Showing posts with label george w. bush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label george w. bush. Show all posts

Friday, July 11, 2014

Oops! Rick Perry Looks Like Grumpy Cat

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When Governor Rick Perry of Texas found out that President Obama was going to visit his state, he vowed he would never meet him at the airport or shake his hand. He wasn't going to do that because when Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey shook hands with Obama after Hurricane Sandy, it knocked Christie off the list for future GOP Presidential candidates, at least as far as the Tea Party was concerned. They call Christie a RINO (Republican in Name Only) to this day.

So Rick Perry wasn't going to do that. No Way! Nuh-uh.

Except, then he did. They met, shook hands, smiled. Oops.

So to make up for being an adult Governor and meeting the President of the United States with a handshake, Perry decided to put on a serious face for their meeting. Verrrry SERIOUS. Maybe he was trying to hard because he made a face that reminds everyone of the "Grumpy Cat" meme. This ridiculous photo will haunt him for the rest of his career.

Also, Perry couldn't bully the President into visiting the Border with him, so he went out on a boat in the Rio Grande with Sean Hannity from Fox News. They are wearing bullet-proof vests and holding big machine guns as if they are going to hunt down all these five-year-olds and their mothers and shoot them. Another mistake on his part, if Perry really wants to be President of the whole country and not just the anti-immigrant Fox-loving Gun Nuts. But then, they are the only ones who would EVER vote for Rick Perry. That man will never be President.

Who wants Grumpy Cat for President? Oops.

Previous Related Post:
Gov. Rick Perry thinks Obama is Sending Small Children to the Texas Border



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Rick as Grumpy Cat


















Rick Perry and Sean Hannity






















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Monday, July 7, 2014

Gov. Rick Perry Thinks Obama is Sending Small Children to Mexican Border

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Previous Related Post:
Murrieta California Anti-Immigrant Mob

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Rick Perry in his hipster-retro glasses reminds me of 1950s TV icon Rod Serling, and on the Sunday talk show "This Week" he jumped right in to the Twilight Zone by blaming the current border crisis on President Obama. Never mind that George W. Bush signed a law saying all people coming from non-contiguous Latin American countries have to be "processed" by immigration at the border. No, according to Governor Perry, Obama somehow rigged the system so all these small children would show up and we would have to take them in. Cue Twilight Zone music...

"For Your Inspection" as Rod Serling used to say . . .



From ABC - "This Week" July 6, 2014

Martha RADDATZ: -- but Governor, this -- this is about a law. This isn't necessarily about Border Patrol. This is about a law. You heard in Jim Avila's piece, they have to let these people into the country when they're from non-contiguous nations, when they're from Central America or South America.

Should that law be changed?

PERRY: The rule of law is that "The Constitution" requires the United States to secure the border. And we're not doing that. We haven't done it for years. And we are paying a huge price.

 When you have catch and release policies that send...

 RADDATZ: But -- but, Governor, please...

 PERRY: -- a message to people...

 RADDATZ: -- go back to the law...

 PERRY: -- in Central America...

 RADDATZ: -- the 2008 law that was signed into law by George Bush.

Isn't this is a backlog in the courts?

Doesn't that have to be addressed first?

Gov. Rick PERRY: What has to be addressed is the security of the border. You know that. I know that. The president of the United States knows that. I don't believe he particularly cares whether or not the border of the United States is -- is secure.

And that's the reason there's been this lack of effort, this lack of focus, this lack of resources...

MARTHA RADDATZ: He's telling people not to come.

PERRY: -- and...

RADDATZ: He's telling them in ads not to come into the United States, not to leave their homes.

PERRY: About -- about five years too late would be my response to that. The president has sent powerful messages time after time...

RADDATZ: You know, Governor...

PERRY: -- by his policies, by nuances, that it is OK to come to the United States and you can come across and you'll be accepted in open arms. That is the real issue.

RADDATZ: But, Governor, you've made -- I -- I want to go back to an interview you did on Fox News. You re--- you recently made some pretty serious allegations against the federal government.

Let's -- let's listen to what you said to Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PERRY: The federal government is just absolutely failing. We either have an incredibly inept administration, or they're in on this somehow or another. I mean I hate to be conspiratorial, but I mean how do you move that many people from Central America across Mexico and then into the United States without there being a fairly coordinated effort?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RADDATZ: Governor, do you really believe there's some sort of conspiracy to get people into the United States by the federal government, by the Obama administration?

PERRY: When I have -- when I have written a letter that is dated May of 2012, and I have yet to have a response from this administration, I will tell you they either are inept or don't care, and that is my position.

We have been bringing to the attention of President Obama and his administration since 2010, he received a letter from me on the tarmac. He sends -- I have to believe that when you do not respond in any way, that you are either inept, or you have some ulterior motive of which you are functioning from.

So the issue is, this president understands now that we have a huge problem on our southern border. We have to deal with it. And I don't think you're going to be able to address it until you put the resources there, and that's boots on the ground. We're asking for the FAA to allow for drones to be used.

Unless we secure our southern border, this is going to continue to be a massive amount of individuals that are coming to the United States. And, frankly, we don't have a place to house them as it is. And if we have a major event, a hurricane that comes in to the Gulf Coast, I don't have a place to be housing people who are displaced.

RADDATZ: OK, governor, I'm going to have to stop you there.

PERRY: This administration is housing them.

RADDATZ: I'm going to have to stop you there. But thank you very much for joining us.

PERRY: Martha, thank you. Yes, ma'am.









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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Neocons Begging for Another War in Iraq - Updated with Morning Joe

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Previous Related Posts:
Berghazi: Flip-Flopping Wingnuts Trash Bergdahl
Armchair Chickenhawks say Obama is "Weak" and "Feckless" on Russia
Obama Wins on Syria, With Media Derp
Donald Rumsfeld: Blood-Gargling Psychopath

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As Iraq crumbles into chaos, the Neocons are losing their minds again. They don't want Obama to get credit for ending the wars, and they hate him for the Benghazi flop, so they are blaming him for the new chaos in the Middle East. And they seem to want our country to get dragged into ALL the conflicts there, no matter what the consequences. Why exactly? Perhaps they love death and destruction? Senility? Brain Damage? They want another war so they can blame Hillary when she runs for President? The possibilities are endless.

And for some reason the media is dragging up the whole W. Bush administration to talk about it as if anyone cares what they think! Plus Mitt Romneyshambles, the Horses and Bayonets Guy.

Our peace-loving President is trying to be the voice of reason. Here is what he said last Friday:

We will not be sending U.S. troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraqi security forces, and I’ll be reviewing those options in the days ahead.
. . . We’re also going to pursue intensive diplomacy throughout this period both inside of Iraq and across the region, because there’s never going to be stability in Iraq or the broader region unless there are political outcomes that allow people to resolve their differences peacefully without resorting to war or relying on the United States military.

Another peace-lover is Shepard Smith of Fox News, who had this reaction to his colleagues sounding the alarm for yet another war:

Are we about to be drawn back into a conflict in Iraq?" Smith asked. "The same people who 12 years ago told us this will be quick, this will be easy, this will be inexpensive, they will see us as liberators, it's the right thing to do, are now telling us, 'It's the right thing to do.' What's the endgame? Who's thought this through?




Who has thought this through? Apparently no one, but that won't keep them from speaking their minds. And in fact the media is inviting them to do it. Rachel Maddow had this to say:

It is very frustrating to see that this is the way we handle debates about foreign policy in this country. We take people who were so provably, terribly wrong and bring them back and treat them like experts on the very subject they have been so wrong about. It is maddening. It is frustrating.
If you have been frustrated by seeing all these Iraq War architects and cheerleaders back out there doing it again with no accountability you are not alone in your frustration.
. . . Hey Sunday shows! Hey op-ed pages! Hey cable news! Hey everybody! We know you are tempted to keep booking these yahoos on these subjects, but if you keep turning to the people who were famously wrong about Iraq to ask them about what to do about Iraq, you at least will be laughed at. And you will be embarrassed that you did this. And you will eventually have to apologize or at least explain yourself for why you thought Bill Kristol should be explaining what to do now. We can see what you’re doing, and it’s funny, but not in a good way.


John McCain

Everybody in his national security team, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ought to be replaced. It's a colossal failure of American security policy.
. . . Lindsey Graham and John McCain were right. Our failure to leave forces on Iraq is why Sen. Graham and I predicted this would happen.
~ Senator John McCain R-AZ, so excited he is talking in third person about himself

The John McCain military plan for America is the same as the John McCain media strategy. Be everywhere — forever.
~ Jon Stewart on The Daily Show




John McCain has made some really bad Predictions on Iraq
 ~ Via Chris Hayes on MSNBC
  • They Sent Us The Anthrax
  • The Iraqi People will treat us as Liberators
  • Iraqis will pay for post-Saddam Era
  • There's No history of violence between Sunnis and Shias
  • War will be Brief
  • There will be Evidence of Weapons of Mass Destruction
  • President Bush will be Justified

















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Lindsey Graham:

We’ve got another Benghazi in the making here. What I heard in there scared the hell out of me.
~ Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC










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Tony Blair

The reality is that the whole of the Middle East and beyond is going through a huge, agonising and protracted transition. We have to liberate ourselves from the notion that ‘we’ have caused this. We haven't. We can argue as to whether our policies at points have helped or not; and whether action or inaction is the best policy and there is a lot to be said on both sides. But the fundamental cause of the crisis lies within the region not outside it.
~ Tony Blair, Former British Prime Minister

I have come to the conclusion that Tony Blair has finally gone mad. He wrote an essay published last week that struck me as unhinged in its refusal to face facts. In discussing the disaster of modern Iraq he made assertions that are so jaw-droppingly and breathtakingly at variance with reality that he surely needs professional psychiatric help.
. . . Somebody needs to get on to Tony Blair and tell him to put a sock in it - or at least to accept the reality of the disaster he helped to engender. Then he might be worth hearing. The truth shall set you free, Tony.
~ Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/tony-blair-is-mad-to-deny-iraq-was-a-tragic-error-20140616-zs97h.html#ixzz34tlUalWm












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Mitt Romney

Tragically, all we’ve fought for in Iraq, all that 4,500 American lives were shed to gain, is on the cusp, potentially, of vanishing.
. . . I lost the election. We lost the election. But I and we will continue to fight.”
~ Mittster Romney at his Mormon "Summit" in Park City, Utah







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Bill Kristol:

It's a disaster made possibly by our ridiculous and total withdrawal from Iraq in 2011.
. . . President Obama said two days before election day, in 2012, Iraq is on the path of defeat, the war in Iraq is over. That was enough to get him re-elected. Iraq is on the path of defeat. Neither is true. It's a disaster for our country.
~ Conservative Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard

Kristol has been wrong about literally everything — most of all, Iraq.
I’d give him credit for tenacity if he wasn’t so tenaciously clinging to an idea that led to one of the most horrifying foreign policy blunders in modern history.
~ Bob Cesca on The Daily Banter

Update: Kristol vs. Heileman on Morning Joe

If [Obama] goes on TV and says, ‘This is a strategic crisis for the reasons I’m going to lay out here. We have to do something no one wants to do, which is to go back in with a lot of air power and special forces and maybe a few conventional troops to help stabilize the situation. We cannot allow an al Qaeda-backed group to dominate one part of the Middle East and Iran and Iranian-backed groups to dominate another part of the Middle East. It’s an unacceptable threat to us.’ He would have support.
~ Bill Kristol on Morning Joe, 6-17-2014

Bill’s notion, with all due respect, is fantastical. As in, absurd.
I think it's ridiculous. This is American blood you're talking about! You want to send people into another intervention in which most people in the country believe that this is a centuries-old sectarian violence that we have no place and no ability to solve!
. . . There is war weariness in this country, whether you like it or not. I know you don’t have the weariness for war, but the country does.
~ John Heileman on Morning Joe









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Paul Wolfowitz

This is more than just the obscure Shia/Sunni conflict. This is al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda is not on the road of defeat, al-Qaeda is on the march. Not just in Iraq and Syria and we have real enemies in the US and what we should be looking for friends. I think when we stick with our friends and those friends are not always perfect, but we stuck with the Kurds for twenty years. Northern Iraq, Kurdistan is a success story. We stuck with them South Korea for sixty years. South Korea is a miracle story if we walked away from that country in 1953, that country was a basket case.
~ Paul Wolfowitz on Meet the Press

(HUH?)

The “obscure Shia/Sunni conflict”? There is no hell hot enough for these people.
~ Scholars and Rogues Blog

"The truth is that for reasons that have a lot to do with the U.S. government bureaucracy, we settled on the one issue that everyone could agree on, which was weapons of mass destruction, as the core reason." – Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, during a "Vanity Fair" interview, May 28, 2003
~ Via IBTimes




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Ari Fleischer:





(Ahem, the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003.)








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Friday, September 6, 2013

Irony Takes a Holiday When Rumsfeld Slams Obama on Syria

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I think that the fact that American people are confused and the fact that the Congress seems uncertain and the international community is not supportive is a reflection of the fact that the so-called commander-in-chief has not been acting as a commander-in-chief. He has not provided leadership.
~ Bush Era Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, via FreakOutNation



































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Friday, August 2, 2013

Bea's Restaurant in Chattanooga Tenn. Says "No" to President

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Previous Related Post:
President Obama Visits Chattanooga Tennessee

NOTE: According to News Channel Nine in Chattanooga, none of this happened because the Secret Service doesn't announce Presidential visits three weeks in advance. And they are denying that they ever made a call to the owner of Bea's Restaurant. Make of that what you will . . .




From the Chattanooga Times Free-Press
The phone call ended, but like heartburn, trouble followed. Word got out. People started chewing on assumptions and rumors, and with a little help from the Lazy Susan of Internet gossip and Facebook, the story, told across Chattanooga, had suddenly turned into this:

Bea’s wouldn’t serve lunch to the president.

“That’s ridiculous,” Bradshaw said.

In these awful days of social division, where we assume and predict the worst about one another, Bradshaw found himself in a hot mess of accusations: racist, political and more.

“Vulgar,” Bradshaw described it.

Much of it was generated by Facebook and the Internet, something his grandparents and their telephone-on-the-wall-in-the-parlor generation could never have imagined (Bea’s had been in business 34 years before FB founder Mark Zuckerberg was even born).

“It’s not political and it’s not racial,” Bradshaw said. “It wasn’t a refusal.”

The Secret Service just never asked if Bea’s would open on Tuesday; like some jittery preteen, the agent hung up before Bradshaw could even suggest it.

“What greater honor could we have than the president?” Bradshaw said.

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Channel 3, WRCB, Chattanooga
CHATTANOOGA, TN (WRCB) - Sticky Fingers was proud to serve President Obama during his Tuesday visit to Chattanooga but it may not have been his first choice. The owner of Bea's Restaurant says he received a call from the secret service, asking if the president could have lunch there. The problem was, Bea's isn't open on Tuesday.

The owners at Bea's say the conversation only lasted 10 seconds and that they weren't given an opportunity to say yes or no. Part-owner Doug Bradshaw said secret service simply ended the conversation.

"Just the whole thing has been blown out of proportion and taken out of context," said Bradshaw.

Bradshaw says he's under social media and internet fire, people claiming he denied the president a Chattanooga staple when it comes to food.

Not the case says Bradshaw, he remembers the phone call took from secret service, "I asked the date, they told me and I said we're closed Monday and Tuesday. They said thank you and hung up. That's it. 10 seconds maybe."

Bradshaw says they didn't give him time to even discuss opening on a day off, which he says he would have done, "most definitely, I'll open in the middle of the night for the president. If he wants to come here and eat, I'll open."

More specifically open to the public as well, because when President George W. Bush came to Chattanooga in 2007 he too wanted to eat at Bea's but only if it was closed to the public.


Comments on Bea's Restaurant Facebook Page

Bea's Restaurant
I tried to manage things here on the page as best I could the other day. I'm a lot greyer today than I was on Tuesday. God bless each of you.
Like · Reply · 13 · 13 hours ago

I looked through your posts to find what you had posted earlier about "the call." Evidently I have over looked it or it has been deleted. But from what I read in your posting and shared with a friend when I read what Bea's posted...There seems to be some tweaking to the story today and the posting I can not find on your page. Enjoy your day.
~ Beverly H

Bea's Restaurant Replies to Beveryly H:
Well. I deleted that post because it wasn't intended to incite anything. I wrote it on my phone that is tiny.. And realized I didn't convey what I was trying to convey. In short when they called it was a 45 second call, and when I wrote " we said no" I meant to say that we said " we are closed and there was no call back number because we don't have caller ID".. Not mention it was busy. I wrote that post on an old phone.. In a car with two kids in the back.. And I didn't get it all written like it was supposed to be, then I got home an hour later and it had become something it never should have been.
Like · 10 hours ago · Edited
Bea's Restaurant I couldn't delete or edit on my wife's phone either, and what everyone is missing is that it wasn't the big deal that some want to turn it into. I mis wrote miss conveyed.. Whatever. I'm sorry.
Like · 9 hours ago

A LOT of stuff got blown out of proportion during this recent presidential visit. Just silly. Life goes on--and in another 3 years, no one will care what happened last Tuesday anyway.
~ M

I want to say something, and I do NOT want to start an argument or drama for our friends at Bea's.
I think it is truly SAD , the way people are coming out of the woodwork to crucify a fine,long standing and historic establishment over a situation, that most people, clearly, are not 100% informed. I had hoped the article that was released from the Press this morning, would clear it all up. Sadly, there are those that still choose to berate and belittle the situation.
I am PROUD to live in the same area as an awesome place, that has kept its morals, its business practices, and even kept its prices fair in a really bad economy. Bea's isn't ike a chain or franchise. They reach out to us all, in person and on FB. They are what makes America, AMERICA... I know they didn't "turn away" , anyone, it was a brief call that has been blown WAY out of proportion.
~ L

Comments from WRCB TV Story:

LOL...Sticky Fingers sucks anyway...Rib N Loin is much better.....Way to go Bee's you just lost every black customer in Chattanooga.

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When President Reagan came to town, his chief of staff delayed the takeoff of Air Force One so that they could get burgers from Krystal!


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The president wanted to come to my house too. But I told the secret service that my house was closed 24/7 to a president to abuses his executive power and signs bills without advising anyone else.


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I think that's pretty darn pushy and inconsiderate to call someone unannounced give them a few seconds and hang up. Don't even give them the time to weigh their options like are they for real, can I open on an off day, can I staff enough people, do I have enough time to organize it, what are the repercussions, could we handle customer complaints and so on. You can be an important somebody and still have manners. And how in the world do you live in Chattown for 21 yrs and never hear about Bea's? lol


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With his tight schedule, I am surprised if the president got to wolf down anything before he had to board Air Force 1 and leave. I haven't heard any comments about whether he liked his meal or not or any comments about Chattanooga in general. We are old news, on to other things.


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I wouldn't allow Barack Obama to eat off my toilet bowl. I'd rather invite someone over who is NOT hateful of this country and its citizens to eat.


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I wouldn't have opened my door at home for him to come eat!!


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Never eaten there, but will now.


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I don't know that it has much to do with race, but I do think it's a disrespectful snub, and probably more politically charged than anything else. I don't know of any business owner who wouldn't have gone out of their way and opened their doors for a president they supported. Seems to me like it was just an opportunity to tell the President "screw you." What a unique honor, to have been selected of all the potential eateries in the city. Such a lost opportunity.



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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Donald Rumsfeld: Blood Gargling Psychopath


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Link Here






































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Friday, January 18, 2013

Wingnut Pout-Rage Towards Obama Gun Plan

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The White House’s recent announcement they will use executive orders and executive actions to infringe on our constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms is an unconstitutional and unconscionable attack on the very founding principles of this republic. I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including but not limited to eliminating funding for implementation, defunding the White House, and even filing articles of impeachment.
~ Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas

Please proceed, Representative.
~ Chocko_Rocko on Talking Points Memo

Didn't G H W Bush use an Executive Order to limit assault weapons , amending a 1968 law? Banned the shipment into the country of certain assault weapons?
~ LynnTTTT on TPM





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President Obama’s series of gun control measures amount to an executive power grab that may please his political base but will not solve the problems at hand. He paid lip service to our fundamental constitutional rights, but took actions that disregard the 2nd Amendment and the legislative process.
~ Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Republican National Committee

Here's a question for Priebus: name one of the executive orders that seems offensive and/or legally excessive. Just one.
~ Maddow Blog



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There is evil prowling in the world - it shows up in our movies, video games and online fascinations, and finds its way into vulnerable hearts and minds. As a free people, let us choose what kind of people we will be. Laws, the only redoubt of secularism, will not suffice. Let us all return to our places of worship and pray for help. Above all, let us pray for our children.
In fact, the piling on by the political left, and their cohorts in the media, to use the massacre of little children to advance a pre-existing political agenda that would not have saved those children, disgusts me, personally. The second amendment to the Constitution is a basic right of free people and cannot be nor will it be abridged by the executive power of this or any other president.
~ From an Offical Statement by Gov. Rick Perry of Texas

Let us pray away the NRA.
~ Seth J.K. on ThinkProgress

And when Perry told Texans to pray, and the drought would go away, & the fires would stop-- the drought & the fires got worse.
~ Scott M. on ThinkProgress





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Our founding fathers were very concerned about us having separation of powers. They didn't want to let the president become a king. And so they wanted to say that it was Congress that would legislate, and not the President.
So we have a bill that we will introduce next week, and in this bill, we will nullify anything the president does that smacks of legislation.
And there are several of these executive orders that look as if he is writing new law. That cannot happen.
I'm afraid that President Obama may have this king complex sort of developing and we're going to make sure that this doesn't happen. ... I think there's a history of this arrogance.
~ Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, on CBN

Dear Sen Paul, please point to the part of the Constitution that discusses Congress declaring anything unconstitutional. Oh, right, you just pulled it out of you a$$!
~ David P. on TPM

When you're talking nullification, you're talking Civil War ... Senator Bilbo.
~ Chris Matthews on Hardball

The word “nullify,” of course, has an old American history dating back to the founders and the earliest skirmishes over the balance of power between the states and federal government. But it’s most closely associated with repeated Southern efforts to insist the federal government didn’t have the authority to abolish or even regulate slavery in states where it was legal. South Carolina, the capital of secession, campaigned for decades to uphold its right to “nullify” all kinds of federal laws but particularly those pertaining to slavery.
So it’s kind of interesting that the word “nullification” is making a big comeback as we prepare to inaugurate our first black president for his second term.
~ Joan Walsh on Salon



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I'll let you in on secret. I mean, the President is a liberal. And this is part of the liberals’ long-time dreams for our country, and he sees this as a opportunity to get some of these things done.
I think that the President — and he doesn’t have the guts to admit it — is not a believer in the Second Amendment, although he states that he is. I didn't write the Constitution. Neither did you — neither did he. If he doesn’t want it in the Constitution or he wants to reform the Second Amendment, then have the guts to admit that
~ Marco Rubio on Bill O'Reilly, Fox News

These Republicans are a hoot. First they create a straw man - a President Obama who is hell bent to seize everyone's guns. Then they accuse him of not having the guts to express his fictitious "real views."
~ Robert Woods on ThinkProgress

So Obama speaks and acts in support of the 2nd amendment, but Rubio says it's not true. There is nothing Obama could do to persuade Rubio - even doing nothing would not allay Rubio's opinion, so the only thing to do is ignore Rubio and let him rant on to a diminishing audience.
~ Marie H. on ThinkProgress

He needs to change the spelling of his last name. It should be RUBE.
~ invictus2 on Raw Story

Looks to me like Rubio is a slow learner. He apparently didn't learn anything from the fates of the likes of crazies such as Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann; so he has decided to follow in their footsteps. Good luck Marco!
~ Pagasae on Raw Story

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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Resort Mogul Threatens to Fire Workers if They Vote for Obama


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Screencap from Queen of Versailles Trailer

From Think Progress
David Siegel, who owns Florida-based Westgate Resorts, sent an email to all his employees yesterday to discuss the upcoming election. “The economy doesn’t currently pose a threat to your job,” Siegel wrote, noting that the company is “the most profitable [it's] ever been.” “What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration.” He went on to say that although he “can’t tell you whom to vote for,” if Obama is re-elected, it would mean “fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone.”
. . . Siegel earned national notoriety this year for his quest to build the biggest house in America, “a sprawling, 90,000-square-foot mansion inspired by Versailles.”

Original Letter on Snopes.com

 Full Email Here on Gawker, plus this:
 UPDATE: Shortly after we posted this letter, we found out, thanks to multiple readers, that it bore suspicious resemblances to a popular chain letter that was circulated just before the 2008 elections. Well, we just got off the phone with David Siegel, who told us the letter below is real, and that it was sent out to all of his employees yesterday. "I did use the letter that had circulated before as a guideline, but I changed it [to fit my circumstances]," he told us. "It speaks the truth and it gives [employees] something to think about when they go to the polls." He also said that its threats of possible layoffs are real, based on his assessment of the political and economic climate. He added that he "hasn't had any negative feedback" on the letter.

Direct Quotes from Letter:

Subject: Message from David Siegel
Date:Mon, 08 Oct 2012 13:58:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: [David Siegel]
To: [All employees]
To All My Valued Employees,
As most of you know our company, Westgate Resorts, has continued to succeed in spite of a very dismal economy. There is no question that the economy has changed for the worse and we have not seen any improvement over the past four years. In spite of all of the challenges we have faced, the good news is this: The economy doesn't currently pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration. Of course, as your employer, I can't tell you whom to vote for, and I certainly wouldn't interfere with your right to vote for whomever you choose. In fact, I encourage you to vote for whomever you think will serve your interests the best.
~~~
So where am I going with all this? It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company. Rather than grow this company I will be forced to cut back. This means fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone.

So, when you make your decision to vote, ask yourself, which candidate understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn't? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of protecting and saving your job.
~~~
You see, I can no longer support a system that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities. If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired, and with no employees to worry about.
Signed, your boss,
David Siegel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bloomberg: Siegel's Role in the 2000 Election of George Bush
“I’m not bragging, I’m just stating the fact: I personally got George W. Bush elected,” Siegel told me during two days of interviews. “I’m not proud of it. I feel like I’m responsible for all the problems in the world.” By that he meant, mostly, the then-deteriorating situation in Iraq.
Here’s Siegel’s account of how he swung the election in Bush’s favor: “Whenever I saw a negative article about [Al] Gore, I put it in with the paychecks of my 8,000 employees. I had my managers do a survey on every employee. If they liked Bush, we made them register to vote. But not if they liked Gore. The week before [the election] we made 80,000 phone calls through my call center—they were robo-calls. On Election Day, we made sure everyone who was voting for Bush got to the polls. I didn’t know he would win by 527 votes. Afterward, we did a survey among the employees to find out who voted who wouldn’t have otherwise. One thousand of them said so.”

From a Movie Review for "Queen of Versailles"

Photobucket

Pic and Review via Flickfilosopher
“Everyone wants to be rich,” says real-estate mogul David Siegel here, and that’s probably true. But few people would even conceive of doing with their riches what Siegel does with his. “Horror” isn’t too strong a word for it... and it’s clear that documentarian Lauren Greenfield was aiming for some good old-fashioned rubbernecking when she started shooting what became The Queen of Versailles during the height of America’s cheap-money, pass-the-risk bubble in the mid 2000s.

For Siegel and his wife, Jaqueline -- his third wife, and 30 years younger than him -- were building what would be the largest private residence in the United States, a gaudy monstrosity that would have, when finished, housed a bowling alley, three pools and a spa, 11 kitchens, a skating rink, a movie theater, and a 20-car garage. (This is not an all-inclusive description, but you can find one here, if you’re looking to have your stomach turned some more.) The master bedroom suite alone is, at 6,000 square feet, much larger than most entire homes. The Siegels actually had the gall -- or the ignorance -- to dub this pile Versailles. If either of them have any appreciation of the irony of taking inspiration and a name from the ultimate symbol of crass wealth and absolute privilege, they don’t show it.

Not even when, as happened to the former occupants of the first Versailles, it all comes crashing down around them. . . . More Here at Flickfilosopher






From a blog post on Baltimore City Paper by Edward Ericson Jr.
Siegel, 1999, recall­ing the rent-to-own store he opened in the early ‘60s in Miami:

“Soon Siegel had a store in Lib­erty City and a fleet of Volk­swagon vans. His sales­men offered the refur­bished sets to the area’s African-American res­i­dents for $10 down and $5 a week, he says, adding, ‘I only had about $10 in each one.’

Those $5 pay­ments soon financed three stores, a gas sta­tion, a house with a pool and a Buick con­vert­ible. ‘My goal was to make $125 a week,’ Siegel says. ‘I usu­ally exceeded that.’”

To be fair, he didn’t say whether the Buick con­vert­ible was new.

Shock­ingly, Siegel’s store got burned down in the riots and he ended up in Cen­tral Florida sell­ing swamp land to gullible “investors.” He quickly went on his own and in a few years (if his 1999 rec­ol­lec­tion is to be believed) made mil­lions on those unde­vel­opable acres, mostly by tout­ing their prox­im­ity to Dis­ney World–but also by draw­ing up bogus devel­op­ment plans and occa­sion­ally clear­ing a dirt road. He sold to peo­ple in New Jer­sey, Mex­ico, and as far away as Bel­gium. State reg­u­la­tors and the fed­eral Depart­ment of Hous­ing and Urban Devel­op­ment came after him, but he lawyered-up and stared them down. Most of the buy­ers of his prop­er­ties (includ­ing the young man who would go on to become musi­cal direc­tor of Glo­ria Estefan’s Miami Sound Machine) had lit­tle or noth­ing to show 20 years later.


What a d*ck. Will someone please let me know when it's time to storm the Bastille? I have my torch and pitchfork ready.
~ comment by SchoolOfStrange on Gawker

Short Version: For the last time, there is no such thing as class warfare. Now, things better go my way or I'll strip you of your livelihoods before I go off to live comfortably in the tropics.
~ comment by OldTowneTavern on Gawker

This is probably the most un-American thing I have ever seen. literally threatening his employees livelihoods to vote for one candidate over another.
~ comment by Nathan Penrose on Think Progress

We went to France and we saw Versaille and were inspired" to build a monstrous piece of crap in the middle of a swamp.
~ comment by homeblood3000 on YouTube

How about selling that garish chair and giving your minimum wage employees healthcare?
~ comment by Tuffy's Dad on Huff Post

The email does raise an interesting question or two, such as, if it’s true that “even to this day, every dime I earn goes back into this company,” where did all the money for that house come from? And if he made all the right decisions, why did he come so close to bankruptcy? Why does he blame government for the fact that he had to pull his eight kids out of private school? If he couldn’t support a family that large, why did he keep having children?
Under ordinary circumstances, I also wouldn’t think it necessary to pity poor Mr. Siegel. After all, he would seem to have more than enough pity for himself to fill all three swimming pools at Versailles, allowing him to wallow in that emotion to his heart’s content.
~ Jay Bookman, Atlanta Journal Constitution







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