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02:30:36 02/07/12
Everything You Need Is Inside Of You
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 02:30:36 02/07/12
This is an extract from our Cura Romana Journey Program. An important part of reconnecting with the core and coming to live your life from your essential being, is a willingness to leave behind the notion that what you need or long for can only come from outside yourself. In truth, everything we need for our own freedom and fulfillment we already have inside. It simply needs to be discovered, called forth, and set free. As Edward in Canada, who shed 32.7 pounds on the program, discovered: "For the first time ever, I feel that the next phase of my life will be really exciting and full of growth and more new experiences. Now I know I have the power to make it that way." When I personally came to terms with just how profound the emotional and spiritual changes are for many men and women on Cura Romana, I started gathering together tools, techniques and information which I and others I have worked with find helpful in reconnecting with our core. I began to show them to those I am mentoring as a way of supporting spiritual processes which they told me had been initiated and/or intensified by the Cura Romana Journey. Here in the Cura Romana Sanctuary, I will be sharing some of these simple processes with you. They are interesting, consciousness expanding and fun. Try them out. Use those that appeal to you and forget the rest. You might be surprised what a powerful role practicing some of them regularly can play in rebuilding and strengthening that bridge between your inner and your outer life.
0 Views
19:23:39 01/31/12
Israeli Newcomers' Artists Display Their Work
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 19:23:39 01/31/12
Israeli Newcomers' Artists Display Their Work
For more news and videos visit ➡ english.ntdtv.com Follow us on Twitter ➡ http Add us on Facebook ➡ on.fb.me Roaming the streets of Israel, one might feel surprised to see people from different cultures who speak many different languages. Jewish people from all over the world come to live in Isreal. It is difficult for Immigrants to find work in the new country, all the more so for an artist whose livelihood depends on language and speech. Therefore, an Israeli artists union decided to hold a festival to showcase those new immigrant artists to the public. The NTD news team went last week to watch the performances of newcomers to Israel. [Tania Sobol, Actress and Manager of Immigrant Artists]: "New immigrants who came to Israel from 86 different countries, bring with them parts of their previous cultures. So I came up with the idea to hold a festival, because it amazes me that there are people here from every corner of the world, and at the same time it is the Jewish People performing on one stage." [Arie Yemini, CEO, Petah-Tikva Center for the Performing Arts]: "The idea is to actually give immigrating artists an expression along with veteran artists. To give them the opportunity for exposure on stage at an auditorium such as the Petah-Tikva Center for the Performing Arts, this is an outstanding and wonderful stage." We met Meir Bobek from Argentina, who is a ventriloquist who performs with a puppet. [Meir Bobek, New Immigrant from Argentina]: "Ventriloquism is ... From: NTDTV Views: 45 5 ratings Time: 03:14 More in People & Blogs
9 Views
18:12:51 01/21/12
How Can Technology Save Water Costs?
[LESS INFO] 9 VIEWS | ADDED 18:12:51 01/21/12
"http://www.lockergnome.com/mattryan/2012/01/18/how-to-save-money-on-your-wate... - While most of us in the western world see water as an infinite resource and take it for granted, people in other parts of the world who have to travel miles every day for this life-granting necessity will tell us that we don't know how good we have it. Being conscious of how fresh water really is a limited, valuable resource may someday be more than posturing by the eco-friendly among us, but a necessary reaction to shrinking supplies worldwide. If you're a homeowner, you're probably more than aware of the costs involved with keeping the water flowing. If you want to keep overhead water supply costs from flooding your budget, you might be surprised to learn that there are plenty of geeky ways to save money on your water bill! You can watch the entire live TLDR episode here: http://youtu.be/qQIpLWjPHxc http://www.gnomies.com http://www.lockergnome.com/subscribe/ https://profiles.google.com/chris.pirillo http://twitter.com/ChrisPirillo http://www.facebook.com/chrispirillo"
0 Views
12:21:43 01/21/12
Christina Milian on X-Tina, Adam, Cee-Lo, and Joining the Voice
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 12:21:43 01/21/12
Christina Milian is the newest addition to The Voice in season two, taking over as the social media correspondent when the hit show returns right after the Super Bowl on Feb. 5. We sat down with Christina to chat about joining the show, the big surprises - and exciting names! - to expect when The Voice is back as well as what it was like to become a part of the team. Christina shared about the big personalities of Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, and Cee-Lo Green. Plus, she says she might be rai
0 Views
23:36:48 01/20/12
Lovedrug - "Dinosaur": SXSW 2012 Showcasing Artist
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 23:36:48 01/20/12
Lovedrug - "Dinosaur": SXSW 2012 Showcasing Artist
Out with the new, in with the old - that was the recording methodology behind Ohio alt-rockers Lovedrug\'s new full-length album WILD BLOOD. Having spent all of 2010 focused on writing new material, pausing only to play SXSW and hone songs on a couple headlining stints, the highly regarded live group sought to capture their truest essence by reverting to the classic style of live studio recording. \"We felt there was a certain energy to these songs that would be lost if we reduced the process to the typical modern method of tracking one part at a time," says Michael. \"We definitely needed to capture the energy and emotion in these songs live because that\'s how we formed them,' Jeremy elaborates. 'Some we recorded just as we wrote them, others were refined on tour, but all of them were written as a band and we needed to preserve that vibrancy.\" The band found the perfect recording partner in producer Paul Moak, whose Nashville studio provided an ideal setting for live recording while simultaneously retaining the integrity of studio qualities. Unlike previous albums, the band set up together in one grand room with the actual signals from their various amps isolated from the drums and each other. The band played together live, often running through a song 4 or 5 times as in a rehearsal, oblivious as to whether the 2" analog tape was running. Often surprised when Moak would come over the talk-back with "ok, we got it", the band was able to stay in the moment together. The ... From: sxsw Views: 493 23 ratings Time: 04:18 More in Music
0 Views
23:36:48 01/20/12
Lovedrug - "Dinosaur": SXSW 2012 Showcasing Artist
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 23:36:48 01/20/12
Lovedrug - "Dinosaur": SXSW 2012 Showcasing Artist
Out with the new, in with the old - that was the recording methodology behind Ohio alt-rockers Lovedrug\'s new full-length album WILD BLOOD. Having spent all of 2010 focused on writing new material, pausing only to play SXSW and hone songs on a couple headlining stints, the highly regarded live group sought to capture their truest essence by reverting to the classic style of live studio recording. \"We felt there was a certain energy to these songs that would be lost if we reduced the process to the typical modern method of tracking one part at a time," says Michael. \"We definitely needed to capture the energy and emotion in these songs live because that\'s how we formed them,' Jeremy elaborates. 'Some we recorded just as we wrote them, others were refined on tour, but all of them were written as a band and we needed to preserve that vibrancy.\" The band found the perfect recording partner in producer Paul Moak, whose Nashville studio provided an ideal setting for live recording while simultaneously retaining the integrity of studio qualities. Unlike previous albums, the band set up together in one grand room with the actual signals from their various amps isolated from the drums and each other. The band played together live, often running through a song 4 or 5 times as in a rehearsal, oblivious as to whether the 2" analog tape was running. Often surprised when Moak would come over the talk-back with "ok, we got it", the band was able to stay in the moment together. The ... From: sxsw Views: 493 23 ratings Time: 04:18 More in Music
0 Views
05:00:42 01/18/12
History Of Comics On Film Part 51(Archie and Sabrina Surprise Package)
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 05:00:42 01/18/12
Part fifty-one of an ongoing series about the History of Comic Books that have been adapted for movies and television. This particular segment covers the Filmation animated television series, Archie and Sabrina Surprise Package, that aired on NBC in the year 1977!
0 Views
15:10:49 01/13/12
Energy from the Vacuum - Part 12 - Petrovoltaics and the Faraday Motor
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:49 01/13/12
PART 12 PETROVOLTAICS & the Faraday motor Dialogues with JOHN BEDINI During John Bedini's early years, he could be found all over the hills in the Los Angeles, California area looking for and collecting rocks. Why was he doing this? This DVD explains exactly why. The results of his curiosity and scientific experimentation led not only to the foundations of his unique hi-fi business, but to an astonishing saga with Tom Bearden when John found that he was inadvertently transmuting copper into pure gold. Tom Bearden recounts the subsequent tale of death and destruction in eyewitness's detail. Then, after showing how to measure and analyze all of the petrovoltaic properties on the bench, and discussing the principles of petrovoltaics with the production team, John moves to the lab to build, dissect and analyze the enigmatic Faraday motor, whose operating principle is still not fully explained today by conventional science. This alone is worth the price of the DVD for just plain weirdness. Yet the experiment can easily be reproduced by any high school student. But the one thing that shines through in this DVD above all is John Bedini's love of the natural world and all its secrets, secrets that were explained in the 1920s by the late Walter Russell, with whom Nicola Tesla studied after he came to the United States. Not surprisingly, John Bedini has also spent countless hours mastering Russell's work, and translating it onto the bench top.
3 Views
17:00:00 01/12/12
Le CLIQ du 12-01-2012 - JeuxVideo.com
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 17:00:00 01/12/12
Wargame : European Escalation / PC Sortie : février 2012 Quoi de mieux pour commencer ce CLIQ que des explosions à la pelle et des tirs en rafale ? Détrompez-vous, il ne s'agit pas du premier trailer du prochain Call of Duty, puisque ces images impressionnantes proviennent directement de Wargame : European Escalation. Eh oui, il s'agit bien d'un jeu de stratégie qui n'est autre que le dernier bébé des créateurs de Ruse. Alléchant, non ? Virtua Tennis 4 / Vita Sortie : 22 février 2012 Alors que la Vita se fait toujours attendre dans l'hexagone, nous vous réservons aujourd'hui une petite surprise afin de vous faire patienter. Nous nous sommes en effet essayés à la version japonaise de Virtua Tennis 4 afin de vous livrer nos premières impressions. Vous pouvez donc retrouver tout ce qu'il faut savoir sur le premier jeu de tennis de la Vita dans le Gaming Live d'ores et déjà accessible sur le site. To the Moon / PC Sortie : disponible Attention les apparences peuvent être trompeuses. Ainsi, ne croyez pas que To the Moon est un action-RPG old-school puisque ce jeu indépendant fera la part belle à l'aventure. Vous devrez en effet y parcourir la mémoire d'un vieil homme afin d'exaucer ses dernières volontés. Ce voyage bouleversant à travers le temps vous sera conté dans le test que nous avons réservé à ce petit bijou aujourd'hui même. Binary Domain / PS3-360 Sortie : février 2012 Pour terminer(...)
0 Views
18:17:05 01/11/12
2011 Top Ten Movies by Audience Vote! Harry Potter and more! -- Beyond The Trailer
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 18:17:05 01/11/12
2011 Top Ten Movies by Audience Vote! Harry Potter and more! -- Beyond The Trailer
The Top Ten Movies of 2011, as determined by the Beyond The Trailer audience! Find out where Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 falls on the list, plus other surprises! Beyond The Trailer host Grace Randolph asked viewers to vote in December for their Top Ten movies of 2011, and got some interesting results! What do you think were the Top Ten movies of 2011? Beyond The Trailer is associated with YouTube Next Lab. From: BeyondTheTrailer Views: 13304 389 ratings Time: 06:26 More in Shows
21 Views
20:00:57 01/10/12
Reparations: Limbaugh's Limp Rhetoric Ramps Up
[LESS INFO] 21 VIEWS | ADDED 20:00:57 01/10/12
Rush Limbaugh is a racist. This isn't news, we all know he lives on the fringes of hate for anyone who isn't pasty-white like he is. But lately, he's been ramping up the hateful rhetoric to levels I've not seen even from him, and Monday's rant is no exception.
While I support the right for Limbaugh to say whatever he wants under the First Amendment, I wonder what the consequences will ultimately be. Republicans whine about President Obama starting class wars while Rush Limbaugh stirs the fires of discontent and race under the surface. It's a volatile game he's playing.
Via Media Matters : >
Today on his radio show, Rush Limbaugh trotted out a new theory on the guiding prerogative of the Obamas. Limbaugh claimed part of what motivates President Obama and the Democratic Party is "the pursuit of money without having to work for it." He then said that the Obamas view their time in the White House as "an opportunity to live high on the hog without having it cost them a dime." Not content to leave it at that, Limbaugh elaborated, adding that the Obamas justify this by thinking "we deserve this, or we're owed this because of what's been done to us and our ancestors." Limbaugh concluded that if Democrats and the Obamas "don't know how to earn a lot of money working for it, they'll go someplace where they can legally steal it."
Here's a bit from the transcript (in the Media Matters post) that summarizes Limbaugh's strategy: Convince people that scary black guy wants to take something away from them and give it to their friends. >
Now, people who've never had 2 or 3 million dollars think, "My gosh, what would I spend it on?" You'd be surprised once you have it. It's not that hard. And the concept of, "Well, gosh, don't you have enough?" That's a myth. That's something the liberals use to try to guilt other people out of pursuing achievement and so forth. But believe me, no matter what they have, it's never enough. And I think there's a lot of reasons why the Obamas, the Democrats are doing what they're doing. In addition to the ideology, in addition to whatever grievances they have about this country and its past and however they think it needs to be cut down to size, and however they think the people who have gotten rich need to be gotten even with. Also in the mix is their chance to get their share without having to work for it and set themselves up, and their friends up, for life in the process. I don't doubt that that's a factor here.
One of the reasons I loathe the Republican party is because their central reason for existence is money. Morals, compassion, kindness, art and beauty have no place in their ideology. It's all about the money, honey, and no one lives that out in public like Rush Limbaugh.
When life becomes nothing more than the pursuit of more and more and more material wealth and the Rush Limbaughs of the world tell the pursuers they're in danger of having to lose that wealth to a hated group of people, it's not hard to see where the de facto leader of the Republican Party is leading the pack.
I wonder when it rises to the level of shouting "Fire!" in a crowded room. Before or after violence erupts?
10 Views
20:00:57 01/10/12
Reparations: Limbaugh's Limp Rhetoric Ramps Up
[LESS INFO] 10 VIEWS | ADDED 20:00:57 01/10/12
Rush Limbaugh is a racist. This isn't news, we all know he lives on the fringes of hate for anyone who isn't pasty-white like he is. But lately, he's been ramping up the hateful rhetoric to levels I've not seen even from him, and Monday's rant is no exception.
While I support the right for Limbaugh to say whatever he wants under the First Amendment, I wonder what the consequences will ultimately be. Republicans whine about President Obama starting class wars while Rush Limbaugh stirs the fires of discontent and race under the surface. It's a volatile game he's playing.
Via Media Matters : >
Today on his radio show, Rush Limbaugh trotted out a new theory on the guiding prerogative of the Obamas. Limbaugh claimed part of what motivates President Obama and the Democratic Party is "the pursuit of money without having to work for it." He then said that the Obamas view their time in the White House as "an opportunity to live high on the hog without having it cost them a dime." Not content to leave it at that, Limbaugh elaborated, adding that the Obamas justify this by thinking "we deserve this, or we're owed this because of what's been done to us and our ancestors." Limbaugh concluded that if Democrats and the Obamas "don't know how to earn a lot of money working for it, they'll go someplace where they can legally steal it."
Here's a bit from the transcript (in the Media Matters post) that summarizes Limbaugh's strategy: Convince people that scary black guy wants to take something away from them and give it to their friends. >
Now, people who've never had 2 or 3 million dollars think, "My gosh, what would I spend it on?" You'd be surprised once you have it. It's not that hard. And the concept of, "Well, gosh, don't you have enough?" That's a myth. That's something the liberals use to try to guilt other people out of pursuing achievement and so forth. But believe me, no matter what they have, it's never enough. And I think there's a lot of reasons why the Obamas, the Democrats are doing what they're doing. In addition to the ideology, in addition to whatever grievances they have about this country and its past and however they think it needs to be cut down to size, and however they think the people who have gotten rich need to be gotten even with. Also in the mix is their chance to get their share without having to work for it and set themselves up, and their friends up, for life in the process. I don't doubt that that's a factor here.
One of the reasons I loathe the Republican party is because their central reason for existence is money. Morals, compassion, kindness, art and beauty have no place in their ideology. It's all about the money, honey, and no one lives that out in public like Rush Limbaugh.
When life becomes nothing more than the pursuit of more and more and more material wealth and the Rush Limbaughs of the world tell the pursuers they're in danger of having to lose that wealth to a hated group of people, it's not hard to see where the de facto leader of the Republican Party is leading the pack.
I wonder when it rises to the level of shouting "Fire!" in a crowded room. Before or after violence erupts?
2 Views
00:00:40 01/06/12
Mitt Romney, a Profile in Cowardice
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:40 01/06/12
For months, likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has made Barack Obama's supposed "failure of leadership" a centerpiece of his campaign. But like his ill-advised comparison of President Obama to Marie Antoinette , Romney's sound bite could well boomerang. After all, when Multiple Choice Mitt isn't comically reversing his stands, he's too afraid to take any at all .
That cowardice starts with his tax returns . While John Kerry and John McCain at least presented a summary of their (and their well-to-do wives') payments to Uncle Sam, the $250 million Mitt has so far refused to do so. Despite his famous demand in the 1994 Senate race that Ted Kennedy release his tax returns to show he has "nothing to hide," Romney reiterated his own paperwork would not be forthcoming. "We don't have any current plans to release tax returns, but never say never," Romney said, adding: >
"I can tell you we follow the tax laws, and if there's an opportunity to save taxes, we like anybody else in this country will follow that opportunity."
Or as he put it to CNN's Wolf Blitzer last week (at around the 6:40 mark): >
"I don't put out which tooth paste I use either. It's not that I have something to hide."
That's one interpretation. Another is that Mitt Romney is desperate to avoid the horrible political optics his tax returns would inevitably produce. After all, because Romney's continuing millions in annual income from Bain Capital (a company the Los Angeles Times recently explained "often maximized profits in part by firing workers") are taxed at the 15 percent capital gains rate, Mitt already pays a much lower share to Uncle Sam than most middle class families .
Romney's pusillanimity extends to his own tax proposals as well. Unlike virtually all of his GOP rivals , Romney has held back on endorsing either a flat-tax or the complete elimination of the capital gains tax. As he seemed to suggest to the Wall Street Journal , discretion is the better part of valor when it comes to telling voters about the massive windfall the Romneys would reap under the tax policies that dare not speak their name: >
What about his reform principles? Mr. Romney talks only in general terms. "Moving to a consumption-based system is something which is very attractive to me philosophically, but I've not been able to sufficiently model it out to jump on board a consumption-based tax. A flat tax, a true flat tax is also attractive to me. What I like--I mean, I like the simplification of a flat tax. I also like removing the distortion in our tax code for certain classes of investment. And the advantage of a flat tax is getting rid of some of those distortions"... >
Amid such generalities, it's hard not to conclude that the candidate is trying to avoid offering any details that might become a political target. And he all but admits as much. "I happen to also recognize," he says, "that if you go out with a tax proposal which conforms to your philosophy but it hasn't been thoroughly analyzed, vetted, put through models and calculated in detail, that you're gonna get hit by the demagogues in the general election."
Mitt Romney's fear of getting hit was also on display during the debt ceiling debate this summer. As the GOP's brinksmanship over defaulting on the U.S. debt reached its climax in late July, Romney turned his tail and fled. As MSNBC reported at the time: >
NBC's Garrett Haake reported that Mitt Romney told reporters in Ohio yesterday that he would not comment on the debt negotiations in Washington. And so far, he has refused to either endorse Boehner's legislation (as Huntsman has done) or oppose it (as Pawlenty and Bachman have done). Our question: How does someone who wants to be the leader of the Republican Party not have a position on one of the biggest issues facing Washington, especially after the dueling primetime speeches by Obama and Boehner? It's actually quite surprising; this isn't just another Washington fight. Is the lack of a position proof of how fragile Team Romney believes its front-runner status is right now?
(Ultimately, Romney used Facebook to announce his support of the Boehner bill, but only after it passed the GOP House .)
As it turns out, Ohio was the scene of another of Mitt Romney's moments in cowardice.
After visiting a Republican phone bank calling voters about the state's controversial Issue 2 curbing public unions , Romney amazingly refused to take a position: >
"I'm not saying anything one way or the other about the two ballot issues."
Embarrassed by his obvious lack of backbone, Romney endorsed the measure the next day. Ohio voters, who handily defeated the Republican measure, won't soon forget Romney said goodbye to his spine in Columbus.
Romney's vertebra similarly went missing on immigration and abortion , two issues near and dear to the Republican primary voter's heart. As Steve Benen recounted, Mitt's campaign simply would not answer Joe Klein question about what President Romney would do about the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country: >
The evasion wasn't exactly graceful. Klein asked what Romney would do with the undocumented immigrants who are already here, and Fehrnstrom replied, "He would not grant them amnesty." Right, Klein said, but instead of amnesty, what would Romney do with these people? "He would not grant them amnesty," Fehrnstrom answered. Got it, Klein said, but what, specifically, would Romney do? "I just told you, he's not going to grant them amnesty," the campaign spokesperson said. When Klein then explained that this isn't actually an answer, Fehrnstrom, once again, said, "He would not grant them amnesty."
The Romney camp built a similar stonewall after their man seemingly came out in support of the soon-to-be defeated "personhood" initiative in Mississippi . But the day after the ballot measure went down to crushing defeat, Team Romney insisted "he's being falsely characterized as supporting a proposed amendment to define a fertilized egg as a 'person.'"
On matters small and large, duck and cover is Mitt Romney's posture. Afraid to admit that he has obviously been running for President without interruption since his failed campaign four years ago, Romney's wife claimed his 2012 run was all her idea. As Ann Romney told Wolf Blitzer last week (starting around the 2:30 mark in the video above): >
BLITZER: Is it true that you had to talk to Mitt into running again? >
ANN ROMNEY. ROMNEY: It is true...after the last campaign, it was kind of ironic that I was the one that said I'd never do this again, and now, this time around, I'm saying, you know what, Mitt, you've got to do this again.
But in Mitt's telling, his latest White House bid is all due to Barack Obama. As he told the Wall Street Journal just days ago, Mitt was content to hang out in his $12 million, soon-to-be doubled-in-size California beach side home : >
The Republican presidential candidate says he never intended to run for office again after 2008--"I went back and bought a home which was far too expensive and grandiose for the purposes of another campaign," he jokes. He was drawn back into public life amid Mr. Obama's bid to "fundamentally transform" the country, to use the president's own words, into "an entitlement society," to use Mr. Romney's.
Given his Boston area townhouse and lakeside mansion with man-made beach in New Hampshire, a third palatial retreat would have seemed excessive for a candidate Romney. After all, Mitt Romney's running for office as a " man of the people "; he can't have mansions, for Pete's sake .
"If it seems like this keeps coming up with the former governor," Benen concluded, "it's not your imagination." >
Romney refused to take a stand on Paul Ryan's budget. Romney refused to take a stand when asked about voters booing a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq during a Republican debate. Romney refused to take a stand when Rick Perry dabbled in Birtherism. Romney initially refused to take a stand on Ohio's campaign to undermine collective-bargaining rights, and then sheepishly backpedaled when the right complained. >
There's going to come a point next year when the Obama campaign is likely to say, "Mitt Romney lacks the courage and the character to be a leader." And the criticism will sting because it's based in fact.
And so it goes for the man George Will rightly described as a "recidivist reviser of his principles." On the issues where he doesn't change his mind, Mitt Romney - the man who would be leader of the Free World - lacks "the courage of his absence of convictions."
(This piece also appears at Perrspectives. )
0 Views
00:00:40 01/06/12
Mitt Romney, a Profile in Cowardice
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:40 01/06/12
For months, likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has made Barack Obama's supposed "failure of leadership" a centerpiece of his campaign. But like his ill-advised comparison of President Obama to Marie Antoinette , Romney's sound bite could well boomerang. After all, when Multiple Choice Mitt isn't comically reversing his stands, he's too afraid to take any at all .
That cowardice starts with his tax returns . While John Kerry and John McCain at least presented a summary of their (and their well-to-do wives') payments to Uncle Sam, the $250 million Mitt has so far refused to do so. Despite his famous demand in the 1994 Senate race that Ted Kennedy release his tax returns to show he has "nothing to hide," Romney reiterated his own paperwork would not be forthcoming. "We don't have any current plans to release tax returns, but never say never," Romney said, adding: >
"I can tell you we follow the tax laws, and if there's an opportunity to save taxes, we like anybody else in this country will follow that opportunity."
Or as he put it to CNN's Wolf Blitzer last week (at around the 6:40 mark): >
"I don't put out which tooth paste I use either. It's not that I have something to hide."
That's one interpretation. Another is that Mitt Romney is desperate to avoid the horrible political optics his tax returns would inevitably produce. After all, because Romney's continuing millions in annual income from Bain Capital (a company the Los Angeles Times recently explained "often maximized profits in part by firing workers") are taxed at the 15 percent capital gains rate, Mitt already pays a much lower share to Uncle Sam than most middle class families .
Romney's pusillanimity extends to his own tax proposals as well. Unlike virtually all of his GOP rivals , Romney has held back on endorsing either a flat-tax or the complete elimination of the capital gains tax. As he seemed to suggest to the Wall Street Journal , discretion is the better part of valor when it comes to telling voters about the massive windfall the Romneys would reap under the tax policies that dare not speak their name: >
What about his reform principles? Mr. Romney talks only in general terms. "Moving to a consumption-based system is something which is very attractive to me philosophically, but I've not been able to sufficiently model it out to jump on board a consumption-based tax. A flat tax, a true flat tax is also attractive to me. What I like--I mean, I like the simplification of a flat tax. I also like removing the distortion in our tax code for certain classes of investment. And the advantage of a flat tax is getting rid of some of those distortions"... >
Amid such generalities, it's hard not to conclude that the candidate is trying to avoid offering any details that might become a political target. And he all but admits as much. "I happen to also recognize," he says, "that if you go out with a tax proposal which conforms to your philosophy but it hasn't been thoroughly analyzed, vetted, put through models and calculated in detail, that you're gonna get hit by the demagogues in the general election."
Mitt Romney's fear of getting hit was also on display during the debt ceiling debate this summer. As the GOP's brinksmanship over defaulting on the U.S. debt reached its climax in late July, Romney turned his tail and fled. As MSNBC reported at the time: >
NBC's Garrett Haake reported that Mitt Romney told reporters in Ohio yesterday that he would not comment on the debt negotiations in Washington. And so far, he has refused to either endorse Boehner's legislation (as Huntsman has done) or oppose it (as Pawlenty and Bachman have done). Our question: How does someone who wants to be the leader of the Republican Party not have a position on one of the biggest issues facing Washington, especially after the dueling primetime speeches by Obama and Boehner? It's actually quite surprising; this isn't just another Washington fight. Is the lack of a position proof of how fragile Team Romney believes its front-runner status is right now?
(Ultimately, Romney used Facebook to announce his support of the Boehner bill, but only after it passed the GOP House .)
As it turns out, Ohio was the scene of another of Mitt Romney's moments in cowardice.
After visiting a Republican phone bank calling voters about the state's controversial Issue 2 curbing public unions , Romney amazingly refused to take a position: >
"I'm not saying anything one way or the other about the two ballot issues."
Embarrassed by his obvious lack of backbone, Romney endorsed the measure the next day. Ohio voters, who handily defeated the Republican measure, won't soon forget Romney said goodbye to his spine in Columbus.
Romney's vertebra similarly went missing on immigration and abortion , two issues near and dear to the Republican primary voter's heart. As Steve Benen recounted, Mitt's campaign simply would not answer Joe Klein question about what President Romney would do about the 12 million illegal immigrants already in the country: >
The evasion wasn't exactly graceful. Klein asked what Romney would do with the undocumented immigrants who are already here, and Fehrnstrom replied, "He would not grant them amnesty." Right, Klein said, but instead of amnesty, what would Romney do with these people? "He would not grant them amnesty," Fehrnstrom answered. Got it, Klein said, but what, specifically, would Romney do? "I just told you, he's not going to grant them amnesty," the campaign spokesperson said. When Klein then explained that this isn't actually an answer, Fehrnstrom, once again, said, "He would not grant them amnesty."
The Romney camp built a similar stonewall after their man seemingly came out in support of the soon-to-be defeated "personhood" initiative in Mississippi . But the day after the ballot measure went down to crushing defeat, Team Romney insisted "he's being falsely characterized as supporting a proposed amendment to define a fertilized egg as a 'person.'"
On matters small and large, duck and cover is Mitt Romney's posture. Afraid to admit that he has obviously been running for President without interruption since his failed campaign four years ago, Romney's wife claimed his 2012 run was all her idea. As Ann Romney told Wolf Blitzer last week (starting around the 2:30 mark in the video above): >
BLITZER: Is it true that you had to talk to Mitt into running again? >
ANN ROMNEY. ROMNEY: It is true...after the last campaign, it was kind of ironic that I was the one that said I'd never do this again, and now, this time around, I'm saying, you know what, Mitt, you've got to do this again.
But in Mitt's telling, his latest White House bid is all due to Barack Obama. As he told the Wall Street Journal just days ago, Mitt was content to hang out in his $12 million, soon-to-be doubled-in-size California beach side home : >
The Republican presidential candidate says he never intended to run for office again after 2008--"I went back and bought a home which was far too expensive and grandiose for the purposes of another campaign," he jokes. He was drawn back into public life amid Mr. Obama's bid to "fundamentally transform" the country, to use the president's own words, into "an entitlement society," to use Mr. Romney's.
Given his Boston area townhouse and lakeside mansion with man-made beach in New Hampshire, a third palatial retreat would have seemed excessive for a candidate Romney. After all, Mitt Romney's running for office as a " man of the people "; he can't have mansions, for Pete's sake .
"If it seems like this keeps coming up with the former governor," Benen concluded, "it's not your imagination." >
Romney refused to take a stand on Paul Ryan's budget. Romney refused to take a stand when asked about voters booing a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq during a Republican debate. Romney refused to take a stand when Rick Perry dabbled in Birtherism. Romney initially refused to take a stand on Ohio's campaign to undermine collective-bargaining rights, and then sheepishly backpedaled when the right complained. >
There's going to come a point next year when the Obama campaign is likely to say, "Mitt Romney lacks the courage and the character to be a leader." And the criticism will sting because it's based in fact.
And so it goes for the man George Will rightly described as a "recidivist reviser of his principles." On the issues where he doesn't change his mind, Mitt Romney - the man who would be leader of the Free World - lacks "the courage of his absence of convictions."
(This piece also appears at Perrspectives. )
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00:00:42 01/03/12
Last-Place Bachmann: 'I Intend To Be America's Iron Lady'
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:42 01/03/12
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Michelle Bachmann's appearance yesterday on This Week with Jake Tapper was one of her more cringe-inducing performances. Not because she isn't someone incapable of delivering lines and staying on message, but because the content of her message is so obviously boilerplate campaignspeak from someone who's so clearly sliding too far down, too fast to win. Instead, she's promising a "miracle:" >
TAPPER: My next guest sounds just as confident, but her path forward is a lot more murky. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann joins me from Des Moines.
Congresswoman, thanks for joining us, and happy new year.
BACHMANN: Happy new year to you. Great to be on with you this morning, Jake.
TAPPER: So the last time you and I spoke, you had just won the Iowa straw poll. The Des Moines Register poll had you tied for first place with Mitt Romney with 22 percent of the vote. Now that same poll has you with 7 percent of the vote. What happened to your campaign?
BACHMANN: Well, we've had a very good campaign. And I think what's happened is, a lot of candidates have come in, and Iowa voters and national voters have taken a look at all of the other candidates. But we have done I think what no other candidate has done, and that is, after the last debate, we've gone across all of Iowa, all 99 counties, and we've actually done heavy, heavy retail politics where we've gone into cafes and into living rooms of Iowans, and we've made a very strong connection with a lot of people.
And if you look at the polls, it's upwards of 40 percent to 50 percent of Iowans haven't made their decision yet. And I think the polls, what they're reflecting will be very different from what we're seeing on Tuesday night, because people make their decision, quite honestly, in the caucus room. Iowa is very different. People gather in living rooms. They gather in elementary schools and churches, and they make their decision on the spot with their neighbors. And we have done, like I said, what no other candidate has done the last two weeks. We've put over -- almost 7,000 miles on our bus, and we've literally gone from town to town to town meeting with people directly. And we saw thousands of people switch their vote just in the last couple of weeks, so we think there's going to be a very profound shift that people see on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: Well, one of the -- one of the dilemmas that you've had is that a lot of the voters that you are competing for, conservative voters, Christian evangelicals in some cases, are also being wooed by Rick Santorum and Rick Perry. And Santorum has momentum right now. He is at third place in the Des Moines Register poll. And if you look at the last two days, he's in second place. He has strong social conservative credentials. He's fluent in foreign affairs. He won statewide twice in a key swing state, Pennsylvania. So why should voters go for you and not him?
BACHMANN: Well, because I'm the strongest core conservative in this race. There is no comparison with all of the other candidates and my credentials. No other candidate has current national security experience in the race. I sit on the House Intelligence Committee. I am daily involved with the issue of national security. No other candidate is.
And as what we -- what we are seeing happening with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, that will be a formidable issue immediately with the next commander-in-chief. I'm ready. No other candidate is currently ready in that issue.
Gee, Michelle, I know it makes me feel better that you'll lie about Iran "obtaining" a nuke. It shows you'll say anything at all to win - always a great quality in a president. >
Also, I'm the only federal tax litigation attorney in this race. When it comes to dealing with the number-one issue that's on voters' minds, which is out-of-control spending, I have that credential in spades over any other candidate, because no other candidate was leading on this issue in the halls of Congress or in Washington or nationally. I'm the one that called for saying "no" to letting Barack Obama increase the national credit card limit.
Psst, Michelle honey? Try not to say things like that around sane people. It doesn't help. >
And when it comes to social issues, there's no one who can -- who can compare with my record. I'm a mother of five, a foster mother to 23 children that we've raised, and also I have an unassailable record on life, on marriage, on religious liberty. So when it comes to values and issues, there is no one who comes close to where I am on those issues.
But I think even more so, I'm the one that's been proven and tested in the fires of Washington, and that's why I think you saw people vote for me in the Iowa straw poll, but also it's what we have done on the ground. No other candidate has done more retail campaigning on the ground.
TAPPER: But...
BACHMANN: And I think we'll bear the fruit of that on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: But with all due respect, Congresswoman, this is the same pitch you've been making all summer and all fall and -- and up until today, and you're in last place, according to the polls. And -- and somebody that has similar credentials to you and a similar appeal to you, Rick Santorum, is showing huge momentum. Why you over him?
BACHMANN: Well, again, I think the polls take a few days to catch up. And -- and we have made that incredible deposit of going in every single county. We've drawn 300 people at a stop, 250 people at a stop, and I think a lot of that isn't yet reflected in the polls. And the main thing will be on Tuesday night.
We're looking forward. We're not looking in the rear-view mirror. And what we're seeing going forward, especially with the tremendous outpouring of young people that are coming out to work on our phone banks and to go lit dropping and door-to-door is nothing short of amazing. We're -- we're number-one in the category of enthusiasm. If you look at all of the candidates, which candidate has the most enthusiasm among their supporters, I'm that candidate. I'm number-one with the 18- to 29-year-old voters, which are highly motivated, and they're doing all of the work.
So I think that if you look at my past races, and polling data showed me actually losing and 8 points behind in previous races that I've had when I've run for Congress, and yet I -- I win by 8 and 13 points. So polls don't -- are -- sometimes belie the truth on the ground, and that's what we see. This isn't just about polling. This is about what we're seeing in reality, and I think Tuesday night people are going to see a miracle.
TAPPER: In the last week, your campaign has gotten involved in a big kerfuffle about one of your top supporters, your chairman in Iowa defecting and going to the Ron Paul campaign. I don't want to get into the weeds on that debate. There was a back-and-forth about whether or not he was paid off. He denied that you accused him of doing that. But this is not the first time you've made a charge like this. You've also said this about other supporters with Newt Gingrich in Georgia, with Rick Santorum.
Don't you risk -- making these charges, doesn't that risk voters seeing you as making a final gasp of desperation?
BACHMANN: Oh, for Heaven's sake. Of course not. What this shows is the tremendous momentum that we have out of the last debate. From person after person, they said that I won the last debate in Sioux City, Iowa. And the reason why is because, when Ron Paul made his very dangerous statements, which is he was just fine with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, or with Newt Gingrich taking $1.6 million from Freddie Mac and he was unable to defend that, I -- I took it to them.
And what people saw during the last debate is that I have the ability, of all of the candidates on the stage, I have the best ability to take it to Barack Obama in the debate and hold him accountable. We had tremendous momentum coming out of the last debate, and we saw it in county after county in our 99-county tour, where people were just appalled by Ron Paul's position. They thought it was dangerous.
That's why we saw literally thousands of people switching their decision on the spot, and that's what you saw, was this crush of momentum. And so we saw some different actions coming out of the Ron Paul campaign. And I think that people will be very surprised at the results on Tuesday night, because I think people will see a lot of defections away from Ron Paul because they see -- especially with the aggressive nature of the actions on the part of Iran in the Straits of Hormuz, people are seeing how important it is that we have a commander-in-chief who is conversant, prepared, knowledgeable, and has good judgment on foreign affairs. And of all of the candidates in the race, I'm best suited for that -- that portion of being commander-in- chief.
TAPPER: Congresswoman, we only have a little bit of time left, so last question. In the interests of candor and being based in reality, positing that you feel that you're going to have a very good night on Tuesday and that all the polls are wrong and you're going to do well, but assuming that the polls are right, isn't that, practically speaking, the end of your campaign if you come in last on Tuesday?
BACHMANN: Well, we've bought tickets to head off to South Carolina. And we are looking forward to the debates. January is a very full month. We're here for the -- for the long -- for the long race. This is a 50-state race. And we intend to participate not only in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, but to go all the way, because I intend to be the Republican nominee and defeat Barack Obama in 2012, because America needs a candidate that will be in the legacy of a Ronald Reagan and of a Margaret Thatcher. That's what I intend to do, is to be America's iron lady.
TAPPER: All right. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, good luck on Tuesday. And hope you have a wonderful 2012.
BACHMANN: Thank you. Same to you and your listeners.
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00:00:42 01/03/12
Last-Place Bachmann: 'I Intend To Be America's Iron Lady'
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 00:00:42 01/03/12
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Michelle Bachmann's appearance yesterday on This Week with Jake Tapper was one of her more cringe-inducing performances. Not because she isn't someone incapable of delivering lines and staying on message, but because the content of her message is so obviously boilerplate campaignspeak from someone who's so clearly sliding too far down, too fast to win. Instead, she's promising a "miracle:" >
TAPPER: My next guest sounds just as confident, but her path forward is a lot more murky. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann joins me from Des Moines.
Congresswoman, thanks for joining us, and happy new year.
BACHMANN: Happy new year to you. Great to be on with you this morning, Jake.
TAPPER: So the last time you and I spoke, you had just won the Iowa straw poll. The Des Moines Register poll had you tied for first place with Mitt Romney with 22 percent of the vote. Now that same poll has you with 7 percent of the vote. What happened to your campaign?
BACHMANN: Well, we've had a very good campaign. And I think what's happened is, a lot of candidates have come in, and Iowa voters and national voters have taken a look at all of the other candidates. But we have done I think what no other candidate has done, and that is, after the last debate, we've gone across all of Iowa, all 99 counties, and we've actually done heavy, heavy retail politics where we've gone into cafes and into living rooms of Iowans, and we've made a very strong connection with a lot of people.
And if you look at the polls, it's upwards of 40 percent to 50 percent of Iowans haven't made their decision yet. And I think the polls, what they're reflecting will be very different from what we're seeing on Tuesday night, because people make their decision, quite honestly, in the caucus room. Iowa is very different. People gather in living rooms. They gather in elementary schools and churches, and they make their decision on the spot with their neighbors. And we have done, like I said, what no other candidate has done the last two weeks. We've put over -- almost 7,000 miles on our bus, and we've literally gone from town to town to town meeting with people directly. And we saw thousands of people switch their vote just in the last couple of weeks, so we think there's going to be a very profound shift that people see on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: Well, one of the -- one of the dilemmas that you've had is that a lot of the voters that you are competing for, conservative voters, Christian evangelicals in some cases, are also being wooed by Rick Santorum and Rick Perry. And Santorum has momentum right now. He is at third place in the Des Moines Register poll. And if you look at the last two days, he's in second place. He has strong social conservative credentials. He's fluent in foreign affairs. He won statewide twice in a key swing state, Pennsylvania. So why should voters go for you and not him?
BACHMANN: Well, because I'm the strongest core conservative in this race. There is no comparison with all of the other candidates and my credentials. No other candidate has current national security experience in the race. I sit on the House Intelligence Committee. I am daily involved with the issue of national security. No other candidate is.
And as what we -- what we are seeing happening with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, that will be a formidable issue immediately with the next commander-in-chief. I'm ready. No other candidate is currently ready in that issue.
Gee, Michelle, I know it makes me feel better that you'll lie about Iran "obtaining" a nuke. It shows you'll say anything at all to win - always a great quality in a president. >
Also, I'm the only federal tax litigation attorney in this race. When it comes to dealing with the number-one issue that's on voters' minds, which is out-of-control spending, I have that credential in spades over any other candidate, because no other candidate was leading on this issue in the halls of Congress or in Washington or nationally. I'm the one that called for saying "no" to letting Barack Obama increase the national credit card limit.
Psst, Michelle honey? Try not to say things like that around sane people. It doesn't help. >
And when it comes to social issues, there's no one who can -- who can compare with my record. I'm a mother of five, a foster mother to 23 children that we've raised, and also I have an unassailable record on life, on marriage, on religious liberty. So when it comes to values and issues, there is no one who comes close to where I am on those issues.
But I think even more so, I'm the one that's been proven and tested in the fires of Washington, and that's why I think you saw people vote for me in the Iowa straw poll, but also it's what we have done on the ground. No other candidate has done more retail campaigning on the ground.
TAPPER: But...
BACHMANN: And I think we'll bear the fruit of that on Tuesday night.
TAPPER: But with all due respect, Congresswoman, this is the same pitch you've been making all summer and all fall and -- and up until today, and you're in last place, according to the polls. And -- and somebody that has similar credentials to you and a similar appeal to you, Rick Santorum, is showing huge momentum. Why you over him?
BACHMANN: Well, again, I think the polls take a few days to catch up. And -- and we have made that incredible deposit of going in every single county. We've drawn 300 people at a stop, 250 people at a stop, and I think a lot of that isn't yet reflected in the polls. And the main thing will be on Tuesday night.
We're looking forward. We're not looking in the rear-view mirror. And what we're seeing going forward, especially with the tremendous outpouring of young people that are coming out to work on our phone banks and to go lit dropping and door-to-door is nothing short of amazing. We're -- we're number-one in the category of enthusiasm. If you look at all of the candidates, which candidate has the most enthusiasm among their supporters, I'm that candidate. I'm number-one with the 18- to 29-year-old voters, which are highly motivated, and they're doing all of the work.
So I think that if you look at my past races, and polling data showed me actually losing and 8 points behind in previous races that I've had when I've run for Congress, and yet I -- I win by 8 and 13 points. So polls don't -- are -- sometimes belie the truth on the ground, and that's what we see. This isn't just about polling. This is about what we're seeing in reality, and I think Tuesday night people are going to see a miracle.
TAPPER: In the last week, your campaign has gotten involved in a big kerfuffle about one of your top supporters, your chairman in Iowa defecting and going to the Ron Paul campaign. I don't want to get into the weeds on that debate. There was a back-and-forth about whether or not he was paid off. He denied that you accused him of doing that. But this is not the first time you've made a charge like this. You've also said this about other supporters with Newt Gingrich in Georgia, with Rick Santorum.
Don't you risk -- making these charges, doesn't that risk voters seeing you as making a final gasp of desperation?
BACHMANN: Oh, for Heaven's sake. Of course not. What this shows is the tremendous momentum that we have out of the last debate. From person after person, they said that I won the last debate in Sioux City, Iowa. And the reason why is because, when Ron Paul made his very dangerous statements, which is he was just fine with Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, or with Newt Gingrich taking $1.6 million from Freddie Mac and he was unable to defend that, I -- I took it to them.
And what people saw during the last debate is that I have the ability, of all of the candidates on the stage, I have the best ability to take it to Barack Obama in the debate and hold him accountable. We had tremendous momentum coming out of the last debate, and we saw it in county after county in our 99-county tour, where people were just appalled by Ron Paul's position. They thought it was dangerous.
That's why we saw literally thousands of people switching their decision on the spot, and that's what you saw, was this crush of momentum. And so we saw some different actions coming out of the Ron Paul campaign. And I think that people will be very surprised at the results on Tuesday night, because I think people will see a lot of defections away from Ron Paul because they see -- especially with the aggressive nature of the actions on the part of Iran in the Straits of Hormuz, people are seeing how important it is that we have a commander-in-chief who is conversant, prepared, knowledgeable, and has good judgment on foreign affairs. And of all of the candidates in the race, I'm best suited for that -- that portion of being commander-in- chief.
TAPPER: Congresswoman, we only have a little bit of time left, so last question. In the interests of candor and being based in reality, positing that you feel that you're going to have a very good night on Tuesday and that all the polls are wrong and you're going to do well, but assuming that the polls are right, isn't that, practically speaking, the end of your campaign if you come in last on Tuesday?
BACHMANN: Well, we've bought tickets to head off to South Carolina. And we are looking forward to the debates. January is a very full month. We're here for the -- for the long -- for the long race. This is a 50-state race. And we intend to participate not only in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, but to go all the way, because I intend to be the Republican nominee and defeat Barack Obama in 2012, because America needs a candidate that will be in the legacy of a Ronald Reagan and of a Margaret Thatcher. That's what I intend to do, is to be America's iron lady.
TAPPER: All right. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, good luck on Tuesday. And hope you have a wonderful 2012.
BACHMANN: Thank you. Same to you and your listeners.
