Did Mitt Romney really tie his dog to the roof of his car? Yes, it is actually true. As the Boston Globe first reported, when Mitt Romney took his family for a vacation up to Ontario in 1983, the family dog was put in a car carrier and tied to the roof for the entire 12 hour trip. The Irish Setter, Seamus, apparently did not have such a great time sitting on top of the station wagon as it charged down the road at 60 miles an hour. At one point Tagg, Romney's eldest son, noticed brown liquid slowly dripping down the back window. It turns out that traveling on the roof caused Seamus to have diarrhea.
So what did Romney do?
The following is how the Boston Globe described what happened next....
“As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management.”
He just hosed old Seamus down and stuck him right back up in the car carrier.
No wonder Seamus ran away from the Romney family shortly thereafter.
Now the rest of the world is making fun of Romney over this.
The following is one hilarious animated video from Taiwan that was recently produced concerning this episode....
Today we have an excellent guest post from Alisha Venetis. Alisha Venetis is co-founder of www.thePrepRoom.net; an online store specializing in emergency preparedness supplies. She writes for Smart Girl Nation, as well as other conservative blogs, where she reports on world politics, domestic and global economics and the potentially negative ramifications they may have on America.
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The line in the sand for Iran is becoming more clear as dates are now being discussed about a possible Israeli strike. Recently, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, said that the world is increasingly ready to strike Iran if the sanctions do not work. A recent column in the Washington Post has even alluded that Defense Secretary for the United States, Leon Panetta, has gone as far to say that he believes there is a "strong likelihood" that Israel will attack in April, May or June.
It is believed that Iran has enough enriched uranium to produce four rudimentary bombs in the very near future and is well on their way to crossing the "red line drawn" by the US. If and when this happens, the US has made it clear that all options, including a military strike, are on the table.
What exactly constitutes Iran crossing the line? Well, that depends on whether you're talking to Iran, Israel or the U.S. The US is presently trying to persuade Israel of hold off on a strike against Iran, in order to allow enough time to see if the recent sanctions imposed against them will have achieved their intended goal.
The US is arguing that a strike against Iran will potentially lead to the Iranian regime becoming more aggressive against Israel, and thus making it even less secure. Since Israel does not have the military capacity to strike Iran's nuclear bunkers underground (unlike the United States), Israel is anticipating the crossing of the line to occur as early as Spring.
Even if Israel acts alone, those of us living in the U.S. will not be unaffected. We experienced the rumblings of this with the Libyan situation. For starters, the price of oil will rise, wreaking havoc on our already fragile economy. As many have alluded, this is one of the toughest foreign policy decisions that will be made. These are historical times that we are living in.
Research shows that more and more Americans are eating an overabundance of foods that contain greater amounts of high fructose corn syrup and sugar. By ingesting these foods and not including exercise or a healthier diet, more American’s are suffering from obesity on a daily basis.
Researchers at Iowa State University have explored the different types of foods that contain high fructose corn syrup and sugar. They have researched the affects that these types of food have on Americans. They have sent a request to the government to inquire about taxing certain foods that are greater in high fructose corn syrup and sugars. By doing this they hope to help consumers limit the amount of sugar, they put into their diet. This will help foods to become healthier for the American public. They hope that this will also help to lessen the amount of obese people in the United States. However, the study was not conducted as a way to diminish the obesity rate in the population.
A national debate is leaning towards placing a tax on foods that have higher sweetener. Instead of taxing the customers at the checkout, they have decided that it would be a better idea to tax the manufacturers before the goods hit the shelves. By doing this, they feel it will help the manufacturers revamp their products before putting them out on the shelves for customers to purchase. This will affect people in many different ways. One way will make the product healthier because the food is made with less of a sugary substance. The second will mark up those foods because of the tax is causing customers not to buy the product and in turn they would become healthier. The third is that because of the manufacturer is being taxed, they raise their prices and the customer still buys it.
Raising the price of foods that are lower in nutrition and higher in sugar can make it difficult for people who cannot afford to pay higher amounts of money for their food. This will definitely affect the poverty population. This will make it more difficult for families who are having a hard time feeding their families now.
Considering the fact that most processed foods such as spaghetti o’s and mac n’ cheese contain high fructose corn syrup and sugars, cheap meals will become more expensive. This will make it financially difficult on people who rely on these foods to feed their families daily. However by consuming these foods, more health issues will evolve with these families as well.
If more Americans are eating high fructose corn syrup and sugar products more, they are more likely to develop diabetes. This will benefit other companies because of the higher sugar intake. Hospitals and pharmacies will benefit more because more people will become diabetic from eating larger amounts of high fructose corn syrup and sugar foods.
If this fat tax comes into effect, it will cause people to purchase healthier foods for their families. It will also provide families who cannot afford to purchase healthier foods because of their cost, to buy even less and depend more on their food pantries.
High fructose corn syrup and sugar is usually the number one ingredient on most processed foods in America. By eliminating this ingredient, these foods can become healthier for all Americans who eat it on a daily basis. This will also help Americans to be able to make better choices when shopping for food for their families. The fat tax, although it may be difficult for those who are already having a difficult time feeding their families, may be helpful in the long run.
Who in the world is creating these ads for Ron Paul? Whoever is creating them is doing an amazing job. The ads that the Ron Paul campaign has put out absolutely blow away the ads that the other campaigns have come up with. For example, have you seen the new "Big Dog" ad that the Ron Paul Campaign just put out? It is one of the sharpest campaign ads that I have ever seen. Now if they can just come up with some "End the Fed" television ads I will be really impressed.
Unfortunately, it is not just about who can run the best ads. Ron Paul also needs to do a better job of communicating his core message to the American people. He has been a little shy with his message of ending the Federal Reserve, but he shouldn't be. In times like these, people respect a bold message.
But I must admit that these recent television ads from the Ron Paul campaign are really amazing. Posted below is the new "Big Dog" ad....
This next ad is entitled "Newt Gingrich: Serial Hypocrisy" and it was also recently put out by the Gingrich campaign....
Ron Paul is up to second place in Iowa, and as he has risen in the polls the attacks have become even more intense.
Just check out what Donald Trump said about Ron Paul the other day. The following comes from a recent Politico article....
"As I said in the past and will reiterate again, Ron Paul has a zero chance of winning either the nomination or the presidency," Trump said in a statement in response to Paul, adding, "my poll numbers were substantially higher than any of his poll numbers, at any time."
"Few people take Ron Paul seriously and many of his views and presentation make him a clown-like candidate," he said. "I am glad he and Jon Huntsman, who has inconsequential poll numbers or a chance of winning, will not be attending the debate and wasting the time of the viewers who are trying very hard to make a very important decision."
Needless to say, it looks like this is going to be a very heated campaign season.
So does Ron Paul have a chance at winning the Republican nomination?
He's back! When Donald Trump announced that he was not going to seek the Republican nomination, everyone pretty much assumed that he was not going to run in 2012. Well, that assumption was totally wrong. The truth is that there is a very, very real possibility that Donald Trump is going to run for president as a third party candidate in 2012. Right now, Donald Trump is not pleased with the Republican frontrunners and he does not think that they can beat Obama. If Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney gets nominated, that would make a Trump run for president much more likely. He is very much talking like he is getting ready to run for president, and he is doing most of the things that would be necessary to run for president as a third party candidate. So will it happen? Well, with Trump you can never be sure.
But it would be a huge mistake to write Trump off. He is extremely popular and would make a formidable third party candidate. The truth is that the country is not excited about Obama right now, and there would not be much enthusiasm for a Gingrich candidacy or a Romney candidacy either. There has never been a time in modern American history when conditions have been so ripe for a third party candidacy.
So why didn't Trump just run for the Republican nomination to begin with? After all, he was leading in some of the polls?
Well, Trump realized a few things. First of all, he is too socially moderate to attract the support of the social conservatives that play a huge role in the Republican primaries.
In addition, the whole birth certificate thing kind of backfired on him after Barack Obama produced that "birth certificate" of his. Of course we all know that birth certificate is fake, but the mainstream media bought it and they pounded Trump over the head with it.
So Trump stepped back and did not throw his hat into the ring.
But now conditions seem promising for an independent run and Trump sounds like he is very seriously considering a run for president as a third party candidate in 2012.
"If the Republicans, and I've said this to you a number of times, if they choose the wrong person, and the economy will continue to be bad, because we have people who absolutely have no idea what they're doing leading the country, I think it continues to be a possibility"
He also told Fox News that a final decision would not come until May because of his television show....
"As you know, I can't do anything until May because of the ridiculous laws that talk about equal time, meaning that I have this big television show, so I'm not allowed to do anything. Would I like to do something sooner? Perhaps I would. But the laws preclude me from doing anything until May"
"Come May, when the Celebrity Apprentice is completed, my contract to NBC is completed, I'm a free agent, as the expression goes," he said. "I can make a decision. You know, obviously it would have to be as an independent."
Trump is thinking about it.
Will he pull the trigger?
Nobody knows.
But he is definitely keeping a high profile politically. In fact, Trump will host the Newsmax Republican debate in Des Moines on December 27th.
That should be interesting.
A lot of people dismissed Trump's talk of running for president before as a "publicity stunt".
Well, in his new book Trump reveals just how close he was to running....
"I was so close (to running) that I had already prepared the Public Financial Disclosure Report required of a presidential candidate. That's a big deal because the Trump Organization is a private company, and people don't know what I'm really worth. So, I had the independent firm Predictive, which is used by government agencies and top companies like GM, Visa, Pfizer, and others, prepare valuations on branding, and we filled out the other areas of the long and complex presidential Public Financial Disclosure Report."
Don't count out a run for president by Donald Trump in 2012.
Someone is going to emerge as a very viable third party candidate during this upcoming election season.
Someone is going to shake up the race for the White House.
In fact, it might be more than one person.
The 2012 election season is going to be very exciting, that is for sure.
So don't count out Donald Trump. There is a very real possibility that he may actually run.
Is Ron Paul now the front-runner for the Republican nomination? Many in the mainstream media had written him off long ago, but at this point there are a whole lot of reasons to believe that he could actually win this thing. Poll numbers for Ron Paul are surging in Iowa and New Hampshire, Ron Paul has raised a lot of cash, and Ron Paul has built a top notch organization in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Mitt Romney has long been considered the front-runner for the Republican nomination, but most Republicans are not excited about him. In fact, there is a significant percentage of Republicans that will not vote for Romney under any circumstances. Conservatives have been trying to find a viable alternative to Romney, but so far no other candidate other than Ron Paul has generated much enthusiasm at all. Donald Trump got people excited for about a month, but then he decided not to run. Sarah Palin would have garnered a ton of support from conservatives but she also decided not to run. Rick Perry soared to the top of the polls for a while, but his numbers dropped like a rock after a series of disastrous debates. Herman Cain was flying high for a bit, but all of the allegations of sexual misconduct have seriously damaged his campaign. For some reason, conservatives seem to have become convinced that Michele Bachmann can't win. Some conservatives have become so desperate that they have even started supporting a "RINO" like Newt Gingrich. The Republican field is very crowded and Republicans are not rallying around any one particular candidate. This is the perfect environment for Ron Paul to make a run at the nomination.
Ron Paul is still lagging in the national polls, but in Iowa and New Hampshire he is in excellent position.
A new Bloomberg poll of Iowa voters had Herman Cain at 20 percent, Ron Paul at 19 percent, Mitt Romney at 18 percent and Newt Gingrich at 17 percent.
What makes these numbers even more encouraging is that the support for Ron Paul seems to be much more "solid" than the support for any other candidate.
Just check out the following numbers from a Bloomberg article about the Iowa poll....
Among likely caucus-goers who say their minds are made up, Paul leads with 32 percent, followed by Romney at 25 percent and Gingrich, a former House speaker, at 17 percent.
That is huge. Among those that will not change their minds, Ron Paul has 32 percent of the vote.
Other polls out of Iowa show Ron Paul surging as well.
Keep in mind that Herman Cain's numbers continue to fall in the wake of the recent sex scandal revelations. Unless Herman Cain can turn things around, it does not look like he is going to be a serious contender.
In New Hampshire, a recent poll has Ron Paul in second place behind only Mitt Romney. If Ron Paul can win Iowa and take second place in New Hampshire that would position him as the "anti-Romney candidate". As other Republican candidates drop out, Ron Paul would pick up a lot of their support.
In the final analysis, there is a very real chance that the Republicans could decide to go with Ron Paul rather than Mitt Romney.
Plus, it finally looks like the mainstream media may be starting to take Ron Paul seriously. As author Jack Hunter recently noted, Paul is doing all of the things that are usually associated with being a front-runner....
"How does the media decide who is a front-runner? By any conventional standards we judge it by fundraising, poll numbers, and organization. And in all three of those- yeah- Ron Paul is a frontrunner. His fundraising is obviously off the charts good, particularly the nature of it - and organization he's second only to Romney, and in Iowa it is the best. In all the conventional ways - he's performing very well"
Many in the mainstream media are beginning to notice that the poll numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire are changing. Just check out this recent interview with Ron Paul on CNBC....
So what does Ron Paul have that the other candidates don't?
Well, for one thing, he generates a lot of passion. That is just not the case with any of the other Republican candidates at this point. Just check out the following video. Who else out there has volunteers that are this passionate?....
This next video is a Star Wars parody that depicts Ron Paul as Obi-Wan Kenobi.
We don't see Romney supporters, Cain supporters, Gingrich supporters or Perry supporters making these kinds of videos....
Yes, Ron Paul has some significant challenges to overcome, but he is definitely in it to win it.
As this election season rolls on, we will continue to cover the key political issues of the day. One thing is for sure - America cannot afford another four years of Barack Obama. We need to send someone to the White House that will change the direction this country is heading in. Hopefully America will vote wisely in 2012.
This week I dropped in at the bank and was surprised to see only two harassed employees who were frantically trying to process the long line of customers. Typically there are at least six tellers helping customers at the Credit Union that serves a town of 40,000. When it was my turn, I asked about the shortage of help and the teller, whom I’ve known for years, who replied ”A bank-wide meeting was called. They left just two of us to cover the desk.”
Curiosity had me probing for more, and in no time I was hearing about an increase in defaulted loans. From what the teller shared, they were actually better off than most banks and credit unions. Arriving home, I did a Goggle search to discover that since January 1, 2011, 73 banks have failed: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/savings/2011-list-of-failed-banks.aspx
…And why most of us choose to ignore the warning signs all around us. The truth hurts! It doesn’t help that since the US no longer backs its currency with gold or silver, we are left with fiat money—funny money, if you will—dirty, slips of paper that are completely dependant on the blind trust of the people and governments. That worked fairly well before we shipped our jobs overseas through NAFTA and GATT, and it worked while the economy had the outside appearance of normalcy.
Problem is, as we watch countries like Greece and Argentina fold and hear about the trouble the EU is in, it’s getting harder and harder to put our faith in the greenbacks that once ruled the global economy.
In fact, should the Euro continue to implode, taking more European banks down, Bank of America, Citibank and Sun Trust may tumble along with them due to heavy Euro investments. Add the continuing decline in the housing market, and soon what we may be facing may make The Great Depression look like a pleasure cruise.
Now might be an excellent time for our own personal bail out, because if we wait much longer, those greenbacks may not sustain us, no matter how much Tabasco and salt and pepper we sprinkle on them and it’s for sure the government will not be offering boatloads of cash to “see us through.” Nor will they be handing us meals on wheels.
Consider filling those pantries. Even if your journey takes you to the Dollar Store, get some food put aside. Beans and rice are also a good start. If nothing happens out of the ordinary, you’ve at least inflation-proofed your grocery bill. But if what many of us are seeing as smoke and mirrors comes unraveled, and things get interesting, you will have the means to feed yourself and your loved ones.
Visit Survival Diva Blog http://www.survivaldiva.com/ for more information on rural living, gardening, home canning, food storage, and tips on combating skyrocketing food prices.
Job cuts for teachers leave education grads out in the cold
By Michael Suppa
States across the country are struggling financially, but if you look south of the Mason-Dixon Line you will find many facing budget deficits similar to Pennsylvania's that are making do and maintaining educational funding. States like Florida, which also was facing billions of dollars in deficits this year, managed a slight spending increase on its K-12 systems. Although the amount was expanded by only $1.22 per student, it shows a commitment to seeing that families are getting what they need from their schools. This is also in part because of an amendment that requires the Florida Legislature to provide necessary funding for districts to comply with class-size requirements. For K-3, the maximum number of students permitted in a Florida classroom is 18.
With extensive research from the U.S. Department of Education equating higher levels of achievement with smaller teacher-student ratios, one must question where the focus lies in Pennsylvania. In light of the state's most recent budget, elementary classrooms across Pennsylvania are now jammed with as many as 30 students. This move balanced many districts' budgets, but also negatively affected their quality of education and sent nearly 4,000 teachers to the unemployment line. Also lost in the shuffle are a brand new generation of would-be teachers who must now play the waiting game, migrate to other parts of the country as if the steel mills had shut down all over again, or go into another field.
In an informal online poll of 75 Pennsylvania residents having graduated with a degree in education within the past three years, the outlook is bleak on the financial and professional fronts. All participants in the poll graduated from a Pennsylvania institution of higher learning, with 18 counties and universities represented in the data. Of the 75 participants surveyed, more than 90 percent had not found a teaching position. Amanda Trainor is just one of hundreds of newly certified teachers from across the state, and a 2011 graduate of Point Park University in Pittsburgh. She spoke of the frustrations that many in her situation are facing and said that four years earlier no one could have predicted the massive unemployment that would ensue in the teaching profession in Pennsylvania. Ms. Trainor said this year "was supposed to be a big retirement year in Allegheny County, so we all worked very hard to put ourselves in the best position possible to earn teaching contracts and begin our professional careers."
What Point Park and many other education departments in the region told their new crop of teachers in training was, in fact, true at the time, as the elimination of hundreds of teaching positions in one year hardly seemed likely. In response to the massive funding cuts, suburban districts offered early retirement incentives or eliminated positions entirely to downsize their staff and payrolls.
Why are Pennsylvania schools -- and teachers -- in such a dire situation?
Priorities are shifting from what is the best way to provide a quality education to what is the most cost-effective way. The survey found 30 percent of newly certified teachers felt the recent crisis was a result of a state budget that has de-emphasized the value and importance of education, while 63 percent felt that it was also a mismanagement of funds by school districts. Sixty-six percent of participants had at least considered relocating outside of Pennsylvania to find a teaching position. More than half of new teachers surveyed were actively searching for positions in other states. Among the many things that the uproar over Pennsylvania's 2011 budget has created is a generation of young professionals wishing they could undo history. Participants were asked that if they could redo college, would they still pursue a degree in education. Nearly half said they would not.
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The preceding was a guest post for Political Issues by guest author Michael J. Suppa.
