Travis G. Johnson

A few days ago, I talked about a potential conservative push to end the Electoral College if Romney wins the popular vote, (which would fly totally counter to the existing Republican platformbut not the Electoral one (did I get that right this time?).  I know, I know:   That runs counter to the existing plank in the GOP platform which supports the Electoral College.  But when has flip flopping on an issue ever stopped a politician?

Case in point:  former Vice President (and Electoral College victim) Al Gore. He defended the Electoral College even after his defeat in 2000, but now agrees and thinks something should be done about it.  Here he is talking about it.

What do YOU think?  Should it stay or should it go?

An old friend (who shall remain nameless, unless he wants to get into this) wrote this on his Facebook timeline today.  I don’t think I need to supplement this…

What does it say about a man who wants to be our president-who claims to care so much-about our country-who says this isn’t about him-who spends 45 minutes making the speech of his Life-but doesn’t say one word (not one) about the men and women who are fighting and dying for our freedom and security? If that doesn’t say it all, as a vet, it sure does say enough to me.

This is Mitt Romney’s campaign staff.  Notice anything about this picture?  More specifically…do you notice anything missing in this picture?

Right.  Where are the black or brown people?  Are Republicans at all concerned that their party is so overwhelmingly monochromatic?  How do they explain it?  How wold they turn it around?

Back when I was a Republican, I was a member of a group called the Virginia Republican Welcoming Committee (I know, right?).  It was a group of minority Republicans  tasked with reaching out to minority communities.  I wrote a detailed communication plan for reaching out to African – Americans, in the hopes that we could get the Republican Party to do it what it traditionally has not done:  learn about about the issues facing African-Americans and perhaps tailor the party’s message so it applied to that community.

No one was interested.  Every meeting turned into a session to complain about why African-Americans would NEVER vote for Republicans.  They seemed to have just given up.

Has the Party given up on minorities?  Should they have?  Can the Party survive without them?

If not, what does the Party have to do to bring them in?  If you’re a minority, how can Republicans reach out to YOU?

Looks like I fell for a joke.  Oh No!  Sorry, Mr. Nye.

You know 5h1t just got real when Bill Nye the Science Guy calls you out for being an effin idiot.

“It used to be these Republicans didn’t believe in global warming or evolution. That was bad enough. Now they don’t even believe in egg + sperm = baby. Where does Todd Akin think babies come from? Does he think there are separate storks for people who were raped and people who weren’t? “

“Hey look over there! It’s the rape stork. It drops off all its babies directly at the orphanage.”

More…

(It’s been pointed out that this is, in fact, a hoax.  *sad trombone*)

Finally is right. MTV has just pulled the plug on the once crazy popular reality TV show Jersey Shore. If you are still a fan of the show, the sixth and final season just wrapped up production in Seaside Heights and will premiere on Thursday October 4th. MTV is also airing a retrospective Jersey Shore special titled “Gym, Tan, Look Back” that will include a first look at the final season. The “Gym, Tan, Look Back” special will air on Thursday September 6th right before the start of the Video Music Awards. Expect the cast of the Jersey Shore to be on the red carpet of the Video Music Awards as well.

More…

This picture has been going around the liberal Facebookiverse for the past few days now.  Here’s the video, if you’re not necessarily inclined to read it.

My thoughts on this type of thing is simple:  No.

This type of thing is not dissimilar to the Obama as Hitler/Stalin/Tribal Medicine Man that the Tea Party folks and their friends liked to spread around about the President.  These types of things dehumanize our opponents to such a degree we can say anything about them or, when taken to a grotesque extreme, do anything to them because they’re not human. They’re monsters.  And how do we treat monsters?

Like this. [NSFW]

Is that the level of political discourse in this country?  Really?  We compare our political opponents to the most brutal regime in the past 40 years?  We post pictures on Facebook intimating we want our President lynched?

Politics is important, but it’s not THAT important.

C’mon, folks.

Breathe.

I typically don’t go in for the hyperbolic posts, but this just seems beyond the pale. Mitt Romney, in front of an audience of rich backers, seems to have condoned the existence prison camp-like factories in China. Watch this…

So, my question….when Bain bought this factory, did they improve living conditions, or did they just listen to this bull5#i+ story by the manager who obviously didn’t want the stupid Americans to know how he was treating his workers?

Dodge!  Duck! Dip! Dive! Dodge!

Last week, the folks at Gawker announced that they’d uncovered over 900 pages of financial data about Bain Capital, the company founded by  everyone’s favorite former Republican Governor of Massachusetts, Bill We…I mean, Mitt Romney.  I was skeptical, as I tend to think of Gawker as sleekly designed National Enquirer.

“Go!” said the fine folks at Gawker. “Go! And analyze these documents and bring us back as much dirt you can find!”  An army of business reporters descended on the documents and found…well, not much really.

C’mon.  They were documents Bain had provided to their own investors over the last few years.  It’s not like they were going to include data that showed Mitt may have broken the law or lied to the American people.

On the other hand…

This from the Huffington Post yesterday…

“As we have said many times before, Governor and Mrs. Romney’s assets are managed on a blind basis. They do not control the investment of these assets. The investment decisions are made by a trustee,” spokeswoman Michele Davis said.

But according to his 2010 tax return, when the Internal Revenue Service comes calling in April, Romney has a different answer: The presumptive GOP nominee reaps lucrative tax breaks for “active” participation in the private equity firm he founded, as well as a host of other investments.

As David Kautter, a tax expert at American University, explains, the concept of active investment has different meanings for the IRS and for regular people. “When you say you’re actively involved in all these businesses, people do think, OK, you’re actively involved. But the tax law has its own definition,” he said.

So, here’s the thing.  I don’t think Mitt’s a felon.  I really, really don’t.  I’m sure he paid the taxes he was legally required to.  The problem is twofold:  First that the tax system is so jacked up that it allows the kinds of tax ducking Mitt has done over the years to be legal.  And, Secondly, he has no problem  mischaracterizing (read:lie) his position at Bain to repeatedly dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge the allegations that he was responsible for outsourcing American jobs.

A lot of folks want to call issues like this a distraction, but it’s not and here’s why:  Romney says his time at Bain taught him some very good lessons about how to fix the economy.  Fine. What kind of lesson did outsourcing jobs teach him?  We really deserve answers to that question.

No more dodgeball, Mr. Romney.

NASA, to commemorate the landing of the curiosity rover, commissioned a pair of artists known collectively as kahnselesnick to create a series of images that captured the beauty and tragedy of living on Mars.

This amazing work harkens back to the days of the old WPA when the most talented artists in America were employed making government buildings into works of art. That’s a practice that never should have been abandoned and I’m very glad NASA is continuing the tradition. There can be beauty in public works.

From the Jerusalem Post….

Seventeen men and women were beheaded by the Taliban for attending a mixed-gender party. Eleven years, a trillion dollars and over two thousand American lives, and this is what we have to show for it.

Support the troops. Bring them home.