Charlie Crist Endorses Obama

Telling comments from the former Republican Governor of Florida Charlie Crist:

"As America prepares to pick our president for the next four years — and as Florida prepares once again to play a decisive role — I'm confident that President Barack Obama is the right leader for our state and the nation. I applaud and share his vision of a future built by a strong and confident middle class in an economy that gives us the opportunity to reap prosperity through hard work and personal responsibility. It is a vision of the future proven right by our history. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .We often remind ourselves to learn the lessons of the past, lest we risk repeating its mistakes. Yet nearly as often, our short-term memory fails us. Many have already forgotten how deep and daunting our shared crisis was in the winter of 2009, as President Obama was inaugurated. It was no ordinary challenge, and the president served as the nation's calm through a historically turbulent storm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .We have more work to do, more investments to make and more waste to cut. But only one candidate in this race has proven a willingness to navigate a realistic path to prosperity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . As Republicans gather in Tampa to nominate Mitt Romney, Americans can expect to hear tales of how President Obama has failed to work with their party or turn the economy around. But an element of their party has pitched so far to the extreme right on issues important to women, immigrants, seniors and students that they've proven incapable of governing for the people. Look no further than the inclusion of the Akin amendment in the Republican Party platform, which bans abortion, even for rape victims. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The truth is that the party has failed to demonstrate the kind of leadership or seriousness voters deserve.  Pundits looking to reduce something as big as a statewide election to a single photograph have blamed the result of my 2010 campaign for U.S. Senate on my greeting of President Obama. I didn't stand with our president because of what it could mean politically; I did it because uniting to recover from the worst financial crisis of our lifetimes was more important than party affiliation. I stood with our nation's leader because it was right for my state. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . President Obama has a strong record of doing what is best for America and Florida, and he built it by spending more time worrying about what his decisions would mean for the people than for his political fortunes. That's what makes him the right leader for our times, and that's why I'm proud to stand with him today."

You can read the entire op-ed here.  

This is My Body

They make some good points.  Just saying. 

POTpourri

• "The Office" to end after this upcoming season. 
• Michael Strahan named as replacement for Regis Philbin. 
• Miranda Kerr bikini pics!  Olga Kurylenko bikini pics! 
• Did the GOP just approve the 'Most Conservative Platform' in modern history? 
• Apparently, if you're Prince Harry, what happens in Vegas, doesn't stay in Vegas. 
• Tampa strip clubs are ready for the 'morals party' and their convention.  
• Nice job Russell Simmons, much respect, you're the man!  That's Tatiana Likhina BTW. 
• Don't believe all the anti-Obama ads you see.  
• Nicki Minaj joins "American Idol" as a judge.
• Polls finds Romney with 0% support from African Americans. 

AZ Tidbits

• Taylor Kelly wins the starting QB job at Arizona State.  For now anyways.  
• Mark Grace takes indefinite leave of absence from Diamondbacks following DUI arrest. 
• Money names Gilbert & Chandler among best small cities. 
• Hmm, Jeff Flake co-sponsored an Anti-Abortion bill that included 'Forcible Rape' language.
• COED Magazine takes a look at the Scottsdale Nightlife.  
• Did you gather any good information in Israel Ben Quayle? 
• Diamondbacks trade Stephen Drew to A's for chump change.
• Downtown Phoenix readies for "Go Topless Day".   
• Pub Rock Live replaces Chasers in south Scottsdale.
• Sick of right wing ideologues forcing their agenda on you?  Sign the STOP CAP petition. 

Poppycock to Blame President?

This is from 2004, it's interesting that he doesn't use the same line of reasoning with Obama isn't it. 



And about those tax cuts?  How'd that work out?  

Cardinals QB Battle

Kevin Kolb vs John Skelton.  It's looking like a really ugly battle, neither QB has impressed me in the least.  I was hoping, and I'm sure the Cardinals were hoping, that their QB's would be much further along with a full off season and a full training camp to work with but after 4 exhibition games neither has stood out, they almost look like they've regressed from last year (if that's even possible).  There's too much talent on the Cardinals offense for them to be playing this bad (Larry Fitzgerald, Beanie Wells, Ryan Williams, Todd Heap, Michael Floyd, Rob Housler, et al).  The local media seems to think that the Cardinals have to go with John Skelton at this point.  What they are basing that opinion on is beyond me, as again, neither Skelton or Kolb has looked good.  My two cents?  If it was my call, given that neither has emerged as the clear front runner, and given the investment they've made in Kolb, I think they have to give him a legitimate shot in games that actually count, I'd go with him (but with a short leash).

Funny or Die Takes on Jan Brewer

Good stuff from 'Funny or Die'.

POTpourri

• Unlikely voters favor President Obama by a wide margin.  
• Celebuzz 101 Hot Bodies, numbers 75-51.  
• You might be a conservative if ......?  
• Websites to give a try?  How about COED Magazine & Heavy.
• Todd Akin (R-MO) claims "legitimate rape victims don't get pregnant".  
• RIP Phyllis Diller.  
• Someone please help Taylor Swift buy a swimsuit!
• Congressional approval ratings ties all time low of 10%. 
• People just don't like Mitt Romney. 
• Yet another advantage to being single, it's easier to find a job. 

Republican Deficit Hawk Hypocrites

You tell them Bernie.

War on Women?

The GOP claims there isn't a "War on Women".   I don't think women are buying it, and rightfully so, they still favor Obama over Romney by a wide margin.  Todd Akins recent comments only highlight the GOP's problems.  Perhaps if they GOP wants to win back women voters they should reconsider their stance on a few issues, the Anti-Choice stance is bad enough, it's even worse when they tack on the "even in the case of rape and incest" language (hell, they don't even know what rape is), add in their push for Personhood Acts, their attacks on a woman's access to healthcare, their attacks on Planned Parenthood, their push for vaginal probes, their lack of support for the Lilly Ledbetter Act, it goes on and on.  Hell yes, there is a "War on Women" and it's the GOP waging it.  If you are a woman and you vote Republican, I'm sorry, but you are nuts.  

More Jon Stewart

He's on a roll lately, I love this take on Cockblocking the Vote.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

More here.

POTpourri

• Have you heard of Paul Ryan's War on Women?
• Why do you morons keep backing into parking spots??
• Yay!  More Doutzen Kroes bikini pics!
• Who are the 10 Greatest White Rappers ever?  Who will be next?
• RIP Joey Kovar & Michael Dokes.
• U.S. men's soccer team finally wins in Mexico. 
• Why is Donald Trump insulting women?  He really needs to shut up. 
• Summer TV winners and losers.  Summer Olympics anybody? 
• 24 policies that Republicans supported before they turned against them.
• Rage Against the Machine is apparently not a fan of Paul Ryan.

Romney Economic Plan

From what I can garner, and I don't have a lot to go on because he's not letting anyone in on it, there are three main tenants to Mitt Romney's plan to "fix" the economy and unfortunately they sound eerily similar to the George W. Bush plan that sank the economy.   

Tax cuts - i.e. tax cuts to the rich, i.e. trickle down economics, i.e. supply side economics.  Theory being that if you cut taxes on the rich, the rich will reinvest that money back into their companies, they will hire more people, they will start new companies, they will spend more on upgrading their current facilities, they will spend more on research and development and thus the economy will explode with growth.  It's a nice theory, sounds like a reasonable assumption to assume it would work, too bad it doesn't.  If it worked, why are companies and the wealthy sitting on piles of cash right now and not out creating jobs and how would giving them more money change that?  If you look at the history of supply side economics starting with the Reagan years, you'll see that it has essentially accomplished 3 things, 1) increasing income inequality to astounding levels, 2) ballooning the debt and 3) consequently stagnating the economy.  When has it ever worked anyways?  Under Reagan?  That's more myth than reality.  Under George W Bush?  Hardly.  They were touting Ireland for awhile.  Not so much anymore.  Even David Stockman, the architect of the Reagan tax cuts, is now opposed to this idea.  Demand creates jobs, not throwing more money at the rich.  Getting beyond my opposition to supply side economics, the facts are, 1) Romney's number don't add up, and 2) Romney's tax plan would result in a middle class tax hike.  We can do better.

Reduced Spending - We must get the budget deficit under control and NOW claims Romney, otherwise debt will continue to drag down the economy.  While I do agree that the debt needs to be addressed at some point, now is not the time to do it.  You don't believe me?  How about the CBO?  Just check out the success rate of the austerity measures implemented in Europe & Japan, they've failed miserably, all they did was dry up tax revenues and lengthened downturns.  Is that really the prescription we need?  Obama's stimulus on the other hand, was a success (despite claims to the contrary from the GOP).  The problem was we didn't go far enough.  Once the economy sufficiently recovers, tax revenues will increase enough that you can start focusing on cuts.  Another problem I'm having with the Romney debt reduction plan is that it is very light on specifics, he won't say what he will cut to meet his objectives (at the same time he's lowering taxes for the rich, maintaining medicare and increasing defense spending).  He'd have to cut back drastically on virtually every government program and even that wouldn't be enough, in other words, he's living in fantasyland.  The only way to legitimately reduce the budget is through a balanced approach of decreased spending and increased revenues, it's not that hard Mitt. 

Deregulation - Mitt Romney calls regulation a "hidden tax" and states he "will act swiftly to tear down the vast edifice of regulations the Obama administration has imposed on the economy".  Apparently he's already forgotten about the consequences of our last dose of deregulation. The deregulation of Wall Street is the main culprit for the mess we are currently in.  Should we go back further?  How about the S&L scandal?  That was caused by deregulation.  How about the Enron mess?  Yep, you can blame that on deregulation too.  What about environmental degregulation, can we really afford that?  Sure businesses would love it, the Koch brothers would love it (and you know they want something for all that money they are spending on this election), but you have to know that the end result would be increases in such things as air pollution, contaminated ground water, ozone levels and greenhouse gases.  Wouldn't the costs of those things far outweigh any advantages they'd bring in?  Whatever happened to Republicans who cared about the environment anyways?  Teddy Roosevelt is probably rolling over in his grave.

In summary, please think long and hard before giving over the reigns of our economy to Mitt Romney.  

Jon Stewart on Mock Outrage

This is funny, I was just thinking the same thing.  All of the feigned indignation is quite nauseating.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

POTpourri

• Is Paul Ryan really a fiscal conservative?  Not really.  
• PA judge rules in favor of draconian voter ID law. 
• RIP Ron Palillo & Johnny Pesky.
• Tatiana Gil?  I need more pics!  Damn! 
• The NY Times did an amazing job on this look at the Olympic 100 meter race.  
• Should we disenfranchise up 5 million voters over essentially a non-existent problem?  
• We should have known there was something up with Melky Cabrera. 
• Diana Falzone is hot!  Why is she working for FOX?  
• The Paul Ryan Gosling twitter page is hilarious and scary at the same time. 
• Celebuzz 101 Hot Bodies, numbers 101-76. Check them out.
• Felix Hernandez of the Mariners pitches a perfect game.