“I used to structure them so the value dedicated to charity was as close to zero as possible without being zero,” he pointed out.
The CRUT allows individuals to “defer capital gains taxes on any profit from the sale of the assets, and receive a small upfront charitable deduction and a stream of yearly cash payments,” Drucker wrote. “Like an individual retirement account, the trust allows money to grow tax deferred, while like an annuity it also pays Romney a steady income. After the funder’s death, the trust’s remaining assets go to a designated charity.”
In fact, the amount available to go to the Mormon church has decreased from at least $750,000 in 2001 to $421,203 at the end of 2011 as Romney has collected yearly cash payments from the trust.
Month: October 2012
“2016” Author D’Souza Attempts Polygamy to Impress Romney
Big Love at King’s College: D’Souza’s Mistress Was Also Married | Crooks and Liars http://crooksandliars.com/josh-glasstetter/big-love-king-s-college-dsouzas-m
On the heels of a sex scandal, Dinesh D’Souza announced his resignation today as president of King’s College in New York. D’Souza, star of the nonsensical anti-Obama film 2016: Obama’s America and defender of traditional marriage, was recently caught cavorting with a much younger woman while still married to his wife. And now to make matters worse, it appears that his mistress was also married. Last week, D’Souza blasted President Obama for undermining traditional values. Now we know D’Souza is so traditional that his love life comes straight out of the Old Testament. D’Souza, who told Christianity Today that “he did not know that Christians generally do not approve of engagements prior to divorces being finalized,” is engaged to Denise Odie Joseph II (sic) and married to his wife. What’s good for the gander is good for the goose, apparently.
I know its surprising that yet another conservative family values advocate doesn’t actually live by those values. This might be surprising to those that don’t understand the world, or loved 2016….Hrrm….that’s the same group.
Clear Channel Refuses to Disclose which one (of the 5) Billionaire Romney backers paid for Voter Intimidation Ads
Chicago Tribune – Ohio voter fraud billboards to come down, sponsor stays unnamed http://touch.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-72983359/
CLEVELAND (Reuters) – More than 140 billboards in Ohio and Wisconsin warning of the criminal consequences of voter fraud will be taken down starting on Monday after the sponsor chose to remove them rather than reveal its identity, the billboard owner said. The billboards, which show a large judge’s gavel and read “Voter Fraud is a felony – up to 3 ½ years and a $10,000 fine,” went up primarily in low-income minority neighborhoods in early October, just weeks before the November 6 elections, and were immediately criticized by voter rights groups as an attempt to intimidate minority voters. The sponsor was not identified on the billboards owned by Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc. The company said this was a violation of its policy against anonymous political ads.
Funny how that policy wasn’t enforced until they were challenged on it. Well, it would be if you didn’t know how Clear Channel is run, if you knew that, this would be par for the course.
More Good Economic News, Last week Jobs…this week…Housing
AFP: US home building hits 4-year high
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hKp4I875fCfMZNUml2rBjGDXQ8SQ?docId=CNG.dc7fb3a2b6a405ed3168a02343fffacd.91
WASHINGTON — US home construction and building permits surged in September, government data showed Wednesday in fresh confirmation of a recovery under way in the depressed housing market.
Housing starts leaped 15.0 percent from August to an annual rate of 872,000, the strongest pace since July 2008, the Commerce Department said.
Starts were up 34.8 percent year-over-year.
The monthly gain was well above the average analyst forecast of 768,000.
And the Commerce Department upwardly revised the prior two months’ gains, notably by 1.8 point to 4.1 percent for August.
Starts on single-family homes, the largest segment of the market, jumped 11.0 percent from August.
There has been a steady stream of good economic news the last couple months. Whoever wins the election will have a solid foundation to build from in that arena.
Iraq records huge rise in birth defects, the Cost of War, Continued….
It played unwilling host to one of the bloodiest battles of the Iraq war. Fallujahs homes and businesses were left shattered; hundreds of Iraqi civilians were killed. Its residents changed the name of their “City of Mosques” to “the polluted city” after the United States launched two massive military campaigns eight years ago. Now, one month before the World Health Organisation reveals its view on the legacy of the two battles for the town, a new study reports a “staggering rise” in birth defects among Iraqi children conceived in the aftermath of the war.High rates of miscarriage, toxic levels of lead and mercury contamination and spiralling numbers of birth defects ranging from congenital heart defects to brain dysfunctions and malformed limbs have been recorded. Even more disturbingly, they appear to be occurring at an increasing rate in children born in Fallujah, about 40 miles west of Baghdad.
via Iraq records huge rise in birth defects – Health News – Health & Families – The Independent.
There is “compelling evidence” to link the increased numbers of defects and miscarriages to military assaults, says Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, one of the lead authors of the report and an environmental toxicologist at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. Similar defects have been found among children born in Basra after British troops invaded, according to the new research.
US marines first bombarded Fallujah in April 2004 after four employees from the American security company Blackwater were killed, their bodies burned and dragged through the street, with two of the corpses left hanging from a bridge. Seven months later, the marines stormed the city for a second time, using some of the heaviest US air strikes deployed in Iraq. American forces later admitted that they had used white phosphorus shells, although they never admitted to using depleted uranium, which has been linked to high rates of cancer and birth defects.
The Iraq War happened. Even when many in this country can’t remember how Wall Street destroyed the economy four years ago and are now poised to vote for a Wall Street Tycoon, err, “Job Creator, we also forget about the nearly decade long occupation of Iraq. There’s going to be more to this story. I’ll write about it from time to time, but if anyone wants to dedicate their lives to solving a real and horrid problem…this is a good one.
You can also continue to advocate against offensive, BASED-ON-UTTER-BULLSHIT WARS!!
The problems they cause tend to last for generations. Generations.
If you’re wondering why I fight for peace so hard, this is reason N!.
Romney Once Again Proves How Different the Real World is from His World
Here’s the “gaffe”.
“We don’t have a setting across this country where if you don’t have insurance, we just say to you, ‘Tough luck, you’re going to die when you have your heart attack,’ ” [Mitt Romney] said as he offered more hints as to what he would put in place of “Obamacare,” which he has pledged to repeal.
“No, you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and it’s paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital. We don’t have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance.”
He pointed out that federal law requires hospitals to treat those without health insurance — although hospital officials frequently say that drives up health-care costs.
Here’s the reality.
A 24-year-old Cincinnati father died from a tooth infection this week because he couldn’t afford his medication, offering a sobering reminder of the importance of oral health and the number of people without access to dental or health care.
According to NBC affiliate WLWT, Kyle Willis’ wisdom tooth started hurting two weeks ago. When dentists told him it needed to be pulled, he decided to forgo the procedure, because he was unemployed and had no health insurance.
When his face started swelling and his head began to ache, Willis went to the emergency room, where he received prescriptions for antibiotics and pain medications. Willis couldn’t afford both, so he chose the pain medications.
Again…reality and Mitt Romney’s version of reality differ a great deal. He says what happened never happens…but it did.
So the question remains…is he ignorant of reality or lying about it? It has to be one or the other.
The Military Industrial Complex Job Creatin’ All The Live Long Day
CNN Security Clearance http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/09/army-to-congress-thanks-but-no-tanks/?hpt=hp_c1
If the U.S. pauses tank production and refurbishment it will hurt the nation’s industrial economy, lawmakers say. “The combat vehicle industrial base is a unique asset that consists of hundreds of public and private facilities across the United States,” the letter said. The outlook for selling Abrams tanks to other nations appears “stronger than prior years,” the letter said. But those sales would be “inadequate to sustain the industrial base and in some cases uncertain. In light of this, modest and continued Abrams production for the Army is necessary to protect the industrial base.” Lima, Ohio, is a long way from this dusty tank parking lot. The tiny town in the northwestern part of the Buckeye State is where defense manufacturing heavyweight General Dynamics makes these 60-plus-ton behemoths. The tanks create 16,000 jobs and involve 882 suppliers, says Kendell Pease, the company’s vice-president of government relations and communications. That job figure includes ancillary positions like gas station workers who fill up employees’ cars coming and going to the plant.
Republicans Cut Spending for Embassy Protection, then Turn Around and Blame President for lack of Embassy Protection
Democrats enacted $1.803 billion for embassy security, construction and maintenance for fiscal 2010, when they still controlled the Senate and House. After Republicans took control of the House and picked up six Senate seats, Congress reduced the enacted budget to $1.616 billion in fiscal 2011, and to $1.537 billion for 2012.
The administration requested $1.801 billion for security, construction and maintenance for fiscal 2012; House Republicans countered with a proposal to cut spending to $1.425 billion. The House agreed to increase it to $1.537 billion after negotiations with the Senate.
The administration requested $1.654 billion for the State Department’s Worldwide Security Protection program for fiscal 2012. House Republicans proposed funding the program at $1.557 billion. Congress eventually enacted $1.591 billion after the Senate weighed in.
Also note how Mitt Romney is spinning this…and claiming the Middle East is worse now than in 2008….when we had over 100,000 troops in Iraq…and three more dictators running the shows…and three less democracies…but hey…what’s reality got to do with Republican policies?
Stacy Dash, African American actress, shocked by reaction to her support of candidate that believed African Americans were sub-human for first 30 years of his life
USA TODAY http://m.usatoday.com/article/news/1624013
Stacey Dash told Piers Morgan on his CNN show Tuesday night that her support for Mitt Romney has provoked some serious negative feedback.
The Clueless actress tweeted her political opinion on Sunday, writing: “Vote for Romney. The only choice for your future.”
She was immediately slammed with Tweets attacking her. One example: “Wait Stacey Dash is voting for Romney? You get a lil money and you forget that you’re black and a woman. Two things Romney hates.”
So here’s some of the history. God changed what Mormons were supposed to think of blacks in 1978. Mitt Romney was born in 1947. He was 31 when this was changed. This also means it was this “God hates blacks” version of Mormonism that he was preaching for two years in France. I’ve no doubt he changed his belief in the immutable word of God since then, there’s very few things he’s been consistent on in his life, so we can add this to the list.
Understanding the Romney Bounce
Romney Proudly Explains How He’s Turned Campaign Around | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source
http://www.theonion.com/articles/romney-proudly-explains-how-hes-turned-campaign-ar,29845/
“I’m lying a lot more, and my lies are far more egregious than they’ve ever been,” a smiling Romney told reporters while sitting in the back of his campaign bus, adding that when faced with a choice to either lie or tell the truth, he will more than likely lie. “It’s a strategy that works because when I lie, I’m essentially telling people what they want to hear, and people really like hearing things they want to hear. Even if they sort of know that nothing I’m saying is true.”
“It’s a freeing strategy, really, because I don’t have to worry about facts or being accurate or having any concrete positions of any kind,” Romney added.
Scalia hopes to bring back slavery, “it was good enough for the Founders, its cool with me”
Scalia says abortion, gay rights are easy cases http://townhall.com/news/politics-elections/2012/10/05/scalia_says_abortion_gay_rights_are_easy_cases
So Scalia parts company with former colleagues who have come to believe capital punishment is unconstitutional. The framers of the Constitution didn’t think so and neither does he. “The death penalty? Give me a break. It’s easy. Abortion? Absolutely easy. Nobody ever thought the Constitution prevented restrictions on abortion. Homosexual sodomy? Come on. For 200 years, it was criminal in every state,” Scalia said at the American Enterprise Institute.
A vote for Romney is a vote for more of this type of Republican approved governmental oppression.
Republicans claim Bush tax cuts, intended to eliminate tax burden for poor, didn’t help the rich, despite them getting 90% of it…
The CBO on Falling Incomes and Rising Tax Shares of the Top 1% | Cato @ Liberty http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/the-cbo-on-falling-incomes-and-rising-tax-shares-of-the-top-1/
A favorite talking point among redistributionists is to say the tax code was much “fairer” under President Bill Clinton, than it has been since the Bush tax cuts of 2003. New Congressional Budget Office (CBO) figures show that the top 1% paid 21.3% of all federal taxes from 1993 to 2000, when Clinton was president, but they paid 25.1% from 2003 to 2008, after the Bush tax cuts. If 21.3% was a fair share in the Clinton years, then the top 1% has been paying much more than its fair share since 2003.
I’ve noted this before…even looked up the speech…the poor not paying taxes is a FEATURE of the Bush cuts. Now that it has happened, Republicans turn around and claim that the actual beneficiaries of the Bush cuts (even eliminating tax on the poor left 90% of the Bush cuts going to the wealthy, it was a huge tax cut) actually didn’t get most of the help by claiming the resulting concentration of wealth is an indication of something other than a massive concentration of wealth (another intended feature of supply-side economics).
Robot Pirate Ninja 