The Republican Thread

[EvilMonkey]

I am driving a rental car for a while since some woman totaled my car while it was parked on the street. The rental has Sirrius/XM, which I haven't had for a while. While listening, I float thru all the stations, stopping here and there. Stopped on the 'Left' channel and listened for a moment. Heard Ed Schultz about as calm as I ever heard him for about 15 minutes, but still ranting about how everyone needs to pay their fair share of taxes. Then, he goes to a live read commercial for a tax company, that is to help people get out of paying taxes that they owe. I was just thinking, how hypocritical, advise your listeners to AVOID paying their fair share. I know they don;t get to choose the commercials they read, but they DO get approval of whether or not to say "i use this company/product" or the actual words "I endorse this", which he did say.

[mr_genius]

anyone been watching the Eric Holder testimony? This guy is so incompetent. The Obozo Circus clown car pulls up, and the idiot that gets out is even dumber than the last

[mr_genius]

I am driving a rental car for a while since some woman totaled my car while it was parked on the street. The rental has Sirrius/XM, which I haven't had for a while. While listening, I float thru all the stations, stopping here and there. Stopped on the 'Left' channel and listened for a moment. Heard Ed Schultz about as calm as I ever heard him for about 15 minutes, but still ranting about how everyone needs to pay their fair share of taxes. Then, he goes to a live read commercial for a tax company, that is to help people get out of paying taxes that they owe. I was just thinking, how hypocritical, advise your listeners to AVOID paying their fair share. I know they don;t get to choose the commercials they read, but they DO get approval of whether or not to say "i use this company/product" or the actual words "I endorse this", which he did say.

 

haha, excellent story (sorry about your car though)

[southsider2k5]

I am driving a rental car for a while since some woman totaled my car while it was parked on the street. The rental has Sirrius/XM, which I haven't had for a while. While listening, I float thru all the stations, stopping here and there. Stopped on the 'Left' channel and listened for a moment. Heard Ed Schultz about as calm as I ever heard him for about 15 minutes, but still ranting about how everyone needs to pay their fair share of taxes. Then, he goes to a live read commercial for a tax company, that is to help people get out of paying taxes that they owe. I was just thinking, how hypocritical, advise your listeners to AVOID paying their fair share. I know they don;t get to choose the commercials they read, but they DO get approval of whether or not to say "i use this company/product" or the actual words "I endorse this", which he did say.

 

Why are you surprised? They are going raise taxes in Warren Buffets name and BRK owes the IRS billions that they have fought tooth and nail not to pay.

[southsider2k5]

 

 

[StrangeSox]

well if corzine had won, he wouldn't have bankrupted MF Financial, now would he? More proof that Obama knows what he is doing.

[southsider2k5]

http://www2.starexponent.com/news/2011/dec...t-2-ar-1530534/

 

Fresh & Local: Farm Risk and MF Global, Part 2

By: Bryant Osborn

Published: December 09, 2011

 

Last week, I wrote about the bankruptcy of a company named MF Global. I am amazed at how little coverage this story is getting. The MF Global story is a very important story about the farm economy. There were some significant developments this week. There is still not much coverage, so I think this story deserves an update.

 

As I said last week, to understand this story, you have to understand that farming is arguably the financially riskiest business on earth. There are so many events that can affect supply and demand for agricultural commodities that prices can change wildly literally overnight.

 

U.S. history is full of sudden crashes in farm prices that wiped out large numbers of famers. To mitigate the risk from price crashes, commodity markets like the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange developed something called “futures trading.”

 

Futures trades are legally binding contracts that guarantee at a specific time in the future, a set price for a specific amount of a commodity. Futures contracts mitigate risk for farmers, and they are a matter of financial life-and-death in modern agriculture.

 

MF Global was an agricultural commodities broker. $5.45 billion in customer accounts were immediately frozen after the bankruptcy filing, and as much as $1.2 billion might be missing from those accounts. Those accounts are not insured. That money belonged not to Wall Street, but to farmers, local grain elevators, and livestock feedlots.

 

The MF Global CEO was Jon Corzine, who is a former New Jersey governor and U.S. senator. Jon Corzine resigned shortly after the bankruptcy filing.

 

Last Friday, Fox News ran a story that Jon Corzine was subpoenaed to testify December 8th about his role in the collapse before the House Agriculture Committee. MF Global reportedly gambled $6.3 billion on European debt. Investigators want to know if Corzine authorized the use of client money to be mixed with MF Global money to help cover losses as the European debt crisis deepened.

 

The story did not explain why Jon Corzine is to testify before the Agriculture Committee, but readers of this column know why.

 

This week, the New York Post ran a story that just before the collapse, MF Global paid at least $625,000 to an outside consulting firm named Teneo. Teneo’s advisory board members are former President Bill Clinton and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Founding partner Douglas Band was a presidential councilor to Bill Clinton. Founding partner Declan Kelly was a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign. VP for Strategy Tom Shea was former Governor Corzine’s Chief of Staff.

 

A MF Global employee told the NYP, “I don’t know what they did. It was always unclear.”

 

The NYP story did say that Teneo gave advice to Jon Corzine on European financial investments. That was some great advice.

 

Reuters reporter Tom Polansek wrote the only news I found that tells the stories of farmers that lost money, including a farmer named Dean Tofteland. Polansek wrote, “In the latest sign of how MF Global’s failure is continuing to cascade across the commodity industry, Tofteland and other farmers who have yet to recover more than a third of their money from the bankrupt broker now find themselves in a cash crunch that risks rippling far beyond the futures market.” That is the story that is not being told. Thank you, Mr. Polansek.

 

The MF Global bankruptcy is a disaster for many in the farm economy, and it deserves a lot more coverage than it has received so far.

[Balta1701]

What exactly was a company in the commodities area doing risking everything on European debt?

[southsider2k5]

What exactly was a company in the commodities area doing risking everything on European debt?

 

They aren't just a commodities firm, but they had a very large commodities division in terms of the companies size. But Corzine took care of that.

[NorthSideSox72]

They aren't just a commodities firm, but they had a very large commodities division in terms of the companies size. But Corzine took care of that.

Exactly. If anything, this is yet another argument in favor of Glass-Steagel or the Volcker Rule. That MF Global should not be able to be both a futures brokerage and a private equity firm.

 

[EvilMonkey]

I seem to remember Balta or someone telling us all that vote fraud never occured.

http://www.newsmax.com/US/Voter-fraud-New-...12/22/id/421895

 

Four NY Democrats Plead Guilty to Voter Fraud Felony Charges

 

Thursday, 22 Dec 2011 01:20 PM

 

By Newsmax Wires

 

 

Four Democratic officials and political operatives have pleaded guilty to voter fraud-related felony charges in an alleged scheme to steal an election in Troy, N.Y., FoxNews.com reports.

 

The group forged signatures on applications for absentee ballots and on the ballots themselves in a 2009 primary of the Working Families Party, which was affiliated with now-defunct community group ACORN.

 

Voters whose signatures were forged expressed outrage to Fox. “I feel extremely violated,” said Brian Suozzo.

 

Former Troy Democratic City Clerk William McInerney, Democratic Councilman John Brown, and Democratic political operatives Anthony Renna and Anthony DeFiglio entered guilty pleas in the case. They admitted to one count of various charges, ranging from forgery to falsifying business records, and criminal possession of a forged instrument.

 

In November 2009, DeFiglio told New York State police investigators that forging absentee ballots represented business as usual and was common practice in all political circles.

 

Troy City Council President Clem Campana pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges including falsifying business records and illegal voting. City Councilman Michael LoPorto and Democratic County Elections Commissioner Edward McDonough were indicted earlier this year and are set to go on trial for felony charges in January

[Balta1701]

And whaddya know? The current laws were adequate to deal with the matter.

 

And whaddya know? More stringent voter ID laws/fewer poor and black people voting would have done nothing to stop that.

 

And whaddya know? Getting rid of absentee ballots, which are the only real opening for fraud but also would cut down votes by white people, would deal with that if it really were an issue.

[southsider2k5]

And whaddya know? The current laws were adequate to deal with the matter.

 

Now that is irony at its finest.

[Balta1701]

Now that is irony at its finest.

I've found the fact that small government types are thrilled to have big government around if the end result is fewer black people voting to be equally ironic, thank you very much.

[southsider2k5]

I've found the fact that small government types are thrilled to have big government around if the end result is fewer black people voting to be equally ironic, thank you very much.

 

And I have found the big government types are upset to have a big government around when it endangers their own frauds.

[Balta1701]

And I have found the big government types are upset to have a big government around when it endangers their own frauds.

No wonder you think there's too many groups with regulatory authority over Wall Street.

[southsider2k5]

No wonder you think there's too many groups with regulatory authority over Wall Street.

 

And no wonder you think voter fraud laws are accurate, while Wall Street regulation and compliance running into the hundreds billions isn't

[Balta1701]

And no wonder you think voter fraud laws are accurate, while Wall Street regulation and compliance running into the hundreds billions isn't

In one case, every few years people get charged with actually doing it, and the evidence that something is really wrong that the law can't deal with is virtually nil. The only justification for changing the law that is ever offered is either intuitive or cases where the law actually does the job.

 

In the other case, the evidence of rampant fraud that does not produce a legal response is extreme. For examples, there is entire mortgage market (Fraudulent documents, fraudulent income statements, fraudulent foreclosure documents), or the recent SEC settlement with Citigroup which was thrown out by a judge because the settlement included the 5th or 6th major pledge by Citi to stop breaking the law in the last decade (violations of the previous ones having produced no response), and I could go on but I need to finish an abstract. The only evidence for keeping the law as is ever offered is that making the industry follow the law might make other things worse.

 

Clearly, in the first case, regulation is not strict enough, and in the 2nd regulation is too strict. And conveniently...that conclusion winds up hurting the poor in both cases.

[southsider2k5]

In one case, every few years people get charged with actually doing it, and the evidence that something is really wrong that the law can't deal with is virtually nil. The only justification for changing the law that is ever offered is either intuitive or cases where the law actually does the job.

 

In the other case, the evidence of rampant fraud that does not produce a legal response is extreme. For examples, there is entire mortgage market (Fraudulent documents, fraudulent income statements, fraudulent foreclosure documents), or the recent SEC settlement with Citigroup which was thrown out by a judge because the settlement included the 5th or 6th major pledge by Citi to stop breaking the law in the last decade (violations of the previous ones having produced no response), and I could go on but I need to finish an abstract. The only evidence for keeping the law as is ever offered is that making the industry follow the law might make other things worse.

 

Clearly, in the first case, regulation is not strict enough, and in the 2nd regulation is too strict. And conveniently...that conclusion winds up hurting the poor in both cases.

 

There isn't "rampant fraud" in the financial industry according to your standards of how many people get charged for it. By that means, SOX isn't necesary, because people were "charged with actually doing it". The irony is that in the financial sector you have to routinely provide evidence that you are not only following the law, but actually not committing fraud. In voting we allow people to make up names on signatures, and to not prove who they are, which effectively allows fraud to be committed without an evidence trail. Makes it kind of hard to prosecute vs something like the financial sector where everything by law has to be documented.

 

I'd be willing to bet if there were the same level of documentation and proof needed in the financial sector as the electoral one, we'd see only a few prosecutions there as well.

[EvilMonkey]

I think these 2 Dems need to get a life if this bugs them so much as to try and introduce a bill to combat it!

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/...nterstitialskip

 

Cheery S.C. greeting rubs pair of Democrats the wrong way

By Ron Barnett, USA TODAY

 

 

The first thing South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley wants people to hear when they call a state agency is a cheery "It's a great day in South Carolina! How may I help you?"

 

That mandated greeting is rubbing a pair of Democratic lawmakers the wrong way. They have proposed doing away with the governor's script as long as certain economic factors hold true. Among them:

 

•The state's unemployment rate is 5% or higher.

 

•All citizens of the state don't have health insurance.

 

• School funding "is not sufficient to ensure that all students are prepared for the 21st century."

 

•The infrastructure of rural parts of the state is so lacking that they can't compete with urban areas for business and industry.

 

"It's insulting when we have to call agencies in this state and hear them say, 'It's a great day' when we are suffering here at home," says state Rep. John Richard King, one sponsor of a bill to end the upbeat greeting. "You have a governor who has no heart for the people here in South Carolina who is worried about other things other than the people who she's supposed to represent."

 

Rob Godfrey, Haley's spokesman, says the governor's intention is "changing the culture" of the state. "She is proud of South Carolina, and while we have challenges, we are making great progress every day," Godfrey says.

 

"Who's fooling who?" says state Rep. Wendell Gilliard, the bill's other sponsor. The greeting doesn't square with reality and makes the state look foolish, he says.

 

Gilliard calls tax breaks used to lure businesses to the state "corporate welfare" and says the state's geography, cost of living and hard workers would attract industry without giving away incentives.

 

Meagan Dorsch, public affairs director of the National Conference of State Legislatures, says she couldn't find any other states with similar issues, although the organization doesn't track executive orders.

 

Republican state Sen. Larry Martin says if the House passes the bill, he will block it from a vote in the upper chamber.

 

"I think we've got more pressing matters to take care of," he says. "That's one of those judgment calls the governor is entitled to . … If she chooses to request or direct that those agencies answer the phone in that manner, I'm good with it."

 

University of South Carolina economist Doug Woodward says he doesn't know whether it makes much difference how state employees answer the phone. But he says there's reason for optimism, with news just before Christmas that the state's unemployment rate had dropped below 10%.

 

"Any time you get news like that you have to feel good," he says.

[Reddy]

I think these 2 Dems need to get a life if this bugs them so much as to try and introduce a bill to combat it!

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/...nterstitialskip

yep, democrats and republicans are both stupid.

 

this is news?

[EvilMonkey]

Government over-reach at its finest. The ADA should have been scrapped a long time ago as an inferior law since it was so vague as to allow over-reach like this.

 

EEOC: High school diploma requirement might violate Americans with Disabilities Act

 

Employers are facing more uncertainty in the wake of a letter from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission warning them that requiring a high school diploma from a job applicant might violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

 

The development also has some wondering whether the agency’s advice will result in an educational backlash by creating less of an incentive for some high school students to graduate.

 

The “informal discussion letter” from the EEOC said an employer’s requirement of a high school diploma, long a standard criterion for screening potential employees, must be “job-related for the position in question and consistent with business necessity.” The letter was posted on the commission’s website on Dec.

more at link......

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/j...te-americans-w/

[CanOfCorn]

I have a question for all of those GOPers out there: If you thought John Kerry was pompous and elitest in 2004 how can you NOT think Mitt Romney is the same? I'll hang up and wait for the answer.

[kapkomet]

I have a question for all of those GOPers out there: If you thought John Kerry was pompous and elitest in 2004 how can you NOT think Mitt Romney is the same? I'll hang up and wait for the answer.

 

 

I do. That's why I can't stand him.

[southsider2k5]

I have a question for all of those GOPers out there: If you thought John Kerry was pompous and elitest in 2004 how can you NOT think Mitt Romney is the same? I'll hang up and wait for the answer.

 

I look at him more of a John Edwards type honestly. The sad thing is whether he is moderate or conservative Romney, either one is still better than liberal Obama.