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Mira
Mira's Journal
Mira's Journal
June 16, 2012
JUNE 16, 2012
A Letter from Mitt Romney to his Former Gardener
About the New Immigration Rules
The Borowitz Report has obtained the following letter from Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to his former gardener, José Salazar:
Dear José:
I’m writing to you today with some exceptionally good news.
As you probably remember, a few months back I fired from you from your job mowing the lawn at my house. If I remember correctly, my exact words were, “I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake, I can’t have illegals.”
Well, here’s the good news: now I can.
Thanks to President Obama’s executive order regarding immigration, I’m happy to report that I can hire you back to your old job, as long as you’re under 30. Am I right in assuming you are? You looked pretty young to me, especially for a person who spends so much time in the sun and isn’t allowed to come inside the house.
You see, as much as I like firing people, I’ve come to regret letting you go, José. Ann and I miss you. The young man we hired to replace you, while “legal” and all, just doesn’t mow the lawn as well as you do, and he insists on being paid “on the books,” which rubs Ann and me the wrong way.
So I hope you’ll consider my offer to come back. The only teeny hitch – and I hope you’ll agree that it’s just a teeny one – is that I’ll have to fire you again come January. I’ll be President then, and I’ll have to reverse everything that Obama did, for Pete’s sake.
But there’s a lot of mowing to be done between now and January, José, and Ann and I think you’re the man do it. If not, I suppose we’ll have to go out and hire ourselves a Greek fellow. I understand they work for nothing, or drachmas – whichever’s less. (Laughing Out Loud.)
Sincerely,
Mr. Romney
www.borowitzreport.com
A Letter from Mitt Romney to his Former Gardener - briefly intercepted and read by Andy Borowitz
JUNE 16, 2012
A Letter from Mitt Romney to his Former Gardener
About the New Immigration Rules
The Borowitz Report has obtained the following letter from Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney to his former gardener, José Salazar:
Dear José:
I’m writing to you today with some exceptionally good news.
As you probably remember, a few months back I fired from you from your job mowing the lawn at my house. If I remember correctly, my exact words were, “I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake, I can’t have illegals.”
Well, here’s the good news: now I can.
Thanks to President Obama’s executive order regarding immigration, I’m happy to report that I can hire you back to your old job, as long as you’re under 30. Am I right in assuming you are? You looked pretty young to me, especially for a person who spends so much time in the sun and isn’t allowed to come inside the house.
You see, as much as I like firing people, I’ve come to regret letting you go, José. Ann and I miss you. The young man we hired to replace you, while “legal” and all, just doesn’t mow the lawn as well as you do, and he insists on being paid “on the books,” which rubs Ann and me the wrong way.
So I hope you’ll consider my offer to come back. The only teeny hitch – and I hope you’ll agree that it’s just a teeny one – is that I’ll have to fire you again come January. I’ll be President then, and I’ll have to reverse everything that Obama did, for Pete’s sake.
But there’s a lot of mowing to be done between now and January, José, and Ann and I think you’re the man do it. If not, I suppose we’ll have to go out and hire ourselves a Greek fellow. I understand they work for nothing, or drachmas – whichever’s less. (Laughing Out Loud.)
Sincerely,
Mr. Romney
www.borowitzreport.com
June 16, 2012
United Nations Observers Suspend Mission in Syria, Citing Escalating Violence
Source: New York Times
Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Saturday, June 16, 2012 -- 8:46 AM EDT
-----
United Nations Observers Suspend Mission in Syria, Citing Escalating Violence
The chief of the United Nations observers in Syria said Saturday that the mission was suspending its activities and patrols because of escalating violence in the country.
The head of observers, Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, said in a statement that the bloodshed was posing significant risks to the observers and was impeding their ability to carry out their mandate.
The suspension, which will be reviewed on a daily basis, is the latest sign that a peace plan brokered by Kofi Annan, the international envoy, is disintegrating. The Syrian government and the opposition have both ignored the cease-fire, which was supposed to go into effect April 12.
Read More:
United Nations Observers Suspend Mission in Syria, Citing Escalating Violence
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na
June 14, 2012
Egypt’s Highest Court Says Parliament Must Dissolve
Source: New York Times
Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Thursday, June 14, 2012 -- 10:47 AM EDT
-----
Egypt’s Highest Court Says Parliament Must Dissolve
Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled that the Islamist-led parliament must be immediately dissolved, while also blessing the right of Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister to run for president, escalating a battle for power between the remnants of the toppled order and rising Islamists.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/15/world/middleeast/new-political-showdown-in-egypt-as-court-invalidates-parliament.html?emc=na
June 14, 2012
Navajo woman's wisdom- true story, of course.
Sally was driving home from one of her business trips in Northern Arizona when she saw an elderly Navajo woman walking on the side of the road.
As the trip was a long and quiet one, she stopped the car and asked the Navajo woman if she would like a ride.
With a silent nod of thanks, the woman got into the car.
Resuming the journey, Sally tried in vain to make a bit of small talk with the Navajo woman. The old woman just sat silently, looking intently at everything she saw, studying every little detail, until she noticed a brown bag on the seat next to Sally.
'What in bag?' asked the old woman.
Sally looked down at the brown bag and said, 'It's a bottle of wine. I got it for my husband.'
The Navajo woman was silent for another moment or two. Then speaking with the quiet wisdom of an elder, she said:
'Good trade..
June 14, 2012
Picasa: Auto contrast, and slider for Shadows moved just a touch. Other than that it's how it came out of the camera. No crop.
A straggler for "sky" - cleaning up Florida photos
Picasa: Auto contrast, and slider for Shadows moved just a touch. Other than that it's how it came out of the camera. No crop.
June 13, 2012
Date: June 13, 2012
Reporting From: New York City
In Medieval Europe when most people were living short, brutish lives wallowing in muddy serfdom, there was one city that served as a shining economic beacon for the rest of the continent: Venice.
At the time, Venice was one of the richest places in the known world, underpinned by its dominance in trade and the upward mobility of its citizens.
The concept of what we know today as "America" was alive and well in Venice during the Middle Ages; Venice was a place where, with guts, hard work, and a little bit of luck, you could become very wealthy and live the Venetian Dream.
The modern Limited Partnership structure, in fact, is derived from an early Venetian model called the 'commenda', a sort of special purpose vehicle for trade missions.
A standard commenda involved young entrepreneurs with a lot of energy but no capital partnering with older veterans with a lot of capital but no energy. The old guys would finance a trade mission to Asia, and the young guy would head off to foreign lands to make money.
If/when he returned, they would split the profits, the young guy receiving 25% to 50%.
A lot of people became very wealthy through this model, and even the poorest serf could come to Venice and rise up in social and financial status.
As you could imagine, though, they managed to find a way to screw it up.
In the early 1300s, the ruling elite eliminated the commenda structure that had made so many people so much money. Shortly afterward, the state started charging exorbitant taxes to merchants and nationalizing trade.
A police force was introduced in 1310 for the first time ever... not to protect the people from criminals, but to protect the criminals (government) from the people.
It didn't take long for Venice to decline into insignificance. Any opportunities to create wealth and live prosperously vanished as Venetian politicians engaged in the wholesale destruction of their economy, the livelihoods of its participants, and the 'Venetian Dream.'
With 20/20 hindsight, we can look back upon medieval Venice and pinpoint the early 1300s as the turning point to rapid decline... when there was a great unraveling of economic foundations and personal freedom.
It certainly makes one wonder whether future historians will look back upon this period in Western civilization and draw the same conclusion.
While I'm no fan of economist Joseph Stiglitz or the neo-Keynesian ideals he espouses, his new book proves this point more than just about any other recent work.
In The Price of Inequality, Stiglitz provides copious data showing that individuals in the United States now have a lower likelihood of moving up in social/financial status than any other developed country in the world.
This fact is reinforced by the Federal Reserve's most recent Survey on Consumer Finances, which showed that median US household net worth fell nearly 40% from 2007 to 2010.
This is the natural effect when you base an entire system on the whims of a very small elite that has awarded itself the ability to spend recklessly, rack up unsustainable levels of debt, and conjure money out of thin air.
As in Venice before them, US politicians have been engaging in the wholesale destruction of their economy, the livelihoods of its participants, and the American Dream.
Mission accomplished.
Simon Black
Senior Editor
www. SovereignMan.com
Mission Accomplished - a different take and a good read - The Sovereign Man
Date: June 13, 2012
Reporting From: New York City
In Medieval Europe when most people were living short, brutish lives wallowing in muddy serfdom, there was one city that served as a shining economic beacon for the rest of the continent: Venice.
At the time, Venice was one of the richest places in the known world, underpinned by its dominance in trade and the upward mobility of its citizens.
The concept of what we know today as "America" was alive and well in Venice during the Middle Ages; Venice was a place where, with guts, hard work, and a little bit of luck, you could become very wealthy and live the Venetian Dream.
The modern Limited Partnership structure, in fact, is derived from an early Venetian model called the 'commenda', a sort of special purpose vehicle for trade missions.
A standard commenda involved young entrepreneurs with a lot of energy but no capital partnering with older veterans with a lot of capital but no energy. The old guys would finance a trade mission to Asia, and the young guy would head off to foreign lands to make money.
If/when he returned, they would split the profits, the young guy receiving 25% to 50%.
A lot of people became very wealthy through this model, and even the poorest serf could come to Venice and rise up in social and financial status.
As you could imagine, though, they managed to find a way to screw it up.
In the early 1300s, the ruling elite eliminated the commenda structure that had made so many people so much money. Shortly afterward, the state started charging exorbitant taxes to merchants and nationalizing trade.
A police force was introduced in 1310 for the first time ever... not to protect the people from criminals, but to protect the criminals (government) from the people.
It didn't take long for Venice to decline into insignificance. Any opportunities to create wealth and live prosperously vanished as Venetian politicians engaged in the wholesale destruction of their economy, the livelihoods of its participants, and the 'Venetian Dream.'
With 20/20 hindsight, we can look back upon medieval Venice and pinpoint the early 1300s as the turning point to rapid decline... when there was a great unraveling of economic foundations and personal freedom.
It certainly makes one wonder whether future historians will look back upon this period in Western civilization and draw the same conclusion.
While I'm no fan of economist Joseph Stiglitz or the neo-Keynesian ideals he espouses, his new book proves this point more than just about any other recent work.
In The Price of Inequality, Stiglitz provides copious data showing that individuals in the United States now have a lower likelihood of moving up in social/financial status than any other developed country in the world.
This fact is reinforced by the Federal Reserve's most recent Survey on Consumer Finances, which showed that median US household net worth fell nearly 40% from 2007 to 2010.
This is the natural effect when you base an entire system on the whims of a very small elite that has awarded itself the ability to spend recklessly, rack up unsustainable levels of debt, and conjure money out of thin air.
As in Venice before them, US politicians have been engaging in the wholesale destruction of their economy, the livelihoods of its participants, and the American Dream.
Mission accomplished.
Simon Black
Senior Editor
www. SovereignMan.com
June 13, 2012
Why I voted for Ron Paul
By: Joe Scarborough June 12, 2012 01:11 PM EDT
I operate on instinct. So I should not have been surprised by my own gut reaction to the absentee ballot that lay before me on the kitchen table.
I scanned the list for Republican primary candidates and let instinct take over.
Mitt Romney? Not on your life. A big government Republican who will say anything to get elected.
Rick Santorum? No way. A pro-life statist who helped George W. Bush double the national debt.
Newt Gingrich? Ideologically unmoored. A champion of liberty one day, a central planner the next.
Ron Paul? Yep. I quickly checked his name and moved on to a far more complex task: fixing my daughter a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
After spending six months analyzing each candidate’s every move for three hours a day, five days a week, it never occurred to me that my decision to vote for the quirky congressman from Texas would happen as fast as a tornado whipping through an Amarillo parking lot. After all, who would vote for a candidate that criticized the killing of Osama bin Laden, blamed U.S. foreign policy for Sept. 11 and wants to abolish Social Security?
Certainly not me.
But I also would never vote for a GOP candidate who was the godfather of Obamacare, or another who added $7 trillion to Medicare’s debt or yet another who bashed Paul Ryan one week and venture capital the next. Faced with this truckload of big government Republicans, I cast my vote for the only candidate who spent his entire public career standing athwart history yelling “stop” to an ever-expanding centralized state.
While Romney was distancing himself from Ronald Reagan, Paul was fighting with Republicans to balance the budget for the first time in a generation. While Santorum was supporting an unprecedented expansion of entitlement spending, Paul was warning of a great recession that would be caused by government interference in the housing market. And while Gingrich was talking about how he would build up the federal government to push his conservative agenda, Congressman Paul spent all his waking hours focused on dismembering that big government beast.
It was the first “protest” vote I’ve ever cast, and it felt … well, it felt good. Suddenly I understood a bit better why the Ross Perot or the Pat Buchanan or the Ralph Nader voters did what they did.
They thought the system was so broken that they couldn’t sit out but also couldn’t stomach voting for a conventional candidate at a time of unconventional problems.
Do I think a Ron Paul presidency is ever possible? No, I don’t. But I do want some of the Pauline virtues of candor and non-poll-tested conviction to play a larger role in our politics.
So now I’ve cast my protest vote. It felt good.
What I really want, though, is a party and a politics that’s commensurate with the problems and possibilities of the country. We’ll get there one day — and then we can focus on progress, not protest.
A guest columnist for POLITICO, Joe Scarborough hosts “Morning Joe” on MSNBC and represented Florida’s 1st Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=D6D4C199-7388-408F-B860-605DF65407E8
Why I voted for Ron Paul By: Joe Scarborough
Posted for your information only. I found it interesting, maybe so will othersWhy I voted for Ron Paul
By: Joe Scarborough June 12, 2012 01:11 PM EDT
I operate on instinct. So I should not have been surprised by my own gut reaction to the absentee ballot that lay before me on the kitchen table.
I scanned the list for Republican primary candidates and let instinct take over.
Mitt Romney? Not on your life. A big government Republican who will say anything to get elected.
Rick Santorum? No way. A pro-life statist who helped George W. Bush double the national debt.
Newt Gingrich? Ideologically unmoored. A champion of liberty one day, a central planner the next.
Ron Paul? Yep. I quickly checked his name and moved on to a far more complex task: fixing my daughter a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
After spending six months analyzing each candidate’s every move for three hours a day, five days a week, it never occurred to me that my decision to vote for the quirky congressman from Texas would happen as fast as a tornado whipping through an Amarillo parking lot. After all, who would vote for a candidate that criticized the killing of Osama bin Laden, blamed U.S. foreign policy for Sept. 11 and wants to abolish Social Security?
Certainly not me.
But I also would never vote for a GOP candidate who was the godfather of Obamacare, or another who added $7 trillion to Medicare’s debt or yet another who bashed Paul Ryan one week and venture capital the next. Faced with this truckload of big government Republicans, I cast my vote for the only candidate who spent his entire public career standing athwart history yelling “stop” to an ever-expanding centralized state.
While Romney was distancing himself from Ronald Reagan, Paul was fighting with Republicans to balance the budget for the first time in a generation. While Santorum was supporting an unprecedented expansion of entitlement spending, Paul was warning of a great recession that would be caused by government interference in the housing market. And while Gingrich was talking about how he would build up the federal government to push his conservative agenda, Congressman Paul spent all his waking hours focused on dismembering that big government beast.
It was the first “protest” vote I’ve ever cast, and it felt … well, it felt good. Suddenly I understood a bit better why the Ross Perot or the Pat Buchanan or the Ralph Nader voters did what they did.
They thought the system was so broken that they couldn’t sit out but also couldn’t stomach voting for a conventional candidate at a time of unconventional problems.
Do I think a Ron Paul presidency is ever possible? No, I don’t. But I do want some of the Pauline virtues of candor and non-poll-tested conviction to play a larger role in our politics.
So now I’ve cast my protest vote. It felt good.
What I really want, though, is a party and a politics that’s commensurate with the problems and possibilities of the country. We’ll get there one day — and then we can focus on progress, not protest.
A guest columnist for POLITICO, Joe Scarborough hosts “Morning Joe” on MSNBC and represented Florida’s 1st Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=D6D4C199-7388-408F-B860-605DF65407E8
June 12, 2012
Status of Democracy ‘Fragile,’ Spokesperson Says
NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) – Calling the status of democracy in the Sunshine State “fragile at best,” the United Nations met in emergency session today to declare Florida a rogue state.
The actions by Florida Gov. Rick Scott to purge the voter rolls in his state might have inspired the vote by the U.N., but as the spokesperson for the U.N. Secretary-General said, “We’ve had problems with elections in Florida before.”
The vote means the U.N. could soon dispatch a team of observers to Florida, led by diplomats from such democracies as Egypt and Libya.
Gov. Scott’s voter purge was only the latest in a series of events “that reveal a near-total breakdown of the rule of law in Florida,” the U.N. spokesperson said.
“This is a state where people have been killed for carrying Skittles and iced tea, or had their faces eaten off by zombies high on bath salts,” he said. “And now this thing with Rick Scott.”
In other Florida news, former Gov. Jeb Bush yesterday risked alienating his fellow Republicans by making what Fox News called “a series of dangerously sane remarks.”
In stating that the current Republican Party would not be hospitable to the likes of Ronald Reagan, Fox reported, “Jeb Bush displayed a level of sanity that makes most of his fellow Republicans extremely uncomfortable.”
Mr. Bush was said to be huddling with his advisers to come up with a statement unhinged enough to win his way back into the hearts of the Republican mainstream, perhaps by advocating legal marriage between a man and an assault rifle.
Elsewhere on the political scene, President Obama today said he “misspoke” when he said last week that the private sector of the economy was fine: “What I meant to say was that Mitt Romney is a dick.”
And after a woman was arrested for cooking meth in a Missouri Walmart, the company released the following statement: “Walmart has a strict policy against American-made products.”
www.borowitzreport.com
In Emergency Session, U.N. Declares Florida a Rogue State reported by Andy Borowitz
In Emergency Session, U.N. Declares Florida a Rogue StateStatus of Democracy ‘Fragile,’ Spokesperson Says
NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) – Calling the status of democracy in the Sunshine State “fragile at best,” the United Nations met in emergency session today to declare Florida a rogue state.
The actions by Florida Gov. Rick Scott to purge the voter rolls in his state might have inspired the vote by the U.N., but as the spokesperson for the U.N. Secretary-General said, “We’ve had problems with elections in Florida before.”
The vote means the U.N. could soon dispatch a team of observers to Florida, led by diplomats from such democracies as Egypt and Libya.
Gov. Scott’s voter purge was only the latest in a series of events “that reveal a near-total breakdown of the rule of law in Florida,” the U.N. spokesperson said.
“This is a state where people have been killed for carrying Skittles and iced tea, or had their faces eaten off by zombies high on bath salts,” he said. “And now this thing with Rick Scott.”
In other Florida news, former Gov. Jeb Bush yesterday risked alienating his fellow Republicans by making what Fox News called “a series of dangerously sane remarks.”
In stating that the current Republican Party would not be hospitable to the likes of Ronald Reagan, Fox reported, “Jeb Bush displayed a level of sanity that makes most of his fellow Republicans extremely uncomfortable.”
Mr. Bush was said to be huddling with his advisers to come up with a statement unhinged enough to win his way back into the hearts of the Republican mainstream, perhaps by advocating legal marriage between a man and an assault rifle.
Elsewhere on the political scene, President Obama today said he “misspoke” when he said last week that the private sector of the economy was fine: “What I meant to say was that Mitt Romney is a dick.”
And after a woman was arrested for cooking meth in a Missouri Walmart, the company released the following statement: “Walmart has a strict policy against American-made products.”
www.borowitzreport.com
June 11, 2012
It's no coincidence he's the first governor to survive recall -- after the supreme court took the cap off corporate campaign finance Central to Walker's win was a massive infusion of campaign cash, saturating Wisconsin with months of political advertising. His win signals less a loss for the unions than a loss for our democracy in this post-Citizens United era, when elections can be bought with the help of a few billionaires. According to Forbes magazine, 14 billionaires made contributions to Walker, only one of whom lives in Wisconsin. Among the 13 out-of-state billionaires was Christy Walton, the widow of John T Walton, son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz notes, 'the six heirs to the Walmart empire command wealth of $69.7bn, which is equivalent to the wealth of the entire bottom 30% of US society.' That is almost 95 million people.
Read the rest of the story HERE:
http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=151452
How Citizens United helped Scott Walker win in Wisconsin | Amy Goodman
How Citizens United helped Scott Walker win in Wisconsin | Amy GoodmanIt's no coincidence he's the first governor to survive recall -- after the supreme court took the cap off corporate campaign finance Central to Walker's win was a massive infusion of campaign cash, saturating Wisconsin with months of political advertising. His win signals less a loss for the unions than a loss for our democracy in this post-Citizens United era, when elections can be bought with the help of a few billionaires. According to Forbes magazine, 14 billionaires made contributions to Walker, only one of whom lives in Wisconsin. Among the 13 out-of-state billionaires was Christy Walton, the widow of John T Walton, son of Walmart founder Sam Walton. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz notes, 'the six heirs to the Walmart empire command wealth of $69.7bn, which is equivalent to the wealth of the entire bottom 30% of US society.' That is almost 95 million people.
Read the rest of the story HERE:
http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=151452
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