The Election 2012 App
A one-stop destination for the latest political news —
from The Times and other top sources. Plus opinion, polls, campaign
data and video.
Coming to Kindle and Smashwords
November 2013
Nov 13, 2012
The cool science behind a really cute video of a "snoring" hummingbird
Lifelike robo-fish at Tokyo Toy Fair
Nov 12, 2012
Artisanal DIY Sriracha: HOWTO homebrew "rooster sauce," without the chemical preservatives
"Food is naturally different. So, I just really want to honor that variety and let the chili peppers do the talking." Meet Jolene Collins, the founder and artisan behind Jojo's Sriracha in Brooklyn, NY. Jolene is obsessed with sriracha. She discovered the chili sauce at age 15, when, in a hunger frenzy, she coated her tuna sandwich and potato chips with the unfamiliar condiment. When she recounts the story, you can see she remembers it as if time stopped. It was a moment she'll never forget. A moment that maybe, just maybe, foreshadowed her destiny. So, enjoy Jolene's spicy little story about the unlocked potential of the sriracha you know and, probably, love. She'll have you convinced that her artisan sriracha, is so much more than the average cock sauce. Thanks so much for supporting food. curated. and small artisans! Happy Eating!To find out where to purchase this one-of-a-kind sriracha, visit
Fake William Gibson novels, tweeted
Australo-Prussian tugs in LEO scuttled to avoid capture by Hardee's exoatmospheric weapons & chicken division. Zürcher calfskin watchbands?
Unknown weirdo creates pastiche of iconic SF author, constructing textual Cornell boxes, filled with snippets of cyberpunk microplots...
...internet dorks disappointed that it's not a whirring, molybdenum-cased Markov robot pecking the keys of a 1892 Blickensderfer typewriter.
Nov 11, 2012
All Ballots Counted, Allen West Solidly Defeated By Patrick Murphy
Murphy won a total of 166,799 votes to West's 164,370, the Palm Beach Post reported. That puts Murphy ahead by 2,429 votes and gives him a 0.7 percent advantage. Florida law only requires a recount when the margin is 0.5 percent or less.
Palm Beach County officials were up until 4:45 a.m. Saturday counting all remaining ballots cast during early voting, on Election Day, absentee ballots and other problematic ballots, the Palm Beach Post reported.
The race in Florida's 18th Congressional District still hasn't been officially called. Palm Beach officials must submit their results to state officials for them to become official, but Saturday's final vote tally all but ensures the race is over.
Murphy already declared victory on election night and NBC called the race for him that night, but West still hasn't conceded. In addition to declaring on his Facebook page that the race is "far from decided," West filed lawsuits to have ballots and voting machines impounded in Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties. The judge in Palm Beach threw the case out on Friday, though, telling West's lawyers that their arguments fell "woefully short" of what was required for an injunction. A St. Lucie judge is slated to hear West's case on Tuesday.
A West campaign spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Murphy's campaign is ready to move on.
"As expected, the election night results have been confirmed, and it is time to put the campaign behind us," Murphy campaign spokesman Anthony Kusich said in a statement. "Patrick looks forward to representing the treasure coast and palm beaches in Washington and working with both parties to get Florida back to work."
UPDATE: 6:14 p.m. -- The state of Florida certified Murphy as the winner of the race later Saturday.
"As expected, the Election Night results have been confirmed,” Murphy said in a statement. “It is now time to put the campaign behind us. I am honored that the voters of the Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches have chosen me to be their voice in Congress. Regardless of whether they voted for me or my opponent, I am committed to representing the interests of all residents of Florida’s 18th Congressional district in Washington.”
UPDATE: 2:50 p.m. -- West campaign spokesman Tim Edson said the race still isn't over.
"Race remains undecided. Before moving forward, the St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections must make public the poll book counts from Election Day and early voting. Given the dramatic late night swing in votes in St. Lucie County, we want to ensure that early votes were not double counted. The only way to know that is to compare the poll books to the actual number of votes cast. We are hopeful the Supervisor of Elections will cooperate and make that data available for inspection," Edson said in a statement to The Huffington Post.
Karl Rove under fire
Karl Rove is feeling the heat.
The face of the historic $1 billion plan to unseat President Barack Obama and turn the Senate Republican, Rove now finds himself the leading scapegoat for its failure. And he’s scrambling to protect his status as a top GOP money man by convincing disappointed donors to his Crossroads groups that he did the best he could with their $300 million.
Sources tell POLITICO that some donors have called Crossroads officials to ask how their polling could have been so far off, while others are openly grumbling that the groups should have spent more on the ground game. Rival operatives — long frustrated by Rove’s dominance of big GOP money — are seizing on the discontent, questioning whether he’s hurting the cause and privately urging donors to shut him out.
During a secret Thursday afternoon conference call with his benefactors, Rove laid out the analytics behind his assertions to donors that a massive late-game advertising push would expand the electoral map into Pennsylvania and deliver the White House and the Senate.
(PHOTOS: 2012 mega-donors)
The call was civil, focusing on questions like, “‘where was my strategy, was it right, was it wrong? What did we find out that we didn’t know before?’ That kind of thing — nothing negative, no recriminations or blame,” said Minnesota media mogul Stan Hubbard.
Donors “weren’t saying anything like, ‘Hey, you dumb son of a b——,’” added Hubbard, who has donated to both the Rove-conceived American Crossroads super PAC and its secret-money nonprofit affiliate Crossroads GPS. “It was all very businesslike. It was as if you were in a business conference and you were a retailer and ‘why didn’t this product sell better?’”
(Also on POLITICO: Top Republican mega-donors)
On the call, some donors even told Rove, “’I’m glad I gave to you. I feel we made progress,’” recalled Hubbard. “Every quarterback, every coach doesn’t call every play 100 percent right,” he added. “I don’t know how you’re going to blame him. What are you going to blame Karl for?”
Others in conservative politics have been less forgiving.
(Also on POLITICO: Secret cash for GOP door-knockers)
Richard Viguerie, a pioneering direct-mail consultant, called for Republicans to purge from their ranks Rove and Ed Gillespie — who helped found Crossroads and later moved over to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign — as well as Romney advisers Stuart Stevens and Neil Newhouse. “In any logical universe,” he argued, “no one would give a dime to their ineffective super PACs, such as American Crossroads.”
Rick Tyler, a former strategist for the pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC and a top adviser to Todd Akin’s Missouri Senate campaign, called Crossroads’ efforts “a colossal failure,” and asserted, “Rove has too much control over the purse strings.”
(Also on POLITICO: The Billion-Dollar Buy series)
Rove “has a lot of explaining to do, mostly to his donors. I don’t think donors are ever going to invest in that level again because it turns out that the architect didn’t know what he was talking about,” Tyler told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Rove didn’t comment for this story, but Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio attributed the mounting conservative grumbling to jealousy, and said the political world hasn’t heard the last of Rove or Crossroads.
“A lot of folks with very old axes to grind have hidden behind blind quotes to take cheap shots against Karl in the last few days,” Collegio told POLITICO in an email laying out main argument made by Rove and Crossroads — that things would have been a lot worse for Republicans without its ads.
“We’re dusting ourselves off, analyzing the data to figure out what went wrong and charting a path forward,” he added. “As we’ve always said, Crossroads is a permanent entity and will be back in 2014 and beyond — with Karl Rove continuing in his role as adviser, providing invaluable strategic vision and fundraising capability.”
The face of the historic $1 billion plan to unseat President Barack Obama and turn the Senate Republican, Rove now finds himself the leading scapegoat for its failure. And he’s scrambling to protect his status as a top GOP money man by convincing disappointed donors to his Crossroads groups that he did the best he could with their $300 million.
Sources tell POLITICO that some donors have called Crossroads officials to ask how their polling could have been so far off, while others are openly grumbling that the groups should have spent more on the ground game. Rival operatives — long frustrated by Rove’s dominance of big GOP money — are seizing on the discontent, questioning whether he’s hurting the cause and privately urging donors to shut him out.
During a secret Thursday afternoon conference call with his benefactors, Rove laid out the analytics behind his assertions to donors that a massive late-game advertising push would expand the electoral map into Pennsylvania and deliver the White House and the Senate.
(PHOTOS: 2012 mega-donors)
The call was civil, focusing on questions like, “‘where was my strategy, was it right, was it wrong? What did we find out that we didn’t know before?’ That kind of thing — nothing negative, no recriminations or blame,” said Minnesota media mogul Stan Hubbard.
Donors “weren’t saying anything like, ‘Hey, you dumb son of a b——,’” added Hubbard, who has donated to both the Rove-conceived American Crossroads super PAC and its secret-money nonprofit affiliate Crossroads GPS. “It was all very businesslike. It was as if you were in a business conference and you were a retailer and ‘why didn’t this product sell better?’”
(Also on POLITICO: Top Republican mega-donors)
On the call, some donors even told Rove, “’I’m glad I gave to you. I feel we made progress,’” recalled Hubbard. “Every quarterback, every coach doesn’t call every play 100 percent right,” he added. “I don’t know how you’re going to blame him. What are you going to blame Karl for?”
Others in conservative politics have been less forgiving.
(Also on POLITICO: Secret cash for GOP door-knockers)
Richard Viguerie, a pioneering direct-mail consultant, called for Republicans to purge from their ranks Rove and Ed Gillespie — who helped found Crossroads and later moved over to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign — as well as Romney advisers Stuart Stevens and Neil Newhouse. “In any logical universe,” he argued, “no one would give a dime to their ineffective super PACs, such as American Crossroads.”
Rick Tyler, a former strategist for the pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC and a top adviser to Todd Akin’s Missouri Senate campaign, called Crossroads’ efforts “a colossal failure,” and asserted, “Rove has too much control over the purse strings.”
(Also on POLITICO: The Billion-Dollar Buy series)
Rove “has a lot of explaining to do, mostly to his donors. I don’t think donors are ever going to invest in that level again because it turns out that the architect didn’t know what he was talking about,” Tyler told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Rove didn’t comment for this story, but Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio attributed the mounting conservative grumbling to jealousy, and said the political world hasn’t heard the last of Rove or Crossroads.
“A lot of folks with very old axes to grind have hidden behind blind quotes to take cheap shots against Karl in the last few days,” Collegio told POLITICO in an email laying out main argument made by Rove and Crossroads — that things would have been a lot worse for Republicans without its ads.
“We’re dusting ourselves off, analyzing the data to figure out what went wrong and charting a path forward,” he added. “As we’ve always said, Crossroads is a permanent entity and will be back in 2014 and beyond — with Karl Rove continuing in his role as adviser, providing invaluable strategic vision and fundraising capability.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83658.html#ixzz2BvFI5FrZ
After a Crushing Defeat, the Religious Right Still Won’t Get it Righ
Christian conservatives admit Tuesday’s election was a stunning blow to their agenda, and they’re blaming it on the GOP’s narrow appeal. Did they learned their lesson, or are they signing up for four more years of partisan codependency?
If there’s one thing the religious right agrees on after Tuesday’s election, it’s that they lost—big time. Not only did Obama win re-election, but gay marriage won
in all four states where it was on the ballot, and the two most
outspoken senatorial candidates—one of whom was heavily funded by
religious right groups—were defeated.
“Last night really is a big loss, no way to spin it,” gay marriage opponent Maggie Gallagher wrote the morning after. “Evangelical Christians must see the 2012 election as a catastrophe for crucial moral concerns,” wrote Rev. Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “It’s not that our message didn’t get out,” he added. “It did … “An increasingly secularized America understands our positions, and has rejected them.”
It’s
when the conversation turns to why a majority of voters rejected those
positions—and what to do about it—that things get messier. In the wake
of Tuesday’s liberal landslide, there has been plenty of overwrought
analysis that has little connection to reality. Gary Bauer, for
instance, blamed the Republican Party for downplaying gay marriage,
which he insisted could have been the “winning issue”
that motivated more social conservatives to turn out. (Actually, as
many white evangelicals turned out as ever, and overwhelmingly voted for
Romney.) American Family Association rabble-rouser Bryan Fischer chalked it up
to Romney’s Mormonism, and the fact that he isn’t a “genuine
conservative.” In the wake of the four ballot victories for gay
marriage, Tony Perkins, of the Family Research Council, predicted a violent revolution by America’s conservative majority if the Supreme Court makes gay marriage the law of the land.
But
the emerging conventional wisdom in social conservative circles is less
dramatic: their message failed because the Republican Party failed to
appeal to a broad enough base of voters. “We did our job,” top organizer
Ralph Reed said
at a debriefing the day after the election. “But we can’t do the
Republican Party’s job for them, and we can’t do the candidate’s job for
him or her.” Like hundreds of mainstream conservative pundits, the
focus was suddenly on minority voters. “The map just does not add up for Republicans in terms of the present reality, much less the shape of the future,” Mohler wrote.
“Put simply, the Republican Party cannot win unless it becomes the
party of aspiration for younger Americans and Hispanic Americans.”
Gallagher added, “Either we figure out how to win a much larger share of the Latino vote or the conservative movement could be over.”
It
is striking how, despite blaming the party for ignoring their pleas
against Romney, many leaders and activists on the Christian right
fundamentally identify themselves with the GOP. The social conservative
project now, as much as ever, lives and dies on the fate of Republicans
at the polls. Just as much of the conservative commentariat has begun
calling for the party to put on a PR campaign for Latino voters, often
referring to them as “natural Republicans,” conservative Christians have
begun speaking of Hispanic Americans as social conservatives who just
don’t know it yet. Social conservatives believe the GOP will need them
to reach out to socially conservative minority voters, a project that
will both shore up the Christian right’s place in the party and bring in
new bodies to vote for its agenda.
If
the religious right has not reconsidered its symbiotic relationship
with Republicans, it also remains convinced that its message maintains a
broad appeal to the American electorate. There is a blatant
contradiction here: they acknowledge a seismic cultural shift is shaking
the ground beneath their coalition, but seem to believe this deep
structural change can be addressed with little more than a recalibrated
message. What happened Tuesday was a mostly a branding problem. The GOP
establishment’s squeamishness on social issues, Gallagher explained,
led to an election that failed to energize the base. (Despite the fact
that the base turned out as faithfully as ever.) The victories for gay
marriage, the National Organization for Marriage insisted,
were the result of “political and funding advantages,” not real support
for gay marriage. Reed characterized Obama’s win as a “personal
victory,” and argued that the majority that has now elected Obama twice
must have done so despite deep disagreement with his policies. Again,
the answer is a new look for the losers: “We need to do a better job of
not looking like your daddy’s religious right. We have to be younger, we
have to be more diverse ethnically.”
Despite fresh approaches on the margins, the religious right remains much more committed to partisan politics than theological principle.
In his New York Times column
Sunday, Ross Douthat calls this sort of thinking the “demographic
excuse,” a silver-bullet “fantasy.” America’s shift away from the GOP,
on both social and economic issues, goes far deeper than a simple
pandering campaign can reach. Both religious conservatives and
mainstream Republicans who think they can rebuild a majority by
enlisting young candidates and throwing Hispanics a bone on immigration
are still unprepared to confront their electoral dilemma. Latino
Protestants, not to mention Catholics, are a long way from becoming
Republicans. The only way that the GOP will significantly expand its
appeal is to rework its economic agenda—something that remains unlikely
for the foreseeable future. Because the religious right has made party
politics the entire infrastructure of its movement, it will likely be
dragged along, mostly ignored, as the party continues to struggle under
the stranglehold of wealthy financiers who don’t want the current One
Percent economic orthodoxy to change.
Religious
conservatives outside the bubble of party politics think there are more
realistic means of guarding their values than simply hoping the GOP
will bring in more voters to support the party’s status quo. American Conservative blogger Rod Dreher has argued since 2008
that his side has lost the argument on gay marriage, and that the
Republican Party cannot be expected to make opposition to marriage
equality an issue. “Same-sex marriage opponents would do well to abandon
the fight against same-sex marriage, and instead focus on the threat
[it] poses to religious liberty,” he wrote. First Things columnist Peter
Leithart welcomed
the death of a religious right that was “parasitic on Reaganism” as an
opportunity to build a more holistically Christian political approach.
“Christians won’t have a fully Christian public philosophy until we have
reckoned with the inner tensions between advocacy of the market and,
say, support for traditional families.”
But despite fresh approaches on the margins, the religious right remains a movement much more committed to partisan politics
than to theological principle. Like the party on whose coattails it
rides, change is likely torturous and glacially paced. And just like the
2012 election, by the time electoral realities force conservatives to
adapt, it may already be too lNov 10, 2012
Ronda Rousey becomes the first woman in the UFC!
Well, this is exciting! The UFC, the owner of which said less than two years ago that it would never include women, now does! Ronda Rousey will be taking her vicious armbar to the UFC in 2013. But she won't be left without an opponent -- rival Meisha Tate has also signed on, and possibly Sara McCann and Cris Cyborg. This is a big deal for a kickass lady. Rousey is not just a Strikeforce champion, she's also an Olympic athlete, having been the youngest judo competitor in the 2004 games. Since that global debut, she has become the tenth ranked female MMA fighter in the world. The world.
Now, my question is this: Now that the UFC includes both genders, when will we get to see bouts in New York?
CIA chief Petraeus steps down, having failed to keep his drone in his pants
David H. Petraeus, the head of America's Central Intelligence Agency, resigned just days after the election after issuing a statement saying he had engaged in an extramarital affair.
"By acknowleding an extramarital affair, Mr. Petraeus, 60, was confronting a sensitive issue for a spy chief," reports the New York Times. "Intelligence agencies are often concerned about the possibility that agents who engage in such behavior could be blackmailed for information."
In an email to Wired's national security blog Danger Room, a former confidant says of the disgraced general, “He feels that he screwed up. He did a dishonorable thing and needed to try to do the honorable thing.” The source says the affair began after Petraeus retired from the military and became CIA director
Nov 7, 2012
center right nation my ass.. pro dream act, pro same sex marriage, pro choice...Obama eats the dude with magic underpant's lunch
A Thrashing.....
This
was a thrashing. I don’t yet know the full electoral college total, but
it’s looking like at least a 100-vote margin. That’s a thrashing. Over
at 11:13? And the truth is, it wasn’t even that dramatic. It was over
around 9:00. The next two hours were just waiting around for it to be
official.
You
can believe, if you want, that Ohio is still up for grabs. That Karl
Rove business on Fox was priceless. It’s an astonishing thing, that the
numbers specialists at Fox called Ohio for Obama, and the on-air talent
questioned it. And not just an anchor—an on-air commentator who has also
raised and spent many millions of dollars on behalf of Romney. It’s as
banana republic as anything that happens in a real banana republican.
But
as I write, Florida is leaning Obama, and maybe even Virginia. This
thing is over. Without Ohio, it’s likely still 300-plus electoral votes.
And after they count the votes in California, Obama is projected to win
the popular vote too.
Mitt Romney's 2012 concession speech.
Was
it the ground game? Was it the 47 percent? Was it Sandy? Was it Chris
Christie? It was a little bit of all those things. But mostly it was two
big things, and this election was about big things.
The
first big thing is that a very clear majority of Americans saw the
truth about the past four years. Exit polls showed that voters still
blamed the economic problems on George Bush’s administration. They
thought Obama tried hard and did a pretty good job (no, he hasn’t done a
great job yet), and they notice the change and improvement recently. I
didn’t write all these things down, but in state after state exit poll
as they went through them on CNN, more people thought—finally!—that the
economy was headed in the right direction.
The people know who created the problem, and they know who’s fixing it. That’s number one.
And
number two? The second big thing here is that the Republican Party is
just too far to the right. Not just to win a national election. It’s too
far to the right even to compete really seriously in one. The thing
some Republicans are saying now is absolutely true: They should have
been able to win this year. No incumbent president has ever been
reelected with this kind of unemployment rate, and there’s no good
reason it should have happened now. They could have won.
But
it’s a fringe party that has become too extreme to win the White House.
I’d imagine they’re going to blame Romney. I don’t like Mitt Romney.
I’m indescribably relieved that after tonight, I never have to hear that
man’s wretched voice again. He ran the lyingest campaign in modern
history—just outright and blatant lies. But in some ways he did run a
pretty effective campaign. He and his team did some smart things in the
past month. They ran a pretty good race in the end in some ways.
But
it was too late and too clever by half. His attempts to distance
himself from the right wing came too late. I saw another exit poll
number that 80 percent of people made up their minds in September.
Before the first debate even happened. That large majority saw a
spineless Romney sucking up to an extremist party on issue after issue.
And even while Romney was pirouetting, they saw a parade of Neanderthal
congressional candidates telling women to expel their fetuses.
I’ll
have much more to say about this over the course of the week. But
tonight, America told the guy who’s been trying that they appreciate it.
And they told the crazy party: you’re crazyNov 6, 2012
Brandon Whipple Attacked For Not Having Childre
Kansas legislative candidate Brandon Whipple
Literature dropped off at homes in Wichita Saturday by Kansans for Liberty, a Tea Party group, says that Democrat Brandon Whipple should not be elected to the state House because he has no children. It is one of a list of reasons why Whipple, 30, should not be elected over Republican Rick Lindsey in the newly drawn district, according to the literature.
"Can someone with no children really understand your family's needs?" it reads, with "no children" written in red.
Literature can be found here.
Whipple denounced the literature as "extreme" and said his wife, Chelsea, takes an active role in the race. Kansans for Liberty does not fully understand his situation, he said. "It is a personal attack," Whipple told The Huffington Post. "It offends me because my wife and I are trying to have kids."
Craig Gabel, the head of Kansans for Liberty, stands by the literature, saying that the perspective of a person changes when they have children and that is why the line was included. "If you have no experience in an area, it is hard for you to make informed decision in an area," Gabel said.
Gabel said this includes parents wanting neighborhood schools and the ability to spank their children without fear of state officials. "Someone who does not have kids and does not sweat blood thinking they can't spank them -- if you don't have kids you don't understand that."
The piece also criticizes Whipple's experience as a public school teacher, calling him a career government employee, and attacks him for not having his name on the deed to his house. It calls the candidate's beliefs into question, saying Whipple told a neighborhood group that while he is a Democrat, he married into a Republican family and "learned to compromise."
Whipple countered that while he has taught in the public schools, he has been teaching in private colleges since his unsuccessful 2010 state House race and that he placed his name on the house deed earlier this year. "It is filled with lies," Whipple said of the literature. "It is flat out lies."
The no-children argument has been used several other times in political races. In Kansas in 2008, state Rep. Sean Gatewood (D-Topeka) was noted in literature for not having children at the time. In Westfield, N.J., in 2009, Democratic town Councilman Tom Bigosinski used the no-children issue against his Republican opponent Keith Loughlin during the pair's only debate. Bigosinski, who lost the race to Loughlin, later explained he wasn't trying to be derogatory, only pointing out an "important distinction."
"There are profound differences between the two of us," Bigosinski, then 41, said in the debate against Loughlin, who was 31 at the time. "Unlike Keith, I'm a husband, I'm a father, I'm a homeowner and I'm a taxpayer and I have been for many years."
The Whipple attack comes the same week that Kansas Republicans sent out a mailer in a Wichita state Senate district questioning why Democrat Keith Humphrey changed his last name from DeSoto when he was 11. Humphrey, a candidate for state Senate, changed his name after he was adopted by his stepfather. Whipple's district overlaps Humphrey's.
Whipple said he believes Gabel and his group have moved the debate to a new level. "If you want to attack me for my personal stances on property taxes that's one thing," he said. "But an attack on not having kids takes it to a different leve
Nov 5, 2012
nice..........
Paul Ryan To Social Conservatives: 'Religious Freedom' At Risk If Obama Is Reelected
"This is a huge election," said Ryan. "Please know that Mitt Romney and I understand the stakes. We understand the stakes of where this country is headed. We understand the stakes of our fundamental freedoms being on the line, like religious freedom -- such as how they're being compromised in Obamacare."
The call was organized by Ralph Reed's socially conservative Faith and Freedom Coalition. The call was originally scheduled for Oct. 25, but was then rescheduled for Sunday night.
Ryan added that Obama's vision was "a path that grows government, restricts freedom and liberty and compromises those values -- those Judeo-Christian, Western civilization values that made us a great and exceptional nation in the first place."
Ryan's rhetoric on the call was much stronger than what he and Romney have generally used on the campaign trail when speaking to a broader audience.
The campaign did, however, go after Obama during the controversy over whether religiously affiliated groups should be required to cover the cost of contraception in their health care plans at no charge to the employee.
"President Obama used his health care plan to declare war on religion, forcing religious institutions to go against their faith," said the narrator in a Romney campaign ad in August. "Mitt Romney believes that's wrong."
The Romney campaign also currently has a robocall that warns Christians that Obama is a "threat to our religious freedom."
Ryan is considered more conservative on social issues than Romney. For example, while Romney believes abortion access should be legal in cases of rape and incest, Ryan does not
Nov 4, 2012
right on...........
Orange County Early Voting Hours Extended Sunday Following Judge's Ruling
Some voters had faced waits several hours long on Saturday, the last scheduled day of early voting. The judge ruled on a lawsuit filed late Saturday in Orange County after an early voting site was shut down for several hours. The Winter Park library was evacuated when a suspicious package – a cooler – was found outside. It was later detonated by a local bomb squad.
Bill Cowles, the Orange County elections supervisor, said that voters who show up on Sunday will be asked to use a provisional ballot because the Republican Party of Florida had appealed the decision. The extra hours will be offered at just the Winter Park library.
The state party also filed a federal lawsuit Sunday morning seeking more voting time in Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
Voting in Miami-Dade County didn't wrap up until around 1 a.m. Sunday because voters standing in line when the polls closed were allowed to vote.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson as well as other Democrats asked Gov. Rick Scott this past week to use his emergency powers to extend early voting. The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature last year cut the number of days available for early voting from a maximum of 14 days to eight days.
Scott and state election officials, however, turned down the extension requests. Secretary of State Ken Detzner maintained that there was not a true emergency that justified the extension.
The federal lawsuit says counties should offer absentee ballot voting at local election offices if early voting cannot be extended.
Christina White, deputy supervisor with Miami-Dade County, said the county had already planned to accept absentee ballots for four hours at its main office.
Absentee ballot voting differs from early voting in that voters must fill out their ballot, place it an envelope and then sign it. The ballot envelopes are opened later and then fed into voting machines.
During early voting, voters place their ballots directly into the voting machines.
The Orange County lawsuit asked that early voting be extended at Winter Park and that the court ask local television and radio stations to let voters know about it.
The lawsuit included sworn statements from several voters who said they waited in line for hours and were turned away because voting was suspended at the site. A volunteer with the campaign of President Barack Obama said that the crowd of voters dwindled from 300 to just 40 after voting was halt
yikes..........
Beck Acts as a Bridge Between Romney and Evangelical Christians
On radio and on his Internet network, the influential conservative pundit Glenn Beck
frequently invokes God, religious freedom and the founding fathers, but
he does not regularly discuss his own Mormon faith.
Andrew D. Brosig/The Daily Sentinel, via Associated Press
But in early September, he broke with practice and hosted a special one-hour show, asking his audience, “Does Mitt Romney’s Mormonism make him too scary or weird to be elected to president of the United States?”
Mr. Beck has not always supported Mr. Romney. (“I think he’s an
honorable man, but I don’t trust him,” he said last year.) But as
perhaps the best-known Mormon after the Republican presidential
candidate and a major influence on evangelical Christians, Mr. Beck has
emerged as an unlikely theological bridge between the first Mormon
presidential nominee and a critical electorate.
At the same time, Mr. Beck’s defense of his and Mr. Romney’s shared
faith speaks to the long-frayed relationship between evangelical
Christians and Mormons and raises the question of whether evangelicals
will ultimately put aside religious differences and vote on common
conservative issues.
During his special program, Mr. Beck took questions from mostly
evangelical Christian listeners, colorfully debunking misperceptions
about Mormonism. The “magic underwear” was compared to a skullcap, and
Mr. Beck insisted that polygamy was seen as a “perversion” in the modern church.
“It’s not weird to be a Mormon,” he assured his listeners at the end of
the program, “and it’s not weird to be president if you’re Mormon.”
Although Mr. Beck’s national media profile has waned since he left Fox
News last year, his support among his core audience remains strong. “The
Glenn Beck Program” is typically the third-most-popular talk-news radio
show, after “The Rush Limbaugh Show” and “The Sean Hannity Show.” In
September, an agreement was reached with Dish Network to bring Mr.
Beck’s online network, The Blaze, to traditional television.
Mr. Beck’s unique position as both a Mormon and a prominent voice among
evangelicals has been too tempting for Mr. Romney’s campaign to pass up.
Campaign officials have quietly courted Mr. Beck, according to a person
briefed on his meetings with campaign surrogates who could not discuss
private conversations publicly. Mr. Beck declined to comment for this
article.
Last month, Mr. Beck, along with former Vice President Dick Cheney and
Mr. Romney’s son Josh, headlined a Dallas fund-raiser that brought in
more than $250,000 for the Romney Victory committee, and on Friday Mr.
Beck held a rally in Columbus, Ohio, intended to influence voters in
that swing state. On Saturday, he attended Mr. Romney’s rally in
Dubuque, Iowa.
Stalwart conservatives who support the Romney-Ryan ticket, like
Representative Louie Gohmert, Republican of Texas; Rick Santorum, a
former senator and Republican presidential candidate; and retired Lt.
Gen. William Boykin, have appeared on Mr. Beck’s program not so much to
tout Mr. Romney directly as to discuss hot-button political issues like
the handling of the attack on the United States mission in Benghazi,
Libya.
Mostly Mr. Beck has helped Mr. Romney by directly addressing his devout
Mormon faith, something the candidate himself rarely does. “I believe
Mr. Romney prays on his knees every day,” Mr. Beck said recently on his
radio program. “I believe he is being guided.” He has also said that a
Romney victory would be “a sign from God.”
Mr. Romney already enjoys a commanding lead among white evangelical
Protestant voters — 76 percent to 17 percent for President Obama,
according to a Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life survey released on Monday,
and 54 percent to Mr. Obama’s 39 percent among Protestant voters.
Influential Christian leaders including the Rev. Billy Graham and Ralph
Reed have endorsed Mr. Romney.
But deep-rooted tensions between Mormons and evangelical Christians
persist, and could affect the turnout on Tuesday, several evangelical
leaders said.
“Romney has staked out issues that are aligned with evangelicals,” said
Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis for the conservative nonprofit
American Family Association. But, he added, Mr. Romney’s faith may
ultimately present a problem in the voting booth. “It’s still an issue
for some evangelicals and may influence their voting decision on Nov.
6,” he said. “There are a number of evangelicals who will not vote for
someone who doesn’t adhere to orthodox ChristianiPresidential Polls 2012: Obama's Battleground Advantage Holds
With just three days remaining before votes are counted, most of the national tracking polls continue to show a basically deadlocked race, with six new surveys released in the last 24 hours showing roughly the same findings as those from earlier in the week.
The HuffPost Pollster tracking model, which uses data at the national and state levels to produce estimates of the combined polling snapshots, continues to show a national deadlock. However, for the first time in two weeks, Obama's percentage of the national popular vote was just slightly higher than Romney's, according to the tracking model (47.4 to 47.2 percent, as of this writing).
But even when all of the national polling data is combined, neither Friday's uptick for Obama nor the razor-thin margin separating the candidates nationwide is statistically significant. In plain English -- as of this writing, the polls collectively tell us that the national popular vote is just too close to call.
The snapshot is different, however, within the battleground states that will likely decide the outcome of the election
Nov 3, 2012
Jack Welch Invents '2009 Recession' And New Economic Metric To Criticize Barack Obama
"The real unemployment rate, if you take the last 10 years prior to the 2009 recession, a 10-year average of what's called the participation rate -- how many people are working temporarily, full-time, and wanting to work -- if you take that number, and you take the 10-year average, and you run it now with this workforce, you would have an unemployment rate close to 11 percent," Welch said.
There is, in fact, no specific "2009 recession." According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the official committee that measures and studies economic cycles, the U.S. economy entered a recession in December 2007, which ended in June 2009. Recessions are categorized as periods in which gross domestic product -- a measure of economic output -- declines. The effects of this decline can reverberate in the labor market for years after growth resumes. By referring to "the 2009 recession," however, Welch creates a timeline in which Obama is the only president presiding over economic hardship.
Welch's reference to a "10-year average" is also curious. Ten years ago, it was 2002. George W. Bush was in his second year as president of the United States.
The official unemployment rate is currently 7.9 percen
Chris Christie Praise For Obama Frustrated Romney Campaign: Report
Chris Christie Praise For Obama Frustrated Romney Campaign: Report
l
After a year of campaigning for GOP presidential nominee,
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie rankled the campaign this week by
praising President Barack Obama, Politico reported Saturday. (AP
Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
The information comes just days before the 2012 election and was released in a story on Saturday, adding another narrative to the campaign as Romney and Ryan make their final pitch to voters. But it also comes during a week in which Christie has repeatedly praised President Barack Obama for his help during superstorm Sandy -- a move that, according to Politico, rankled the Romney campaign and could lead to tension should he become president
Nov 2, 2012
Beautifully made tiny miniature 18th century toolchest with tiny, working tools
On The Toolchest Site, an astounding miniature replica of the 18th century Hewitt chest at Colonial Williamsburg, created by miniaturist William Robertson. Robertson's work is mind-boggling in its detail and virtuosity. The article notes that this was a 1,000-hour project
Muertitas, Masks of the Four Seasons by Krisztianna
Artist Krisztianna created this series of four masks (or “Muertitas”) representing each of the four seasons. She builds each sculpture around a foam core supported by a wire frame. Paper maché and clay form the neck and face. The elaborate synthetic flower headdress is the last element to be added. The distinctive look of the sculptures is inspired by the sugar skull art associated with Day of the Dead celebrations.
These mixed media wall pieces explore my artistic influences and the cycles of nature. Birth, death, and rebirth are all fascinating concepts to me, and the the art of the sugar skull is a perfect visual to help me express the joy of life and my respect of finality.
Grounded, Sci-Fi Short About A Stranded Astronaut
“Grounded” is a visually stunning sci-fi short about an astronaut who finds himself stranded on a mysterious planet. The film is mainly the work of one person, visual effects artist Kevin Margo, who worked on the film for two years along with co-director Barrett Meeker and a small team of collaborators. The film was shot on DSLRs but many of the visuals were added digitally in post-production. Margo has released a fascinating behind-the-scenes video that reveals how much of the film was computer generated.
A Custom Made Puking Kitty Gravy Boat by GingerELA
Fine glass artist GingerELA was inspired by our post, Barfing Squirrel Gravy Boat, to make an awesome one for herself. Instead of a squirrel though, she made a black cat (we assume it’s fashioned after her own kitty, Mr. B). She calls her piece the “Puking Kitty Gravy Boat” and it’s marvelous. See it ‘puke’ over her waffles in this fun video!
It’s a cat. It’s a gravy boat. It’s puking. It’s the first thing I’ve made for myself and I LOVE IT. Inspired by the barfing squirrel gravy boat posted on Laughing Squid, I just had to make my own.
photos
Phineaus Grock, A Steampunk Robot Toy by Doktor A
By on November 1, 2012
UK artist and custom toy designer Bruce Whistlecraft (aka “Doktor A“) created Phineaus Grock, a robotic steampunk creation, for his A Postcard from New Yorkshire solo art show. It is currently on display until Sunday, November 11, 2012 at the Myplasticheart art gallery in New York.
One of the cleverest denizens of Retropolis. He and Mr. Head run the royal academy of science among other things. They work closely together to forward the knowledge and learning of all Mechtorians. Winding and stocking each other in a show of unity between the two different life forces within the realm. This display is looked upon disapprovingly by the religious leaders who take it as a direct snub by the scientific and philosophical members of society against their doctrines of segregation.
photos via Bruce Whistlecraft
via
Hand Fixing Hand, A Sci-Fi Homage to M. C. Escher’s Drawing Hands
By on November 1, 2012
image by Shane Willis
“Hand Fixing Hand” is sci-fi homage to M. C. Escher’s famous lithograph, “Drawing Hands” (see below). The digitally manipulated photo was created by artist Shane Willis.
image via Wikipedia
via
1990: Vanilla Ice on "Ice Ice Baby" vs. Queen/Bowie's "Under Pressure"
"We sampled it from them but it's not the same bassline. It goes 'ding ding ding di di ding ding… ding ding ding di di ding ding.' That's the way theirs goes. Ours goes 'ding ding ding di di ding ding… DING… ding ding ding di di ding ding.' That little bitty change -- it's not the same
Time-lapse video of Hurricane Sandy hitting NYC: 2 days into 2 minutes
Oct 30, 2012
Room 237, A Documentary About The Shining
Room 237 is a documentary that explores the theories and hidden meanings of Stanley Kubrick’s classic horror film, The Shining (trailer). The documentary was directed by Rodney Ascher. Check the film site for screenings
All the Bonds, fighting themselves
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