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[Frenchfry]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/infographics/extending-middle-class-tax-cuts

[Frenchfry]

Hank Williams Jr: Obama is Muslim "who hates the U.S."
After finishing the song, "We Don't Apologize For America," the audience started chanting "USA, USA..." According to the Des Moines Register, Williams then told the crowd, "We've got a Muslim president who hates farming, hates the military, hates the U.S. and we hate him!"

According to the concert review, Williams' comments brought on cheers and applause.

This isn't the first time Williams has spoken out against Mr. Obama. In July, Williams told Rolling Stone that the president "hates America in the first place, forget about the flag."

His latest album, "Old School, New Rules," is riddled with political jabs against Mr. Obama, too. In the song, "Take Back Our Country," Williams sings, "Hey Barack, pack your bags, head to Chicago, take your teleprompter with you so you'll know where to go."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-57497290-10391698/hank-williams-jr-obama-is-muslim-who-hates-the-u.s./

That guy is an idiot! And while the righties love lambasting Obama over teleprompters... he hasn't been using 'em....but the Mitt team sure does.
BTW...Obama is NOT a Muslim.

Mitt Romney: It makes sense to use a TelePrompter
Republicans, as a rule, don't exactly hold politicians who use TelePrompters in high regard.

"[W]hen you run for president of the United States, it should be illegal to read off a TelePrompter," Rick Santorum said last month in Louisiana. "Because all you're doing is reading someone else's words to people."

Santorum, who has called President Obama the "reader in chief," and Newt Gingrich are among the long list of Republicans who have mocked the president's use of a TelePrompter. Here's Gingrich last month: "I've already promised that if the president will agree to seven three-hour debates in the Lincoln-Douglas tradition, he can use a TelePrompter if he wants to."

But the man who seems to have bested Santorum and Gingrich in the race for the GOP presidential nomination doesn't see what's so wrong with using a TelePrompter. In a video leaked to Gawker.com by a disgruntled (and now fired) Fox News employee known as the "Fox Mole," the presumptive nominee is shown chatting with Sean Hannity before going on air. After producers inform Hannity there is a script for the segment - which Hannity will read off a "prompter" - the two men mock Mr. Obama for using a TelePrompter, with Hannity saying, "I think Obama sleeps with his."

But the two then sing the praises of the device in keeping a candidate from saying something he might regret.

"It does make some sense though" to use a teleprompter, Romney tells Hannity. "I do understand."

He adds: "It keeps you from saying something you don't mean, you get the message out precisely the way you want to get the message out." Romney says he has used a TelePrompter "maybe five times" in the campaign. Romney in recent months has tended to use a teleprompter for most major speeches.

"It's smart," Hannity agrees. "You're right. You don't want to make a mistake. I'll tell you, they're out to just eviscerate anybody who makes a mistake."

Santorum seemed to be targeting Romney's TelePrompter use in the comment above and in remarks in February, when he told a Michigan audience: "I never have to worry about what I say because I will say what's on my heart. I might not say it the most articulate sometimes and I understand that, but I have no TelePrompters. I answer questions."

Some have been confused by Republican attacks the president's use of a TelePrompter, and Democrats note that presidents from both parties have used the device for more than half a century.

"It's a strange obsession because it's inane," wrote Robert Schlesinger in U.S. News and World Report last month. "Teleprompters are tools. Sure they're high tech if you've just emerged from the 1950s...but ultimately they're just a medium for prepared remarks, substantively no different from a sheet of paper on a lectern."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57413198-503544/mitt-romney-it-makes-sense-to-use-a-teleprompter/

[Frenchfry]

Morouns give Michigan Supreme Court justices maximum donations to campaigns

LANSING -- Four Moroun family members each maxed out their political donations to the only two Michigan Supreme Court justices campaigning for re-election, as certification was pending for their ballot proposal aimed at blocking a new bridge to Canada and preserving their monopoly on toll bridges over the Detroit River.

Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun, his wife Nora, his son Matthew, and Matthew's wife, Lindsay, gave a combined $27,200 in June to the campaigns of Republican-nominated Justices Stephen Markman and Brian Zahra. The $3,400 each of the four Morouns gave to each of the two justices is the maximum allowed under state law.

Two employees of Moroun's Centra Inc. gave another $1,950 to both Markman and Zahra in June, bringing the total donated to the campaigns of both justices by Moroun, his family and his employees to $31,100.

Only justices who face re-election Nov. 6 can accept political donations. The other five justices could not.

On Wednesday, in an opinion written by Zahra and backed by Markman, the Supreme Court ruled that Moroun's proposal to require a statewide vote on a public bridge to Canada, along with two other challenged constitutional amendments, would appear on the Nov. 6 ballot, while a proposal to allow eight more casinos in Michigan would not.

The decision was unanimous except for the rejection of the casino proposal, which was a 4-3 decision with the Republican-nominated justices in the majority.

Moroun opposes a plan backed by Gov. Rick Snyder to build a new public bridge across the Detroit River to Canada, saying the project represents unfair government competition with his private enterprise. Moroun's ballot proposal is intended to require a referendum before the bridge could be built.

Mickey Blashfield, a spokesman for Moroun and his ballot initiative, said there was no court challenge to the bridge ballot proposal in June when the donations were made and no reason to believe one would materialize. If Moroun had a case pending before the Supreme Court at the time of the donations, Blashfield said he would have advised Moroun not to make the donations.

But Jocelyn Benson, an associate law professor at Wayne State University Law School and the Democratic candidate for Secretary of State in 2010, said the money should be returned.

Contacted Saturday at the Republican state convention in Grand Rapids, Markman declined comment. Zahra could not be reached.

Benson said that given the controversy over most ballot proposals and the proposed public bridge to Canada in particular, it was "reasonably foreseeable" in June that Moroun's initiative would be in front of the Michigan Supreme Court. Since neither Markman nor Zahra recused themselves from hearing the case, they should return the campaign money, she said.

Rich Robinson, executive director of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network, said the Moroun donations are legal and such "uncomfortable situations" will happen as long as judges are required to raise money for election campaigns.

The form of the bridge petition was approved by the Board of State Canvassers in April. Backers submitted an estimated 596,533 signatures on July 9. A challenge was filed by the group Taxpayers Against Monopolies on Aug. 22. That challenge went quickly from the Board of State Canvassers to the Michigan Court of Appeals to the Michigan Supreme Court.

In June, "there was no opposition and therefore no reason to suspect the Board of Canvassers wouldn't do their job," Blashfield said.

Moroun donated hundreds of thousands to political funds connected to lawmakers during unsuccessful efforts to push approval of the public bridge through the Legislature between 2010 and 2012. Blashfield noted Moroun has donated to Supreme Court justices in the past, with no cases pending.

Records show Moroun maxed out to Justices Robert Young, Jr. and Mary Beth Kelly in 2010 and to former Justice Cliff Taylor in 2008. All three were Republican nominees.
http://www.freep.com/article/20120909/NEWS15/309090266/Marouns-give-Michigan-Supreme-Court-justices-maximum-donations-campaigns

[Frenchfry]

Gov. Rick Snyder said Washington, D.C., can look to Michigan to learn how to solve the country's economic problems.

"If you look at Washington, it's a mess," Snyder said. "If you look at Michigan, I think we're a role model."

In remarks to reporters after his brief speech, Snyder said his number one priority of the convention is to whip up campaign enthusiasm for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

The hall was flooded with campaigners handing out fliers and stickers for Michigan's House Republicans, who also face re-election in November.

"This November, Michigan is red," Republican Party Chair Bobby Schostak proclaimed, bringing members to their feet in thunderous applause.

"We elect Pete Hoekstra to the United States Senate and we make Mitt Romney the 48th president of the United States of America."
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120908/POLITICS01/209080376/1361/Mich.-Republicans-tout-Romney--Hoekstra-at-state-convention


Michigan is a role model?? Maybe on how to raise taxes on retirees.   
And don't forget that's on the Republicans since they control both houses and the governorship.
Snyder was a mistake but the righties will never admit it.
Well don't blame me. I voted for Virg.

[SidecarFlip]

...and the real 'political' news is....

The last 30 or so posts are all French Fried's.

I didn't read any.  In fact they all say the same thing....  Ignore.

If I did open any, I'm sure they were all cut n paste.

[John Kopke]

FF says raise taxes on retirees. Didn't mention this was only on public employee pensions payouts.  Now if you worked in the private sector and you start taking funds from your 401K those are taxed. But public sector workers are special. They paid comparativley next to nothing into their pension programs, but they shouldn't have to pay the same taxes as those folks in the private sector that also have to foot the bill for most of those public pensions. Priceless.

[Frenchfry]

FF says raise taxes on retirees. Didn't mention this was only on public employee pensions payouts.  Now if you worked in the private sector and you start taking funds from your 401K those are taxed. But public sector workers are special. They paid comparativley next to nothing into their pension programs, but they shouldn't have to pay the same taxes as those folks in the private sector that also have to foot the bill for most of those public pensions. Priceless.

Appears you've been misinformed. But then your hatred for Unions is probably responsible for those blinders.
Snyder did exempt retirees over 67...that was a huge voting block he didn't want to anger.
People 60-66 can use the $20k exemption but below that age...no exemptions.

Not to mention Snyder also reduced the Homestead property tax credit.

Yep...voting for a Republican was a mistake you guys made. I voted for the Dem.

[SidecarFlip]

FF says raise taxes on retirees. Didn't mention this was only on public employee pensions payouts.  Now if you worked in the private sector and you start taking funds from your 401K those are taxed. But public sector workers are special. They paid comparativley next to nothing into their pension programs, but they shouldn't have to pay the same taxes as those folks in the private sector that also have to foot the bill for most of those public pensions. Priceless.

Snyder is already taxing my pension, lousy pr*ck.  Good for Michigan to be one of the 'progressive' states in taxation.  I won't be voting for him, ever again.  Communist cu*t.

[SidecarFlip]

Appears you've been misinformed. But then your hatred for Unions is probably responsible for those blinders.
Snyder did exempt retirees over 67...that was a huge voting block he didn't want to anger.
People 60-66 can use the $20k exemption but below that age...no exemptions.

Not to mention Snyder also reduced the Homestead property tax credit.

Yep...voting for a Republican was a mistake you guys made. I voted for the Dem.

Ah yes, party lines.  Virg Benero was a bigger idiot than Snyder.  Last election for governor boiled down to the lesser of 2 evils and Snyder was the lesser of the 2 evils in this case.

You need to talk to a Benero constitutient in Lansing and then decide if Benero is actually a viable candidate...for anything.

You remind me of someone who would vote party no matter what the consequences.  You can't think outside the box because you atr in the box, with the flaps closed.......

[Frenchfry]

Ah yes, party lines.  Virg Benero was a bigger idiot than Snyder.  Last election for governor boiled down to the lesser of 2 evils and Snyder was the lesser of the 2 evils in this case.

You need to talk to a Benero constitutient in Lansing and then decide if Benero is actually a viable candidate...for anything.

You remind me of someone who would vote party no matter what the consequences.  You can't think outside the box because you atr in the box, with the flaps closed.......

Thanks for once again displaying your ignorance.
Lansing is one of the best places in the state to live, work, play, visit and invest.
They're leading the state in job creation and leveraged more than a half-BILLION dollars in new investment.
http://www.lansingmi.gov/mayor/
Meanwhile your vote for the Republicans helped create a tax upon retirees....lol...you shot yourself in the foot.
I don't want to say told you so....but......

[SidecarFlip]

I don't want to say told you so....but......

Then don't.  ....and Benero is still an idiot.

[Frenchfry]

Renewable energy measure has solid support, poll finds

http://www.freep.com/article/20120914/NEWS15/309140139/Renewable-energy-measure-has-solid-support-poll-finds

[Frenchfry]

Kansas Seriously Considering Removing President Obama from November Ballot Over Birth Certificate Concerns

The three Republican members of the Kansas State Objections Board said yesterday they were looking at a complaint that President Obama is not a natural born US citizen, and considering whether to remove his name from November's ballot.

"I don't think it's a frivolous objection," Secretary of State Kris Kobach, an informal Romney advisor, said in reference to a complaint filed by Manhattan, Kansas, birther Joe Montgomery. "I do think the factual record could be supplemented."

Kobach and the other two members of the board — Attorney General Derek Schmidt and Lt. Gov. Jeff Colyer — sent requests for a copy of Obama's birth certificate to officials in Hawaii, Arizona, and Mississippi.

"As for Mr. Obama's citizenship, there are many doubts," Montgomery told the Topeka Capital-Journal. "Doing the right thing can be hard and unpopular."

The President officially released his long-form birth certificate last year, but birthers continue to deny its veracity.

The Capital-Journal notes that a Kansas ballot without President Obama on it would be particularly strange "given the president's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and maternal grandparents, Stanley and Madelyn Dunham, were Kansas natives."

UPDATE: Sanity wins: Joe Montgomery withdraws his complaint due to "public reaction," says he has been unsuccessful in "achieving a constructive dialogue."

http://gawker.com/5943331/kansas-seriously-considering-removing-president-obama-from-november-ballot-over-birth-certificate-concerns

Kansas Weighs Taking Obama Off Ballot Over 'Birther' Accusations
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2012/09/14/kansas-weighs-taking-obama-off-ballot-over-birther-accusations/

[Frenchfry]

Oil prices steady after surprise plunge

http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/business/a/-/world/14887189/oil-prices-steady-after-surprise-plunge/

[Frenchfry]

Poll: Sen. Sherrod Brown opens lead in Ohio

As President Barack Obama has gained in Ohio polls, so has incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who has now jumped out to a 10-point leadover GOP Senate candidate Josh Mandel, according to a poll released Monday.

A survey from the Columbus Dispatch found Brown ahead of Mandel by a margin of 10 points, 49 percent to 39 percent. The last Dispatch poll, out Aug. 26, had the two candidates tied at 44 percent.

Obama, who now leads Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in Ohio by 9 points — 51 percent to 42 percent —

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/81855.html?hp=r2