COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Saturday, April 27, 2013

The Pigford Pig Fest.




The great farm robbery

By Washington Times April 5, 2013 6:50 am         

Two years ago, an editorial in The Washington Times demanded an investigation of the billions of dollars in payouts to blacks who asserted that they were wrongly denied subsidized farm loans. Congress conducted no investigation, and the Obama administration recently promised at least $1.3 billion to women and Hispanics who asserted that they, too, had been victims of U.S. Department of Agriculture discrimination. Before any new claimant classes race to court, it is time to recognize the profound flaws in the archetype for absolving USDAs alleged sins.
When the Clinton administration settled the initial class-action lawsuit, named after Timothy Pigford, the original claimant in 1999, analysts expected only a few thousand legitimate claims. However, more than 90,000 blacks asserted that they were wrongly denied farm loans or other USDA benefits in the 1980s and 1990s.
This was surprising because there were at most 33,000 black- operated farms nationwide in that period. But that number itself was wildly inflated by USDA methodology. Anyone who sells more than $1,000 in agricultural commodities the equivalent of 150 bushels of wheat or one horse is categorized by USDA a bona fide farmer.
The vast majority of those 30,000-plus black-operated farms were either hobby farms or part-time endeavors. Half of black-operated farms in the mid-1980s had gross sales of less than $2,500 per year and almost 90 percent had gross sales of less than $20,000, according to a 2001 report by the Land Tenure Center at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Small farms are far less efficient and productive than large-scale farms, which helps explain why average farmers (both white and black) with less than $20,000 in annual sales consistently lost money every year in the 1980s.
Then there were the claimants who merely "attempted to farm." David Frantz, one of the lead counsels for the Pigford claimants, explained in late 2010 how the settlement class vastly expanded. CNS.com reported: "The case is not limited to those who were farming, Mr. Frantz added, but included those who were prevented from farming because they did not get USDA loans. 'I personally worked with many, many young individuals who went through that, Mr. Frantz said. 'A typical scenario would be that 'I was born and raised on a farm, and then I went into the Army after high school. When I came back, I wanted to get back into farming, and I went to the Farm Service Agency to get a loan so I could rent some land. My uncle was going to rent me 250 acres, so I was going to raise beans. I went to get a loan, and they turned me down. Thats a very common scenario."
According to Mr. Frantz, "I was going to raise beans" is sufficient grounds to demand and receive $50,000 in restitution from fellow Americans. Some Pigford claimants were lavishly compensated because they did not receive subsidized loans for which they never applied. In other cases, black farmers were certified as discrimination victims because USDA refused to give them a new subsidized loan after they failed to repay prior subsidized loans.
The Pigford settlements may also have involved "massive fraud and cynical political opportunism," according to Peter Kirsanow, member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. As early as 2004, then-Rep. Marion Berry, Arkansas Democrat, warned his constituents that "some organizations are attempting to profit from black farmers by extorting funds in exchange for the promise of filing a claim under Pigford.... I am concerned by methods used by some to wrongfully profit off of false claims against USDA."
National Review noted in 2011: "John Stringfellow, a farm-loan supervisor covering six Arkansas counties, called Pigford 'the largest scam against federal taxpayers in the history of the United States, saying that among the 800 or so claims he personally received, more than 80 percent had never applied to USDA assistance programs, nor farmed at all."
The federal government has been lax in policing in part because Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. pledged to Pigford claimants that they would see the "federal government standing not as an adversary, but as a partner."
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that most of those claims were "evaluated based solely on the information submitted by the claimants and, as a result, the adjudicator of these claims has no way of independently verifying that information." It was as if requiring clear evidence would have simply compounded the damage from the original discrimination.
When Agriculture Secretary Thomas J. Vilsack announced another round of payouts to Pigford claimants in 2010, he declared, "We have worked hard to address USDAs checkered past so we can get to the business of helping farmers succeed." Mr. Vilsack ignores the ultimate Pigford fallacy: that USDA loans are magic beans that automatically turn recipients into successful farmers. In reality, legions of farmers went bankrupt in the 1980s because they received too many subsidized loans, according to the GAO. Farmers Home Administration chief Vance Clark told me in 1988 that some loan applicants "dont even possess the basic farming ability they are selling used cars and they decide to come to us and become a farmer." Still, Congress pressured USDA to shovel out loans to uncreditworthy borrowers, and many recipients financially destroyed themselves as a result.
If the Obama administration wants to truly help both taxpayers and farmers, it should abolish subsidized USDA loans. "No handouts and no favoritism" is an equal opportunity policy that would do justice to Americans of all races, creeds and occupations.
---
James Bovard is the author most recently of a new e-book memoir, “Public Policy Hooligan" (Sixth Street Books, 2012).

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

68 comments:

  1. Obama should be impeached over this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Case was filed in 1997.

      I have no problem with impeaching Obama. I can think of other more substantial reasons.

      But, whatever sinks his boat.

      Alas, he won't be, and no one in the cities will understand nor care about Pigford.

      Delete
    2. Ask the kids at the pot fest in Colorado if they have ever heard of Pigford.


      Probably might think it's some of Ford hog hauling truck.

      Delete
  2. Heh, I was just reading about this on Real Clear Politics.

    Here is the article I was reading -

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/us/farm-loan-bias-claims-often-unsupported-cost-us-millions.html?pagewanted=8&_r=0&pagewanted=all

    Pigford has been around for a long time. I am surprised it gets any press at all.

    By the way, if you need a USDA loan, you are not going to make it in the long run anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  3. More than 20,000 Hispanic farmers have filed claims with the United States Department of Agriculture over alleged loan discrimination, a top USDA administrator said.

    The USDA is making a final push to get Hispanic farmers who believe they have been discriminated against to file a claim before the May 1 deadline. Already 65,000 claim forms have been sent out, but officials are unsure how many of those forms will actually be returned.

    "The Secretary (Tom Vilsack) extended the deadline to May 1 because he wanted to make sure (that farmers) have their issues addressed," Lillian Salerno, acting administrator for Rural Business Service, told HispanicBusiness.com.

    The government announced in early 2012 it was setting up a settlement fund of $1.3 billion for cash awards, tax relief payments and farm debt relief. The fund is to cover certain periods between 1981 and 2000.

    Salerno said the general claims the USDA is seeing are from from farmers who were denied applications when they visited a local USDA office or were discouraged from taking part in the loan process. In some news reports, female farmers contend they were denied loan forgiveness while their white male counterparts were granted it.

    Settling potential claims and correcting the USDA's troubled civil right issue has been a pressing concern for President Obama and Secretary Vilsack. This program for Hispanic farmers and women is separate from the $1.25 billion Pigford II settlement with African-American farmers and the $760 million Keepseagle settlement with Native American farmers.

    Farmers need to file a claim -- whether it's complete or not -- by May 1 or lose rights in the claim process, Salerno said. "The most important thing to know is that the deadline is rapidly approaching," she said. "They must file a claim, or they can't be pulled from the fire."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      Salerno said the general claims the USDA is seeing are from from farmers who were denied applications when they visited a local USDA office...


      Heck, get me an application, I vaguely remember they were out of applications when I applied back in '95 to cover the organic garden I set up on my back porch.

      .

      Delete
    2. I did eat at Taco Bell once. It was next to a farmer’s market and I vaguely recall buying some fresh organic corn and a shoe-fly-pie from two homely Amish girls. Upon arriving home, I discovered the corn had more than my normal acceptable allowance of one worm per ear and I composted them, thus tying in the Hispanic connection and the organic farming.

      Delete
    3. The trauma came from the worms. The damage in that I lost my appetite for the shoe-fly-pie. 50K please.

      Delete
    4. Quirk you can get one on the internet, go to Applications, Pigford, USDA. Print out a copy, one for your wife too.

      Fill it out carefully and don't worry about telling the truth. Nobody is checking and nobody cares. Not that you don't qualify, you obviously do.

      Make sure to check the two boxes that say:

      Organic Farming Benefits Apply

      and

      Urban Farming Benefits Apply

      Have your wife do the same on her application.

      Then all you do is mail it in to USDA.


      Turn around time on your money due is about three weeks.

      Delete
    5. .

      Thanks.

      We can use a vacation. Fifty grand ought to about cover it.

      .

      Delete
    6. For a real vacation, I would suggest, on the line where it says 'acreage', simply take the 1/ out of 1/2, add a couple of zeros there behind the remaining 2, and then add an 's' to acre.

      World Tour!

      Delete
  4. 2014 Budget for USDA is $124 billion. WE don’t need any of it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The USDA is a statist’s dream child agency. Good old killer and buggerer, Abraham Lincoln, founded the United States Department of Agriculture in 1862.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :):)

      I knew it must have been all Abe's fault.

      (Though I think at the time he was probably thinking in terms of settlement out west, and needed a department to deal with that)

      These days, the USDA should be renamed the Food Stamp and Nutrition Department, as something like 80% of the funding goes to that, both for here and abroad.

      Delete
  6. Off topic in Iraq

    Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has appeared to lay the blame for rising sectarian violence in Iraq on the civil war in Syria, saying in televised remarks that auch strife "came back to Iraq, because it began in another place in this region".

    More than 215 people have been killed in five days of bloody violence that began with clashes between security forces and protesters in the north on Tuesday and have sent tensions soaring.

    Speaking on Saturday, Maliki said: "Sectarianism is evil, and the wind of sectarianism does not need a licence to cross from a country to another, because if it begins in a place, it will move to another place.

    "Strife is knocking on the doors of everyone, and no one will survive if it enters, because there is a wind behind it, and money, and plans."

    Maliki also called on anti-government protesters to expel "criminals" who targeted Iraqi forces in a statement made on Saturday, while the head of the Sahwa, an anti-al-Qaeda armed group, threatened dire consequences if fighters who killed four soldiers on Saturday were not handed over.

    Gunmen killed the four army intelligence soldiers and wounded a fifth in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

    Al Jazeera's Omar Al Saleh, reporting from Baghdad, said: "Four soldiers in civilian clothes have been killed and a fifth injured near a protest site in Ramadi.

    "The men were stopped by gunmen protecting the protest. It's not clear how things developed and what led to the killing. Some say they were intelligence agents, others say they were soldiers on leave and were stopped."

    A commander of the Anbar police gave protesters 24 hours to turn in the men who killed the soldiers or face a heavy response.

    Iraqi security forces have announced a curfew from 9pm until 4am in the large Sunni-majority Anbar Province in a bid to contain violence.

    ReplyDelete
  7. USDA: WE DON'T CHECK IMMIGRATION STATUS FOR FOOD STAMPS...drudge

    Why of course not. Undocumented Democrats should come here and eat our food for free. Should get welfare checks too, like the Boston bombers. And free housing. And in-state tuition, or even no tuition at all. And they certainly shouldn't learn English.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All our signs should be in Spanish as well as English.

      And there should be free translators for more difficult tasks, like responding to a criminal charge. And free lawyers too, provided by the taxpayers. And they should be on juries, and get a jury of their peers, that is, a jury made up of other Undocumented Democrats.

      Delete
    2. And the Undocumented Democrats should be allowed to join Pigford and file a discrimination complaint. After all some have worked the fields. That should qualify them as 'farmers'.

      Delete
  8. Just a little off topic - here's a physicist, arguing against the grain of the other physicists and Kant, that argues that time is real, and not a mode of human perception, a category of human understanding --

    "If I think the future's already written, then the things that are most valuable about being human are illusions along with time," Smolin said. "We still aspire to make choices in life. That is a precious part of our humanity. If the real metaphysical picture is that there are just atoms moving in the void, then nothing is ever new and nothing's ever surprising — it's just the rearrangement of atoms. There's a loss of responsibility as well as a loss of human dignity."

    http://www.livescience.com/29081-time-real-illusion-smolin.html

    Kant defended freedom and free will, human dignity, choice, moral responsibility, life beyond death, and the validity of belief in the same.


    ReplyDelete
  9. Just a little more off topic:

    Astronomers at the University of Auckland claim that there are actually around 100 billion habitable, Earth-like planets in the Milky Way — significantly more than the previous estimate of around 17 billion. There are roughly 500 billion galaxies in the universe, meaning there is somewhere in the region of 50,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (5×1022) habitable planets. I’ll leave you to do the math on whether one of those 50 sextillion planets has the right conditions for nurturing alien life or not.

    But of all of them throughout all time this planet of ours is truly the one that god loves the most and focuses all his time. Honestly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, no, God being infinite, unlimited, eternal, he can easily handle them all.

      And have plenty of 'time' left to spare.





      :)

      Delete
    2. Some far, no sign of all those folks on the other planets, and we've been looking.

      I think there must be 'somebody' out there, but, maybe not. Which would really make things seem ever stranger.

      Thomas Carlyle: A sad spectacle. If they be inhabited, what a scope for misery and folly. If they be not inhabited, what a waste of space.

      :)

      If they be inhabited, Pat Robertson might say, what a scope for proselytism.

      I mention Pat because my wife just noticed him on TV, still going good it seems.

      Delete
  10. Anybody see this --

    http://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/26/video-maryland-lawmakers-not-surprised-by-massive-prison-scandal/

    Maryland prison turned over to top dog inmate, four prison guards impregnated, etc, etc, etc.

    Guy ran the place, called the shots.

    ReplyDelete
  11. But, you see, the USDA really did do all those bad, discriminatory things (remember Earl Butz?)

    Anyway, the settlement didn't start under Obama; but it "might" end under him.

    I hate to see my friends playing the fool. I suggest you all cool your jets a bit, because as crazy as the Republican Party has gone, it's going to be at least 7 more years before you have the slightest chance of seeing a successful National Campaign from the Grand Old Nutz Party (and, probably, 11.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There was some of it, particularly down south. Also, though, many of these people were complaining that they were turned down for loans that even Fanny and Freddie would not make. They had no prospect at all of ever paying them back. It would just delay the inevitable. But, they have reaped a fair crop with this class action suit.

      Delete
    2. It was all over the place. I know it happened in Missouri, because I knew one of the victims.

      This one's a loser, boys.

      Delete
    3. They'll be going the way of the Whigs.

      Delete
    4. However, confronted with the skyrocketing federa
      l deficit, more official
      s are taking a critical
      look at the billion dollars spent thus far and w
      ondering when these discrimination cases will ever
      end.
      Already, the number of people who have been
      paid and are still seeking payment will
      likely exceed the 26,785 black farm
      ers who were considered to ev
      en be operating back in
      1997
      , according to USDA. That’s the year the case
      initially began as Pigford v. (then Agriculture
      Secretary) Glickman and sources pred
      icted that, at most, 3,000 might qualify.
      At least one source who is extremely familia
      r with the issue and who asked to remain
      anonymous because of potential retribution, says
      there are a number of legitimate cases who
      have long been denied their payments and w
      ill benefit from the additional funding. But many
      more appear to have been solicited in an attemp
      t to “game” the Pigford system. For example, our
      www.Agri-Pulse.com
      2
      source said a large number
      of late filers had similar zip code
      s in large Ohio cities, suggesting a
      door to door effort might have take
      n place to find likely candidates.



      http://www.agri-pulse.com/uploaded/20100527%20Pigford.pdf


      www.Agri-Pulse.com
      1
      USDA’s Pigford case: More claims than Black farmers
      By Sara Wyant
      © Copyright Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc.
      Washington, May 27– “The Pigford case is
      controversial, and
      always will be.”


      Pretty good and fair look at the situation.

      Delete
    5. I'm not trying to point the finger at black farmers. I know there was discrimination. But the figures seem to show that every black farmer in the United States was discriminated against, which is not even close to the truth. The numbers are now more than every black farmer in the United States.

      A cynic might say that farmers are addicted to free money, and they wouldn't be wholly wrong.

      Those people in the Ohio cities filing claims - well, it's not limited to Ohio - there has been a recent article about someone outside of Detroit filing a claim on a 200 acre organic farm and claiming urban benefits too. He was overheard saying he wanted to take his wife on a world tour, said he was tired of working. People interviewed who know the guy said he has never worked in his life, at least not on a farm. But he filed the application, and now faces 7 years in prison, and a $500,000 dollar fine.

      Delete
    6. The Libertarian Party will never even make Whig status.

      Delete
    7. The most recent falling star of the Libertarian movement is a guy named Rand Paul, Senator from Kentucky. Technically a Republican, he ran as a Republican to take advantage of the party's apparatus and name recognition.


      He made a big stew in the Senate by speaking out against the use of drones inside the United States against civilians.

      Later however he said he was cool with droning someone who had robbed a liquor store of $50.

      I know it is hard to understand that position, but the clue is the Libertarians are really confused people, always wanting to grandstand and blaming others for everything that is wrong or might go wrong.

      The truth is none of them could run the Water Department of a medium sized city, much less the sewage treatment plant.

      Delete
    8. You don't understand; it doesn't matter. The Pubs are seen as the one whining about overpaying a group of people that have been treated horribly by the government (and, I'm not referring, only, to black farmers.

      The Republicans can no longer win national election by "getting out their base," and picking off just a few poor whites that are dumb enough to vote against their own self-interests.

      Delete
    9. Rand Paul is a REPUBLICAN.

      His father, a Texas REPUBLICAN, though he dipped his toes in the Libertarian stew a couple of times.

      The is no doubt that the Libertarian PARTY will not rise in stature.
      But Librarian Principles ARE gaining ground amongst the electorate.

      That the GOP is really out of touch with the electorate ...

      Evidenced by the "Tea Party"

      Delete
    10. Even though for the most part, the Tea Party is merely politically active welfare recipients trying to protect their benefits. Protecting and expanding Social Security and Medicare benefits their highest priorities.

      But that these folks did not feel "at home" in the GOP, undeniable.
      Librarian principles, even as articulated by Dr Paul, polled well across Party lines.

      GOP principles, articulated by Mitt Romney did not.

      Delete
    11. .

      You don't understand; it doesn't matter. The Pubs are seen as the one whining about overpaying a group of people that have been treated horribly by the government (and, I'm not referring, only, to black farmers.


      :)


      .

      Delete
    12. The GOP is fading into oblivion.
      What its replacement will be ...

      What did Ross Perot call his "Party"? I don't recall, but there, too, is more evidence that the GOP base was slipping away. That erosion now seems to be accelerating.

      Delete
    13. About one of a thousand people has ever heard of Pigford, Rufus, and most of those that have either don't care or have forgotten or both.

      ....

      Rand Paul is a REPUBLICAN.

      Which is exactly what I said above.

      He highjacked the Republican label to get elected, just like his father.

      There is no doubt that the Libertarian PARTY will not rise in stature.

      I believe that is true. And there are some Libertarian principles which most Republicans also hold. At least out this way.


      That the GOP is really out of touch with the electorate ...

      Evidenced by the "Tea Party"


      Most people who went to a Tea Party event are pretty much like my wife and I. Fed up with taxes, mostly. Doesn't mean we don't vote Republican. Especially when a sunni commie is the alternative.

      The surmise about the demise of the Republican Party is a little premature. I was reading about the demise of the Democratic Party just not so long ago, three or four elections back.


      Delete
    14. the Tea Party is merely politically active welfare recipients trying to protect their benefits. Protecting and expanding Social Security and Medicare benefits their highest priorities.

      That's odd. My wife and I have voted Republican all our lives. In youth, middle age and now.

      Delete
    15. Whoever wrote that about the Dems, anon, was dumber than Mitt Romney.

      Mr Romney understood and articulated that the majority of the seniors collecting their SS and Medicare welfare benefits would vote for the Democrats. He understood and articulated that the 47% of the people in the US that collect benefits would not, for the most part, vote GOP.

      Those demographic trends are accelerating.

      Or did Mr Romney get it wrong?

      Delete
    16. Ross Perot is more evidence, if any is needed, that third parties like the Libertarian Party only help the democrats. Without Perot we wouldn't have had Clinton. With Clinton, we may even his damn wife.

      I think his party was called the Reform Party. Had an admiral as vice president candidate.

      Delete
    17. I am uncertain about the demographic trends. But they don't look rosey.

      Delete
    18. Yep, you're the demographic. White male over, I guess, 35, and Married white woman. But, that's no longer enough to get you to a majority.

      Too many Hispanics, and Blacks, and Single Women, and Asian-Americans, and young people voting.

      And, the GOP is steadily alienating all of the above groups. A pure political suicide.

      Delete
    19. Google Search

      tea party medicare - images

      https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1366&bih=665&q=tea+party+medicare&oq=tea+party+medicare&gs_l=img.12...0.0.0.6008.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0...1ac..11.img.AHKGm11ZTh0

      Delete
    20. Poll: 70 Percent of "Tea Party Supporters" Oppose Medicare Cuts

      By David Weigel
      Posted Tuesday, April 19, 2011


      http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2011/04/19/poll_70_percent_of_tea_party_supporters_oppose_medicare_cuts.html

      Delete
    21. Just barely over thirty five, myself. By thirty five, if you haven't woken up a bit, you are unlikely to ever do so.

      In your case, I see you, who voted for Bush, before being sucked in by a true con man, as trying to these days recapture your youth through politics.

      :)

      Delete
    22. The Democrats, at least until now, have always opposed Medicare cuts.

      I remember an ad showing some decrepit old lady in a wheelchair being pushed over a cliff by.....Republicans.

      The Democrats have a less theatrical plan - simply have The Board cut off your medicine whenever they feel you are now longer worth it.

      Delete
    23. Whether or not the demise of the GOP benefits the Democrats will not be a salient point, as the GOP implodes.

      Delete
    24. And Democrats have always opposed cuts to Social Security.

      The cuts these days are coming in by simply not including anything in the cost of living adjustments whose price is rising or likely to rise.

      Delete
    25. Well, we'll see. I am out of the political predicting business, but I think the Republicans will pick up some seats in the 1214 elections, in both the House and the Senate. That is not a prediction, just a hunch.

      Delete
    26. I wish Max Baucus hadn't dropped out. He seemed to sense he was going to lose, so announced retirement.

      Delete
    27. .

      I haven't checked lately, but I have to agree with Farmer Bob, it's a little early to be predicting the Dems running the table any time soon. I recall after the November election the NYT pointing out that the Dems would have to do much better in 2014 than they did in 2012 if they hoped to take the House. Likewise, at about the same time, the WaPo pointed out that there is a chance they could lose the Senate, with 9 out of 10 of the seats they viewed as possibly shifting being Democratic.

      However, were Hillary to run, it could be a different ball game in 2016. There doesn't appear to be any Pub currently being talked about that could stop her. Likewise, similar to Obama and the black vote, Hillary would command the women vote (for much the same reasons IMO) and the demographics of that would likely be telling.

      And while having Hillary as POTUS in 2016 seems likely (if she runs), I wouldn't exactly be sanguine about it. In my opinion, she proved her incompetence as SOS and, because she was one of the chief hawks in the Obama administration, she'd likely continue the foreign policy interventions we have come to expect from the boys (and girls) in OZ.

      .

      Delete
    28. .

      Ruf says the GOP is committing suicide and the rat says they are imploding.

      It's hard to argue with that given their propensity for following the lemmings over the edge.

      That being said, I see some encouraging signs recently. The way they played the latest continuing resolution, debt ceiling, and sequestration were, IMO, fairly astute. They no longer appeared on the defensive.

      And looking at it from the other side, everything isn't exactly rosy for the Dems. Obama's rating have been dropping. He has been blamed by his own people for standing aloof from the signature goals he set out for himself in his final four years. Gun control and immigration reform are dragging. And despite the numbers we see thrown out here, Obama has been in office going on five years and any recovery we have seen has been a one sided recovery with the benefits going to Wall Street not Main Street. Unemployment remains high, wages remain flat, and middle class taxes are going up. At some point, the sheeple may just ask, "What have you done for me lately?"

      Likely they will be told, "That info is classified."

      :)

      .

      Delete
    29. No, the Dems won't break through in the House any time soon (and, the Pubs, most likely, won't get control of the Senate in 2014 - even though the seats in play greatly advantage them.) You'll notice, I was careful to specify "national" elections.

      But, nationally, the Pubs are in a mess - at least, until they can break the tea party fever, and get themselves back to the land of the living.

      Delete
    30. .

      Don't get me wrong, I am not predicting a major revival for the GOP especially with 2016 coming up. Without a compelling candidate (one I don't see as yet), that revival seems a distant dream. However, I also think it's kind of early to be predicting their suicide or implosion, mainly because of economic reasons. At some point, the sheeple will get tired of hearing "It's George Bush's fault" or "The Republican are the reason I can't get anything done." Heck, I got tired of hearing it a couple years ago.

      Likewise, there are a number of known unknowns out there anyone of which has the 'potential' to rise up and bite us in the ass which would likely work to the detriment of the party in power.

      When thinking of 2012 and beyond, it's always good to remember 2010.

      .

      Delete
    31. They have to flip a demographic. The only one that I can see them having a hair of a chance with is Hispanics. And, here's how the Hispanices polled in 2012:

      1) Strongly positive on Obamacare

      2) In favor of abortions being legal

      3) Strongly pro-birth control

      4) Strongly in favor of a higher minimum wage


      How're the Pubs doing so far?

      Delete
    32. .

      I suspect they are also strongly pro-job.

      On abortion, as I said in all the polls it depends on how the question is asked. I have seen national polls where the majority of people say they want abortion to be legal. However, when you get to the detailed questions the majority do not favor abortion on demand. Instead they want it restricted to circumstances like rape, incest, or the health of the mother. The Spanish, at least from what I have read, are generally a pretty conservative people.

      On the minimum wage, I'm not sure what the latest consensus is among the GOP. Regardless, on this one, having a job is the key. You need one before you can worry about a raise. Unemployment here is one of the reasons cited for the slowing of immigrants coming from the south.

      .

      Delete
    33. What are the symptoms of "Tea Pary Fever?"

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete
  13. Didn't know they had done this -

    The possibility of an Israeli strike on Iran gained additional traction on Monday, when US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon announced in Tel Aviv an unprecedented US sale of advanced military equipment to Israel, including radar systems, missiles, refueling planes and V-22 planes, which would greatly increase the IAF’s capacity to carry out a long-range attack.


    ‘Iran already past nuclear red line,’ expert says
    Former IDF intel chief says Tehran will be able to break out to the bomb this summer; calls for drastic increase in sanctions

    http://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-already-past-nuclear-red-line-expert-says/

    Red lines are being crossed everywhere.

    Refueling planes.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. .

      I recall seeing an article that said this stuff won't actually hit Israel until 2015.

      Which is worse for the U.S. if in fact they end up providing U.S. planes and equipment.

      .

      Delete
  14. I also voted for McCain. A purely racist vote in that I realized at the time that Obama was on the right side of almost all of the issues.

    It was along about 2011 that I realized that the Pubs were just absolutely out to lunch, and that they were touting policies for disaster.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brilliant.

      And congratulations on no longer being a racist.

      Took a while.

      The most leftist President in History is on the right side of almost all of the issues.

      Roger,

      Over and Out.

      Delete
    2. Ah, an admitted racist, eh?

      Now finally the truth comes out.

      Let's see now, what have you called me on occasion? Oh, I remember......

      I voted against Obama because he is a liar, a fraud, doesn't know what he is doing, is not a Natural Born Citizen, is a commie and a sunni, voted to put children that survive abortions in the clothes hamper, and many other things.

      I also voted for Sarah Palin, but not really McCain.

      Romney is competent, I voted for him.

      My votes have never been about race. It's just that the first time a black runs for President he isn't really an American black, he's a Kenyan via a crazy white bitch, a commie and a sunni. Give me Col. West.

      Delete
    3. .

      :)

      The same thought ran thru my mind. As a matter of fact, I copied the post and saved it for the next time he accuses me of being a racist.

      The word projection comes to mind.

      .

      Delete
  15. Forget the government’s measly $50K:

    God Bless You
    From:
    Saeed Ahmed
    Sent:
    Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 12:38 am
    To:
    undisclosed-recipients
    --
    I am Saeed Ahmed,a real estate agent in UNITED EMIRATE UAE. I have been
    diagnosed with Oesophageal cancer, I am contacting you again to confirm if you
    received my previous email regarding your consent in helping me in
    distributing
    18 Million USA Dollars to orphanage homes, the needy and widows , Kindly
    revert to this email if you have a kind heart to proceed.Contact me
    through my
    private email address:saeedah@mynet.com,

    Thank you for reading my email.

    Mr. Saeed Ahmed

    Yours Faithfully,
    Saeed Ahmed

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sir, send the money to Quirk. He will know what to do with it. He wants to go on a vacation. Quirk is needy himself, and has worked all his life helping orphans, widows, AIDS victims and all the other needy, including street people. It should be his time now.

      Delete
  16. Where have I heard this argument before? It seems familiar somehow -


    gtavenger

    why do conservatives continue to all but deify lincoln? he was arguably the worst president in american history. he ignored the constitution, invaded and conqured a foriegn, sovereign nation which led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, and set into motion the rapid expansion of the federal government eliminating states rights and the people ability to control their local government!
    AND HE DID NOT END SLAVERY! the 13th amendment to the constitution did that. which by the way the confederate states were FORCED to ratify upon their FORCED readmission into the union. clearly in violation of the constitution which does not grant congress the authority to compel any to enter, or remain a part of that union.
    so yeah, id say obama comparing himself to lincoln really isnt that much of a stretch.



    Mike_Konrad

    why do conservatives continue to all but deify lincoln? he was arguably the worst president in american history. he ignored the constitution,

    Spare me the Noble South routine.

    The only states right they were defending is the right to own slaves.

    Had the South seceded successfully, the British and French would have then cut up our American Republic into successively smaller units more easily manipulated.

    Britain would then have encouraged Texan Independence out to the Mississipppi and then would have declared the Mississippi an international Waterway.

    There is a reason 19th century America called Britian, Perfidious Albion.

    As for the South, its sole raison d'etre was slavery. The states rights claim was a sham. Everything other states right was either given to them or negotiated satisfactorily,

    Our system commits no such violation of nature's laws. With us, all of the white race, however high or low, rich or poor, are equal in the eye of the law. Not so with the negro. Subordination is his place. He, by nature, or by the curse against Canaan, is fitted for that condition which he occupies in our system. - Alexander Stephens - V.P. Confederacy.

    Lincoln was God's man in the right place. Imperfect, but do not give me your Southern Honor nonsense.

    The South was built on the rotting corpse of slavery.

    The North was not innocent, but do not give me the wonderful South either.


    April 28, 2013
    Lincoln Immortal?
    By Jason Stevens


    http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/04/lincoln_immortal.html

    ReplyDelete