The Romney campaign’s descent into obsession and double entendre
April 23, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
We have incontrovertibly established that Willard 'Mittens' Romney is a pathological liar with the weekly "Fact checking the mendacity of Mittens" series via Steve Benen.
We have also established that the Romney campaign admittedly is engaging in a textbook case of psychological projection. Willard 'Mittens' Romney: 'I'm rubber, you're glue'.
Now the Romney campaign is descending into obsession. For the Romney campaign, time began with the inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009. All of human history which preceded President Obama's inauguration is irrelevant. Barack Obama is the source of all our woes, and he is not worthy of any praise for anything good that has occurred during his term.
Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom presented the new argument at a campaign stop in Ohio Last week:
"The fact that [the economy] struggled through the last three years is not the fault of Barack Obama's predecessor; it's the fault of this administration and the failure of their policies to really get this economy going again."
Ed Kilgore writes at the Political Animal blog, “Obama Isn’t Working”:
By now you’ve probably heard about the Romney campaign’s big slogan for the 2012 campaign, at least at this point: “Obama Isn’t Working.” When I first heard about it, I immediately flashed back to a moment early in the movie Sid and Nancy, when in the background of one gritty London scene you could see a poster reading: “Labour Isn’t Working,” the big Tory slogan in the general election of 1979 (unfortunatey for the credibility of the filmmakers, Nancy Spungeon’s death, the dramatic fulcrum of the movie, actually occurred in 1978).
And indeed, the official explanation for the slogan posted last year on the Romney campaign website explicitly cites the 1979 Tory campaign as its inspiration, touting the professional awards won by the consultants who devised it.
Pounding the Political Pavement
April 22, 2012
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by David Safier Saturday morning I went out knocking on doors for County Superintendent candidate Nancy Young Wright as well as Ron Barber and Richard Carmona. I was way up in the Northwest Territory, around La Canada and Naranja (just south of Tangerine). I was definitely not in solid Blue territory, though I was only … Read more
Commodity Futures Trading Commission claims first victory against oil market manipulator
April 22, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
U.S. regulators claimed their first victory in a four-year old effort to crack down on oil market manipulation on Thursday, announcing a $14 million settlement with high-frequency trading firm Optiver. High-frequency trader Optiver pays $14 million in oil manipulation case:
In a ruling that came just two days after U.S. President Barack Obama proposed a renewed campaign against illegal oil trading schemes, the Amsterdam-based company agreed to disgorge $1 million in profits and pay a $13 million civil penalty over allegations it used a rapid-fire tool nicknamed "The Hammer" to influence U.S. oil prices in 2007.
It was the first case brought by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in its 2008 effort to curb market malfeasance, launched as prices soared toward a record near $150 a barrel in the middle of that year.
The case alleged that traders in Optiver's Chicago office reaped a $1 million profit by engaging in a practice called "banging the close", in which the firm attempted to move U.S. oil prices by executing a large volume of deals during the final moments of trading.
While far from the agency's largest fine, the case was viewed as an important milestone in the CFTC's efforts to get more aggressive over market manipulation – a charge that has historically been difficult to prove, despite mounting political pressure to take rogue traders to task.
"The CFTC will not tolerate traders who try to gain an unlawful advantage by using sophisticated means to drive oil and gas futures prices in their favor," David Meister, the CFTC's enforcement chief, said in a statement.
NY Times breaks new ground on ALEC story
April 22, 2012
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by David Safier The NY Times has a front page story about ALEC: Conservative Nonprofit Acts as a Stealth Business Lobbyist. It picks up from the frequently told story about ALEC model legislation spreading to state legislatures around the country and moves the ball farther. It talks about how ALEC acts as a watchdog on … Read more
The coming week…
April 22, 2012
Posted by Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings As usual, all schedules, calendars, and agendas are subject to change without notice…and since it hit 100 degrees in Phoenix this weekend, the non-Maricopa legislators will be pushing hard to get out of town soon, both to avoid the heat and to get busy with campaigning. … Read more
March for Justice against SB 1070 in Phoenix on Wednesday
April 22, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Announcement from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network: Phoenix to March Against SB1070 and Federal Deportation ProgramsDuring SCOTUS Hearing Who: A Wide Coalition of Organizations [including Somos America and the American Civil Liberties Union] When: April 25th. March to begin at 3:00 pm Arizona Time. Where: Opening Rally at Civic Space Park, 424 N. Central … Read more
A preview of SB 1070 in the U.S. Supreme Court
April 22, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
This week the U.S. Supreme Court will hold its final week of oral arguments for this Term. Opinions in argued cases this Term are expected on Tuesday and Wednesday.
But the "big one" this week is oral argument of Arizona's infamous SB 1070 in Arizona v. United States (docket 11-182). The state’s immigrant control law will be defended by Paul D. Clement of the Washington law firm of Bancroft PLLC. Responding, and defending lower court orders that blocked four key parts of the state law, will be U.S. Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. The case will be decided by eight members of the Court, since Justice Elena Kagan is recused.
Lyle Denniston provides an exceptional preview at SCOTUSblog.com, Argument preview: Who controls immigrants’ lives?:
In 1903, a bronze plaque bearing the poem of Emma Lazarus was mounted on the Statue of Liberty in New York City’s entering harbor, and it used to be common for school children to memorize the most famous lines from hat poem: ”Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Now, some politicians and advocacy groups vie to out-promise each other with ways – sometimes harsh — to deal with perhaps 12 million individuals living illegally in the U.S. And this year, in particular, that is a dominant theme in the presidential and congressional elections campaigns. The Supreme Court, too, has been drawn into the controversy. With notable symbolism in this election year, the Court will conclude its hearings for the Term on Wednesday by examining what the Constitution says about who can regulate the lives of immigrants. Its final ruling is likely to emerge by early summer, when the election campaign will be in full swing.
Adding to the symbolism, the Court will be reviewing the constitutionality of an Arizona law — the first, and a trend-setter of sorts, among sharp crackdowns by state legislatures on illegal immigrants’ daily lives. Its shorthand title — “S.B. 1070″ — is now popularly known, much more so than its formal title, the “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act.” Its official goal, as passed by the legislature in 2010, is “attrition through enforcement.” By attrition, of course, it means forcing a reduction in the number of undocumented immigrants arriving or remaining in Arizona.
Reminder: First Lady Michelle Obama Fundraiser in Tucson on April 30
April 22, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: RSVP’s for photoline guests are DUE by April 26th, 9:00 p.m. (Guests must arrive no later than 4:00 p.m.) RSVP online at: https://my.barackobama.com/April30TucsonReception
