring criticism that he is shielding his finances from public view.

But on Saturday, the Romney adviser who oversaw the vice-presidential search, Beth Myers, said that she had requested “several years” of returns from Mr. Ryan. When pressed on precisely how many she had received, she declined to elaborate.

If hypocrisy were an Olympic event, Gov. Romney would get the gold.

In Paul Ryan, a token of Romney's extreme

Kudos to former Mass. governor Mitt Romney on his bold, inspired choice of Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan as his running mate. Rep. Ryan brings a host of qualities to “Team Romney” that are sure to appeal to voters.

Some of that appeal will come from selecting a leader in the majority party of the least popular Congress, well, ever. This would be the same Republican House "leadership" that has staged 33 go-nowhere votes to rescind the health-care law that is almost a mirror image of Gov. Romney’s own health plan. It would also be the same Congress that trashed the country’s credit rating by nearly causing a debt default and that has left scores of necessary bills pending because of its dysfunction.

Voters will also appreciate Rep. Ryan’s fondness for Ayn Rand and his frequent criticism of the “takers” in society. Rep. Ryan, who benefited from government assistance as a youth, attended a publicly-funded university for his schooling, has drawn almost every penny of his salary as an adult from government coffers and refuses to eliminate oil company subsidies that benefit his family, is a paragon of Rand’s principles. As an added plus, voters, especially “values voters,” will especially like Rand’s atheism and open adultery.

Rep. Ryan also brings scads of credibility to Gov. Romney’s claims to be a deficit hawk. What with his proposal to increase defense spending AND cut tax rates for the wealthy and with his earlier votes to create the massively expensive Medicare drug plan, to enact the Bush tax cuts, and to support two incredibly costly wars. Rep. Ryan is so concerned about the deficit that his plan would close it by the middle of the century—talk about a futurist.

Oh, and speaking of that tax proposal, which would lower Gov. Romney’s already meager tax payments from 13.9% to 0.8% of his income, will help to take the focus off Gov. Romney’s tax shenanigans. It's not quite the zero tax rate that Gov. Romney described in criticizing the plan when Newt Gingrich espoused it in the primaries, but it's awfully close.

Rep. Ryan’s proposal to convert Medicare into a voucher program and then slowly shift the medical cost burden from the government to the elderly is also sure to be a hit. Evidence of the proposal’s popularity can be seen the assurances that Rep. Ryan has to give that no one under 55 will be affected by it. As they say, the best things are worth waiting for.

You almost get tingles from the popularity boost that will follow.

“You f---ing Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we‟re not going to deal with Iranians.”

“You f---ing Americans. Who are you to tell us, the rest of the world, that we‟re not going to deal with Iranians.” -- Standard Chartered Bank's Group Executive Director in response to an internal warning about the bank's scheme for hiding transactions on behalf of Iranian clients.

On August 6, New York state's banking superintendent, Benjamin Lawsky, filed an order that could strip Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) of its license to conduct business in New York. The order contained explosive allegations that SCB systematically covered up 60,000 Iranian transactions worth upwards of $250 billion by falsifying business records and financial instruments and by cooking its books.

According to the order, the transactions in question occurred from 2001-2010, but the general scheme to cover up Iranian transactions was initiated immediately after the transactions were prohibited in 1995.

The alleged corruption is staggering. Through these transactions, SCB enabled the Iranian regime and may have helped it to "finance terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad." Further, by covering up the transactions, SCB kept bank regulators in the dark about its actual risks. It appears that SCB has concealed transactions for other regimes as well.

More staggering still, SCB's procedures have been under investigation for some time by the New York Fed, the Justice Department, and the Manhatten District Attorney. If Lawsky hadn't acted, it's likely that the case would have been quietly settled, as a string of other illegal transactions cases have--if there had been any action at all.

For his trouble, Lawsky appears to have drawn the ire of other banking regulators, especially in the U.K., for not following the club rules and for making the charges public.

Those regulators seem over-concerned with protecting rogue banks instead of having those banks follow the law.

Thank goodness an actual regulator appears to be on the job.

Mitt Romney: Tax Cheat

Arrived back from France to find this CNN report on Mr. Romney's anything-to-make-a-profit approach to business.

In his key role as chairman of the Marriott board's audit committee, Romney approved the firm's reporting of fictional tax losses exceeding $70 million generated by its Son of Boss transaction. His endorsement of this stratagem provides insight into Romney's professional ethics and attitude toward tax compliance obligations.

Like other prepackaged corporate tax shelters of that era, Marriott's Son of Boss transaction was an entirely artificial transaction, bearing no relationship to its business. Its sole purpose was to create a gigantic tax loss out of thin air without any economic risk, cost or loss -- other than the fee Marriott paid the promoter.

The Son of Boss transaction was vulnerable to attack on at least two grounds.

First, the transaction's promoters and consumers relied on a strained technical statutory analysis. Second, the Son of Boss deal violated the fundamental tax principle that the tax law ignores transactions unless they have a motivating business purpose and a substantial nontax economic effect.

Opportunity to act against high-capacity ammunition magazines

The Hill reports that seven Democratic senators have filed an amendment, S.A. 2575, to the proposed Cybersecurity Act that would ban the further sale and transfer of high-capacity ammunition magazines.

The amendment was sponsored by Democratic Sens. Frank Lautenberg (N.J.), Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Jack Reed (R.I.), Bob Menendez (N.J.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Schumer and Dianne Feinstein (Calif.). S.A. 2575 would make it illegal to transfer or possess large capacity feeding devices such as gun magazines, belts, feed stripes and drums of more than 10 rounds of ammunition with the exception of .22 caliber rim fire ammunition.

The amendment is identical to a separate bill sponsored by Lautenberg. Feinstein was the sponsor of the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. 

The proposed amendment would only affect sales and transfers after the law took effect.

Please consider contacting your senators to support this amendment.


Dear Senator _____:
I urge you to vote in favor of S.A. 2575 which would restrict high-capacity ammunition magazines like those used in the tragic mass murders in Aurora, Tuscon, and Blacksburg. High-capacity magazines serve no legitimate hunting, sporting, or self-defense purpose. Bipartisan legislation restricted these engines of death from 1994 until 2004. Those sensible restrictions should be restored.

Respectfully,
________

Gov. Romney trips overseas

Despite being "part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage" and "appreciat(ing) the shared history" with the United Kingdom, presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, has already managed to step into it in the U.K. through inartfull comments regarding the London Olympics. The Washington Post reports

Romney tried to defuse controversy sparked by comments he made to NBC on Wednesday, when he cited potentially “disconcerting” problems with security and immigration staffing at the London games and said, “It’s hard to know just how well it will turn out.”

Gov. Romney had hoped to show off his diplomatic chops on this trip while also using the London Olympics to remind voters of his own Olympic accomplishment and while garnering implicit support from conservative government officials in the U.K., Israel, and Poland.

Instead the Romney campaign has shown itself to be not ready for prime time.

First, a Romney advisor was caught making truly awful comments. In talking up his/her candidate, the advisor told a reporter for the London Telegraph, "We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special...The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have." Not only was the comment racially insensitive, but it violated a key precept that politics should stop at the water's edge.

Second, the advisor's comments were made anonymously and on background, and even though the Romney campaign surely knows the adviser's identity, they're not revealing it. This only draws more attention to Gov. Romney's proclivity for secrecy and non-disclosure. Gov. Romney only compounded his problems by later saying, "So I don't know agree with whoever that advisor might be." If you really think that Gov. Romney is in the dark about this, I've got a great deal on the London Bridge that I want to talk you about.

Third, Gov. Romney's comments about the preparations for the London games were insulting and offputing to the U.K. public. Besides creating a stir, the comments contribute yet another example of Gov. Romney boorishly insulting his hosts.

Finally, in walking back the comments, Gov. Romney reinforces his well-earned reputation as a flip-flopper.

When all is said and done, Gov. Romney's trip may turn out to be a great benefit...for the Obama campaign.

Update (7/26/12, 22:13): Gov. Romney's trip is the gift that just keeps giving. From the Washington Post

Thursday was supposed to be the easy day, when Mitt Romney would audition as a world leader here by talking about his shared values with the heads of the United States’ friendliest ally.

Instead, the Republican presidential candidate insulted Britain as it welcomed the world for the Olympics by casting doubt on London’s readiness for the Games, which open Friday, saying that the preparations he had seen were “disconcerting” and that it is “hard to know just how well it will turn out.”

...It was a difficult start to Romney’s first foray on the international stage as the presumptive Republican nominee, one that was supposed to present him to U.S. voters as a potential commander in chief. Beyond his Olympics remarks, Romney had a series of uncomfortable moments — some of them seemingly minor, but distractions nonetheless.

At one point, he told reporters about his previously undisclosed meeting with the head of the MI-6, Britain’s secret intelligence agency.

On the first official day of his six-day overseas tour, Romney declined to answer reporters’ questions about his foreign policy positions , saying he will avoid talking about any policy specifics while he is on foreign soil.

He ended the day in a scene that could prove damaging for a candidate sometimes labeled as out of touch. A dinner fundraiser, which raised $2 million, was co-hosted by executives at banks under investigation in London’s rate-fixing scandal.

At this point Gov. Romney must be glad that a day is only 24 hours long.

The mass-murderer's best friend

The nation is mourning yet another mass murder from a crazed gunman. This tragedy has so far claimed the lives of 12 victims. Another 58 people were wounded. A mind-boggling 70 people felled in just a few minutes.

Like earlier gun tragedies in Blacksburg and Tuscon, the gunman had a high-capacity ammunition magazine. In this case, a 100-round drum magazine.

These types of magazines were outlawed from 1994 to 2004 but are now again available to mass murderers.

Two bills--H.R. 308 and S. 32--would put the common-sense restrictions on high-capacity magazines back in place.

High-capacity magazines serve no purpose other than to mow down large numbers of people. They are a mass-murder's best friend.

Tea Party champion blocking Camp Lejeune water bill

South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint, champion of the extremist Tea Party, has turned his venom toward North Carolina military families who were poisoned by their own government. The News and Observer reports

Thousands of sick Marine veterans and their families may be on the verge of taking a giant leap toward receiving health care for illnesses they suffered from decades of water contamination at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Legislation that has languished for years was expected to be voted on in the full Senate this week under an across-the-aisle deal between the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. But a South Carolina senator has blocked the bill, saying he worries about fraud.

The Senator is using a procedural tactic called a "hold," which allows any senator to unilaterally block a bill or other action, such as a nomination. In this case, a bill with widespread, bipartisan support is being blocked by a single ideological crank.

The most immediate consequence of Sen. DeMint's stunt is that it slows much-needed assistance for victims of the government's negligence. However, the Senator's unilateral action also keeps the Senate from considering other business. The types of holds have figured into the larger Republican strategy to slow everything in the Senate.

Step one for the Senate should be to pass this bill to help military families.

Step two should be to remove the undemocratic power of individual Senators to obstruct the nation's business.

New way to blame the 1960s

Robert Samuelson has found a new way to blame today's ills on the 1960s.

Wondering why government can’t restart the sluggish economy? Well, one reason is that we are still paying the price for the greatest blunder in domestic policy since World War II. This occurred a half-century ago and helps explain today’s policy paralysis. The history — largely unrecognized — is worth recalling.

Until the 1960s, Americans generally believed in low inflation and balanced budgets. President John Kennedy shared the consensus but was persuaded to change his mind. His economic advisers argued that, through deficit spending and modest increases in inflation, government could raise economic growth, lower unemployment and smooth business cycles.

None of this proved true; all of it led to grief.

Samuelson is so focused on the 1960s that he seems to overlook the fact that the budget was in balance in the late 1990s and thrown back into deficit in the 2000s through the profligacy of the Bush administration, whose fiscal policies were neatly summed up by Vice President Cheney--"deficits don't matter."

Republicans' dismal jobs record in NC

In an article in yesterday's News and Observer, Republican legislative leaders in North Carolina were touting how promising their jobs record was.

In discussing their economic policies, Republicans often use a farming metaphor the folks in Edgecombe understand: Fertile soil will produce jobs. With business-friendly policies and a low-tax environment, they argue, new companies will relocate to the state and existing ones will grow.

“I think we are seeing some green shoots,” said Tillis, the House leader and a business consultant. He still wears the same red “Think Jobs” wristband from the 2010 campaign. “I think there are reasons to be optimistic.”

In an interview last week, Tillis staked a claim on the state’s sputtering economy, even though his party blames Democrats for the current situation.

“This is our economy,” Tillis said. “I am fully confident. I want to own this economy. It is our responsibility. We did a good job of starting, and we’ve got a lot of unraveling to do of bad policies that have hamstrung us that cannot be undone overnight.”

The fertilizer metaphor is apt--Rep. Tillis is spreading bullsh*t.

In the 16 full months that have elapsed since the Republicans came to power in North Carolina and for which we have state jobs data (Feb. 2011-May 2012), the state has shed jobs in eight, including six of the 11 months that have elapsed since the Republican's austerity budget was enacted.

Republicans blame a weak national economy, but the national economy has added jobs in every one of those months.

Republicans also blame Democrats, but the Republican budget is leading to less job growth. In the 11 months since the Republicans' budget was enacted, the state has added a measly 12,900 jobs; in the 11 preceding months (and during a much weaker economy), the state added 47,200.

If this is Republicans' "good start," one can only imagine what the finish will look like.