Romney Was A Lobbyist For The Utah Olympics

So, Mitt Romney was a lobbyist for the Utah Olympics that he chaired? Seems he got in a little hot water as well...read the story here.

Truth-Out: Hide The Ball - What Is Romney Hiding And Why Is He Hiding It?

Romney still refuses to show his tax returns for more than a year. He has off-shore investments that we know nothing about. He has foreign business partners he keeps secret. This man wouldn't be able to get a security clearance in our government with all that he has been hiding in his personal finances and business career. What is he hiding and why is he hiding it? To read the whole story, go here.

These Guys

Stonekettle Station: Bang Bang Crazy

Jim Wright, my blogger friend over at Stonekettle Station, has written one of the most thoughtful, funny, informative articles about the violence in Aurora, CO, our second amendment laws and our red, white and blue passion for big guns. Stonekettle Station: Bang Bang Crazy

Mitt's World - His Foreign Policy Experience

Thanks to Daniel Nelson over at Huffington Post for a thoughtful article on the void in Mitt Romney's foreign policy experience. The Mitt is currently in London for the opening of the Olympics and has made himself an embarrassment with his comments about how prepared the Brits are to host a successful event. His diplomatic skills are lacking. He will be continuing his travels to Israel in the next few days. Heaven help us if he makes another gaffe like he did in London. To read the article, go here.

The Gated Candidate

Check out this article from Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-l-borosage/mitt-romney-the-gated-can_b_1706229.html

Check Out The Nature-Cam - Brooks Falls - Bears Wait For Salmon

The Nature cam is located in Alaska and is available to watch in real time. This is where the bears cross the river and this is where the Salmon go up the river to spawn. Brown Bear & Salmon Cam - Brooks Falls - Bears - explore#!/live-cams/player/brown-bear-salmon-cam-brooks-falls

Fix Yourself!

Source: learningdays.tumblr.com via Grace on Pinterest

You can massage your own palm and access other parts of your body. Try it! If you feel some discomfort in an area, pay attention. This may indicate that you have a weakness in that area. It can be an early warning sign.

Waiting For The Other Shoe To Drop...

Mitt Romney refuses to talk about his religion. He refuses to provide several years of tax returns. And now he refuses to disclose his campaign bundlers...those people who go out and gather money from the other rich people and corporations. President Obama discloses who his bundlers are and he actively complies with the issues of transparency. What is Mitt hiding? Read about it here.

McCartheism and Michelle Bachmann...Act Now!

Surely you have heard of Joe McCarthy? Do you really know the details of his notoriety and why he is an important historical figure? Well, my blogger friend, Jim Wright at Stonekettle Station has a very comprehensive and informative post today about Joe McCarthy and our own Michelle Bachmann.

This is not a partisan issue, this is an American issue. Read about it here. Here is what Senator John McCain had to say on the Senate Floor... “These allegations about Huma, and the report from which they are drawn, are nothing less than an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable citizen, a dedicated American and a local public servant,” McCain said. “Ultimately, what is at stake in this matter is larger even than the reputation of one person. This is about who we are as a nation, and who we aspire to be. What makes America exceptional among the countries of the world is that we are bound together as citizens not by blood or class, and not by sect or ethnicity, but by a set of enduring, universal and equal rights that are the foundations of our Constitution, our laws, our citizenry and our identity. “When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it.”

Romney Fails Moral Test...

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Romney Seems Confused...Was He Or Wasn't He???

Then there is this article written by Andrew Sullivan over at the Daily Beast...

 Bain: He's Drowning Not Waving

This morning, we still have no explanation for why Mitt Romney was paid a six figure salary for three years while he "had absolutely no involvement with the management or investment activities of the firm or with any of its portfolio companies" in Bain's words in their statement yesterday. We also have no explanation of why telling the SEC in 2001 that he remained the "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president," while he was nothing of the kind. Yes, we have been told that his departure was dramatic, and that it took time to restructure a complicated business partnership, but for a company to declare a false CEO to the SEC for three years is either the mark of spectacular incompetence - and a potential felony - or a lie.
I think it's telling that the Romney campaign has not yet addressed these two core questions. But even its own line of response - to reiterate that even though Romney remained the formal CEO, he was completely AWOL - is now looking more tenuous with new data from HuffPo. In trying to fend off questions about his Massachusetts residency for the gubernatorial campaign, Romney stated that while he was running the Olympics,

[T]here were a number of social trips and business trips that brought me back to Massachusetts, board meetings, Thanksgiving and so forth.

My italics. That statement was under oath. So was this about the period in question:

[I] remained on the board of the Staples Corporation and Marriott International, the LifeLike Corporation.

Lifelike and Staples were Bain acquisitions. To repeat: Romney said he attended board meetings of Bain companies in a period in which Bain says he had "absolutely no involvement with the management or investment activities of the firm or with any of its portfolio companies." And this was under oath:

I returned for most of those meetings. Others I attended by telephone if I could not return.

So now the story is the following: Romney legally declared himself the "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" in a period when his company says he had "absolutely no involvement with the management or investment activities of the firm or with any of its portfolio companies." But during that period, he attended board meetings of Bain companies and made several business trips back to Boston.
So did Romney lie under oath or is Bain lying today? I'd say Romney's best bet is to stick with his under-oath testimony and to his SEC filing and admit that he was responsible for what Bain did - legally and practically - in the period in question, even if he was part-time. Otherwise, he could have committed a crime. The only problem with conceding this is that it opens up a whole can of worms about investments and decisions by Bain in those years - and possible inquiries into conflicts of interest as he drummed up dollars for Salt Lake City's Games.
Which leads us to the following conclusions: yes, former Senator Santorum, your nominee was the "sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president" of a private equity firm that invested in a post-abortion fetus disposal enterprise. Maybe if you'd known that, you could have brought it up in the primaries.

Romney On The Ropes

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"Romney and Bain claim that he was not involved with Bain, but Bain and its portfolio companies in their required filings under the Securities Exchange Act continuously certified to the Securities and Exchange Commission say precisely the opposite -- asserting without qualification that he was a controlling person, fully in charge of Bain, under the Federal securities law," Bauer, the campaign attorney, said in an e-mailed statement. "Under normal circumstances, the question of the truth of this representation would result in an investigation by the SEC into possible criminal, as well as civil, violations of the law."
The Huffington Post reported Thursday evening that in 2002, Romney told the Massachusetts State Ballot Law Commission that during his time running the Olympics, he sat on the board of LifeLike Corporation, a company that Bain invested in in 1996, and owned part of through 2001. While that would not have constituted involvement in day-to-day decision making at Bain, it would seem to contradict Romney's claim not to have been involved in any "Bain entity" during that time.
But Bain Capital spokesman Charlyn Lusk backed up Romney's story

To read the complete story, go here.

Let's Move Forward On What We Agree On

Aelita Andre, Child Prodigy, Paints Like An Old Soul

I don't know how I found her, but this little girl has captured my heart. Quite the serious painter, she attacks a canvas with a focus and vision that can't be denied. As I have shared this video with others, one of my friends commented, "How many five-year-olds like her have been told to sit still and not make a mess?"

I think she is delightful.

I will be watching to see how she is developing as she matures.

 She is truely inspiring.

What The Frack? The Sky Is Pink

So maybe you don't know much about fracking, but you've heard about it in the news? Here's a short film by JFOX, who produced Gasland, that will give you an idea of what the frack is going on!