October 31

Red Cross had to divert staff to deal with Romney's phony "relief effort"

 

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Let's assume you're a Republican governor who wants to be president. You realize that, for all the bluster and bullshit of the last couple of years, that Obama is the odds-on favorite to get a second term. What would you do to position yourself for 2016?

Well, first, you wouldn't run this time around. You realize you'll have to appear reasonable to win in 2016, and you don't need six months of Neanderthal debate responses on your record four years from now. You'd hope the weakest of the weak sisters running would win the nomination, but since that didn't happen, you need to put a torpedo into Romney. He's a real threat, for a couple of reasons. First, you aren't part of the Mormon/Bain/NeoCon mafia that would ascend be in charge during his administration, and, second, there's no other political office that would keep you in the limelight until 2020, which is a political eternity away.

So, you give the weakest possible convention speech in support of Romney. Then, you attend church every week, hitting your knees and praying that you get another opportunity to smother Romney with a pillow. Lo and behold, the Blessed Virgin Mary answers your prayers by sending a gigantic storm straight through your state. And you do the opposite of what a good Romney surrogate would do: you appear on every morning show singing the praises of President Obama. That gives every Beltway Centrist instant wood, fucks Romney, and helps you by setting you up to be credible when you turn around and blame Obama when everything isn't perfectly cleaned up a few days, weeks or months after the storm (you'll pick the time that's best for you.)

This is just a long-winded way of saying that, whatever else he is, apparently including "likeable", Chris Christie is a very shrewd politician who is ruthless in his pursuit of the Presidency, and unless you see every goddam thing he does in that context, you're missing an essential truth about the man.

(BTW, just to be clear – I don't think Christie prayed for a storm, just an opportunity. God works in mysterious ways, and provided him with the perfect storm and the perfect opportunity.)

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You've probably never heard of a 'Charitable Remainder Unitrust', an exotic tax-dodging device. Mitt Romney has, and it's one of the reasons he's rich and you're not.

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Romney Releases Another False Ad, Revives Claim That Obama 'Gutted' Welfare Reform

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Bush's FEMA Director Insists Obama Could Have Gotten More Political 'Mileage' From Hurricane By Waiting

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Electoral-Vote.com: OBAMA 280 - Romney 235

FiveThirtyEight: OBAMA 294.6 - Romney 243.4

DeSart and Holbrook: OBAMA 281 - Romney 257

Princeton Election Consortium: OBAMA 303 - Romney 235

Votamatic: OBAMA 332 - Romney 206

UnskewedPolls.com: ROMNEY: 321 - Obama: 217

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This is weird: "Shashank Tripathi, a hedge-fund analyst and the campaign manager of Christopher R. Wight, this year's Republican candidate for the U.S. House from New York's 12th congressional district," spent last night tweeting wildly inaccurate news stories about Hurricane Sandy. The most plausible explanation? He has "asshole tendencies." Sounds like a typical Republican troll. BONUS FUN: he's a fundraising contact for the Romney campaign.

Speaking of Republican assholes, the Cleveland Plain Dealer rips into Mitt Romney for lying about Chrysler-Jeep moving Ohio jobs to China. "Ohio voters know who stepped up when the auto industry was at the abyss," write the paper's editorial board, "and it wasn't Romney."

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Raw Story:

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Tuesday claimed that he had stopped campaigning due to Hurricane Sandy and instead was holding so-called "storm relief events" where campaign advertisements were played for attendees.

Romney, along with his wife, Ann, and vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, stopped by campaign offices and attended events in the swing state of Ohio just a day after the hurricane devastated much of the east coast.

"Campaign video playing at 'storm relief event' – there is an area roped off for supplies," USA Today's Jackie Kucinich tweeted along with a photo.

New York Times political reporter Michael Barbaro noted that a sign at the Trent Arena in Kettering called the event a "Republican Campaign Rally."

NPR White House Correspondent Ari Shapiro tweeted a photo of press badge, which referred to the "storm relief event" in Dayton as a "victory rally."

Don't say I didn't tell you so. How predictable is this? Mitt Romney is so shameless that there's literally nothing he won't lie about.

The question is how long it'll take the media to catch up to reality. So far, they're all sticking with the "both campaigns have suspended electioneering" bullshit.

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Al Gore: Statement on Hurricane Sandy

This week, our nation has anxiously watched as Hurricane Sandy lashed the East Coast and caused widespread damage--affecting millions. Now more than ever, our neighbors need our help. Please consider donating or volunteering for your local aid organizations.

The images of Sandy's flooding brought back memories of a similar--albeit smaller scale-- event in Nashville just two years ago. There, unprecedented rainfall caused widespread flooding, wreaking havoc and submerging sections of my hometown. For me, the Nashville flood was a milestone. For many, Hurricane Sandy may prove to be a similar event: a time when the climate crisis—which is often sequestered to the far reaches of our everyday awareness became a reality.

While the storm that drenched Nashville was not a tropical cyclone like Hurricane Sandy, both storms were strengthened by the climate crisis. Scientists tell us that by continually dumping 90 million tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere every single day, we are altering the environment in which all storms develop. As the oceans and atmosphere continue to warm, storms are becoming more energetic and powerful. Hurricane Sandy, and the Nashville flood, were reminders of just that. Other climate-related catastrophes around the world have carried the same message to hundreds of millions.

Sandy was also affected by other symptoms of the climate crisis. As the hurricane approached the East Coast, it gathered strength from abnormally warm coastal waters. At the same time, Sandy's storm surge was worsened by a century of sea level rise. Scientists tell us that if we do not reduce our emissions, these problems will only grow worse.

Hurricane Sandy is a disturbing sign of things to come. We must heed this warning and act quickly to solve the climate crisis. Dirty energy makes dirty weather.

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Mitt Romney: helping with flood relief ... in Ohio

This is an actual quote from Romney:

"We're counting on Ohio," Romney continued. "I know the people of the Atlantic Coast are counting on Ohio and the rest of our states, but I also think the people of the entire nation are counting on Ohio because my guess is, my guess is if Ohio votes me in as President, I'll be the next president of the United States."

Also, Ohio! And Ohio! Did I mention Ohio has 18 electoral votes? Ohio, that is.

How selfless and non-political of him during a natural disaster.

Yep. Another awkward, weirdo response to a crisis from Awkward Weirdo Mitt.

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More disconcerting than the thought of a Romney administration, is the knowledge that at least 40 percent of those casting a vote on November 6 are grossly apathetic.

In a recent YouGov poll, I asked participants about their views on abortion policy and what position they thought Obama, Romney, the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party took on abortion. Only about 60% of respondents knew that Obama and the Democrats supported more pro-choice policies than Romney and Republicans. Given that the parties have had clear and long-standing positions on this issue, it's astonishing that 40% of Americans don't know this basic fact (other surveys find even higher levels of ignorance).

Amazing. If such a large number of Americans are this clueless about a basic issue like abortion, what the hell are they basing their their vote on? How knowledgeable can they possibly be on issues like the economy, health care, immigration and foreign policy?

Unfortunately, the more ignorant the electorate remains on the basic issues that define the two political parties, the easier it is for Rovian politics to do its dirty work. There is definitely method to Romney's flip-flopping madness.

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Market Watch: Obama spending binge never happened - Government outlays rising at slowest pace since 1950s

Headlines - Tuesday October 30

Obama Votes on Hackable Machine - God help our can't learn Democrats Link

Obama may have voted for Romney yesterday.
Nobody knows for sure. Even him.

He cast his vote on a 100 percent unverifiable touchscreen e-voting system made by Sequoia
Voting Systems (which is now owned by Canadians). It is scientifically impossible to ever know
if his vote was recorded accurately as per his intent or not, on that type of voting system.

"I can't tell you who I voted for," the President joked, thinking this is funny.
The President's joke may not have been nearly as funny as he had intended.

We confirmed with the Chicago Board of Elections that early voters in the Windy City must do so
on the oft-failed, incredibly-vulnerable, and easily-hacked (see below for details) Sequoia AVC Edge
touchscreen voting system which is still used, says VerifiedVoting.org, for early, disabled-accessible
or standard polling-place voting in some 234 jurisdictions across all or part of some 13 states.

They say the two parties will each spend a billion dollars on this election.

Or did the GOP spend a few million more and buy Sequoia?

 

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Delays - Besides all the subways, airport, and trains that have stopped working, various arms of the Federal Government are unsure if they can meet their deadlines in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Fox News, of course sees a conspiracy theory: the Labor Department is going to delay this Friday's jobs report to benefit The Kenayn Usurper Hawaiian Devil Baby. No, really. (Fox Nation)

 

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I wonder if this was what Harry Reid was talking about when he said Romney hadn't paid taxes for 10 years....

 

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The New York Times editorial board, on the day Hurricane Sandy wreaks havoc in the Big Apple, aims at Mitt Romney's crotch and gives him a good, hard kick.

 

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You know, because a real world-class leader would go have birfday cake with Grandpa Walnuts, just like Chimpy did during Katrina, eh E²?

Nice cheap shot though. Did you score points with your fellow mouth-breathers for mocking a dead american hero, you child-molesting goat-f***er.

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EXCLUSIVE: Romney Campaign Training Poll Watchers To Mislead Voters In Wisconsin

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House GOP Voted To Cut Disaster Relief In Order To Preserve Military Spending

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Wingnuts, led as usual by Fox News, are flogging a brand new alternate history of the Sept. 11 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which Barack Obama knew exactly what was going on, refused to launch a rescue mission, ordered the CIA to "stand down," and maybe shot Ambassador Chris Stevens to death himself. Appearing on Fox News, retired Army officers David Hunt and Anthony Shaffer told Fox's Jeanine Pirro that two drones were providing a "live feed" of the attack and said that his sources tell him that the President "was one of those in the White House Situation Room in real time watching this" and that he could have approved military action to save the embattled ambassador, but chose not to. And the example proving that a rescue could have worked? Ronald Reagan's successful 1983 Grenada operation, in which Reagan used a military invasion of a Caribbean island to rescue the news cycle from coverage of the deadly bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut. READ MORE »

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Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) seems to be painfully ignorant of the current state of the industry.

Blackburn: Oh, well, I don't know. I haven't talked with with the campaign staff about that. I will say this. For workers in the auto industry, across the board, whether it is GM, whether it's Nissan, whether it's American Motors, individuals are very concerned about the impact of regulation that the EPA and OSHA and other federal agencies are heaping on our manufacturers.

American Motors hasn't existed since 1988. And Nissan is Japanese. Is she suggesting we should cater to Japanese companies?

As for Blackburn's claims that regulations are hurting the industry — if that's the case, why do American automakers continue to post their best sales in 4 to 6 years? Why are they experiencing their best sales since before the 2008 financial crisis?

Chrysler, which purchased American Motors in 1988, announced today that it increased its third quarter profits by 80 percent compared to this time last year.

I apologize for reminding you that people who have no idea what they're talking about, such as Marsha Blackburn, are in charge of making policy decisions in this country.

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Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and brother of greatest US American president in the history of the world, George W. "W." Bush, thinks one certain current US American president Barack Q. Nobummer is a childish 10-year-old child — a "boy," if you will — who uses barnyard words like "bullshitter" and thus has demeaned the presidency forever so why would you even tell your kids they could be president someday anymore, what do you want them to do, grow up to be black?!

[I]n an interview with Rolling Stone, Obama used a barnyard epithet to refer to Romney. "You know, kids have good instincts," Obama said. "They look at the other guy and say, 'Well, that's a bull***tter, I can tell.'"

Asked if the president's personal attacks demean the office of the presidency, [Jeb] Bush replied: "It does, but here's the sad reality: We have a temporary time in American history where our culture has been coarsened, where people's expectations are low. We're living in a different time.

Fuck, you guys, Nobummer said a swear! READ MORE »

Headlines - Monday October 29

 

I Tom Joad.

 

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GOP Debunked: Obama did not create $5 trillion in new debt

 

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What do you get when you combine hierarchy, bigotry, and self-styled religious self-righteousness?

The publication Thursday of 20 years worth of secret records kept by the Boy Scouts of America reveal a widespread effort by the organization to cover up a scandal involving allegations of sexual abuse against 1,200 scout leaders.

The records, known within the Boy Scouts itself as the "perversion files," cover the years 1965-1985 and detail the names of the alleged perpetrators, their hometowns and other information. The files were results of the organization's own internal investigations into sexual abuse among its leaders and include court documents, newspapers clippings in cases where charges were actually filed and other material....

Like the recent pedophilia scandals involving Penn State University and the Roman Catholic Church, the Boy Scout cases involve trusted members of the community who had access to children they were supposed to mentor and to protect, but who instead exploited that access to groom and to molest the most vulnerable of them.

And as with the scandal in the Catholic Church, this story is only beginning to come to light. Samuel Smith says it's time for the feds to consider RICO charges.

 

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"A well-formed Christian conscience does not permit one to vote for a political program that contradicts fundamental contents of faith and morals. Some candidates and one party have even chosen some of these as their party's or their personal political platform. To vote for someone in favor of these positions means that you could be morally 'complicit' with these choices which are intrinsically evil. This could put your own soul in jeopardy." - Bishop David Ricken, in a letter published today in the bulletins of over 200 parishes in Wisconsin.

 

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Republican governors and local representatives complain about "government run healthcare," but if they don't get with the program, they may have no healthcare.

According to new findings by the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems (NAPH), by 2019, safety net hospitals' uncompensated care costs will be $53 billion higher than originally estimated if states don't opt into the voluntary expansion of the Medicaid program under Obamacare.

Safety net hospitals serve areas where, on average, 14.9 percent of the population is uninsured and 32.5 percent of the population relies on government-provided health coverage such as Medicaid. Current Medicaid reimbursements often fall short of the full cost of care, so programs such as federal DSH funding help make up the difference. Obamacare cuts DSH funding in half by 2019 in an effort to reduce national hospital payments — but only because the cuts to safety net hospitals were intended be offset by the vastly expanded pool of newly insured low-income Americans.

In hindsight making the expansion of Medicaid voluntary may not have been ideal, but making it mandatory also may have lead to the entire law being struck down. Because even in its current iteration, the Affordable Care Act survived by a razor-thin margin and ultimately relied on Chief Justice John Roberts having a last-minute change of heart.

With that said, I expect much of the opposition to the expansion of Medicaid will fade away after election season is over, and will almost entirely disappear in 2014 when the remainder of the law comes into effect.

This study, conducted by the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, suggests they simply won't be able to afford not to. And perhaps more importantly, refusing to expand Medicaid will be very bad for business.

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Willard Romney stands by pledge to shut down FEMA - This is the mating call of the sociopaths and the Ayn Rand Society, but I repeat myself.

Ann Romney wants to get rid of public education.

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Josh Whedon imagines a Romney presidency

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Charles Pierce on the Des Moines Register's endorsement of Willard.

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Newt Gingrich: "OK, so why can't people like [Obama deputy campaign manager] Stephanie Cutter get over [Mourdock's rape-is-a-gift-from-God comment]?" 

Why can't Newt just go away?

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Scumneys, already rich off others' sweat, apparently plan to turn money into power

So, who would name their son Tagg? For that matter, who would name their son Mitt? I suppose it doesn't matter what one's name is, provided that one conducts oneself with a modicum of honor. That, it seems, is too much to expect.

Tagg Scumney is a major investor in a company that owns a lot of voting machines in Ohio, a presidential election battleground state. Can you say conflict of interest?

Here's a link outlining the problem. This cries out for an investigation NOW, before the major voting takes place.

And, it gets worse. The Scumney family investment group has been linked to the $8.5 billion Ponzi scheme that got Texas swindler Allen Stanford sent to prison for a 110-year sentence. No Scumneys are under investigation -- well, not in a direct, CRIMINAL way -- but ask some of those who were swindled if that translates into clean hands. The last thing I read about this is that they "aren't cleared."

And it gets worse still. Greg Palast, in The Nation, exposes how the Scumney clan profited, to the tune of $15.3 million, off the auto industry bailout that Mitt Scumney regularly condemns when he's on the campaign trail.

I've seen pond scum like this before, too many times in my life. It's just business, they seem to reason, and that's a totally amoral realm in the eyes of such people. And many people seem to have a perverse admiration for their great mastery of mammon.

Such people make much ado about not smoking or drinking, and they're in church every time the door opens. (They usually wear too much cologne or perfume, perhaps to hide the de facto stench.)

But when it comes to making big loot off other people's toil and misfortune -- in their view, what does one thing have to do with the other?

I think this kind of trashy behavior has even made it to the White House before, and recently. We, the American people, have got a chance to stop it this time, if we will.

 

 

 

 

Headlines - Sunday October 28

Tar Sands South: First US Tar Sands Mine Approved in Utah

 

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This is what the "unskewed polls" guy has to say about Nate Silver:

Nate Silver is a man of very small stature, a thin and effeminate man with a soft-sounding voice that sounds almost exactly like the "Mr. New Castrati" voice used by Rush Limbaugh on his program. In fact, Silver could easily be the poster child for the New Castrati in both image and sound. Nate Silver, like most liberal and leftist celebrities and favorites, might be of average intelligence but is surely not the genius he's made out to be. His political analyses are average at best and his projections, at least this year, are extremely biased in favor of the Democrats.

Conservatives are such nice people. Of course, when Obama wins the electoral college as Nate Silver is predicting, it will only mean that the aforementioned "thin and effeminate man" will have given him a solid ass-kicking. Playground bullies, the lot of them.

 

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Act like a Pirate Day - Hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer (and major GOP Donor) is owed about $1.6 Billion by the government of Argentina (following their default 10 years ago), who is unable to pay him full face value, and like other creditors offered to pay him $0.30 for every dollar. So... he stole a ship from their Navy and is holding it for ransom, pirate-style. Seems fair. (ABC News)

 

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Bryan Fischer says that the MSM is not covering Obama's alleged Muslim wedding ring because it "may raise questions about Obama-as-a-closeted-Muslim." Or it could be that the whole thing is BS. Your choice.

 

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Sickest thing yet - When God gives your wife cancer, make lemonade:

"My wife has advanced cancer and I am fighting for her life, but my nation also has advanced cancer and we are fighting for its life," says Garlow.

"My wife has had aggressive treatments to save her life. We need some radical surgery, radiation, chemo and alternative treatments to save our nation."

"Based on careful prognosis, both my nation and my wife don't have very much time," Garlow says. "We are fiercely committed to seeing a miraculous intervention for my wife and my nation."

--Jim Garlow, senior pastor of Skyline Church in La Mesa, California, explaining how brave he is to continue fighting for Proposition 8. It's all about him. Fucker.

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Foreign corporations are funneling cash to 2012 candidates

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Nicole Bell:

As you watch our punditry bobble their heads, I want you to consider the curious case of Lance Armstrong. As far as I'm aware, Armstrong has never tested positive for doping, yet we know...know...that he is the embodiment of athletic malfeasance. Stories have come bubbling up to confirm his guilt: accusations of fraud, bribery, bullying, perjury, etc. Swift and severe consequences must be applied, so Armstrong has been stripped of his titles, banned from cycling (not just as a sport but as part of other events as well), stepped down from his cancer foundation and if that's not enough, now there's a campaign to demand back his millions in winnings. After all, Armstrong must be made a lesson to others that we will not tolerate someone compromising the integrity of this sport.

Okay.

I'm actually agnostic on Armstrong. I don't know if he's guilty, but frankly, I don't care. What strikes me is how unevenly this outrage and the demand for integrity and justice is applied. Sure, let Armstrong be a lesson to others. But where is the outrage and the swift and severe consequences for those who have done damage to more than themselves? Where's the punishment for Jamie Dimon and his buddies at Bank of America/Countrywide? Who will hold the Congressional Republicans responsible for their record number of filibusters, putting partisan benefit ahead of the country? Yes, by all means, let us stand for integrity and fairness. But if we're going to do that, let's make it matter. Not in the cycling world, but for the whole country.

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Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who has donated more than $50 million to Republicans, is now pressuring his casino employees to vote for Mitt Romney. According to the Huffington Post, Adelson's Management at Las Vegas Sands Corp. "has been distributing voter guides friendly to Republican nominee Mitt Romney and critical of President Barack Obama to its casino employees in Las Vegas."

While the so-called Nevada "issues guides" don't specifically endorse Romney, the pamphlets strongly imply that Obama's policies could cause workers to lose their jobs. "Too much of big government doesn't just affect our company; it affects our employees, our customers, and our shareholders," the guide says. "Voting is an important way for you no only to do your civic duty, but to protect your job." It goes on to misrepresent Obama's health, tax, and energy policies — while painting Romney's proposal in a favorable light:

HEALTH CARE: "The federal government requiring all U.S. citizens to buy or otherwise obtain health insurance coverage as a condition of their citizenship is not good for America, our company, and our employees….Gov. Romney favors reform that encourages competition and brings down costs."

TAXES: "The President would increase many types of taxes, including those on businesses that file taxes as individuals…The governor supports a flatter, simpler and fairer tax code for all Americans that will help businesses and families to prosper."

ENERGY: "[Obama's] administration restricted the expansion of leases for oil and gas exploration on government lands and opposed the Keystone XL pipeline that will produce more jobs and lower energy prices….The governor supports energy independence and immediate expansion of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Adelson's efforts to elect Romney would greatly bolster his bottom line. A report from the Center for American Progress Action Fund found that Romney's tax proposals, which call for massive tax cuts for the rich, corporate tax reforms that will encourage the offshoring of profits, and the elimination of certain investment taxes, could save Adelson more than $2 billion in taxes.

Romney's corporate tax reforms would also provide Adelson's casino company approximately $1.2 billion in tax breaks on overseas profits and $565 million from Romney's proposed shift to a territorial tax system. Adelson's share of that, the report says, would be upward of $900 million.

And while Adelson would benefit from Romney's reforms, the workers receiving his brochures could see a $2,000 tax increase if Romney were to keep his plan to maintain current levels of revenue.

Since the Supreme Court expanded the rules governing corporations' and unions' ability to promote political speech in the Citizens United case,several CEOs have been pressuring employees in swing states (like Nevada) to vote for Romney, a practice the GOP presidential candidate himself has endorsed.

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Just a tidbit from the BuzzFeed article about the NYPD cop who was conspiring to kidnap women, cook them alive, and eat them with some buddies:

"No need to worry. She will be alive. It's a short drive to you. I think I would rather not get involved in the rape. You paid for her. She is all yours, and I don't want to be tempted the next time I abduct a girl."

What about God's will, hmmm? Anyway, previously he said that he is "aspiring to be a professional kidnapper, and that's business" as his excuse of not wanting to rape her, so he gets a pass on that.

Verdict: Probably a Republican, or at least a Libertarian.

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Bill Maher on Mourdock and 'rape is God's will': 'You cannot separate religion from just sheer idiocy'

Headlines - Saturday October 27

Chevron Gives $2.5 Million to Conservative Super PAC

 

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Fear mongering! - Notable business person and magical panties enthusiast Willard told Ohioans:

"I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state Jeep — now owned by the Italians — is thinking of moving all production to China."

...which is patently untrue. A Bloomberg News story earlier this week said that said Chrysler, owned by Italian automaker Fiat SpA, is thinking of building Jeeps in China for sale in the Chinese market. It seems Willard gets his news from Drudge and RedState. (Detroit News)

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Wisco: Reality Does Not Care for Your 'Momentum' Narrative

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Wingnuts are all upset over this Obama ad.

Fun fact: Nov. 1, 1980: "I know what it's like to pull the Republican lever for the first time, because I used to be a Democrat myself, and I can tell you it only hurts for a minute and then it feels just great." - Ronald Reagan

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via ThinkProgress

Yet the access of low-income Americans—those earning less than $20,000 in real 2009 dollars—to devices that are part of the "good life" has increased. [...]

Appliances? The percentage of low-income homes with air-conditioning equipment rose to 83.5% from 65.8%, with dishwashers to 30.8% from 17.6%, with a washing machine to 62.4% from 57.2%, and with a clothes dryer to 56.5% from 44.9%.

The percentage of low-income households with microwave ovens grew to 92.4% from 74.9% between 2001 and 2009. Fully 75.5% of low-income Americans now have a cell phone, and over a quarter of those have access to the Internet through their phones.

Americans should stop complaining about economic inequality because they have rice and beans, microwaves, and stereos! It's the good life!

I suppose if more people were forced to dry their clothes on a clothes line and heat their cheap, processed food on a wood-burning stove, then they would be justified in pointing out that the top 400 Americans own more wealth than the bottom 40 million Americans.

If having a microwave and a diswasher means you're living the good life, what does having a car elevator mean?

This is what they really think of us.

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Margaret & Helen: When Did Hating Women Become a Republican Platform?

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Via Raw Story:

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says that if President Barack Obama's health care reform law is going to force insurance companies to cover contraception then "it's only fair" that men are provided with pills to treat erectile dysfunction.

Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce earlier this week, the surrogate for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney hinted at the controversy over the Obama's administration's mandate that all health insurance cover contraception for women and warned that the "commissars in Washington" could expand coverage even further in the future.

"They get to write the list of what is legally sufficient health insurance," he explained. "I hate to bring this up because I don't think Gov. Romney would like me to bring this up, but I will. This is what made health care in Massachusetts three times more expensive than people thought. Because when they sat down to define health insurance, everybody added everything to the list and the cost of health insurance went way up."

"That's going to happen on a national level," Giuliani continued. "And you know an Obama appointed commission is going to cover everything. If you cover condoms, I mean, you've got to cover everything, right?"

"If you cover condoms, you should cover Viagra. It's only fair."

Hey moron — VIAGRA IS ALREADY COVERED.

And the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, a bunch of old dudes who have been whining about the birth control benefit have no problem with it. Why? Because Viagra helps men do what they're biologically supposed to—spew their seed all over God's green earth, while birth control impedes the biological duty of women to catch that seed in their uterus and spew babies all over the fucking place.

Idiots. All of them.

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As 'Frankenstorm' Barrels Towards East Coast, Newspaper Coverage Ignores Connection To Climate Change

A Fan Letter to Certain Conservative Politicians

WARNING: this post is going to be oh-so-very-triggery for victims of rape and sexual assault. I am not kidding.

Dear certain conservative politicians:

Hi! I'm a rapist. I'm one of those men who likes to force myself on women without their consent or desire and then batter them sexually. The details of how I do this are not particularly important at the moment — although I love when you try to make distinctions about "forcible rape" or "legitimate rape" because that gives me all sorts of wiggle room — but I will tell you one of the details about why I do it: I like to control women and, also and independently, I like to remind them how little control they have. There's just something about making the point to a woman that her consent and her control of her own body is not relevant against the need for a man to possess that body and control it that just plain gets me off. A guy's got needs, you know? And my need is for control. Sweet, sweet control.

So I want to take time out of my schedule to thank you for supporting my right to control a woman's life, not just when I'm raping her, but for all the rest of her life as well.

Ah, I see by your surprised face that you at the very least claim to have no idea what I'm talking about. Well, here's the thing. Every time you say "I oppose a woman's right to abortion, even in cases of rape," what you're also saying is "I believe that a man who rapes a woman has more of a right to control a woman's body and life than that woman does."

Oh, look. That surprised face again. All right, then. On the chance that you're not giving me that surprised face just for the sake of public appearances, let me explain it to you, because it's important for me that you know just how much I appreciate everything you're doing for me.

So, let's say I've raped a woman, as I do, because it's my thing. I've had my fun, reminding that woman where she stands on the whole "being able to control things about her life" thing. But wait! There's more. Since I didn't use a condom (maybe I'm confident I can get other people to believe it was consensual, you see, or maybe I just like it that way), one thing has led to another and I've gotten this woman pregnant.

Now, remember how I said the thing I really like about raping a woman is the control it gives me over her? Well, getting a woman pregnant is even better. Because long after I'm gone, she still has to deal with me and what I've done to her. She has to deal with what's happening to her body. She has to deal with doctor visits. She has to deal with the choice whether to have an abortion or not — which means she has to deal with everyone in the country, including you, having an opinion about it and giving her crap about it. And if she does have an abortion, she has to deal with all the hassle of that, too, because folks like you, of course, have gone out of your way to make it a hassle, which I appreciate. Thank you.

Every moment of that process, she has to be thinking of me, and how I've forced all of this on her — exercised my ability to bend her life away from what it was to what I've made of it. Me exercising my control.

I gotta tell you, it feels awesome.

But! You know what would feel even more awesome? The knowledge that, if you get your way and abortion is outlawed even in cases of rape, that my control of her will continue through all the rest of her life.

First, because she'll have no legal choice about whether to have the baby I put in her — sorry, dearie, you have no control at all! You have to have it! That's nine months of having your body warp and twist and change because I decided that you needed a little lesson on who's actually running the show. That's sweet.

Once the baby's born, the woman will have to decide whether to keep it. Here's an interesting fact: Of the women who have gotten pregnant from rape who give birth to that baby, most keep the baby, by a ratio of about five to one. So my ability to change the life of the woman just keeps growing, doesn't it? From the rape, to the nine months of the pregnancy, to the rest of her life dealing with the child I raped into her. Of course, she could put the kid up for adoption, but that's its own bundle of issues, isn't it? And even then, she's dealing with the choices I made for her, when I exercised my control over her life.

Best of all, I get to do all that without much consequence! Oh, sure, theoretically I can get charged with rape and go to prison for it. But you know what? For every hundred men who rape, only three go to prison. Those are pretty good odds for me, especially since — again! — folks like you like to muddy up the issue saying things like "forcible rape." Keep doing that! It's working out great for me.

As for the kid, well, oddly enough, most women I rape want nothing to do with me afterward, so it's not like I will have to worry about child support or any other sort of responsibility… unless of course I decide that I haven't taught that woman a big enough lesson about who's really in control of her life. Did you know that 31 states in this country don't keep rapists from seeking custody or visitation rights? How great is that? That's just one more thing she has to worry about — me crawling out of the woodwork to remind her of what I did, and am continuing to do, to her life.

Look how much control you want to give me over that woman! I really can't thank you enough for it. It warms my heart to know no matter how much I rape, or how many women I impregnate through my non-consensual sexual battery, you have my back, when it comes to reminding every woman I humiliate who is actually the boss of her. It's me! It's always been me! You'll make sure it'll always be me. You'll see to that.

I am totally voting for you this election.

Yours,

Just Another Rapist.

P.S.: I love it when you say that you "stand for innocent life" when it comes to denying abortions in cases of rape! It implicitly suggests that the women I rape are in some way complicit in and guilty of the crimes I commit on top of, and inside of, their bodies! Which works out perfectly for me. Keep it up!

No, seriously, keep it up.

– JAR

Headlines - Friday October 26

CEO who took millions in stimulus tells workers to vote against Obama because big government

 

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Voter Registration Fraud - Hey guys, remember that time when the GOP Operative and notable Hannibal Lechter look-alike Colin Small allegedly thew out voter registration forms, and the VA election board said no need to call in the Attorney General to look into it? Me Neither!, but the VA AG (the vag, get it?) Ken Cuccinelli says he will investigate it. Dust off the Ouija Board, VA, your Attorney General has some questions! (LiveWire)

 

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Convicted Tax Cheat Attended Romney 47 Percent Fundraiser

 

The candidate lambasted Americans who don't pay income taxes…in front of an audience that included one businessman who'd gone to jail for evading them.

 

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Romney tries to ride out Mourdock controversy in silence

 

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GOP's Benghazi Smoking Gun Goes Up in Smoke

 

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Why should Mourdock apologize for saying what they all believe?

 

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Good news — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced that it will begin supervising debt collection agencies starting on January 2, 2013.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a rule today that will allow the agency to federally supervise the larger consumer debt collectors for the first time. The CFPB also released the field guide that examiners will use to ensure that companies and banks engaging in debt collection are following the law.

"Millions of consumers are affected by debt collection, and we want to make sure they are treated fairly," said CFPB Director Richard Cordray. "Today we are announcing that we will be supervising the larger debt collectors in the market for the first time at the federal level. We want all companies to realize that the better business choice is to follow the law — not break it."

I consider the creation of the CFPB to be one of the greatest achievements of the past four years, no thanks to the Republicans who fought tooth and nail to kill it.

The agency went without a director for over a year while Republicans blocked confirmation of Elizabeth Warren. The Republicans demanded that the agency be rendered toothless, ineffectual, and stripped of funding before they would confirm anyone as its director. President Obama later broke their blockade with a recess appointment of Richard Cordray, the former Attorney General of Ohio.

Perhaps it's poetic justice that blocking Elizabeth Warren as the director of the bureau may end up costing Republican Senator Scott Brown his seat.

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Brothers gotta stick together, right Sununu:

SUNUNU: You have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or that he's got a slightly different reason for President Obama.

MORGAN: What reason would that be?

SUNUNU: Well, I think that when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being President of the United States — I applaud Colin for standing with him.

Racial pride. That is why Colin is voting for Obama. I guess that is why Sununu is voting for Romney and making all sorts of racially loaded comments. Condi Rice and JC Watts were unavailable for comment. 

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When the revolution comes, I do hope that establishment media "liberal" professional concern trolls are among the first up against the wall. Here's one of the worst offenders—Amy Sullivan—defending Richard Mourdock while insisting she's not defending him:

Let's get one thing straight from the start. I am not defending Richard Mourdock's position on abortion, including his opposition to a rape exception. So take that twitchy finger off the "send" button. However, I do want to examine some of the outrage surrounding the latest comments of a Republican politician regarding abortion and rape.

[....]

Despite the assertions of many liberal writers I read and otherwise admire, I don't think that politicians like Mourdock oppose rape exceptions because they hate women or want to control women. I think they're totally oblivious and insensitive and can't for a moment place themselves in the shoes of a woman who becomes pregnant from a rape.

What's the difference between wanting to control people simply because you want to control them and controlling them because you are insensitive and oblivious to their plight? It's an awfully fine line, isn't it?

If the point was "yes, he knows it's fucked up to have to bear a child who is the product of rape, but he thinks that obeying the will of Lord Tebow overrides everything", then fine, I'd see how maybe that's different from hating or wanting to control women. But that's not her point. She admits that if Mourdock were more sensitive, then he might think that the will of Lord Tebow is not quite so important.

And then to be shocked—SHOCKED —that liberals would dare try to get some political mileage out of some crazy shit a Republican said a few weeks before the election…what is the audience for this bullshit anyway? Why is someone paying Amy Sullivan a salary for this?

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So someone has put together a chart showing which employees of what organizations have donated the most to the two presidential candidates.

For Obama, it's basically government workers and places where you'd probably find intelligent people.

For Romney, it's the banksters.

Note that "government workers" includes the military. For why would soldiers vote for a guy from the party that is constantly trying to slash veterans benefits?

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A top adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign denied the nation's income inequality gap in a Wall Street Journal editorial on Thursday, brushing off the growing concentration of wealth in the hands of the very wealthy by arguing that lower-income Americans are buying more consumer goods.

"Today we hear that the gains from economic growth accrue to the highest-income earners while the standard of living of the poor and middle America stagnates and the gap between the richest and the poorest grows ever wider," Kevin Hassett and Aparna Mathur argue. "That portrait of the country is wrong":

Yet the access of low-income Americans—those earning less than $20,000 in real 2009 dollars—to devices that are part of the "good life" has increased. The percentage of low-income households with a computer rose to 47.7% from 19.8% in 2001. The percentage of low-income homes with six or more rooms (excluding bathrooms) rose to 30% from 21.9% over the same period.

Appliances? The percentage of low-income homes with air-conditioning equipment rose to 83.5% from 65.8%, with dishwashers to 30.8% from 17.6%, with a washing machine to 62.4% from 57.2%, and with a clothes dryer to 56.5% from 44.9%.

The percentage of low-income households with microwave ovens grew to 92.4% from 74.9% between 2001 and 2009. Fully 75.5% of low-income Americans now have a cell phone, and over a quarter of those have access to the Internet through their phones.

But this argument, a favorite of conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation, is highly misleading. Appliances and commonly used consumer gadgets like cell phones are necessities in the 21st century and are significantly cheaper today than they were just decades earlier. In fact, were families to sell their appliances in order to help pay for food and other basic necessities, many would still struggle — for while prices on microwaves and air conditioners have fallen, "the real everyday basics such as quality child care and out-of-pocket medical costs" are "squeezing the budgets of the poor and middle-class alike."

Hassett argues that safety net programs like "unemployment insurance, food stamps, Medicaid" help families afford basic needs, further shrinking the nation's income gap. But these programs are already failing to keep up with need and Romney and Ryan have proposed massive cuts to the safety net in order to pay down the deficit and finance a tax cut plan that is heavily skewed towards the rich.

Their approach would only exacerbate the differences between the rich and poor — a gap that has grown dramatically since the late 1970s. Indeed, compared to the 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United States has a Gini coefficient — a number that measures the distribution of income on a scale of 0 (perfectly equal) to 1 (perfectly unequal) — of 0.47 and ranks near the very bottom in inequality. America also suffers from the absolute highest "percentage of national income that went to the top 1 percent" and "has seen income inequality increase at a much faster rate than most other countries."

This trend is already devastating the American democratic ideals of equal opportunity and upward mobility. Unfortunately, neither Romney nor his advisers can see the problem or offer the kind of tax and economic policies that will help solve it.

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It's always amazing to watch Tina Fey get her dander up, but I think she hits on something particularly important at the Center for Reproductive Rights Inaugural Gala in calling out "grey-faced men with $2 haircuts" who display an unnerving confidence in telling women what does and doesn't count as rape and what happens to them, or should happen to them, physically and psychologically, when it happens:

The important line is actually one before the catchy burn on older, male, Republican legislators who don't trust women: "I wish we could have an honest and respectful dialogue about these complicated issues, but it seems like we can't, right now." For me, that's part of what's been frustrating and frightening about this latest round of statements by politicians on women's bodily autonomy and functions. This isn't a conversation, and the people on both sides of it have wildly different assumptions. The idea that I'm supposed to trust someone who doesn't even understand how my body functions, much less how I might react intellectually or emotionally to trauma, to make decisions on my behalf is so frightening and rage-inducing it's an immobilizing experience. As someone who is inclined to niceness, to sticking with reason even against all odds, Fey's issuing permission slip to abandon courtesies that aren't being extended to women, to call crazy crazy, and standing up for the idea that being driven nuts by this stuff isn't a sign of oversensitivity. It's a rational reaction to being treated with condescension and threatened with a substantive deprival of rights that are dear to me, whether it's my ability to have an abortion if necessary or to get easy, affordable coverage to contraception. Waves like the recent one of anti-woman we've been caught in can be immobilizing. Fey's speech is a reminder that to save yourself, you have to keep swimming.

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Hero Maryland Pastor: Vote Against Gay Marriage Or You Should Die

Headlines - Thursday October 25

113 counts of sexually abusing a child and the masturbating witch thinks he's a great guy. I guess it goes without saying that anything, including a child molester indicted on 113 counts is better than having some Black people in the White House.

 

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Petition: The President of the United States: Revoke tax-exempt status of "political" churches

 

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President Obama on Donald Trump

 

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Nate Silver has Obama back over 70% today. And a new PPP poll has Obama up by five points in Virginia.

So fuck the Romentum.

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Gregory Peterson has committed suicide in the same Utah cabin where he raped women and hosted Republican Party fundraisers. Like they say, "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."

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Hey, so after Arctic griftbull Sarah Palin was balls-out racist yesterday, saying Blackrack Obama was committing a "shuck and jive" against white people, she took to Facebook to pen a response to her awful critics. Well, not "pen," someone else wrote it for her. Someone white.

For the record, there was nothing remotely racist in my use of the phrase "shuck and jive" – a phrase which many people have used, including Chris Matthews, Andrew Cuomo, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney to name a few off the top of my head. In fact, Andrew Cuomo also used the phrase in reference to Barack Obama, and the fact that Mr. Cuomo and I used the phrase in relation to President Obama signifies nothing out of the ordinary.

Actually, when Cuomo said "You can't shuck and jive at a press conference. All those moves you can make with the press don't work when you're in someone's living room," it was racist. This has been your moment of blacksplanation.

READ MORE »

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That Is So Weird That Guy Advising Mitt Romney On Our 'Too-Small' Navy Just Happens To Be In The Ship-Building Biz

Here's the thing about the Navy: it needs more ships. And possibly more bayonets, so as not to offend the bayonet-Americans. But definitely more ships. This is self-evidently true according to presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who astutely observed the other night that our air force is "older than any time since 1947." This is also self-evidently true! So the solution here is more ships, which you can use to attack Syria (a.k.a. "Iran's route to the sea") and if you get bored with that, you can sail on over to Afghanistan, which will be very helpful to our men and women and uniform. So yeah, more ships, says Romney, who is being advised by some guy who by coincidence just so happens to invest in ship-building companies. Does his opinion on navy ships have to do with these ties to ship-building companies? No, of course not, his opinion on navy ships just has to do with Keeping Us Safe.™

One of Romney's most important advisers on Navy issues [is] John Lehman, an investment banker and former secretary of the Navy, [who] has strong and complex personal financial ties to the naval shipbuilding industry. He has profited hugely from the Navy's slow growth in recent years — raising the prospect that he could make even more if Romney takes his advice on expanding the fleet.

[…]

Lehman invested in a government-backed "Superferry" in Hawaii — a business that ultimately failed, but not before boosting the standing of Austal USA, an Alabama shipbuilder that constructed the ferry service's ships… Lehman continues to own shipyards that do lucrative maintenance work for the Navy. Even leaving aside the intricate ferry-and-shipyard series of deals, Lehman still stands a decent chance of profiting from the naval buildup he is helping to plan.

This is just a coincidence, of course, because gosh — Romney and Ryan, they just want to make sure America is strong. Militarily, that is. And the best way to make us strong enough to fight our enemies is MORE SHIPS

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Do you honestly believe this so-called investigation will go ANYWHERE?

The FBI and U.S. Postal Service agents are investigating bogus official-looking letters sent to voters in at least 28 Florida counties questioning their citizenship and their eligibility to vote, NBC News has learned.

David Couvertier, a spokesman for the FBI in Tampa, said his office opened up an investigation into the possible attempt at voter intimidation on Wednesday after receiving reports that eligible voters throughout the state have received the letters. "We're taking it as a serious situation," he said. "We're looking at everything from civil rights violations to election fraud -- to everything in between."

Chris Cate, a spokesman for the Florida Secretary of State's Office, told NBC News, "We believe these letters appear to meet the standard of voter intimidation." Between 50 and 100 such letters have been reported to state officials so far, "and those are only the ones we know about. We're encouraging people to come forward."

The fake letters, which first started showing up last Friday, have been sent under the names of real Florida county election supervisors -- with some correct contact information -- informing the voters that the supervisors have received "information" about their citizenship status, "bringing into doubt your eligibility as a registered voter."

The letters also say the voter must fill out a Voter Eligibility Form in the next 15 days -- and failure to do so will result "in the removal of your name from the voter registration rolls and you will no longer be eligible to vote."