White unity.

   I have to give it to old white men of a certain age, they sure know how to stick together.

Add Mitt Romney to the growing list of republicans who seem to have forgotten their morals and common decency after Donald trump defeated Hillary Clinton to become president elect, trump.

Romney called trump every name in the book, and declared to anyone who would listen that he is not unfit to be president, and yet, amazingly, he is considering taking a position in his administration. I mean he called the man a "danger to democracy" for crying out loud. And yet, he would still choose to work for him and carry out his policies.

I can't believe that the trumpets are excited about this move, either, After all, wouldn't Mitt Romney be one of those folks in the swamp that trump wants to drain? We can go ahead and add people like Bob Corker, Jeff Sessions, and Newt Gingrich to that list while we are at it. There is a lot of garbage in that swamp.

Anyway, thank goodness for my peeps who continue to give me hope that there are voices of decencyber and dissent in this country. Not only are they out there, but they are writing eloquently about it.

h/t to my law school classmate, Amy, for turning me on to the following story. 

"It is time for the country to heal, time for us come together.

Or so people have been telling me since last week when democracy laid the biggest egg in American history. Well, here is my response: I have no interest in seeing this country heal. And I refuse to come together.

Understand: If this were just about politics, I’d never say something like that. No, I’d do what you’re supposed to when the candidate you favored is defeated. Suck it up.

But my anger is not about any given policy of the new president. No, it is about him, about the election of a fundamentally unsound, unserious and unfit man, a misogynist who brags about sexual assault, a bigot cheered to victory by the Ku Klux Klan. I have no idea how to “heal” woman hating and no desire to “come together” with the Klan.

I am similarly impatient with those who say we must give the new president a chance to lead and hope for his success.

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inRead invented by Teads

Is that what Republicans did for Barack Obama when they gathered on the night of his inauguration and plotted a conspiracy of obstructionism to cripple his presidency? Is it what Donald Trump did when he spent years questioning the veracity of an ordinary birth certificate?

More to the point, the call to let Trump lead and hope for his success fails to address obvious questions: Where is he leading us? How are we defining success? Should we applaud even if he “leads” us into another unnecessary Middle East conflagration? Are we expected to be happy if his “success” comes in criminalizing abortion?

Frankly, I won’t cheer him even if he is not a disaster. In the unlikely event the man who considers global warming a Chinese hoax took action to stem that threat, I’d be happy, yes. On the improbable chance the man who swore to repeal the Affordable Care Act crafted something better, I would be glad, sure.

But at the end of the day, the man who did those things would still be a misogynist and a bigot.
Forgive me — or don’t; I really don’t care — if that remains a deal breaker for me. I refuse to participate in this process of organized amnesia, to cooperate in normalizing a man who stands for everything America should not". [Read more]

I think Leonard Pitts, Jr. has done a pretty good job of summing up my feelings.

Of course, now that the usual suspects are rallying around our president elect, all the racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic things that he said in the past will be forgotten. It's kind of typical of how we treat bad actors and acts here in America: We try to purge everything from our memories and pretend that it didn't happen.

That, of course, will be a  little harder with president trump, because for the next four years, no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to escape him.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article114982043.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article114982043.html#storylink=cpy

When "freedom fries" come back to bite.

The field Negro education series continues.

The following essay was written by Joseph Palermo for Huffington Post:

"Republican myth-makers like Judith Miller, Newt Gingrich, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Ben Shapiro, and other ideologues, along with the GOP presidential candidates from Donald Trump to Marco Rubio, couldn't wait for all the victims in Paris to be identified before they unleashed a stream of hateful statements about the Paris attacks that serve their dual objectives of trashing President Obama and calling for their own form of jihad against their perceived enemies around the globe.

They're incapable of seeing that by politically exploiting this most recent atrocity, as they do with every other jihadist attack, to push their authoritarian and militaristic agenda they are exposing themselves as being every bit as nihilistic as the terrorists themselves.

Not long ago, in the run up to George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq, these same right-wing Republicans were screaming epithets at France because the country that today the corporate media remind us is "our oldest ally" tried to stop the war before it began.

The French case was that there was not a WMD threat, and that invading Iraq would lead to fragmentation of the country and trigger more terrorism.

Like a good friend who tried to take away the car keys from a power drunk U.S. administration before it got behind the wheel, France had the wisdom and forethought to try to stop the United States from its biggest foreign policy catastrophe since the Vietnam War.

And how did the Republican Right in the U.S. respond?

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives stopped selling French Fries in its cafeteria (which are from Belgium anyway) and changed their name to "Freedom Fries."

They vilified France because the French government had the good sense to try to block Bush and Cheney's war of aggression in Iraq through its United Nations veto power.

The United States had not seen such culinary propaganda since the World War One era, when the U.S. government's Committee on Public Information (the Creel Committee) sought to enflame anti-German sentiment by changing bratwurst to "hotdogs," hamburgers to "Salisbury steak," and sauerkraut to "victory cabbage."

The Republicans displayed the same level of hostility toward the French for opposing their war of choice in Iraq as an earlier generation of American propagandists showed toward Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Right-wing talk radio hosts organized events where their fans poured French wine down gutters as a symbolic protest against the French who dared to question the infinite wisdom of their Commander-in-Chief.

During George W. Bush's vicious 2004 re-election campaign against John Kerry Bush's Secretary of Commerce, Donald Evans, repeatedly said that Kerry "looks French."

The Republican House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay of Texas, began many of his Bush campaign speeches: "As John Kerry would say, bonjour."
  
At the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City "Democratic" Senator Zell Miller of Georgia received thunderous applause when he trashed John Kerry in his keynote address saying, "Kerry would let Paris decide when America needs defending!"

The same right-wingers that today are using the Paris attacks to further their shrill Manichean worldview denigrated "our oldest ally" for showing the good sense of not going along with Bush's war in Iraq.

This phenomenon demonstrates the fact that since the Bush years the Republicans have dropped all pretense of wanting to build a "kinder and gentler" America or promising a new version of "compassionate conservatism."

They've chosen instead to follow the ignorant and mean-spirited script of their ideological soul mates on right-wing talk radio.

In the context of Bush's ongoing "War on Terror" their situational demagoguery has drifted into the realm of heartless neo-fascism.

They demagogue the Paris attacks while dismissing the idea that the United States could learn a thing or two from France's examples of universal health care and publicly financed elections.

They denounce all who disagree with their war-mongering agenda with the kind of cocky self-assurance that Joe McCarthy showed in the early 1950s.

Last summer when I visited the French city of Strasbourg, a region where the horrifying history of war rings loudly, I stood for a long time inside Our Lady of Strasbourg Cathedral admiring the large memorial inside the cathedral to the fallen American soldiers who died there helping to liberate the city during World War Two.
 
I thought about the intertwined recent histories of our two countries and how much the French really loved the Americans, which made me all the more ashamed of the Republicans under George W. Bush who ridiculed that country and its people. Their raw partisan statements so soon after the horror in Paris renews this shame and should remind us just how extreme and heartless the party has become in recent years." [Source]

Thoughts?

*Pic from noboodforhubris.BlogSpot.com

Halftime Show.

It's halftime at the Super Bowl. But rather than watch AARP rocker, Madonna, do her thing, I think I will do a little blogging.

I saw all  the commercials so far, and this is my take: Animals- especially dogs- are really in. A-merry-ca is still in love with rap and music, and music they consider "hip" to sell things. Jar jar Binks will be back this summer in 3D .(Whhyyyy?!) And I saw Howard Stern doing his best Bull Connor imitation for another shameless NBC promotion of one of their shows.  

That's pretty much it.

As for the game itself,  I really have no rooting interest. The Iggles aren't there so I could care less who wins. I actually hate both of these teams.

Finally, let me end this post on a somewhat serious note. I say somewhat because the person I am going to write about is pretty much a joke.

Anyway, Newt says that his Oness and his government has launched an all out "assault" on religeon because of the HHS policy on birth control.

 "Newt Gingrich upped his attacks against President Obama today over his administration's requirement that some religious hospitals offer co-pay-free birth control under the new health care law.

Gingrich's comments come after a week of outrage from the Catholic Church and his fellow GOP presidential candidates over the policy.

"This is a tremendous infringement of religious liberty," Newt Gingrich said on NBC's "Meet the Press." "Every time you turn around the secular government is shrinking the rights of religious institutions in America."

While the policy was proposed in August, the issue resurfaced last week after Catholic churches across America read letters from the church's leadership last Sunday condemning the administration's policy." [Source]

I won't get into why this is a false issue from a legal perspective, but trust me, it is.

Still, I have to wonder, where was all the outrage and righteous indignation when Catholic priests were molesting young boys?

That's right, there was none. Certainly not from the people we are hearing it from now.

Now back to the game.

Civil war.

Man the republican establishment sure is beating up on Newt. McCain. Coulter. Drudge. Dole. They are all piling on. And now it looks like it's all finally getting to Newt and his peeps.

I can't say that I blame Newt's camp for being a little testy these days. Flipper has opened up a pretty big lead in Florida and the fat lady is warming up in the green room.

But all is not lost for the Newtster; apparently he has just picked up an endorsement from Mr. 9-9-9.

"Cain, a tea party favorite, endorsed his fellow Georgian at a GOP fundraiser Saturday calling him "a patriot."

"Speaker Gingrich is not afraid of bold ideas," Cain said.
The former pizza executive, who left the race before the first nominating contests after facing accusations of unwanted sexual advances, suggested the two have both undergone intense scrutiny.

"I know that Speaker Gingrich is running for president and going through this sausage grinder," Cain said. "I know what this sausage grinder is all about."

Herman, I am guessing that you should have used a couple other words to describe what Newt is going through. The "sausage grinder" Herman Cain association is not a good one. Just sayin.

And then there is Sarah. Remember her? Well, Sarah is supporting Newt as well. It's a Tea Party thing. Sarah believes that the republican elites and the Tea Party folks are in a battle for the soul of the republican party. To Sarah, Newt represents the populists in the party, the common man. Flipper, on the other hand, represents the wine and cheese crowd who looks down on their trailer parks as they drive by in their limousines.

Now the questions is this: Can they come together in time to defeat his Oness?
Clearly Mitt is lacking something. He just has not been able to pull the republican forces together. First Michele,then Herman, then Newt. The beat just goes on and on. Even with his big lead in Florida, folks are convinced that it's his money and not Flipper's charm and competence that's doing it.  

"TAMPA, FLORIDA — According to some final spending numbers shared with TPM by a Democratic media observer, Mitt Romney’s lucky number in the final push to the Jan. 31 primary here is five.

As in five-to-one: that’s the ratio — just about — by which Romney and his allies have outspent Newt Gingrich and his allies on TV in the Sunshine State. The narrative that Team Romney is pushing is that of a new-and-improved candidate, battle-hardened after his South Carolina woes, and sharpened as a candidate by having had to outsmart Newt Gingrich.

The Dems think these figures suggest something else: that it’s not Romney who’s winning votes in Florida, but the size of his wallet."

Just remember Flipper, all that money can be a blessing and a curse.



 

The SOTU and Newt's racial stereotype problem.

I am settling in to watch the SOTU address with O. It should be interesting. Republicans say that it will be nothing more than a political speech, and they are already ready to go with their talking points.

One republican who won't be there is Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado. I guess he is really afraid that some of that tar will fly off his Oness and get on his skin.

Anyway, O is coming in now. There are hugs and kisses all around. Oh ohhh, he is approaching the supremes. ("Smiling faces, sometimes pretend to be your friend...) And now he is hugging "Gabby" Giffords....ohhhh. Now that was a "Kodak Moment". O, you might have just bumped your approval ratings by about five points.

My friends over at Politc365 have a live feed. I think I will check it out.
[Feed]

O was in big time campaign mode. The [right]wingnuts will be foaming at the mouth tomorrow. This election should be fun. The battle lines have been drawn.

Finally, and believe me, I don't even want to bring this up, because I am honestly hoping that Newt comes out on top in the republican primary.

"GOP contender Newt Gingrich has built up quite a record of making derogatory, racially-charged remarks on the campaign trail. He frequently derides President Obama as a “food stamp president” and said he would go to the NAACP and tell African Americans they should “demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.” Last week he said work is a “strange, distant concept” to Fox anchor Juan Williams, who had the audacity to ask Gingrich at a recent debate if he understood why blacks might be offended by his remarks.

More than 40 Catholic leaders recently challenged Gingrich to “stop perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes” with his divisive rhetoric.

For Gingrich, perpetuating ugly racial stereotypes is nothing new. Today, the Huffington Post reports that at the height of Gingrich’s power in Congress, one of his major speeches had to be edited to remove a racist characterization of Asians, Latinos, and black Americans:

But before Gingrich could deliver his grand new theory of American civilization to the public in a 1993 speech, his deeply divisive racial stereotypes would need to be removed.

“For poor minorities, entrepreneurship in small business is the key to future wealth,” Gingrich wrote by hand in a first draft. “This is understood thoroughly by most of the Asians, partially by Latinos, and to a tragically small degree by much of the American black community.” [...]

By the time a member of Gingrich’s staff typed up the notes and prepared the speech for delivery at the National Review Institute, the racial stereotypes were gone." [Source]   

I smell dirty politics here, but I still can't give Newt a pass. I know exactly where Newt stands on these issues, and it's scary that he could have gotten even this far.



  

  

A win for Newt.

Congrats to Newt. It looks like he will win South Carolina. (Congrats on your bet Sheldon!) I guess Newt's dog whistle was louder than Mitts.

Mitt, it might be time to release those tax returns. I still think you are going to be the GOP candidate for president come November, but you might want to start focusing a little more on your republican opponents and less on Obama.

Your second place speech tonight sounds like you are already prepping for his O ness. Big mistake. You still have the philanderer to contend with. Before you start battling O for the "soul of America" you better start battling your opponents for the soul of your damn party. All that money, all that organization, and all those party bigwigs, yet you still can't over the top.

So now it's on to Florida. The circus hasn't left town just yet.

*My PSU connect is telling me that Joe Pa has passed away. Stay tuned.*

Finally, I see that the supremes punted on that racial gerrymandering case in Texas. No surprise there. This present court, as it's made up, is never going to protect the rights of minorities (or poor people) in this country. Only corporations get love from this court. If a bunch of republican state lawmakers want to cut up voting districts to hold on to power, then so be it.

Still, it could have been worse, the decision is not as bad as some folks view it. Let's hope that when it goes back to the lower court in Texas they do the right thing.

Now it's Rick's turn, and Obama is just like Kim.

Congrats to former Pistolvania Senator, Rick [I should be in a] Sanitarium, for being the latest republican presidential flavor of the month. I am from Pistolvania, so I know a thing or two about Rick. (Even met him once.) And, how do I say this? Rick is crazy!

'"One of the criticisms I make is to what I refer to as more of a libertarianish right...This whole idea of personal autonomy, well, I don’t think most conservatives hold that point of view. Some do. They have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do, government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulations low, that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn’t get involved in cultural issues. You know, people should do whatever they want. Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world, and I think most conservatives understand that individuals can’t go it alone. That there is no such society that I am aware of, where we’ve had radical individualism and that it succeeds as a culture.” '

'I’m a pretty tolerant guy, but beyond his ideology, some of Santorum’s behavior is just a little bizarre. For example, Santorum has six children. In 1996, he had son born prematurely who lived for only two hours. He and wife brought the child home and introduced the dead infant to the rest of their children as “your brother Gabriel” and slept with the body overnight."' [Source]

Yesterday, on national television, Rick pretty much confirmed to the rest of A-merry-ca that he should not be the man we trust to hold the highest office in the land and the most powerful position in the world.

"Rick Santorum said today he would bomb Iran's nuclear plants if international inspectors aren't allowed inside, the Wall Street Journal reports. "You can't go out and say, 'This is what I'm for,' and then do nothing," Santorum said on Meet the Press. "You become a paper tiger." [Source]  

Oh ohhh, we have seen this movie before: No "international inspectors" means we will have to take "action". Well we just pulled our troops out of a country after taking "action" against another one of those "evil" Middle Eastern countries. 

Rick, you might want to start loading up those B2's right now, because Iran might have already started. 

Another one of those republican candidates just compared his Oness to Kim Kardashian. 

 "I’ve been looking at some video clips on YouTube of President Obama, then candidate Obama, going through Iowa making promises," he said at a campaign stop in Iowa. "I think the gap between his promises and his performance is the largest I’ve seen, well, since the Kardashian wedding and the promise of 'til death do we part."    

Poor Flipper, he is trying so hard to come off as being in touch with popular culture.

"The Huffington Post notes that Romney has lately been making more attempts to seem in-touch with pop culture, referring to I Love Lucy last week and Twilight (his favorite book, apparently) in May. He also recently compared Obama to Marie Antoinette."

"I Love Lucy"? OK, I guess if you are still jonesing to live in 1950's A-merry-ca, using "I Love Lucy" to make a point would make sense.

Finally, you have to feel sorry for Newt. I actually saw the poor guy crying the other day after talking about his now departed mama.

Newt says that he has been "Romney-Boated". I guess that's kind of like being "swiftboated"  without the military connection.

"I probably should have responded faster and more aggressively,’’ Mr. Gingrich told reporters here Sunday. “If somebody spent $3.5 million lying about you, you have some obligation to come back and set the record straight.’’

Mr. Gingrich acknowledged that his campaign had underestimated the damage inflicted by ads and mailers that accused him of influence-peddling because he had earned $1.6 million in consulting work for Freddie Mac.

The Iowa race, he said, was still in flux, and his “experiment” in staying positive – a promise he has not always stuck to – could still pay dividends at the caucuses on Tuesday.

As the campaign moves to New Hampshire and South Carolina, Mr. Gingrich said he would direct ads that point up Mr. Romney’s relatively moderate record as governor of Massachusetts — not attacks, he insisted, but a look at the record.
“I think you can do very calm, very pleasant ads,’’ he said. “The nature of the Republican Party is such that a calm, pleasant ad that says he was for tax-paid abortions, I’m against it” would have an impact." [Source]

You gotta love these "calm and pleasant" republicans. I can't wait to see the "calm and pleasant" campaign the republican nominee runs in the general election.

  





                                                      

Newt and his" invented" friend, and Mitt and his real catchphrase.

Just look at that pic. Newt is really full of it, and I am not talking food.

He is full of something else. I will spare you the imagery and leave it at that.

Anywhoo, I come not to put Newt on blast tonight; tonight I want to talk about Flipper Mitt.

It seems Mitt has launched a new campaign slogan. But not just any slogan; this one is special.

"On Tuesday, political commenters reported that GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney has been using a catchphrase in his stump speeches that the Ku Klux Klan favored in the 1920s.

When the white supremacist group used “Keep America American,” it was to rally people against blacks American, gay people, Catholics and Jews. When Romney’s used it, as he did in this Los Angeles Times piece, it was to promise that as president he would “keep America American with the principles that made us the greatest nation on Earth.”

When reached by the Huffington Post, a spokeswoman for Mitt Romney has declined to comment on the matter." [Source] 

Nice.

Keep it up Mitt, with moves like that, you just might win the republican primary after all. You are singing their song.

One tough cookie.

"The first thing Newt should do while in the big house is contract his bust be added to Mount Rushmore. Think of all the jobs that will create."

That was classic. I wish I thought of that line, but the credit goes to someone writing in the comment section of the Washington Post online.  The person was commenting after this article by Dana Milbank, which outlined just how Nasty Newt can be.

"Nearly two decades ago, Gingrich’s political action committee, with the help of GOP wordsmith Frank Luntz, issued a now-famous memo telling Republican candidates which words they should use to describe their opponents. Among them: “anti,” “betray,” “bizarre,” “corrupt,” “destructive,” “disgrace,” “shame,” “lie,” “pathetic,” “radical,” “self-serving,” “selfish,” “shallow,” “shame,” “sick,” “traitors.”

“These are powerful words that can create a clear and easily understood contrast,” this Gingrich-endorsed memo explained. “Remember that creating a difference helps you. Apply these to the opponent, their record, proposals and their party.”

With that memo, and with the slashing style of politics that brought Republicans to power in the House for the first time in generations, Gingrich did more than anybody else to set the tone in Washington."

Yes Newt, you are Mr. Nasty. Embrace your nastiness and stop wimping out.
You are starting to look like a bigger phony than your closest rival, and, believe me, that takes some doing.

Finally, here is a little issue that has me going, hmmmmm:

Most of you know that Philly fans are rough, and they are catching the business for giving it to the fiance of one of our players this year. The player happens to be one Casey Matthews, who sucks big time as a player. Eagles fans have not been pleased with Casey, and his fiance made the mistake of wearing a jersey with his name on the back to a recent game.

"Eagles linebacker Casey Matthews has had a rough season. Over the past few games, he’s served mainly a special teams role. He’s been bounced from outside linebacker to inside linebacker to eventually the bench. The rookie was given a chance to start multiple times this season but hasn’t been able to put it together. Unfortunately, Eagles fans took note of the fact that he has struggled. What’s even more unfortunate is their decision to take it out on his family.
“I’m trying to,” Matthews said when asked about winning over Philly fans. “It’s hard. One of the earlier games, they harassed my family and made my fiancee cry. It’s tough. It’s frustrating. That’s just how they are here. If you win they love you, so I guess we’ve just got to turn things around and just start winning again.”

Does that surprise anyone? These are the same fans who were chanting for their head coach to be fired just a couple weeks ago. They also allegedly threw beer at the Giants bus earlier in the season. .." [Source]

Oh please! This has been big news all over sports talk radio hear in Philly, and it has been getting some national play as well. Most people are coming down on the fans for their behavior towards this "poor woman", and she has been cast as the poor damsel in distress among the ignorant and boorish fans who make up Eagle Nation.    

Well, this is why I say hmmmmm: Remember when those same Eagles fans gave the business to the mother of  Redskins runner, Clinton Portis?

 "Updated: 12:07 a.m. ET Jan. 3, 2006

Clinton Portis took a beating in Sunday's victory over Philadelphia. Apparently, his mother dished one out.

In the fourth quarter, Portis's mother, Rhonnel Hearn, was sitting in the end zone at Lincoln Financial Field with Portis's stepfather and some friends when an Eagles fan apparently tossed a beer on the group. Portis's mother responded by punching the woman in the face, Portis said.

The altercation explained why Hearn watched part of the game from the Redskins sideline.

"She busted some lady in the nose, but that'll just teach you about messing with her," Portis said. "I think fans take that too serious. People come to the game to have a good time, that's what you should do. If you decide your team is losing and you want to cause trouble, then you're going to get what you're looking for. And yesterday, whoever that fan was, they got what they were looking for."

Portis rushed for 112 hard yards Sunday but re-injured an already sore shoulder and left wrist after being horse-collared in the fourth quarter by linebacker Trent Cole. "It's one of those Mondays where I feel like I ain't going to make it," Portis said with a laugh.

His mother, he said, fared better. "My mom can protect herself," Portis said."

[Story]

After this story, the sentiment went the other way: the fans were right and mama Portis was wrong to go all Joe Frazier on some loud mouth.

Oh those tough black women. Hmmmmm. 

 

Mitt says no, and Newt dares Nancy.

I come to praise and to rip flipper Mitt tonight. I am praising him because he told Mr. Bad Hair no thanks to his post Christmas debate. It looks like, just this once, he turned his back on those importunate demands of the wingnut crowd. Flipper Mitt seems to be thinking about all those independents who will vote in the general election. The problem is, of course, that he has to get out of the primary, and if he can't beat Newt, there will be no showdown with his Oness come November, 2012.

I have to rip him because.....well, let's just say that flipper Mitt's milks isn't so clean.

"Shortly before leaving the governor's office in Massachusetts, Mitt Romney's administration spent nearly $100,000 of state money to purge computer and email records in an unprecedented attempt to wipe out the paper trail of his tenure. His staff took home hard drives from state-owned computers and erased emails and other communications from state servers, complicating current efforts to retrieve and review the records of Romney's four-year term that ended in 2007.Related:

It is not believed that Romney violated any laws, but according to state officials who spoke to Reuters, the move to scrub the digital archive of his administration was unusually thorough. Several members of his staff used their own money to purchase the hard drives of their state computers so that they could take them home after leaving their jobs. The staff also broke an existing lease on office equipment so that they could rent new "clean" computers at the end of their run, a move that cost the state $97,000 in additional funds.

Related:

Romney claims that whatever record remains of his time in office — including possible details of what was erased — are not subject to state disclosure laws. However, like regulations governing the destruction of digital records, Massachusetts law is vague on what is and isn't allowed. The court ruling most likely to cover any disclosure ruling is from 1997 (well before most state business was done on email) and the state's official records law has not been updated to deal with digital records, meaning Romney could benefit from Massachusetts' failure to adapt to the 21st Century." [Source]

Folks, it's called Romneycare, and flipper Mitt is trying very hard to run away from it. Good luck with that. 

Finally, I see that Nancy Pelosi is threatening to tell the rest of us a little something about Newt. Nancy knows a lot; she was on the ethics committee that investigated him back in the day.

"Pelosi: “One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich,” Pelosi told Talking Points Memo. “When the time is right. … I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.”

Oh my! What else could there possibly be about Newt that the rest of us need to know? Nancy, please tell, inquiring minds want to know.

Of course, Newt was not pleased:

"I want to thank Speaker Pelosi for what I regard as an early Christmas gift,” Gingrich said at a press conference in Manhattan Monday.

Gingrich denounced the threat from Pelosi, who is now the minority leader in the House, as “a fundamental violation of the rules of the House,” and said that if Pelosi were to disclose details of the investigation, it would expose the “tainted ethics process the House was engaged in.” He also called for the House to condemn Pelosi if she were to reveal anything from the ethics probe."

Well Newt, some of this stuff is a part of the public record, and I think that it's time we all started looking.





 

Lazy Negro children, Herman goes home, and a birther holds a debate.

Newt is blowing his dog whistles already. I guess you can't take any chances with the base. It's always good to appeal to their prejudices and fears while you are on top.

"On Thursday, Newt Gingrich reaffirmed previous comments that child labor laws are “truly stupid.” At a campaign event in Iowa, Gingrich explained that poor children need to learn how to earn money, rather than get it illegally.
“They have no habit of ‘I do this and you give me cash’-unless it’s illegal,” Gingrich said, according to multiple reports of the event.

A few weeks ago, Gingrich proposed a program in which janitors’ unions in schools would be thrown out and replaced with poor children. This, Gingrich said, would allow these children to learn how to work — something he says they do not learn in their communities. “Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works so they have no habit of showing up on Monday,” Gingrich said Thursday." [Source]

Yes, those poor kids don't know how to work, as opposed to those rich ones who  bust their asses all day.

Dope!

I have a news flash for Newt: people in those "poor neighborhoods" work twice as hard as some of his neighbors and his fat ass. They just get paid minimum wage as opposed to the 1.7 million he gets for lecturing the folks at Fannie and Freddie about "history".    

Herman Cain is heading home to see his wife; apparently he hasn't spoken to her since Ginger surfaced.

I really feel sorry for that poor woman; Herman says that she didn't know that he was paying a lot of Ginger's bills. (But it wasn't an affair, because Herman is just a nice guy like that.)

Anyway, Herman says that he has a big announcement coming tomorrow.

We can't wait.   

Finally,Donald the Birther -working with some wingnut news outlet- is hosting his own debate on December 27, 2011, in Iowa. That should be a barrel of laughs. Donald really seems to have a grip on the republican party. All the major players have been to kiss his ring, and you get the feeling that they don't want Donald to fire them from his own political reality show. Let's call this one The republican Apprentice Candidates.

Good for Jon Huntsman. He told the clown from Birtherland to take a hike. Let's see who among the remaining republican candidates for president will do the same.   

Mi amigo Newt.

If any of you reading this believe that you are good enough to play safety or linebacker in the National Football League, please apply to the Philadelphia Eagles c/o the Philadelphia Sports Complex on South Broad Street here in Philadelphia. Thank you.

This was just ugly.

Anywhoo, the blog must go on.

I see where Newt Gingrich had his Sistah Souljah moment with the republicans. The wingnut purist are mad about his immigration stance, but Newt is trying to move to the middle, so he wants to seem like a "compassionate conservative."

The thing is, there is nothing compassionate about Newt. (Just ask his first wife.)
Newt tends to be somewhat of an asshole who pretends to be smart. He likes to take swipes at the media and everyone else who questions whatever he does, but that's just Newt.

Sad story out of Arizona where a Marine who defended his country in Iraq was shot to death in his own home by a Tuscon, Arizona SWAT team.

"TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Jose Guerena Ortiz was sleeping after an exhausting 12-hour night shift at a copper mine. His wife, Vanessa, had begun breakfast. Their 4-year-old son, Joel, asked to watch cartoons.

An ordinary morning was unfolding in the middle-class Tucson neighborhood — until an armored vehicle pulled into the family's driveway and men wearing heavy body armor and helmets climbed out, weapons ready.

They were a sheriff's department SWAT team who had come to execute a search warrant. But Vanessa Guerena insisted she had no idea, when she heard a "boom" and saw a dark-suited man pass by a window, that it was police outside her home. She shook her husband awake and told him someone was firing a gun outside.

A U.S. Marine veteran of the Iraq war, he was only trying to defend his family, she said, when he grabbed his own gun — an AR-15 assault rifle.

What happened next was captured on video after a member of the SWAT team activated a helmet-mounted camera.

The officers — four of whom carried .40-caliber handguns while another had an AR-15 — moved to the door, briefly sounding a siren, then shouting "Police!" in English and Spanish. With a thrust of a battering ram, they broke the door open. Eight seconds passed before they opened fire into the house.

And 10 seconds later, Guerena lay dying in a hallway 20-feet from the front door. The SWAT team fired 71 rounds, riddling his body 22 times, while his wife and child cowered in a closet.

"Hurry up, he's bleeding," Vanessa Guerena pleaded with a 911 operator. "I don't know why they shoot him. They open the door and shoot him. Please get me an ambulance."

When she emerged from the home minutes later, officers hustled her to a police van, even as she cried that her husband was unresponsive and bleeding, and that her young son was still inside. She begged them to get Joel out of the house before he saw his father in a puddle of blood on the floor.

But soon afterward, the boy appeared in the front doorway in Spider-Man pajamas, crying.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department said its SWAT team was at the home because Guerena was suspected of being involved in a drug-trafficking organization and that the shooting happened because he arrived at the door brandishing a gun. The county prosecutor's office says the shooting was justified." [Story]

Oh, the old "justified" shooting excuse. After all, he was a "suspected" drug dealer. But six seconds after crashing his door you start blasting into his home with his wife and child inside? (Shot sixty times!)

I will wait to hear more about this one.

Finally folks, if you happen to be unemployed and see an ad. offering you a job on Craiglist, please do your research before you head off to your new found nine to five. It seems that there might be someone killing folks who answer to Want Ads on Craigslist.

These serial killers seem to be getting more and more creative.

Be careful out there everybody, the Internet can be a wonderful place, but it can also get you killed.

*Image courtesy of Tucsoncitizen.com and cartoonist Taylor Jones. 



  

Don't get mad, get even.

I must say that I am disappointed with O. His peeps are crying" woe is me" after seeing the first Mitt Romney political ad. for the 2012 election.

Yes, it's deceitful and misleading, but so what else is new? This is politics; politicians and political campaigns lie. And Mitt, as we all know, will do anything to get elected. Anything. His only mission in life is to become the next president of these divided state of A-merry-ca.

So O, instead of getting mad, your people should be trying to get even. Start digging up all those sound bites and old pictures hidden in Mitt's closet, and I guarantee you that you won't have to use deceptive tactics to make your point.

There is enough flip flopping out there to bury the soulless one many times over.

Anyway, I am settling and getting ready to watch the republican debates. Newt is leading now, so it should be fun.

I just hope that there are no children in the audience; Newt might want to put them behind the cameras and have them clean up the stage.   

Pic courtesy of Merry Poppet blog.





 

The million dollar historian.

Congrats to Newt for rising in the republican polls. My man is right up there with Mr. 9-9-9 and Flipper Mitt. It should be interesting to see how they run down the stretch.

Still, Newt might want to stop prepping for his debates against Barack Obama and start figuring out how he is going to get out of his latest little problem.

"..Gingrich said he didn't remember exactly how much he was paid, but a former Freddie Mac official said it was at least $1.5 million for consulting contracts stretching from 1999 to 2007. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter.

Speaking with reporters in Iowa, Gingrich said he provided "strategic advice for a long period of time" after he resigned as House speaker following his party's losses in the 1998 elections. He defended Freddie Mac's role and said, "every American should be interested in expanding housing opportunities." Long unpopular among Republicans, the federally backed mortgage lender has become a focal point of anti-government sentiment because of the housing crisis.
Gingrich said he welcomed scrutiny into the matter. "Everybody will dig up everything they can dig up," he said. "That's fine, they should."

I am glad you welcome the scrutiny Newt, because you are going to get it.

"In 2008, Gingrich suggested in a Fox News interview that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama should have to return campaign contributions he had received from executives of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. He said that in a debate with Obama, GOP presidential nominee John McCain "should have turned and said, `Senator Obama, are you prepared to give back all the money that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae gave you?'"

Ahhhm.....

"Gingrich's history at Freddie Mac began in 1999, when he was hired by the company's top lobbyist, Mitchell Delk. He was brought in for strategic consulting, primarily on legislative and regulatory issues, the company said at the time. That job, which paid about $25,000 to $30,000 a month, lasted until sometime in 2002.

In 2006, Gingrich was hired again on a two-year contract that paid him $300,000 annually, again to provide strategic advice while the company fended off attacks from the right wing of the Republican Party.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae for years had been under scrutiny from Republicans on Capitol Hill who opposed government involvement in the mortgage business and wanted to scale back the companies' size and impose tough regulation."

Ahhhm...

"In last Wednesday's Republican presidential debate, Gingrich sought to explain his role at Freddie Mac as that of an "historian" sounding dire warnings about the company's future. He said Freddie Mac officials told him "we are now making loans to people that have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that's what the government wants us to do." He said his advice was to tell them, "this is insane."

"I said at the time, this is a bubble ... this is impossible. It turned out unfortunately I was right," Gingrich said.

Former Freddie Mac executives dispute Gingrich's description of his role.
Four people close to Freddie Mac say he was hired to strategize with his employer about identifying political friends on Capitol Hill who would help the company through a very difficult legislative environment. All four people spoke on condition of anonymity to be able to discuss the personnel matter freely.
Freddie Mac executives hoped that would speak positively about the company and its business model as he circulated among conservative groups and help to build intellectual support within his party.

Freddie Mac executives were looking to Gingrich to offer up new, inventive ways to think about old problems, the officials said, but that didn't materialize." [Source]

Ahhhm....

"He said his consulting firm, Gingrich Group, offered “strategic advice for a lot of different companies” but that he had done no lobbying.

One GOP rival, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, wasted no time in slamming Gingrich on Wednesday for "shilling" for the company.

Last week, Gingrich was asked at a GOP debate in Michigan what work he had done to secure a $300,000 payment from Freddie Mac.

“I offered them advice on precisely what they didn’t do,” he replied. “My advice as a historian, when they walked in and said to me, ‘We are now making loans to people who have no credit history and have no record of paying back anything, but that’s what the government wants us to do.’ As I said to them at the time, this is a bubble. This is insane. This is impossible.”

A Bloomberg News story earlier this week disputed Gingrich’s account, saying that those familiar with Gingrich’s work don’t recall any warnings about the company’s business model—and that instead, his job was to rally support for Freddie Mac among Republicans in Washington." [Source]

Historian?! Is that what they call pimps on K Street these days? Nice.
Jack Abramoff, of all people, called Newt corrupt. That's like being called a racist by David Duke.

Newt, enjoy your time at the top of the polls, I am guessing that you won't be there very long.

More on Mr. 9-9-9 on 11-11-11

Today is Veterans Day, and every one of you reading this should take a minute or two to think about the men and women who have served this country.

The field has mad respect for all of them.

The field doesn't have any respect for Herman Cain. I don't know what really went on between him and those women, but his flip and cavalier attitude about this entire scandal (even using it to raise money) has been disgusting to watch.

He is like a character from a seventies black exploitation film. (I keep seeing him in that big hat that he likes to wear) All that's missing is the Courvoisier and a velvet covered love seat.

And now he is cracking jokes about Anita Hill:

"Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain — facing allegations of sexual harassment — is defending a joke he made about Anita Hill.

Cain said Friday he was approached at a recent event by a supporter who said Hill was trying to contact him.   

“And my response was ‘Is she going to endorse me?’” Cain said in an interview Friday on WGDJ-AM Albany, N.Y.

“He said it in a humorous way. I gave back a humorous response. It was in no way intended to be an insult toward Anita Hill or anybody else,” Cain said." [Source]

Herman seems to like to joke a lot. I guess that's why conservatives love him so much. There is nothing like a black man who likes to joke jig and laugh to keep some A-merry-cans entertained. There is one in every crowd. Sorry Herman, being president is no laughing matter. These are  serious f*&^%*g times!

I am not laughing with your simple behind, and I am pretty sure that most A-merry-cans echo that sentiment. Still, there are a lot of things you do that makes me want to laugh at you. Your 9-9-9 plan comes to mind. And the fact that you didn't realize that China has nuclear capabilities when in fact they have had it for over forty years. That one had me in stitches.

Meanwhile, two of the so called serious candidates in the republican primary were in New Hampshire demonstrating to the rest of us how they would lead our country.

"Republican presidential candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum participated in the Granite State Patriot’s Constitutional Conversation Thursday night, where the two were not short on criticism of President Obama’s interpretation of the constitution.

“What’s the biggest constitutional failing of the Obama administration?” the moderator asked Santorum. The crowd laughed as Santorum scratched his head for a moment with a perplexed look.

“This is going to be a much longer debate now,” Gingrich said.
“
Gingrich paused and said, “Not understanding which country he’s president of.”
The crowd erupted with applause and gave the only standing ovation of the night to Gingrich’s comment. Santorum followed up by saying “Obamacare.”....

..The discussion then turned to the role of religion in the constitution in relation to a civic society. Gingrich asked Santorum asked what steps he would take to create a virtuous society.

“I was in a church in Iowa and I walked into a conclave of pastors. The pastor was up there preaching revival, and in many respects that’s true, American needs a revival of the principles that made America the greatest country in the history of the world,” Santorum said." [Source]

"Preaching revivial"? A revival of what? Jobs? No. Decent health care? No. A better educational system? No. Better environmental protections? No. "The principles that made America the greatest country in the history of the world". Oh, well if you put it that way; let us all pray.

Newt, is she really your friend, or is that just a photo op?

I see that Newt is courting the black vote for the "grand old party" these days. Memo to Newt: If you want to get black folks to vote for your party, tell us what you will do for us that will uplift our condition, not how bad Obama has been for us.

Newt can't really believe that black folks are going to all of a sudden forget what the republican party represents and change party affiliations, can he? That's just not going to happen. All Newt is going to get are editorials like the following that appeared in The Grio:

"Courage is one thing. But Gingrich will have to dust off his magic time machine and effectively undo a history of policy decisions and political shenanigans that have negatively impacted black communities in ways that have and will span generations.

For instance, President Ronald Reagan never supported the use of federal power to provide blacks with civil rights. In fact, he opposed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In 1980, Reagan called the landmark legislation "humiliating to the South." It was Reagan who extolled the virtues of "states rights" when announced his bid for the presidency in Philadelphia, Mississippi where civil rights workers Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Cheney were tortured and murdered. "States rights" and, by extension, the south's ability to continue the slave trade, was the very issue that lit the fuel on the Civil War.

For Gingrich to be right, we would have to forget about Willie Horton. We'd have to forget a now infamous television ad run by the late North Carolina Senator Jesse Holmes in which he attacked Affirmative Action by saying it took away jobs from hard working, more qualified white people and his 16-hour filibuster against honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a federal holiday". [Article]

Well, maybe you black folks would do well in the republican party; you certainly seem to have memories like elephants.

     

Jumping the good ship, Newt.

I was just in the gym, and I was listening to everything from Ace Hood to Barry Manilow on my iPod. Now if that ain't mixed up and confused I don't know what is. But I am like that with my music, my food, and with people. Yes, people.

I like all types of different things and cultures. With all due respect to Forrest Gump; life should be like a bowl of gumbo, not a box of chocolate. Honestly, how can you grow as a human being if you just stay stuck in your own little corner of the trailer park, the housing project, or your gated community? You have got to at least try to emancipate your mind and open up to new horizons.

Which is why I am wondering about certain people tonight. You know the ones. They are always the first to be "color aroused", (thanks for that word, Francis) point fingers at the other side or at those people, and they lock in the hardest to the talking points given to them by the puppet masters who control their thoughts and their lives. Of course, while they are doing this, they always seem to fail to take control of their own miserable and pathetic lives.

It's always easier to point fingers than to look in the mirror. Sadly, when some folks look in the mirror, they never like what they see.

Now on to the man who "cheated on his wives for America." Newt, over the objections of his senior staffers, though he could take a little cruise in the middle of his campaign. (Who takes a vacation so early in his campaign?) Newt, as men tend to do at times, listened to his wife and not the folks running the campaign; so he set sail on the Mediterranean. And now those folks are gone. Poof! Just like that! No more campaign staff.

Poor Newt, I don't think he likes what he sees when he looks in the mirror. I don't think his wife does, either. Thank god for Tiffany & Co.

Finally, I wish these phony dumbocrats would stop calling for Weiner's head. Unless he broke a law he should stay right where he is. His constituents like him, and from the looks of the latest polls they want him back. So Mr. Weiner, screw those phonies in Washington and focus on the people who sent you there.

They previously supported law breakers and Bubba when the chubby brunette was wetting his whistle, they should support you.

Newt, maybe you should join Mitch.

Can someone explain to me how someone running for President on a fiscally conservative platform can manage to owe a jewelry company over a half a million dollars? I need someone to explain it to me because Newt didn't do a very good job of it on Face The Nation, today.

"For the first time, Newt Gingrich addressed reports regarding his wife’s financial disclosure forms, which revealed a debt ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 to premier jewelry company Tiffany & Co.

He did not disclose what he and his wife purchased at the jewelry store, arguing that he is 'very frugal' and lives debt-free.

'We're private citizens,' Gingrich said today on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” 'I work very hard. We have a reasonably good income. I currently owe nothing except I owe one mortgage on a house that's a rental property in Wisconsin. Everything else is totally paid for. My home is paid for, my cars are paid for. We don't have a separate house. We don't do elaborate things.'

“You’re running for president, you’re going to be the guy in charge of the Treasury Department and it just sticks out like a sore thumb,” host Bob Schieffer said.

But Gingrich said that in fact, his financial situation would be a good example for the government to follow.

'I’m the guy running for president who pays for all of his bills and after tax income and at no cost to the taxpayer, and who currently owes nothing except one rental property in Wisconsin,' he said. 'I am debt free. If the U.S government was debt free as I am, everybody in America would be celebrating.'

Earlier in the week, Gingrich refused to answer questions regarding the account, saying Tuesday on Fox News that he would not engage in 'trivial pursuit.”' [Article]

"I currently owe nothing". Splitting hairs as usual, Newt? What about the thousands of dollars you owe in taxes on a bunch of your companies in at least four states? Yeah I know I know, "trivial pursuit."

Finally, I see that yet another republiclown candidate decided not to take on O. I swear this field is getting thinner than Vanna White's arms. Vanna, it's called food! You should try it sometime. But I digress.

The republiclowns are bumming, he was the last great hope of the true believers who had a shot at winning in the general election. Now they have to depend on Mitt, Newt, Tim, Michelle, and the rest of the gang that can't shoot straight.

Personally, I didn't see the big deal with Mitch Daniels. He is just another flip- flopping poli-trickster who will do whatever it takes to get elected. I am glad he listened to his wife and decided not to run. (Something about an embarrassing incident back in the early nineties.) I am guessing that he would have regretted it.

"The Ladies Man"

Hey guys, the next time you get caught cheating on your significant other, you might want to hit up our boy Newt Gingrich for advice.

“There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate" [Source]

Translated: I am a lying cheating scumbag who cheated on my first two wives, but because I am a fraud masquerading as a patriot I want you to ignore all of my past indiscretions. Oh, and I left both of my wives while they were sick. My first wife was recovering from cancer and my second was just diagnosed with MS. But please don't think about that while I run for president.

Look, I know it's Ash Wednesday, and I don't want to rip my Catholic friends, (Lord knows that they are having a bad enough week.) but Newt actually asked that church to annul his marriage to his second wife. Apparently Newt is a born again Catholic, and the church actually took him into their fold. Nice. On his way to becoming a good Catholic he took a shot at his O- ness by calling his values "anti Catholic." OK, whatever, but Obama is still married to his first wife, has never cheated on her, (not as far as I know) and, from all appearances, he seems to have a wonderful family. So when it comes to values I am going to take his O- ness over the cheating scumbag with the forked tongue every time.

Finally, speaking of forked tongue, I see that Peter King has some splaining to do when it comes to his sudden tough stance on terrorism.

"Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) has become one of Congress' strongest voices on the threat to the U.S. from Islamic terrorists. But as his hearings into the radicalization of American Muslims kick off, King's past support for a different kind of terrorist organization — the Irish Republican Army — has come under the spotlight. The New York Times reports that King pledged in 1982, when he was a Long Island comptroller, to support the "brave men and women" of the IRA as they "struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry." King explained that the situation was different, as the IRA never attacked the U.S. [Source]

"Different"? Oh, I get it, some terrorist are worse than others because they don't attack us. Try telling the British that they (The IRA) are different. I love wingnut equivalency, they make it look so easy.

Just like they do when switching wives.

The food stamp party.

Oh my, it's getting ugly here in A-merry-ca. I have a confession to make: I have been blessed all of my life. I am one of the lucky ones here in A-merry-ca who has never had to depend on a government handout. But there are a lot of hard working and successful A-merry-cans who, at some point in their lives, did need a little government assistance. Families and individuals can go through rough patches, and, when they do, they might need help from a government that they have been paying taxes to all of their working lives.

Which brings me to Newt Gingrich. My man recently labeled the democratic party the party of food stamps. (Of course considering the number of A-merry-cans on food stamps right now, that might actually be a good thing for the dumbocrats. )

"It's perfectly fair to say they are earning the title of the party of food stamps," he said. "By contrast, we have historically since Ronald Reagan of 1980 been the party of job creation."

Fair enough, Newt. But what if your Reaganesque supply side policies do not create jobs? What if on their way to achieving the A-merry-can dream they go broke and hungry and might need some food stamps to get by?- A college student, or small business person who is going through a rough spell comes to mind. - What then?

Oh, that's right, they are just people. Who cares about them? It's not like they are foreign owned conglomerates who can give the republicans and their lap dog organizations much needed money.

Yep, just people. Bad stuff happens to just people sometimes. Like poor Gene Cranick of Obion County, Tennessee. Seems Gene forgot to pay a $75 annual fee and it cost him big time.

"A smoldering rage may be all that remains after Gene Cranick's home burned to the ground last week in Obion County, Tennessee.

Firefighters are usually the bold "veni, vidi, vici" sort, but those from neighboring South Fulton could only say "veni, vidi." They came. They watched. That's it.

Cranick lives outside of the city limits and he admits that he forgot to pay a $75 annual service fee that would have provided him with fire protection. Firefighters wouldn't lift a finger, much less the hoses that might have saved the house.

The fire reportedly started in some barrels outside. As the flames crept closer to the home, Cranick says he offered to pay whatever it would take. The plea fell on deaf ears. Hours later, the home was gone.

So were three dogs and a cat.

"They coulda' been saved if they put water on it. But they didn't do it," Cranick told MSNBC.

The South Fulton firefighters did show up and managed to save a neighbor's field. The neighbor had paid the fee. But they would provide no heroics for the Cranicks. A local news report shows them climbing back on their trucks, flames still dancing over what was once the family's home."

Of course, folks like Glen Beckkk and other wingnuts thought that this was funny. You see, in their A-merry-ca, when one is not serious enough about his or her individual responsibilities they must be punished. So the Cranicks got their just deserts; they lost their home. Unfortunately Beckkk didn't get his; he still has one.