Queer Talk: Full Frontal Freedom Asks Romney,
What Youre Hiding Down Below

post from TaylorMarsh.com on 22 August 2012 11:01:05 AM. © TaylorMarsh.com

Joyce L. Arnold, Liberally Independent, Queer Talk, equality activist, writer.

John Aravosis calls it a ?Must-see election music video.? It?s definitely a gay man?s ?view,? but I don?t think you have to be a gay man to appreciate the humor.

From Full Frontal Freedom, a ?coalition of independent artists and media folks using our creativity to promote civic engagement,? a parody based on One Direction?s hit song, ?What Makes You Beautiful.? Colby Melvin, Quinn C. Jaxon, David Brackett, Brandon R. Brown, Johnathan Myers ask Mitt Romney: What you?re hiding down below?
Lyrics:

You?re insecure
Some Say a Bore
Morally bankrupt but you profited some mo – oh – ore
Outsourcing jobs
Bain cover up
Two years of tax returns really ain?t enough
Everyone else on TV can see it
Everyone else but Fox News
Romney you lie to voters like no body else
Your SuperPAC giant size gets Dems overwhelmed
But when you smile at your wealth it ain?t hard tell
You won?t show
What you?re hiding down below
If only we saw what Ann could see
We’d understand avoiding Maddow so desperately
You change positions for elections, what should I believe
You won?t show
What you?re hiding down below oh oh
You have got to disclose
So c c c?mon
The Right is Wrong
You?ll be exposed as a fraud
Before too lo-ong
I don’t know why
you?re telling lies
You made billions by firing the ?Average Guy?
Everyone else on TV can see it
Everyone else but Fox News
Romney you lie to voters like no body else
Your SuperPAC giant size gets Dems overwhelmed
But when you smile at your wealth it ain’t hard tell
You won’t show
What you’re hiding down below
If only we saw what Ann could see
We?d understand avoiding Maddow so desperately
You change positions for elections, what should I believe?
You won?t show
What you’re hiding down below
Oh oh oh
You have got to disclose
nah nah nah nah
Romney you lie to voters like no body else
Your SuperPAC giant size gets Dems overwhelmed
I?ll bet I?ll smile once I see your ?off shore accounts?
Romney you lie to voters like no body else
Your SuperPAC giant size gets Dems overwhelmed
But when you smile at your wealth it ain’t hard tell
You won?t show
What you’re hiding down below
If only we saw what Ann could see
We?d understand avoiding Maddow so desperately
You change positions for elections, what should I believe?
You won?t show
What you’re hiding down below
You have got to disclose
You have got to disclose

Read The Full Article:
http://taylormarsh.com/blog/2012/08/queer-talk-full-frontal-freedom-asks-romney-w
hat-youre-hiding-down-below/

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Obama Maintains Small National Lead Before GOP
Convention

post from Firedoglake on 22 August 2012 11:00:43 AM. © Firedoglake

Despite media attention to issues about Mitt Romney's tax returns, the selection of Paul Ryan, and of course a media fire storm around Rep. Todd Akin's rape comments, the state of the Presidential race at the national level remains remarkably consistent.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/HGspi0xtgwM/

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Michelle Rhee Infiltrates Democratic Convention
With Right-Wing Film

post from Crooks and Liars on 22 August 2012 11:00:16 AM. © Crooks and Liars

enlarge Not that this surprises me much, since Michelle Rhee pretends to be some kind of "different Democrat," but it's really pretty nervy of her to show up at the Democratic National Convention with a film funded by right-wing education deformers and pretend she's "one of us."

StudentsFirst is screening the film "Won't Back Down" in the middle of the Democratic National Convention in an effort to convince everyone her brand of education deform is the best pathway forward.

I wrote about this last week. The film is financed by Philip Anschutz, notorious winger. And StudentsFirst is spearheading an effort to deform New York schools in concert with right-wing funding sources. See this report revealing Romney and Republicans' involvement:

StudentsFirst NY Board Members and funders are contributing over $2 million to Mitt Romney and Super PACs working to defeat President Obama;
StudentsFirst NY is using a complex web of multiple tax designations and different names to shield donors and funders from scrutiny on campaign contributions and political activities;
StudentsFirst NY is out of touch economically and ideologically with the education stakeholders?the students, parents, communities, and educators?it claims to represent in New York City;
StudentsFirst NY is supporting market-driven restructuring and privatization of schools that goes even further than what Mayor Bloomberg has implemented in the past decade;
StudentsFirst NY is using a plan developed by Bain & Company and advocating actions that will treat public schools the way Romney?s Bain Capital treated companies.

No self-respecting Democrat should be caught dead at this screening. I plan to be out front with my camera to see who supports public schools and who doesn't. Please reach out to anyone you know who is attending the convention and encourage them to stand firm for public education.

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/michelle-rhee-infiltrates-democratic-conven

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Welfare Reforms 16th Birthday Is Anything But
Sweet

post from ThinkProgress on 22 August 2012 10:45:22 AM. © ThinkProgress

Our guest blogger is Melissa Boteach, director of Poverty to Prosperity at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Sixteen years ago today President Clinton signed the law that did away with guaranteed income assistance for poor families with children and replaced it with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It was a watershed moment [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org.feedsportal.com/c/34726/f/638927/s/229f9c56/l/0Lthinkpro
gress0Borg0Ceconomy0C20A120C0A80C220C7244710Cwelfare0Ereform0E16th0Ebirthday0C/story01.htm

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Joint Chiefs chairman 'disappointed' by
Swiftboating II

post from Daily Kos on 22 August 2012 10:44:19 AM. © Daily Kos

The former special operations officers and current Republican activists who've formed the "Special Operations Opsec Education Fund" to try to turn President Obama's national security strengths into weaknesses with a little Swiftboating are drawing criticism from current officers, including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey:

"One of the things that marks us as a profession in a democracy ? in our form of democracy ? that?s most important is that we remain apolitical," Dempsey said. "That?s how we maintain our bond of trust with the American people. The American people don?t want us to be another special interest group." [...]
"If someone uses the uniform, whatever uniform it is, for partisan politics, I?m disappointed by that, because I think it does erode that bond of trust we have with the American people," Dempsey told Fox.

Dempsey is not alone.

"This is an unprofessional, shameful action on the part of the operators that appear in the video, period," U.S. Army Special Forces Maj. Fernando Lujan wrote on his Facebook page, to a chorus of approval from colleagues.
A Green Beret who returned last year from Afghanistan, Lujan says that attaching the title of special operator with any political campaign is "in violation of everything we've been taught, and the opposite of what we should be doing, which is being quiet professionals."

The nouveau Swiftboaters claim their major focus is on leaks, but, in a straightforward Karl Rove tactic, the real goal is to downplay President Obama's role in the killing of Osama bin Laden and make him look like a braggart who didn't give credit to the people who carried out the operation. (He did.)

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/BGWLtlu1EAE/-Joint-Chiefs-chairman
-disappointed-by-Swiftboating-II

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Battle of the Romney Plans

post from The American Prospect on 22 August 2012 10:43:10 AM. © The American Prospect

Consider the Detroit area, including suburbs like Sterling Heights, Grosse Pointe, and Warren, whose segregation presented such challenges to George when he was governor and then housing and urban development secretary.

Thirty percent of students in the Detroit area are now African American and 39 percent are ?economically disadvantaged??that is, eligible for free or subsidized lunches. In Detroit, 88 percent are African American and 85 percent lunch-eligible. Virtually all are from households with income of less than $22,000 a year for a family of four.

If by the Mitt method (school choice) or the George method (residential integration), students now living in Detroit were to attend schools where concentrated disadvantage did not overwhelm school capacity, each school in the area, including those in Detroit, might have about 30 percent African American and 39 percent lunch-eligible enrollment. Of course, no policy should aim for such a mechanically even distribution; these numbers suggest only how far we must go to desegregate Detroit schools.

On the north, Detroit is bordered by Warren; it, in turn, is bordered on the north by Sterling Heights. Detroit?s Pulaski Elementary-Middle School is just five blocks south of Detroit?s northern border; its attendance boundary runs along the Detroit?Warren line. Pulaski is now 98 percent African American and 79 percent economically disadvantaged. With low math and reading test scores, it is a school that politicians like Mitt Romney term ?failing.?

If Mitt?s plan were enacted and Pulaski students could transfer outside Detroit, the closest school of choice would be McKinley Elementary in Warren, only a mile away. But as Detroit?s ghetto has expanded, the southern edge of Warren is now also heavily African American. McKinley is now 53 percent black and 91 percent lunch-eligible, with test scores not much better than Pulaski?s.

Transferring even more low-income black students from Pulaski to McKinley will not give those students integrated educations; rather, it will overwhelm McKinley?s faculty, already burdened with too many disadvantaged students, with more demands to compensate for low home literacy levels, more necessity to slow the curriculum, and more resources devoted to organizing social services, not instruction.

For integrated education, Pulaski students would have to transfer to schools in Warren?s north?to Wilkerson Elementary, for example, where just 6 percent of students are black and 35 percent economically disadvantaged. Test scores are at or above the state average in math, reading, writing, and science, and the state terms Wilkerson a ?Blue Ribbon School.? Wilkerson?s enrollment could reach an area average of 30 percent African American if approximately 130 of Pulaski?s 450 elementary--level students were to transfer there. But Wilkerson is nearly 8 miles from Pulaski, involving one-way travel time of about 45 minutes, with students occasionally late in rush-hour traffic.

What if Pulaski students wished to transfer to the next suburb north, Sterling Heights? The closest option would be Margaret Black Elementary, more middle class than Pulaski, McKinley, or Wilkerson, with 13 percent of its students African American, only 22 percent lunch-eligible, and test scores above the state average. To increase black enrollment to 30 percent would require transfers of about 65 of Pulaski?s 450 students. Like Wilkerson, Margaret Black is about 8 miles from Pulaski and would also involve about 45 minutes? travel time.

Even if students and parents were willing to endure these commutes, half of Pulaski?s students would remain segregated at Pulaski with even greater challenges than before. George?s commitment to integrate families, not only their children, was more reasonable.

Read more about Mitt Romney's education platform here.

Pulaski Detroit Mitt Romney Education Social Issues

Read The Full Article:
http://prospect.org/article/battle-romney-plans

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Paul Ryan pretends he doesn't agree with every
'outrageous' thing Todd Akin said

post from Daily Kos on 22 August 2012 10:37:38 AM. © Daily Kos

Video from KDKA

Poor Paul Ryan. As one of the most fervent anti-woman Republicans in the House, he must be aching to come to the defense of his bestest bud Todd Akin. After all, they've voted together 93 percent of the time, so they see eye-to-eye on pretty much everything?including whether there are different types of rape that are not as bad as real rape and whether it's ever okay for women to have abortions. (Spoiler alert: Yes and no.)

But because Ryan is now Mitt Romney's running mate, he has to keep a lid on the crazy. The campaign even forced Ryan to sit down for an interview to disavow Akin's claims and pretend that he's shocked and offended by Akin articulating exactly what Ryan also believes.

Just look what they made Ryan say:

His statements were outrageous, over the pail. I don?t know anybody who would agree with that. Rape is rape period, end of story.

Really, Ryan? You don't know anyone who would agree that there are different kinds of rape? Legitimate rape, forcible rape, rape-rape, not-really rape. No one comes to mind, eh? Not even this guy?

Paul Ryan also co-sponsored HR 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion" bill in which Republicans tried to redefine rape so that it only applied to "forcible" rape so those fake rape victims would stop exploiting loopholes to cash in on fabulous gifts and prizes. Republicans pulled that part out of the bill so everyone would stop criticizing them, and then they tried to sneak it back in anyway.

But Ryan draws a complete blank, can't think of a single person who would agree with Akin that sometimes rape isn't rape. So the interviewer helps him out:

Delano: "You sponsored legislation that has the language ?forcible rape.? What is forcible rape as opposed??
Ryan: ?Rape is rape. Rape is rape, period. End of story.?
Delano: ?So that forcible rape language meant nothing to you at the time??
Ryan: ?Rape is rape and there?s no splitting hairs over rape.?

That's good to know, Ryan. So the next time your party tries to redefine rape, we can count on you to let your fellow Republicans know just how "over the pail" that is? Think you can toe the new line on that one? I'm thinking no:

Delano: ?Should abortions to be available to women who are raped??
Ryan: ?Well, look, I?m proud of my pro-life record. And I stand by my pro-life record in Congress. It?s something I?m proud of. But Mitt Romney is the top of the ticket and Mitt Romney will be president and he will set the policy of the Romney administration.?

Wrong answer, Ryan. Now is no time for you to give a wink-wink to your party that you still think women who are raped should be forced to have their rapists' babies. The correct answer is:

[A] Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape.

That's your new talking point, buddy, and there's no room in it for you to remind people of how extreme you really are. Even if it hurts. Just like this must have hurt:

Nobody is proposing to deny birth control to anybody [...] And I don?t think they're going to take the bait of all these distractions that the president is trying to throw at them.

Nobody is proposing to deny birth control to anybody? Not even this guy?

He believes ending a pregnancy should be illegal even when it results from rape or incest, or endangers a woman?s health. He was a cosponsor of the Sanctity of Human Life Act, a federal bill defining fertilized eggs as human beings, which, if passed, would criminalize some forms of birth control and in vitro fertilization.

Oh, and Ryan? About the "distractions that the president" is throwing at lady voters? Those distractions you think we don't care about? You just keep dismissing our basic rights as "distractions," pal, because it's really working for you. Which is why the latest polling shows that when it comes to trusting President Obama or Mitt Romney on issues that matter to women, it's not even close. Unless you think the 52 percent who choose Obama, as opposed to the 24 percent who choose Romney, is also just "splitting hairs."

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/LQM6RSRsObQ/-Paul-Ryan-pretends-he
-doesn-t-agree-with-every-outrageous-thing-Todd-Akin-said

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Creating A Truly Level Playing Field: Putting
Renewables Subsidies In Context

by Harald Heubaum, via The Carbon Brief US presidential contender Mitt Romney recently said that, if elected, he would not extend the production tax credits (PTCs) that have helped grow the US domestic wind energy industry since the early 1990s. But does Romney’s claim that discontinuing PTCs is necessary to “level the playing field” for [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org.feedsportal.com/c/34726/f/638927/s/229f885d/l/0Lthinkpro
gress0Borg0Cclimate0C20A120C0A80C220C7164510Ccreating0Ea0Etruly0Elevel0Eplaying0Efield0Eputting0Erenewables0Esubsidies0Ein0Econtext0C/story01.htm

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Hannity Repeats Falsehoods About Stimulus Money
Going To Brazil, Finland

post from Media Matters for America - Latest Items on 22 August 2012 10:37:26 AM. © Media Matters for America - Latest Items

From the August 22 edition of Fox News' Hannity:

Previously:

Fox News Resurrects Petrobras Conspiracy Theory

Hannity And Luntz Promote "Fact-Based" Ad That Is Actually Riddled With Falsehoods

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.mediamatters.org/~r/mediamatters/latest/~3/H-eL4Rnc010/189522

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Romneys Plan To Restore Medicare Cuts Would
Increase Seniors Premiums

Mitt Romney and his running mate Paul Ryan continue to attack President Obama for “stealing” $716 billion from Medicare. The GOP presidential candidate says he will restore the cuts, despite the fact that Ryan included the savings in his FY 2013 budget. But if Romney did stick to his plan to undo the billions cut [...]

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org.feedsportal.com/c/34726/f/638927/s/229fc0e6/l/0Lthinkpro
gress0Borg0Chealth0C20A120C0A80C220C7250A810Cromneys0Eplan0Eto0Erestore0Emedicare0Ecuts0Ewould0Eincrease0Eseniors0Epremiums0C/story01.htm

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