Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (133586)	5/24/2012 1:24:01 PM
From: TideGlider	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224713

59% of Catholics Disapprove of Obama’s Job Performance Related Articles Daily Presidential Tracking Poll 50% Oppose Gov't Mandate for Religious Organizations to Provide Contraceptives Team Obama Fumbles Ruling, Offends Catholics By Scott Rasmussen 56% Favor Repeal of Health Care Law Politicians Created Budget Crisis By Pursuing Own Agenda, Ignoring Voters Obama’s Budget Shows $928 Billion Increase in Spending Over Five Years Tuesday, February 14, 2012 Catholics strongly disapprove of the job President Obama is doing as the debate continues over his administration’s new policy forcing Catholic institutions to pay for contraception they morally oppose. While the president’s overall job approval ratings have improved over the past couple of months, they have remained steady among Catholics. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 59% of likely Catholic voters nationwide at least somewhat disapprove of the president’s job performance, while 40% at least somewhat approve. But the passion’s on the side of those who don’t like the job he’s doing: 44% Strongly Disapprove versus 19% who Strongly Approve. Fifty-four percent (54%) of Catholics voted for Obama in November 2008. However, Republican hopeful Mitt Romney currently leads the president among Catholic voters by a 52% to 35% margin. Among all voters, however, President Obama leads Romney and all Republican hopefuls. These results are from surveys conducted over the seven days ending February 12, 2012. Among all likely voters, 50% approve of how the president is doing and 49% disapprove. This includes 26% who Strongly Approve and 38% who Strongly Disapprove. Rasmussen Reports also provides daily updates of the president’s Job Approval and match-ups between President Obama and both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. Sixty-one percent (61%) of Evangelical Christians and 52% of other Protestants also at least somewhat disapprove of the job Obama is doing in the White House. The view is much more positive among non-Christians. Among those who profess some other religious affiliation or none at all, 68% at least somewhat approve of the president’s performance. Regardless of religious affiliation, disapproval is higher among those who regularly attend religious services. Among those who attend services every week or nearly every week, 41% offer their approval of the president while 59% disapprove. Among those who rarely or never attend services, 63% approve and 36% disapprove. This faith gap was evident in December, well before the current dispute between the Obama Administration and religious leaders. Yet while the president’s overall job approval ratings have gone up slightly in recent weeks as perceptions of the economy have begun to improve, there’s been little or no change in attitude among religious groups. In that earlier survey, 60% of likely Catholic voters disapproved of the president’s performance, including 45% who Strongly Disapproved. Similarly, 68% of Evangelical Christians and 56% of other Protestants disapproved of how the president is doing his job, while 65% of voters of other faiths approved. (Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook. The survey of 3,500 Likely Voters was conducted February 6-12, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 2 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology. Data released earlier found that 50% of all likely voters disagree with the Obama administration’s action forcing Catholic institutions to pay for birth control measures that they morally oppose. Thirty-nine percent (39%) agree with the new policy. In that survey, 65% of Catholic voters opposed the president’s requirement which he has since attempted to soften by saying the Catholic institutions would not have to pay for contraception for all their employees but that instead it would be the full responsibility of their insurance companies. However, that change has not dampened the opposition which now includes several lawsuits challenging the requirement. The requirement stems from the national health care law, championed by the president and passed by congressional Democrats in March 2010. Most voters opposed the law before its passage and nearly two years later still want to see it repealed. Eight-out-of-10 Americans (80%) say that their religious faith is at least somewhat important in their daily lives. Just 18% feel their religious faith is not very or not at all important to their lives. But only 12% of voters feel it’s appropriate for their local religious leader, such as a parish priest, minister, rabbi or imam, to suggest who they should vote for. Seventy-nine percent (79%) do not find such suggestions appropriate.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (133586)	5/24/2012 3:12:44 PM
From: longnshort	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224713

The village takes another hit. Judge: Flashing Headlights To Warn of Speed Trap Is Protected Speech Posted by Walter Olson Florida cops have made a practice of ticketing drivers who warn others about speed traps by flashing their lights, despite uncertainty as to whether state law actually does prohibit such flashing. Now a judge in Sanford, Fla. has ruled that Ryan Kintner of Lake Mary not only was within his rights under state law when he flashed his headlights, but was engaging in speech protected by the First Amendment. [ Orlando Sentinel; cross-posted from Overlawyered]

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (133586)	5/24/2012 7:14:07 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	2 Recommendations Respond to of 224713

PoliticsObozo's 2008 magic past, Iowa all-out battleground Barack Obama, Shawn Ford, Jennifer Walter – Photo: AP More Photos (1 of 5) [iframe style="WIDTH: 107px; HEIGHT: 20px" class="twitter-share-button twitter-count-horizontal" title="Twitter Tweet Button" src="http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/tweet_button.1337330192.html#_=1337900829576&count=horizontal&id=twitter-widget-0&lang=en&original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mail.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2F1312966-obamas-2008-magic-past-iowa-all-out-battleground.html%23.7518-stage-hero1-4&size=m&text=Obama's%202008%20magic%20past%2C%20Iowa%20all-out%20battleground%23.7518-stage-hero1-4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mail.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2F1312966-obamas-2008-magic-past-iowa-all-out-battleground.html&via=maildotcom" frameBorder=0 allowTransparency scrolling=no][/iframe] [iframe src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mail.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2F1312966-obamas-2008-magic-past-iowa-all-out-battleground.html&layout=button_count&show_faces=false&width=400&action=like&font=arial&colorscheme=light&height=21" frameBorder=0 allowTransparency scrolling=no][/iframe] DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa magic that launched Barack Obama to the presidency four years ago has all but faded. Soured by the direction of the nation and its economy, Iowa has drifted away from Obama since his 2008 caucus victory over Hillary Rodham Clinton made him the Democratic front-runner. And while he carried the state in the general election by a comfortable margin that year, polls this year have shown voters narrowly preferring Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who plans to wage his own major effort in Iowa. Today, the Democrat who emerged Cinderella-like with a hope-filled message four years ago is sharply attacking Romney's economic credentials and his ability to grasp voters' everyday concerns. Obama's visit Thursday to blue-collar Newton, Iowa, and his Des Moines campaign rally near where Romney once declared that corporations are people, underscored the president's own vulnerability with working-class voters and his effort to identify with the middle class. In Newton, once the prosperous headquarters of Maytag appliances, Obama visited a wind-turbine plant to push his alternative energy agenda and delivered a message that could as well have applied to all of Iowa. "Yeah, we're facing tough times, but we're getting through them, we're getting though them together," he said. While offering only six of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency, how Iowa voters ultimately judge Obama is expected to be an important factor in the race. "Last time it was a lot more exciting. It was a new thing," said Nancy Bobo, a Des Moines Obama volunteer and one of his earliest Iowa backers in 2008. "Today, we're all just very serious." Obama was visiting a former Maytag Corp. appliance plant in Newton, a town devastated by the plant's closing in 2005. The plant now houses TPI Composites, a wind-turbine blade manufacturer. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, has made the struggling economy the centerpiece of his campaign. But Obama can point to comparatively low 5.1 percent unemployment in Iowa, where stable financial services and strong agriculture sectors buoyed the economy while manufacturing has struggled to rebound. Obama's Des Moines rally, his first in Iowa since announcing his candidacy for re-election, is symbolically set for the Iowa State Fairgrounds, within steps of where Romney declared last year that "corporations are people." Romney made the comment as he argued against raising taxes as a way of shoring up Social Security and Medicare. Members of the audience interrupted, calling for increased taxes on corporations, and Romney responded: "Corporations are people, my friend. ... Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people." The comment has been used by opponents to characterize Romney, a former private equity firm executive, as more comfortable in the boardroom than the shop floor. Obama's campaign has emphasized episodes in which Romney's former firm closed plants and laid off workers, and has aired a stinging TV ad on the subject in Iowa, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Obama himself has struggled to attract blue-collar voters, keys to winning struggling swing working-class regions such as southeast Ohio, western Pennsylvania and rural Iowa. Newton is the seat of Jasper County, Iowa, where unemployment was 7.1 percent in April, higher than Iowa's average but down sharply from last winter. While Iowa is known for its first-in-the-nation caucuses, it also is a coveted general election state, despite its small electoral total. Democrat Al Gore carried the state by less than a percentage point in 2000, followed by Republican George W. Bush's 2-point victory in 2004. The state shows a candidate's ability to win support in the heartland. It could help Romney in his effort to peel back states Obama won in 2008, or help Obama put Romney away. Obama has already spent more than $2.6 million on advertising, a pace as aggressive as in any other battleground state. He's been a regular visitor, and was making his second trip in a month. Yet the president's approval rating here has been stuck below 50 percent for over two years, softened in part by criticism from Republicans campaigning for Iowa's leadoff caucuses. Republican Terry Branstad took back the governorship easily from Democrat Chet Culver in 2010, as the GOP won back the state House and came close in the Senate. Polls show Iowans also have become increasingly bothered by federal spending, an issue Romney stoked in Des Moines last week in a visit where he promised to shrink the deficit. Iowans, many of whom met Obama in the 2008 campaign, also are disappointed by what they hoped would be a transcendent presidency, said J. Ann Selzer, the longtime director of The Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll. "You hear disaffection. You hear them say, 'This isn't what I paid for,'" Selzer said. "The guy they sent there to recast things wasn't able to do it." Obama made his latest trip to a swing state while his campaign manager, in Washington, privately updated Senate Democrats on the state of the race. Officials said Jim Messina told lawmakers the president has several possible paths to collecting the 270 electoral votes he needs for victory in November. But Messina also noted that Romney, the Republican Party and allied super PACs are likely to have a great deal of money to spend. Obama vastly outspent Republican John McCain in winning the White House four years ago, an advantage that Democrats appear unlikely to command in 2012. Romney senses the opening. He, too, has cultivated an Iowa network. Indeed, he campaigned aggressively for the 2008 caucuses during his narrowly losing bid for the state's delegates. And his campaign has begun running television ads in Iowa. Romney and the Republican National Committee have hired state directors and are hiring staff to run a dozen or more offices planned for Iowa. While Obama campaigned here, Romney spent Thursday visiting an inner city charter school in west Philadelphia. Romney was to spend the weekend in La Jolla, Calif., with his family.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (133586)	5/25/2012 7:26:23 AM
From: lorne	2 Recommendations Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 224713

‘Stand Your Ground’ backed in Florida, poll shows By TIM MAK 5/24/12 politico.com Despite increased scrutiny of Florida’s gun laws following the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, a majority of the state’s voters support the state’s Stand Your Ground law. Indeed, 56 percent of the registered voters in Florida support the law, compared with 35 percent who oppose it, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. The polling showed a notable racial divide: White voters supported the controversial law 61 percent to 31 percent; while Hispanic voters supported it 53 percent to 36 percent. Black voters are opposed, 56 percent to 30 percent. George Zimmerman, the man alleged to have shot Trayvon Martin, is of Hispanic descent, while Martin is black. Zimmerman has claimed that he shot Martin in self-defense during a confrontation in his Sanford, Fla., neighborhood on Feb. 26. Florida’s Stand Your Ground law allows individuals to use deadly force in their own defense. Meanwhile, support was strongest among Republicans, who supported it 78 percent to 15 percent, while independents supported it 58 percent to 35 percent. A majority of Democrats opposed it: 59 percent to 32 percent. Men were more likely to support the law than women, supporting it 65 percent to 31 percent. Women supported the law 48 percent to 39 percent. The Quinnipiac poll was conducted May 15-21 with a sample of 1,722 voters and a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (133586)	5/25/2012 7:39:34 AM
From: lorne	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224713

kenny....What is wrong with America when they would honor a person because they are queer/homosexual? It use to be a person was honored for some good accomplishment in their life. Being queer/homosexual is not IMO a great life accomplishment. You going to this party? Dem fundraiser honors 25th anniversary of Rep. Barney Frank's coming out By Josh Lederman - 05/24/12 thehill.com House Democrats will hold a fundraiser next week honoring the 25th anniversary of Rep. Barney's Frank (D-Mass.) coming out of the closet. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) will join Frank for a reception on the rooftop of El Centro DF, a popular Mexican restaurant in Northwest Washington. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.), another openly gay member of Congress, penned the email that the DCCC sent to supporters inviting them to the event. "Barney is an inspiration to all of us as one of the first openly gay congressmen to serve in the House," Polis wrote. "This event will be particularly moving for me as it will be one of our last events with him before he retires this year." Tickets for the May 30 event range from $100 for an individual to $5,000 for PACs or those who want to co-host the event. Democrats have been aggressively raising money from gay and lesbian donors and their allies in the two weeks since President Obama declared his support for gay marriage during a television interview. His campaign said it raised $1.5 million in the 90 minutes after the interview aired. A review of Obama's bundlers by The Washington Post found that 1 in 6 are openly gay. Frank revealed he was gay in 1987 in an interview with a reporter, becoming the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily. He became a leading voice for gay rights in the House during his 16 terms but announced in November his intention to retire from Congress. In January, Frank announced that he will marry his long-time partner, Jim Ready, in Massachusetts. More recently, Frank said that Obama won't be invited, citing the security headache it would create. "If he and Michelle wanted to come, I would be delighted and honored to have them, but he will bring the Secret Service," Frank told C-Span's "Newsmakers" program last Friday. "I don’t want to be accused of having shut down the entire region for a five-mile radius on a holiday weekend." Mike Lillis contributed.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (133586)	5/25/2012 7:41:56 AM
From: lorne	2 Recommendations Respond to of 224713

phillips ..Some racial stuff to start your day in the right left frame of mind. Unearthed: Young Obama took racial swipe at Colin Powell Implied 4-star general acceptable to 'white America' by Aaron Klein Friday, May 25, 2012 President Obama took an apparent racial swipe at Colin Powell in a 1994 NPR interview in which he implied the four-star general is acceptable to “white America.” In the same interview, Obama advocates that the government should provide jobs for every citizen and prenatal care for all women. Obama in 1994 was a community organizer and lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School. WND unearthed an Oct. 28, 1994, interview the future president gave to NPR in response to political scientist Charles Murray’s controversial book “The Bell Curve,” which argues that there are racial differences in intelligence. During the radio interview, Obama said “the idea that inferior genes account for the problems of the poor in general, and blacks in particular, isn’t new, of course.” “Racial supremacists have been using IQ tests to support their theories since the turn of the century,” he said. Obama accused Murray of “pushing a very particular policy agenda, specifically, the elimination of affirmative action and welfare programs aimed at the poor.” Obama then made the remarks about Powell. “With one finger out to the political wind, Mr. Murray has apparently decided that white America is ready for a return to good old-fashioned racism so long as it’s artfully packaged and can admit for exceptions like Colin Powell,” Obama said. While Obama clearly focused his ire on Murray, his singling out of Powell as acceptable to “white America” may raise some eyebrows. In 1994, Powell was coming out of a six-year high-profile stint as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, including during the first Gulf War. Radical black leaders have long taken racial swipes at Powell, accusing him of being a “sell out” and an “Uncle Tom” for joining Republican administrations. Such anti-Powell rhetoric, for example, was routine for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who in the 1990s was a regular guest lecturer at Obama’s Trinity United Church. In 1995, Obama, Wright and Al Sharpton marched in Farrakhan’s Oct. 16 Million Man March. In an Oct. 24, 1989, Washington, D.C., speech, Farrakhan even claimed Powell was planning “a war against the black people of America.” To this day, Farrakhan still sounds off about Powell. In an address in April, the extremist preacher called Powell “a black man in front of a policy to kill black people.” In the same speech, Farrakhan stated both Obama and Powell want a “pat on the back” from their “former slave-masters and their children.” In a May 2003 speech sponsored by Harvard Law School, Sharpton likened Powell and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to subservient house slaves. In a 2007 Tennessee speech, Sharpton was asked by an audience member whether Powell and Rice are “house Negros.” Sharpton replied: “I don’t know that they are viewed as house Negros in the term. I believe that they are in the house and the rest of us are in the field. So it would not be an inaccurate description.” In 2002, actor and activist Harry Belafonte compared Powell to a plantation slave who moves into the slave owner’s house and says only things that will please his master. “Colin Powell’s committed to come into the house of the master. When Colin Powell dares to suggest something other than what the master wants to hear, he will be turned back out to pasture.” In 2008, Powell crossed party lines and endorsed then-Sen. Obama, calling him a “transformational figure.” But now Powell is shrinking away from the topic every time a pundit asks him if he will throw his support behind Obama this election year. The Associated Press reports that he credits Obama with stabilizing the financial system and “fixing the auto industry” but says the president should have spent more time improving the economy, lowering the unemployment rate and closing Guantanamo. Earlier this week, Powell told NBC’s Matt Lauer: “I feel as a private citizen that I ought to listen to what the president says and what the president has been doing. but I know I also have to listen to what the other fellow is saying. I’ve known Mitt Romney for many years, good man. … I’m still listening to what the Republicans are saying they’re going to do to fix the fiscal problems we have, to get the economy moving. I think I owe that to the Republican Party.” Powell is currently promoting his new book, “It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership,” a compilation of lessons learned and anecdotes drawn from his childhood in the Bronx, his military service and his work under four U.S. presidents. The book also includes Powell’s candid thoughts on the lead-up to the war in Iraq in 2003. Government provided jobs, healthcare In the NPR interview, Obama also advocated massive government expansion over jobs and health care. “Real opportunity would mean quality prenatal care for all women and well-funded and innovative public schools for all children,” he said. “Real opportunity would mean a job at a living wage for everyone who was willing to work, jobs that can return some structure and dignity to people’s lives and give inner-city children something more than a basketball rim to shoot for.” Obama said that in the short run, “such ladders of opportunity are going to cost more, not less, than either welfare or affirmative action.” “But, in the long run, our investment should pay off handsomely,” he said. “That we fail to make this investment is just plain stupid. It’s not the result of an intellectual deficit. It’s the result of a moral deficit.” With additional research by Brenda J. Elliott