The Guy Fawkes' Mask Slips II

 Ax (Sic) The 1% And Fight For Communism, Comrades!

After over 3,000 arrests, the constant street violence, the drug use, vandalism, rapes and death…

 No Angels, But Lots of Demons in Oakland on All Saints' Day

Despite the glorious, glowing, romantic and sentimental coverage of the OWS movement by the corrupt liberal media, a plurality of Americans view Obama’s Occupy Wall Street protest movement negatively.  I have no doubt that OWS' approval numbers will continue to fall as the violence, rioting, port shutdowns, intimidation, vandalism, etc., grow.

Decoded reported:

A sign that the Occupy Wall Street movement isn’t the best long-term vehicle for Democrats to connect themselves with: A new Quinnipiac poll, showing a plurality of voters viewing the group unfavorably.

The poll, released today, show 30 percent of voters surveyed view the movement favorably, 39 percent unfavorably, with an additional 30 percent not hearing enough to have an opinion. It’s one of the first national polls to suggest voters are growing skeptical of Occupy Wall Street- and it comes as police have clashed with protesters in several cities. Previous national polls have shown a plurality of adults supporting the movement.

These numbers comes as Democrats, from the White House on down, have struck a decidedly populist tone in recent months, from President Obama calling on the wealthy to pay a higher share in taxes, Senate Democratic officials rallying behind the campaign of Elizabeth Warren, who has embraced the Occupy Wall Street movement, and House Democrats, who sent out a petition last month aimed at leveraging the Occupy Wall Street movement against the Republican Party.

As I have said repeatedly since #OccupyWallStreet's virgin protest, I wish the circus parade of freaks, anti-Semites, bare-breasted ladies, radicals, Pinkos with hardly an "average, hard-working, Middle-Class American" in sight a long life and much press...especially on local stations and also in "Flyover America" - the area of country inhabited by Americans that Progressives on both Coasts detest, despise, and consider to be racist, sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic, xenophobic, bigoted, inbred, snake-handling, dirt-eating, Bible-clinging, gun-worshiping, cousin-marrying, Confederate-flag-flying, and strange because they happen to like Mum, America, and Apple Pie.

 Police arrested 27 #Occupy Portland protesters earlier in the week.

An #Occupy Portland protester pushed a police sergeant into a moving bus yesterday during a protest march against police violence.

KATU reported:

Police made one arrest during the march. They said 30-year-old David Anthony Burgess shoved a police sergeant into a TriMet bus while it was moving, then dashed back into the crowd.

The sergeant suffered minor injuries and police later found Burgess after the march and arrested him. He was booked into the Multnomah County Jail, accused of assaulting a police officer, interfering with police, second-degree disorderly conduct and harassment.

...The groups united in solidarity and urged an end to what they call police violence.

Another successful rally against police violence.  You just can't make this stuff up.


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Judge Richard Goldstone’s Mea Culpa, in the Pages of the New York Times!

By Ron Radosh

1 November 2011

Judge Richard Goldstone has done great harm to Israel. The Goldstone Report, as many writers on this website have documented in the past few years, has been used by Israel haters around the world as the main weapon in the campaign to delegitimize Israel. This past April, Goldstone ran an op-ed in the Washington Post that he had submitted to the New York Times but which the paper’s editors turned down. In that piece, Goldstone re-evaluated some of the conclusions he had signed onto when the 2009 report was issued. Readers of that April op-ed could easily see its tentative nature and its rather half-hearted  repudiation of the original damage the judge had done.

But this morning, readers of the New York Times were stunned to find a new op-ed by Goldstone, which not only is a personal mea culpa of the most dramatic sort, but one that blasts one of the major arguments regularly engaged in by the hate-Israel Left, especially the reprehensible Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and former President Jimmy Carter. Titled  “Israel and the Apartheid Slander,” the judge, in effect, also answers the approach regularly taken by the editors of the paper in which his article appears.

Goldstone begins with noting that “it is important to separate legitimate criticism of Israel from assaults that aim to isolate, demonize and delegitimize it.” In effect, the judge is referring to his own previous report and those of its many leftist and anti-Semitic defenders.

Most surprisingly, the judge, who grew up in South Africa and knows apartheid well, refers to the “particularly pernicious and enduring canard that is surfacing again,” which “is that Israel pursues ‘apartheid’ policies.” In writing this, he is trying to head off in advance the mock trial taking place next week in Cape Town, held by the ’60s leftover of the far Left, the so-called Russell Tribunal, convened decades ago by the late Bertrand Russell as a mechanism to condemn the United States in the Vietnam War era. As Goldstone writes, “It is not a ‘tribunal.’ The ‘evidence’ is going to be one-sided and the members of the ‘jury’ are critics whose harsh views of Israel are well known.”

Most importantly, Goldstone calls the charge that Israel is an apartheid state an “unfair and inaccurate slander against Israel.” First, he tells his readers what apartheid really was in South Africa, and then concludes with the following:

In Israel, there is no apartheid. Nothing there comes close to the definition of apartheid under the 1998 Rome Statute: “Inhumane acts … committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.” Israeli Arabs — 20 percent of Israel’s population — vote, have political parties and representatives in the Knesset and occupy positions of acclaim, including on its Supreme Court. Arab patients lie alongside Jewish patients in Israeli hospitals, receiving identical treatment.

Turning to the West Bank, Goldstone notes that there, too, “there is no intent to maintain ‘an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group.’”

While South Africa’s apartheid was meant to enforce racial separation to benefit the white minority, Israel “has agreed in concept to the existence of a Palestinian state in Gaza and almost all of the west Bank, and is calling for the Palestinians to negotiate the parameters.”

Moreover, Goldstone adds that since Israel is under threat of attacks from both of those areas, it has to take measures “necessary for self defense.” To deal with the substantive issues that divide both sides by making the claim of apartheid, he argues, muddies the water and makes solving the disputes harder. He then writes:

Those seeking to promote the myth of Israeli apartheid often point to clashes between heavily armed Israeli soldiers and stone-throwing Palestinians in the West Bank, or the building of what they call an “apartheid wall” and disparate treatment on West Bank roads. While such images may appear to invite a superficial comparison, it is disingenuous to use them to distort the reality. The security barrier was built to stop unrelenting terrorist attacks; while it has inflicted great hardship in places, the Israeli Supreme Court has ordered the state in many cases to reroute it to minimize unreasonable hardship. Road restrictions get more intrusive after violent attacks and are ameliorated when the threat is reduced.

Finally, Goldstone writes that “Israel, unique among democracies, has been in a state of war with many of its neighbors who refuse to accept its existence.” He concludes with these words, which I highlight in bold:

The charge that Israel is an apartheid state is a false and malicious one that precludes, rather than promotes, peace and harmony.

One cannot help but speculate on what accounts for this startling change on the part of Judge Goldstone. Perhaps, coming soon after Yom Kippur, the judge took the New Year personally and decided that it was time to personally atone for the sins he had done to Israel. Perhaps the many critiques of his report from writers like Alan M. Dershowitz and Peter Berkowitz, whom Goldstone heard debate on the subject in California, hit home and affected him deeply.

As Tom Gross has noted on his own blog, Goldstone’s op-ed is a direct repudiation as well of so-called human rights groups that spend all of their time criticizing Israel while avoiding any condemnation of Arab violations of human rights, and of groups like Israel’s B’Teselem, whose director Jessica Montell has said that Israel is “worse than apartheid in South Africa.”
So, whatever Goldstone’s personal motivations that moved him to finally tell the truth, and repudiate his own past actions, his op-ed serves to undermine the attempts of those who seek Israel’s destruction, and prevents them from now using Goldstone’s previous report in their continuing efforts. And perhaps as well, the many criticisms by people like those of us at PJ Media have led the editors of the New York Times to finally decide to run such a piece on its editorial pages. The paper that just a few months ago ran an anti-Israel piece by the now thankfully recently departed Muammar Gaddafi, to the ridicule of all of its readers,  has itself partially atoned for its sins by this time giving over its space to Judge Richard Goldstone.

Let us be thankful for such victories.

Debbie, For The Sake Of All That Is Good & Holy, Please, Shut The Fuck Up!

In its Moving America Forward manifesto, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee says Obama, with help from congressional Democrats, has five accomplishments: created private sector jobs, reduced debt, kept taxes low, passed a healthcare plan and reformed Wall Street.

Talk about falling down the rabbithole.

He has increased the national debt by $4,312,698,599,675.42 (01.20.09 - 10.30.11) and debt held by the public by 61.81% - SIXTY-ONE POINT EIGHTY-ONE PERCENT- in 1,010 days (01.20.09 - 10.27.11).

He has LOST 2.075 million jobs in the private sector.

Only 34% of the country approve of Obamacare.

Frankendudd is a disaster & doesn't end TBTF

And, he has raised taxes.


This is your brain on perm chemicals, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

Hey, Progs! Wanna Be Like Europe? How 'Bout You Start By Eliminating Estate Taxes?

1. BELGIUM: Droits de succession or successierechten (Inheritance tax). Collected at the federal level, but distributed to the regional level.

INHERITANCE TAX: BRUSSELS REGION

If the deceased was resident in the Brussels region, the spouse, direct descendants and direct ascendants are entitled to a tax-free allowance of €15,000 each. For children below 21 years of age, the allowance is increased by €2,500 for each year below the age of 21. For other beneficiaries, inheritances not exceeding €1,250 are not taxable.

TAX BASE  (€)	Tax Rate
Up to €50,000	3%
€50,000 - €100,000	8%
€100,000 - €175,000	9%
€175,000 - €250,000	18%
€250,000 - €500,000	24%
Over €500,000	30%

Source: Global Property Guide

The rates for brothers and sisters vary between 20% and 65%, where the minimum rate applies to inheritances up to €12,500 and the maximum rate applies to inheritances exceeding €250,000.

The inheritance rates vary between 25% and 70% for uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews. For all other individuals, the tax is levied between 40% and 80%. The minimum rate applies to inheritances up to €50,000 and the maximum rate applies to inheritances exceeding €175,000.

INHERITANCE TAX: FLEMISH REGION

The inheritance is split into immovable and movable parts, which are then taxed at progressive rates. A maximum reduction of €500 is granted if the taxable share does not exceed €50,000.

TAX BASE  (€)	TAX RATE
Up to €50,000	3%
€50,000 - €250,000	9%
Over €500,000	27%

Source: Global Property Guide

The rates for brothers and sisters vary between 30% and 65%. For all other individuals, the tax is levied between 45% and 65%. In all these cases, the minimum rate applies to inheritances up to €75,000 and the maximum rate applies to inheritances exceeding €175,000.

INHERITANCE TAX: WALLOON REGION

If the deceased was resident in the Walloon region, the spouse, direct descendants and direct ascendants are entitled to a tax-free allowance of €12,500 each. The allowance is increased to €25,000, if the inheritance does not exceed €125,000. For children below 21 years of age, the allowance is increased by €2,500 for each year below the age of 21. For other beneficiaries, inheritances not exceeding €620 are tax-exempt.

Source: Global Property Guide  

The rates for brothers and sisters vary between 20% and 65%. The rates vary between 25% and 70% for uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews. For all other individuals, the tax is levied between 30% and 80%. In all these cases, the minimum rate applies to inheritances up to €12,500 and the maximum rate applies to inheritances exceeding €175,000.

2.  CZECH REPUBLIC: Dan dědická (Inheritance tax)

For purpose of calculation of the inheritance tax, persons are divided into three categories depending on relationship of the decedent and the acquirer. The categories / relationships are as follows:

Category I: Direct relatives (in the direct line) and spouses.

Category II: (i) Other relatives (in the collateral line), namely siblings, nephews, nieces, uncles and aunts, (ii) children’s spouses (sons-in-law and daughters-in-law), husband’s children, husband’s parents, and (iii) individuals living with the acquirer in a common household for at least a year prior to the decedent’s death, and who for that reason took care of the common household or who were dependent on the acquirer or decedent for their support (maintenance).

Category III: Other individuals and legal entities not falling into the Category I and/or Category II.

No inheritance tax is payable by Category I and Category II beneficiaries; otherwise, inheritance tax is levied at the gift tax rates, multiplied by a coefficient of 50%.

Subject to certain exemptions, inheritance tax is chargeable on the net value of all assets, except real estate abroad (if the deceased was a Czech citizen with permanent residence in the Czech Republic). Otherwise, inheritance tax is chargeable only on assets located in the Czech Republic.

In the case of most tax exemptions, the obligation to file the inheritance tax return does not arise; however, certain tax exemptions must be claimed within the inheritance tax return.

3. FINLAND:  Perintövero (Inheritance Tax)

 

Beneficiaries are divided into two categories, depending on their relationship with the deceased.

Category I – close relative of the deceased/donor such as the spouse (including a cohabiting partner if the partners have a common child or if they have previously been married to each other), any lineal descendant or ascendant (including adoptive child relation) of the decedent and any lineal descendant of the decedent´s spouse

Category II – all other beneficiaries

The spouse may deduct €60,000 from his inheritance as personal allowance. Any lineal descendant under 18 years of age may deduct €40,000 if he is the closest beneficiary of the deceased. 

TAX BASE(€)………………......CLASS I…………..……….....CLASS II

Up to €20,400……………………...0%…………………......….........0%.....

€20,000–€40,000............................10%.............................................20%.....

€40,000–€60,000............................13%.............................................26%.....

Over €60,000..................................16%.............................................32%.....

4. SWEDEN:  Arvskatt (Inheritance tax) was ABOLISHED IN 2005.

5. FRANCE:  Droits de succession (Inheritance tax)

There is (since 22 August 2007) no succession tax on inheritances between spouses and PACS partners, but tax is still due on life-time gifts over the available allowance (see below). This inheritance tax exemption extends to sisters and brothers who are single, widowed or divorced providing that at the time of succession they are aged more than 50 or are suffering from an illness which prevents them from working, and they were living with the deceased during the five years preceding the death.

Succession tax rates for 2010

Taxable inheritance to spouses and PACS partners (gifts only):

.........A...............................B..........................C..........................D…..

Less than €7,953……......….......5%………………….....398............................398.....

€7,953 to €15,697...................10%............................774..........................1,172....

€15,697 to €31,395.................15%..........................2,345........................3,527....

€31,395 to €544,173..............20%.....................102,556.....................106,083...

€544,173 to €889,514............30%.....................103,602....................209,685...

€889,514 to €1,779,029.........35%.....................311,330.....................521,015...

Over €1,779,029.....................40%..........................................................................

Key:

A:  Taxable Inheritance
B:  To Spouses & PACS partners (gifts only)
C:  Tax on Band (€)
D.  Cumulative Tax (€)

Taxable inheritance in the direct line, including adopted children, but not step-children unless adopted:

.........A...............................B..........................C..........................D…..

Less than €7,953……......….......5%………………….....398............................398.....

€7,953 to €11,930...................10%...........................398............................796.....

€11,830 to €15,697.................15%...........................565...........................1,361....

€15,697 to €31,395.................20%.....................105,695.................... 107,056...

€31,395 to €544,173 ..............20%.....................102,556.....................106,083...

€544,173 to €889,514............30%.....................103,602.....................210,658...

€889,514 to €1,779,029.........35%......................311,330.....................531,998...

Over €1,779,029.....................40%...........................................................................

Key:

A:  Taxable Inheritance
B:   In The Direct Line
C:  Tax on Band (€)
D.  Cumulative Tax (€)

Taxable inheritance: siblings and other relatives and non-relatives:

.........A...............................B..........................C..........................D…..

Less than €24,069……......…....35%…………………....55%...........................60%...

Above €24,069......……......…....35%…………………....55%...........................60%...

Key:

A:  Taxable Inheritance
B:   Brothers & Sisters

C:  Other Relatives to the 4th Degree
D.  More Remote and Non-Relatives

Allowances For 2010:

1.  Spouses - gifts (inheritances exempt):  €79,533

2.  Partners under PACS - gifts (in heritances exempt): €79,533

3.  To each natural or adopted child from each parent: €156,974

4.  To each natural or adoptive parent: €156,974

5.  To children on your divorce (up to age 18): €2,700 pa, per child

6.  To a grandchild (gifts only): €31,395

7.  To a great-grandchild (gifts only): €5,232

8.  Cash gifts to a child, grandchild or possibly nephew/niece

.............A.  Subject to donor's/donee's ages

.............B.  Non-renewable: €31,395

9.  To unmarried brother/sister

............. over 50 or invalid

............. who has lived with deceased for at least the last five years (gift only): €79,533

10.  To a sibling not covered above €15,697

11.  To a nephew/niece (gifts and inheritances) €7,849

12.  To a nephew/niece by representation of a sibling €15,697

13.  To any other person €1,570

14.  To any disabled person - additional to above €156,974

The living representatives of a deceased descendant share that descendant's allowance between them in addition to their own allowances.

Unmarried couples are taxable as "strangers" and so have an allowance of only a €1,570 unless they have entered into a PACS agreement, the French version of a civil partnership, open to both same and opposite couples in France. If a PACS agreement is broken before the end of the year following the year it was entered into, for motives other than marriage of the couple or death of one of the partners, the allowance will be denied and the tax relief clawed back. PACS partners are entitled to a deduction of 30% from the value of the main residence in the same way as a married couple is.

The allowances (with the exception of the one-off cash gift allowance) all renew every six years for lifetime gifts. Gifts up to the available allowances can thus be made every six years tax-free.

6. GERMANY:  Erbschaftssteuer (Inheritance tax)

Inheritance tax is levied on transfers of property or assets after death. This duty is paid by the beneficiary. Applicable inheritance tax rates vary depending on the relationship of the beneficiary to the deceased. There are three relevant classes of relationship and exemptions applicable:

Transfers of property are subject to inheritance tax at graduated rates depending on the value of the property and the classes of family relationship.

CLASS I..........................EXEMPTION AMOUNT..............TAX RATE

Spouse.................................................€ 500,000.................................7%-30%...

Children/Step-Children...................€ 400,000.....................................7%-30%...

Grandchildren...................................€ 200,000......................................7%-30%...

Grandchildren...................................€ 200,000......................................7%-30%...

Parents/Grandparents

Great-grandchildren........................€ 100,000.......................................7%-30%...

CLASS II.................EXEMPTION AMOUNT......................TAX RATE

Siblings & their children,

Step-parents,

Brothers-in-law,

Sisters-in-law,

Divorced spouse...........................€ 20,000............................................15%-43%...

CLASS III................EXEMPTION AMOUNT......................TAX RATE

All other individuals...................€ 20,000............................................30%-50%... 

Source: Global Property Guide

The lower rates for each category apply to properties or assets up to a value of €75,000 while the higher rates apply to acquisitions exceeding €26 million. 

7.  IRELAND:  Cáin Oidhreachta (Inheritance Tax) 

For a surviving spouse OR surviving civil partners taking an inheritance from a deceased spouse or civil partner, the inheritance is completely exempt and, no matter how valuable, will not be liable to inheritance tax. 

For a child (and in some cases, a parent), called a "Group A" beneficiary, the first €332,084 is tax-free.  Any remainder is taxed at 25%.

For a parent, in most cases, brother, sister, niece, nephew or grandchild, called a "Group B" beneficiary, the first €33,208 is tax-free and the remainder is taxed at 25%.

For a heir other than a a Group A or Group B beneficiary, the first €16,604 is tax-free.  The remainder of the inheritance, if any, is taxed at 25%.

8. ITALY:  Tassa di successione (Inheritance tax).  Abolished in 2001 and reestablished in 2006.  There is a €1,000,000 exemption on a bequest to a spouse or child, and a maximum rate of 8%.  The new Italian inheritance tax is now levied at three different flat rates, on the whole or part of the estate, with reference to the legatees or devisees as follows:

At the rate of 4% where the Estate or part of the Estate devolves to the decedent's spouse or children, subject to an €1,000,000 exemption for EACH beneficiary.  In the case of a widow and three children, the so-called "Franchigia" would be worth $5,538,401 and, if a family business is involved - say something along the lines of a Gucci or an Agnelli - it could be worth hundred of millions or even billions of euros.

Where the Estate or part of the Estate devolves to one or more disabled children, the exempt amount is increased to €1,500,000.

 
Subject to an exempt amount of €100,000 each, inheritances are taxed at 6% where they devolve to brothers, sisters and to other relatives of the decedent up to the 4th degree.  After the 4th degree, beneficiaries are still taxed at 4%, but there is no "exempt amount."

Where the estate, in whole or in part, devolves to unrelated parties, inheritances are taxed at 8%.

In practice, this means that the small / medium estates in Italy are not subject to inheritance taxes and even very large estates can escape massive tax bills if a great bulk of the estate is invested in a business or substantial shareholding in a company, whatever its amount.  Finanziaria 2007 now states that where the estate includes a business or a substantial stake in an ongoing concern, whatever its value, said assets shall not be taxed; provided, they are passed onto the children of the decedent and the said children undertake to continue to carry on the business or control the company for at least 5 years.

Related Reading:

Big Government Robs The Middle Class Because That's Where The Money Is!

Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death...You Can Keep The "Equality"

There Hasn't Been So Much Fire At The White House Since Dolley Madison Saved Some Of Our Most Cherished, National Treasures 

The Non-Existent Stairway To Socialist Heaven In Sweden

Hey, Progs! Wanna Be Like Europe? How 'Bout You Start By Eliminating Estate Taxes?

The Symbolic Presidency

Obama's Neo-Nationalism

Gradually, Then All of A Sudden 

Buffett Rule Fools

Capital Gains Tax Rates Around The World

The Taxman Cometh Differently On Either Side Of The Pond....Although Probably Not For Long Divide

Axelrod Endorses Romney: "Will You Be Fooled, Again?"

Forget The Buffett Rule! The Reagan Rules Rock!

 

Wolfish Greed & Selfishness In Altruistic, Lamb's Clothing

Under construction.  :-)

I have been meaning to look up the numbers, but I remember reading that the year after the massive antiwar demonstration against Vietnam, the draft ended and almost no one showed up at the next antiwar rally in DC. Evidently, the protest hadn't really been about the war, the "poor Vietnamese" and "US Imperialism," but the fact that upper middle and upper class kids might get drafted.

I wonder how many OWS would be left if, say, student loans were erased? We've already seen that the OWS don't care much about the poor. They don't want to share their organic chicken and gourmet food with the homeless so, now, they are only giving them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (which is probably going to stop since I read the PB is going up 40% next week) and brown rice.

It's not about the poor or the children or income inequality. It's all about them and what they want. They've got a roomful of participation trophies and, naturally, believe that they are entitled to a free Ivy League education and a corner office and six-figure salary right out of college.

Erase student loans and the OWS protestor population would be cut by more than 50% overnight. 

A Tale of Two Places: Yes, Herman Cain Knows His Place. For The Tea Party, That Place Is In The Oval Office. For Democrats, That Place Is Pickin' Cott'n.

Obama the Downgrader wrote:  "The Tea Party loves Cain, because they both hate black people and the poor."

Which must be why they want him to be the Leader of the Free World (he wouldn't be the most powerful man in America - Tony Kennedy is) and govern them.

Tea Partier #1:  "Really strange, Obamabot.  Dem white folk want dat black buck, Big Herm, to be da plantazun laird and tell'em how to pick dat cott'n and pay dat 9-9-9 in taxes?"

Obamabot #1:  "It ain't fittin'... it ain't fittin'. It jes' ain't fittin' for Tea Partiers, who hate blacks and the poor, to elect an authentic descendant of slaves, who grew up dirt poor, to be a Republican President of the United States of America ... It ain't fittin'!"

Obamabot #2:  "Oh, Fiddle-dee-dee! Karen Finney told me that the GOP likes to see a black man who knows his place!"

Tea Partier #2:  "She's right!  We like to see a black man, who knows that he can be anything that he wants to be if he sets his mind to it and works hard.  We believe the same about women, too, which is why we believe in equality under the law.  We abhor discrimination like Affirmative Action.  Discriminating against one based on skin colour, creed, religion, gender, and national origin should have died with Hitler."

Obamabot#1:  "Well, we is gonna go on down to Washington and secede with Occupy, if a black man gets elected."

Tea Partier #1:  "Bellevue would be better for ya. You'd just get in trouble in DC."

Obamabot #1: " What trouble are chu talkin 'bout?"

Tea Partier #1:  "You know what trouble I's talkin' 'bout."

Obamabot #2:  "Hmmph!"

Tea Partier #1:  "It makes my blood run cold, the things Democrats say to minorities that escape the bondage of the government plantation."

Tea Partier #2:  "Sure 'nuff.  We gonna need to change the name of the country to the Balkanised States of America.  There's a chasm now that really does seem impossible to find commonalities upon which to build a bridge of unity.   We have nothing in common anymore."

Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo, Mr Robinson, Lithium Would Help You More Than You Would Know. Hey, Hey, Hey! Hey, Hey, Hey!

 Music to read by:

Mr Eugene Robinson,

RE:  Your article, Let Herman Cain Be Gone

I write not to defend Mr Herman Cain's behaviour for I know not what, if anything, transpired; instead, today, I call you on you and your colleagues blatant hypocrisy and to advise that many Americans have taken the measure of the MSM and found it wanting.

Politico made the accusations.  It is incumbent upon it to disclose what it knows.   It isn't bound by any confidentiality agreement.  Jonathan Martin admitted on Monday that he knows the alleged details, but won't discuss them; however, according to him, NONE WERE OVERTLY SEXUAL.

In her 22 March 1998 Op/Ed piece in the New York Times, Steinem essentially gave support to the notion that a man may:  1)  open-mouth kiss a woman uninvited; 2) fondle a woman's breast without prior consent; and 3) uninvited, take a woman's hand and place it on his genitals; and as long as the man retreats once the woman says "no" that this does not constitute sexual harassment.  This has become known in popular parlance as the "One Free Grope" rule.

According to Mr Martin and from what we know of the acts alleged, nothing Mr Cain is accused of having done even remotely rises to Gloria Steinem's "One Free Grope" rule:  Clinton's alleged overtures to Jones and Willey, while boorish, did not amount to sexual harassment because he backed off when they said no.  Let's assume that Cain did say a woman was the same height as his wife, does it rise above Ms. Steinem's minimum requirements to become sexual harassment?  No.  Pubic hair on a coke can?  No. 

According to the Politico article, some of the hysterics involve gestures that weren't even sexual.  Good grief!  I am a woman.  Women need to quit crying "Big, Bad, Sexual Predator!" over everything.  They scream for the slightest reason and I have seen some doozies.  One example involved two secretaries claiming that fishing magasines created a hostile work environment because there were photographs of women fishing in bikinis - INSIDE THE MAGASINE.  Really?  What pusses some of my fellow ladies are!  Put down the biscuits and doughnuts, girlfriends, and lighten up  --  both figuratively and literally.

It's the constant, frivolous whining such as "the men in the office make me uncomfortable when they talk sports" that then becomes "the men in the office make me more uncomfortable now that they have stopped talking about anything when I walk into the room and I no longer feel like part of the team," which not only cheapens actual sexual harassment claims, but also makes billions of dollars for Hollywood, publishers, etc., that cater to the pence-store Sex in the City knockoffs that can't understand why men are just not that into them.   Botox might hide the age of their foreheads, but the wrinkles on their knees and elbows betray them.  On a seriously pathetic note, these holders of degrees in Love-Me-I-Hate-You Women's Studies might be against circumcision, but they set out to castrate males from birth and "the problem with boys" is one of the major crises facing the country today as Daniel Patrick Moynihan so presciently warned 45 years ago.

    "From the wild Irish slums of the 19th century Eastern seaboard to the riot-torn suburbs of Los Angeles, there is one unmistakable lesson in American history: a community that allows a large number of young men to grow up in broken families, dominated by women, never acquiring any stable relationship to male authority, never acquiring any set of rational expectations about the future - that community asks for and gets chaos.”

-  Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Family and Nation, 1965
 

As for settlements, I happen to be a lawyer and sexual harassment cases that are settled for low 5 figures are almost always nuisance claims.  One of the cases involving Cain settled for $35,000.  I can get you $100,000 for soft tissue and temporary nerve damage from a MVA in less than a year in a settlement with an insurance company.

If there were ANYTHING to the claims, the women wouldn't have settled for sums in the low 5 digits.  Period.

If there were ANYTHING to the claims, the women would have gone to trial where she(they) could have gotten much more money.  Period.

Hell, if there were ANYTHING to the claims,  insurance company, if the cause of action was covered, and/or the National Restaurant Association, hereinafter referred to as the "NRA", would have settled because it would have cost them 6 figs to go to trial.  Period.

A sexual harassment trial involving a CEO of Cain's magnitude would have cost more than $100,000 and a law firm would have demanded a minimum $25,000 retainer.  The insurance company, and/or NRA did a cost-benefit analysis and settled.  Further, I guarantee you that the first offers to settle came from the plaintiffs, NOT THE DEFENDANTS.

Most settlement documents not only include a confidentiality clause that forbids the disclosure of the terms and conditions, but also bans any and/or all parties from even revealing the VERY EXISTENCE of the agreement.

"Better put some ice on that..."

- Bill Clinton to Juanita Broderick after he assaulted her, 1978

 

Remember Tiger Woods'' #1 mistress, Rachel Uchitel or whatever her last name was? She got $10 million in a settlement. When she began discussing her relationship with Tiger, she violated the confidentiality clause was made to repay some or all of the settlement monies.

If the settlement agreement contains a prohibition on admission, then Cain would have waived the confidentiality for himself IF HE HAD BEEN A PARTY TO THE SETTLEMENT, WHICH HE WAS NOT.  The named parties were the women and the NRA.  Cain couldn't waive anything on behalf of any of the parties.

The company investigation found that the claims were baseless; therefore, the NRA would have had to indemnify him for every penny. The plaintiffs' counsel would have known this. They would have named the NRA, as the defendant, not Cain.

According to the Washington Post, because the case is more than a dozen years old, Joel Bennett, the woman's attorney, said he no longer has the file nor the confidentiality agreement.  Over the weekend, as the story was breaking, Bennett said his client called him. At the time, he said that he had not even remembered the name of the association official who his client had accused. He said doesn’t remember going to the association offices and thinks the matter might have been handled over fax and phone, and quite expeditiously.

Again, if this case was significant, he would remember it.  He doesn't.  That fact coupled with the small payout further indicates a nuisance nature.  I might be wrong.  Cain may be guilty, but, puhlease, this is not Bill Clinton and Paula Jones.   It's not $850,000.00.

So, what do we have?  A settlement and hearsay.  Neither of which would be admissible in a court of law (hearsay has some limited exceptions, but none would be applicable here).

Rule 408. Compromise and Offers to Compromise

(a) Prohibited uses. Evidence of the following is not admissible on behalf of any party, when offered to prove liability for, invalidity of, or amount of a claim that was disputed as to validity or amount, or to impeach through a prior inconsistent statement or contradiction:

(1) furnishing or offering or promising to furnish or accepting or offering or promising to accept a valuable consideration in compromising or attempting to compromise the claim; and

 (2) conduct or statements made in compromise negotiations regarding the claim, except when offered in a criminal case and the negotiations related to a claim by a public office or agency in the exercise of regulatory, investigative, or enforcement authority.

           Rule 802. Hearsay Rule

 

Hearsay is not admissible except as provided by these rules or by other rules prescribed by the Supreme Court pursuant to statutory authority or by Act of Congress.

 Politico knew that neither the women (because of the settlement agreement) nor Cain (because of his employment contract) could discuss the matter. Essentially, Politico said:

"You have these 3 choices:

1) Admit and withdraw because you can't defend yourself;

2) Don't admit and be destroyed by the press because you can't defend yourself; or,

3) Defend yourself and be prepared to be sued by both women and the National Restaurant Association. 

So, Mr Robinson, when did you stop hitting your wife, having sex with your dog, and raping your daughter?

Now, that you have decided that cash settlements are evidence of guilt, at most, or trigger the transfer of the burden of proof from the accuser (Politico in this case) to the accused, in the least, I look forward to your next column where you apologise to Paula Jones and condemn President Clinton.   No right-winger am I, but if a cash settlement is an admission against interest or of guilt, then Bill Clinton has 850,000 admissions to explain.

What really gets me is the double standard that you and your ilk have.  I'll never forget this piece in the Huffington Post after Ted Kennedy died:

The Footnote Speaks: What Would Mary Jo Kopechne Have Thought of Ted's Career?

"We don't know how much Kennedy was affected by her death, or what she'd have thought about arguably being a catalyst for the most successful Senate career in history. What we don't know, as always, could fill a Metrodome.

Still, ignorance doesn't preclude a right to wonder. So it doesn't automatically make someone (aka, me) a Limbaugh-loving, aerial-wolf-hunting NRA troll for asking what Mary Jo Kopechne would have had to say about Ted's death, and what she'd have thought of the life and career that are being (rightfully) heralded.
 
Who knows -- maybe she'd feel it was worth it."

- Melissa Lafsky, The Huffington Post, 2009

I can imagine some alternative headlines:

"Kennedy Groupie Takes One For The Kennedy Political Family Ambitions & Legacy!"

"You Have To Drown A Few Liberal Women To Make A Progressive Paradise!"

"One Dead, Democratic Woman Is A Just And Fair Sacrifice To The Gods Of Progressivism!"

I remember seeing a male journalist on the BBC (I think it was a clip from MSNBC - Was MSNBC around during MonicaGate?), who said something to the effect that Kathleen Willey was responsible for her husband's suicide because if she hadn't gone to ask for a job from Bill Clinton (they were nearly bankrupt), she would have been at home (presumably wearing a Dior New Look knockoff, pearls, classic pumps and an apron) and could have stopped him even though he committed suicide in rural Virginia.

Newsweek knew of Clinton's sexual contacts with Monica Lewinsky and shelved the story.  It was Drudge that broke it.  Drudge was a nobody.  Because of the MSM's bias, Drudge has become the biggest news source site in the world with over 8 billion page views per year.

Remember the Clinton "Nuts & Sluts" Strategy?  How about Carville's line "You never know what will turn up when you drag a $100 bill through a trailerpark?"

Some in the MSM knew that John Edwards was having an affair during the 2004 affair while his wife had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.  They said nothing.  It took a market tabloid, the National Enquirer, with headlines screaming at shoppers standing in the payout queue to learn about his affair and love child.

The New York Times ran a front-page story based on unsubstantiated claims by anonymous sources that John McCain was having an affair.  Has any MSM outlet ever even mentioned Obama and Vera Baker in the same article?

If a Republican had gone to a dinner to praise an anti-Semite like David Duke, who has actually endorsed Occupy Wall Street, would the Los Angeles Times have sat on the tape of his speech for years as it has done for Obama and his speech praising Rashid Khalidi?

Rathergate documents?  MSM:  "Bush is guilty."  Testimony of scores of Swiftboat vets?  MSM:  "They are liars."   John Kerry staunchest defender, Wade Sanders?  MSM:  "Silver Star recipient, war hero, absolutely telling the truth, perfect angel ... stripped of Silver Star and serving 37 months for possession of child pornography?  La La La!  I can't hear you!"  

If a Republican had used the word "nigger" on Meet The Press, would he have been allowed to remain in the Senate, especially when he was a former KKK member?  At his funeral, would the press and Democrats have chalked up his racism to doing-what-was-necessary-to-get-elected when that Republican had said:

"Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."

 - Robert Byrd

There's no need to answer.  We already know the answer, don't we, Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo?

For nearly 3 years, you and your colleagues have called the Tea Party racists, Nazis, brownshirts, mobs, greedy, selfish, violent, dangerous, treasonous, Astroturf, criminal, terrorists, the Taliban, Teabaggers, etc.  Now, you and your cronies want to claim that the truly racist, anti-Semitic, violent, brutally misogynistic, hateful,  dangers to the communities across the country, loons, mentally ill, treasonous, Astroturf, criminal, Nazi, Communist, Socialist, Anarchist, filthy, piggish, etc., OWS protestors are just like the Tea Partiers.  Strangely, however, you are now giving the Tea Party a backhanded compliment.  You praise the OWS movement.  If the OWS movement is good and just like the Tea Party, that would make the Tea Party what, Mr Robinson?  In your delusions, you've ignored all of the bad behaviour of the Occupy Wall Street movement and erased all of the fantastical bad behaviour, which you have projected upon the Tea Party for years.  Understand this:  Other than hating crony capitalism, corruption, and bailouts, the two have nothing in common.

You and your friends claim that we non-Liberals like Herman Cain, as a person and/or a candidate, because "he knows his place."  All of you are 100% correct.  We like to see a black man or any person, for that matter, who knows that he can be anything that he wants to be if he sets his mind to it and works hard.  We believe the same about women, too, which is why we believe in equality under the law.  We abhor discrimination like Affirmative Action.  Discriminating against one based on skin colour, creed, religion, gender, and national origin should have died with Hitler.  How can a people "Celebrate Diversity" when they are really "Celebrating Discrimination"?

Remember how Maureen Dowd "heard" Joe Wilson say "boy" at the end of "You lie!"?  Well, please allow me to "hear" what you Progs are saying (and, to be clear, I ADORE Hattie McDaniel):

"It ain't fittin'... it ain't fittin'. It jes' ain't fittin' for Republicans, Conservatives, Tea Partiers, Libertarians, Independents, Moderates, and Blue Dog Democrats, who hate blacks and the poor, to elect an authentic descendant of slaves, who grew up dirt poor, to be a Republican President of the United States of America based on the content of his character and ideas and not the colour of his skin or 'White Guilt' ... It jes' ain't fittin'!"

 

If you can't see your hypocrisy, Mr Robinson, I feel sorry for you, as an individual, but when I put you alongside your compatriots, that pity transforms into outright hatred.  You have no principles.  Take OccupyWallStreet and CodePink, for example.  CodePink was one of the original organisers of OWS.  It continues to be.  As the number of sexual assaults taking place at Occupy sites across the country continues to rise, you would think the group that has this as one of its rallying cries would be standing up for women:

"Take Action Against Sexual Assault in the Military!"

- CodePink rallying cry

Yet, CodePink is actively conspiring with other OWS groups to discourage victims of sex crimes from reporting the rapes to the police urging them instead to let OWS handle the crimes internally.  Failure to report a crime is itself a crime in many jurisdictions.  How ironic is it that we are spending all of this time obsessing over alleged sexual harassment, which occurred 12 years ago and involved NO touching whatsoever or overt sexual gestures or communications, while actual sexual assaults are occurring at OWS camps and one of the founding organisers has gone mute on women's rights?  How despicable is it that YOU can't find the few seconds or keystrokes to comment, but can puke up bile based on a Politico story, which itself is based on hearsay?

Since I know that your next column will not be an apology to Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broderick, or any of the other women you have slimed over the years in defence of Democrats, I won't expect you to recognise your hypocrisy or understand why YOUR profession ranks even lower with the public than MINE.  No,  you won't write a peep.  I am sure your next column will be another ode to the "wondrous, organic, pure, pious, true, earthy, sacrificial, and altruistic" protestors of OWS with nary a word about the criminal underbelly of the movement or it will be another WaPo hit piece trying to stop the Democrats' worst nightmare....EVAH!:  A possible Cain/Rubio ticket next year.

Yes, such a ticket is a very long shot and I'm not necessarily advocating it, but the idea of a flood of OREO/COCONUT 2012! bumper stickers on our NON-Priuses, NON-Obama Motors, NON-ObamaVolt cars from sea-to-shining sea making Prog heads explode is just too orgasmic for words.  OMFA, the Schadenfreude if they were to win would be indescribable!  You could just kill me right then and there.  I would die a very happy woman knowing that you Progs were screaming:

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! You cursed sons of bitches!

Look what you've done!! I'm melting, melting.

Ohhhhh, what a world, what a world.  

Who would have thought that some pizza delivery guy and Lil' Ricky look alike like Herman Cain and Marco Rubio could destroy the beautiful wickedness of my Progressivism and cynical ploy to keep minorities on the Government Plantation in poverty so that they'll continue to vote for Democrats?

OHHHHHHH!!! NO!!! I'm going...ohhhhhhh...ohhhhhhhhh....

Why do I know this, Mr Robinson?  

Because that's just how you Progs roll.

And here's to you, Mr Robinson,

Your betters love your idiocy more than you will ever know.

ObamaMessiah bless you, please, Mr Robinson.

Bellevue holds a place for those who love Brother Obama.

Hey, hey, hey!

We'd like to know a little bit about you for our files.

We'd like to help you learn to help yourself.

Look around you.

All you see are sympathetic eyes.

We have many Obamabots suffering just like you.

Stroll around the grounds until you feel at home.

And here's to you, Mr Robinson,

Seroquel will make you feel better than you will ever know.

Gaia bless you, please, Mr Robinson.

Heaven on Earth holds a place for those who recycle,

Hey, hey, hey, Homo Americus!

Hide in your secret place where no one ever goes.

Next to your friends, who no one else can see.

It's a little secret just like the secret Obama prayers and rituals.

Most of all you've got to hide it from the normal people in Flyover America.

So, "we" must not reduce it to writing, Mr Robinson.   

It might find its way out of the grounds and into the Post. 

Koo-Koo-Ka-Choo, Mr Robinson, 
Lithium will help you more than you will ever know. 

Allah bless you, please, Mr Robinson. 

Bellevue holds a special place for those, 
who suffer from Bush Derangement Syndrome, Obama Compulsive Disorder, 

Marxist-Manic-Depressive Disorder, Socialist Somatisation and 

Unicorn Land Delusion Disorder. 

Hey, Hey, Hey!

Hey, Hey, Hey!

Sitting in the Day Room on a Sunday afternoon.

Listening to the candidates' debate.

Obama heads:  You lose.

Obama tails:  You lose.

When you've become an ObamaLoon,

Every way you look at it, you lose.

Where have you gone, Washington, Jefferson, 
Madison, Kennedy, and Reagan?

Hell, where have you gone Lincoln, the Great, but also the Tyrant, 
and FDR the Economic Disaster, but Great Leader?

Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to all of you.

What's that you say, Mr Robinson?

They have all left and gone away

And, now, we have the Smartest Man Ever To Walk The Earth As President™ and 
You are mad that a descendant of slaves has the audacity of hope and 
Dreams of his father to challenge The Chosen One.™

Well, Boo-Hoo-Hoo!

Boo-Hoo-Hoo!