WELCOME TO OPINIONS BASED ON FACTS (OBOF)
| Name | Published |
| OVERVIEW | Dec. 28, 2010 |
| SOCIAL SECURITY PART 1 | Dec. 30, 2010 |
| SOCIAL SECURITY PART 2 | Jan. 10, 2011 |
| SOCIAL SECURITY PART 3 | Jan. 17, 2011 |
| SOCIAL SECURITY PART 4 | Jan. 24, 2011 |
| SOCIAL SECURITY PART 5 | Jan. 31, 2011 |
| SOCIAL SECURITY PART 6 | Feb. 07, 2011 |
| SOCIAL SECURITY PART 7 | Feb. 14, 2011 |
| SPECIAL ISSUE | Feb. 18, 2011 |
| SOCIAL SECURITY PART 8 | Feb. 21, 2011 |
| SOCIAL SECURITY PART 9 | Mar. 01, 2011 |
| SOCIAL SECURITY PART 10 | Mar. 07, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 1 | Mar. 14, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 1A | Mar. 21, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 2 | Mar. 25, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 3 | Mar. 29, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 4 | Apr. 04, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 5 | Apr. 11, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 6 | Apr. 18, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 7 | Apr. 25, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 7A | Apr. 29, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 8 | May 02, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 9 | May 09, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 10 | May 16, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 11 | May 24, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 12 | Jun. 06, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 13 | Jun. 20, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 14 | July 05, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 14A | July 18, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 15 | July 19, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 16 | Aug. 03, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 17 | Aug. 15, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 18 | Aug. 29, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 19 | Sept. 12, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 20 | Sept. 26, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 21 | Oct. 10, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 22 | Oct. 24, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 22 EXTRA | Nov. 04, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 23 | Nov. 07, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 24 | Nov. 21, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 25 | Dec. 05, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 26 | Dec. 19, 2011 |
| SS & MORE PART 27 | JAN. 03, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 27A | JAN. 05, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 28 | JAN. 17, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 29 | JAN. 31, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 30 | Feb. 14, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART CL1 | Feb. 21, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 30 EXTRA | Feb. 23, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 31 | Feb. 28, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART CL2 - 59 | Mar. 06, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 31 EXTRA | Mar. 07, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 32 | Mar. 13, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART CL3 - 1 | Mar. 20, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 32 EXTRA | Mar. 24, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 33 | Apr. 10, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART CL 4 - 2 | Apr. 17, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 34 | Apr. 24, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART CL5 - 49 | May 01, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 35 | May 09, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART CL6 - 19 | May 15, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 35 EXTRA | May 18, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 36 | May 22, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 36 EXTRA | May 25, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 36 | |
| EXTRA II | June 01, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 37 | June 05. 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 37 EXTRA | June 07, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 38 | June 12, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 39 | June 19, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 40 | June 26, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 41 | July 03, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 42 | July 10, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 43 | July 17, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 44 | July 24,2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 45 | July 31, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 46 | Aug. 07, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 46 EXTRA | Aug. 09, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 47 | Aug. 14, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 48 | Aug. 21, 2012 |
| SS & MORE PART 49 | Aug. 28, 2012 |
IN THIS ISSUE
1. Convention.
2. Opening Thoughts.
3. Just a little campaigning.
4. CBO Chief warns of fiscal cliff.
5. The fanatical GOP.
6. Romney's lying machine.
7. GOP revised convention agenda, with all speakers and times.
~~~
"VOTE, AN EDUCATED VOTE"
What is an educated vote? It is one that has been made with as much knowledge, based on facts, not misinformation, that an individual can obtain.
~~~
The Democrat Convention will be held on September 3, 4, 5, and 6 at the Warner Cable Arena on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th.
President Obama's acceptance speech will be on the 6th, at the Bank of America
Other program notes:
Elizabeth Warren will speak at the convention on September 5th and President Clinton will make the nominating speech on that evening.
Vice President Biden will speak on the 6th and President Obama will give his acceptance speech on the evening of the 6th.
~~~
OPENING THOUGHTS
by Floyd
I have so much running around in my mind that it is hard to separate them to rationally present thoughts about them. I think the ones that bother me the most is the outright misstatements made about our President's actions. Note I said "Misstatements." I was brought up in a time when the word "lie" just wasn't used and it is hard for me to get use to using that word, although, I guess that is what a lot of it amounts to.
The second thing that bothers me so much, as I bet it does all of you, is the tremendous amount of money that is being spent on this election, particularly, of course, on the GOP side of the ledger.
This money has recently been directed to the swing states big time. And it has been concentrating on all these "misstatements" I refer to. As wrong as they are they are beginning to be believed, because they are being played on the air ways so much. One of the latest polls shows Romney - Ryan ahead by 2 points in Ohio , 3 in Virginia , 1 in Wisconsin , and 1 in Florida
Now, there is no question, but what they will get a bump from their convention as will the Democrats after their convention next week. Those two bumps, plus the Debates, will have a great deal of importance.
I, simply, can't get over the fact that people are going after a man that represents everything they are unhappy with. He is a big part of the 1%ers, he thinks so little of our country that he won't even keep his money here. He picked, the most radical man in Congress to be his running mate.
Lastly, I want to point out, that in accordance with the second article, it isn't going to matter to much in the next two years, who is going to be President or what Party controls Congress. Things do not look good and I urge you to take a few minutes and read this information. It is very reliable.
~~~
JUST A LITTLE CAMPAIGNING
Jeff Zeleny and Jim Rutenberg, of the New York Times, wrote an article and I just pulled out what follows as it was all that was of interest to me, and I think to you. Yesterday, Monday, the President did a little bit of campaigning with an unnamed interviewer in which he said the following:
Mr. Obama, unwilling to cede the stage fully to his opponents this week, leveled a counterattack in an interview released Saturday by The Associated Press, painting Mr. Romney as beholden to “extreme” House Republican policies harmful to the middle class.
“He has signed up for positions, extreme positions, that are very consistent with positions that a number of House Republicans have taken,” Mr. Obama said. “Governor Romney’s policies would make things worse for middle-class families and offer no prospect for long-term opportunity for those striving to get into the middle class.”
The battleground map has remained remarkably stable in recent months, which leaves Mr. Obama with more paths to winning 270 electoral votes and places a burden on Mr. Romney to break through in states where he so far has not. But Republicans suddenly see encouraging signs in Wisconsin
Many of those voters are economically disaffected, and the Romney campaign has been trying to reach them with appeals built around an assertion that Mr. Obama is making it easier for welfare recipients to avoid work. The Romney campaign is airing an advertisement falsely charging that Mr. Obama has “quietly announced” plans to eliminate work and job training requirements for welfare beneficiaries, a message Mr. Romney’s aides said resonates with working-class voters who see government as doing nothing for them.
CBO CHIEF WARNS OF FISCAL CLIFF
&
POTENTIAL RECESSION
By Tom Curry, NBC News
Published August 22, 2012
Updated at 12:40pm ET: The director of the Congressional Budget Office, Douglas Elmendorf, said Wednesday that currently planned sharp cuts in spending and increases in taxes at the end of the year would cause “a dramatic reduction in the federal deficit” and “a significant tightening of fiscal policy” which would “probably lead to a recession early next year.”
Analysts refer to this as the “fiscal cliff.”
President Barack Obama and Congress face the question of whether to step back from the fiscal cliff by not allowing the current tax rates to expire at year end and by postponing the spending curbs mandated by last summer’s Budget Control Act.
Before year end, Congress must also decide whether to allow a 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors to take effect – as required by a 1997 budget law -- or whether to put it off, as it has done for the past several years.
“We think that economic growth right now is being held back by the anticipation of this fiscal tightening, both in terms of the possibility of a sharp downturn, but also just uncertainty about what will happen,” Elmendorf told reporters at a CBO briefing.
“The sooner that uncertainty is resolved – especially if it is resolved in the direction of less fiscal tightening next year, then the stronger we think the economy would be” for the rest of this year and next year.
But Elmendorf warned that that alternative would also lead to unpalatable results.
Melissa Harris-Perry and her guests crunch the numbers on debt, the deficit, and government spending as they discuss Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan's respective proposed budget plans.
If Congress continues the current tax rates and defers the spending cuts, there would be about two million more workers on the job than if it goes over the fiscal cliff, Elmendorf said. But there will also be higher federal spending, larger deficits, and higher debt over the next several years.
Under that scenario, “rapidly escalating federal debt would increase the risk of a fiscal crisis during which investors would lose confidence in the government’s ability to manage its budget and the government would thereby lose its ability to borrow at affordable rates,” Elmendorf told reporters.
The implication in the CBO’s updated forecast is that whether the next president is Obama or Republican Mitt Romney, he will be narrowly confined by budget and economic conditions created by Congress and Obama in their bargaining between Election Day and New Year’s Eve.
Elmendorf said the key issue facing Congress and the president “is not whether to reduce budget deficits” but when and how to do so. If Congress and the president do not cut the deficit in 2013, Elmendorf said, “They will need to reduce it later. At some point we will need to adopt policies that require people to pay significantly more in taxes, accept substantially less in government benefits and services or both.”
The CBO said in its budget update Wednesday that the government will rack up a $1.1 trillion deficit in the fiscal year which ends on September 30, the fourth year in a row of budget deficits exceeding $1 trillion.
As a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), the deficit in the current fiscal year will be 7.3 percent.
Debt held by the public will reach its highest level since the Korean War and will be twice the level it was before the financial crisis and the recession.
The CBO report said that federal revenues in the current fiscal year will be about 6 percent higher than last year, while spending will be about 1 percent lower.
But remarkably, revenues in fiscal year 2012 will still be $133 billion less than what the federal government collected in revenues in FY2007, five years ago.
Revenues in 2007 were $2.568 trillion or 18.5 percent of GDP. In FY2012 they will be $2.435 trillion or 15.7 percent of GDP.
Much of the fall in federal revenues is “a natural consequence of the weakness of the economy,” the CBO chief said. “When incomes fall, taxes fall more than proportionately because we have a progressive tax code and people who slip down into lower tax brackets pay a smaller fraction of their income in taxes.”
But he added, “We are a little surprised by how weak tax revenues are, and we don’t know exactly what’s going on there." While CBO has the big-picture revenue numbers, the detailed tax data doesn’t become available from the Internal Revenue Service immediately.
A key variable in the CBO’s forecast is the government’s cost of borrowing, determined by interest rates. “Despite the surge in federal borrowing in recent years, net interest outlays are projected to hold steady at 1.4 percent of GDP through 2015, primarily because interest rates are expected to remain near historic lows for the next few years,” the CBO report said. But it predicted that interest rates will rise after 2015 and cause the government’s interest outlays to nearly double as a percentage of GDP
Floyd's note:
Ezra Kline, of the Washington Post, has summed up the meaning of the above report as he sees it. As I have said before, no matter who, becomes President and no matter what Party controls Congress, 2013 is NOT going to be good. Many, many complications to deal with.
“The deficit will shrink to an estimated $641 billion in fiscal year 2013 (or 4.0 percent of GDP), almost $500 billion less than the shortfall in 2012. Such fiscal tightening will lead to economic conditions in 2013 that will probably be considered a recession, with real GDP declining by 0.5 percent between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the fourth quarter of 2013 and the unemployment rate rising to about 9 percent in the second half of "The deficit will shrink to an estimated $641 billion in fiscal year 2013 (or 4.0 percent of calendar year 2013.”
~~~
The Fanatical GOP
by ROBERT REICH
Nation of Change OP-ED
Published August 23, 2012
"The Republican Party platform committee now includes a provision calling for a constitutional amendment banning all abortions, without an exception for rape or incest."
We’re witnessing the capture by fanatics of what was once a great and important American political party.
The Republican Party platform committee now includes a provision calling for a constitutional amendment banning all abortions, without an exception for rape or incest. This is basically Missouri
Paul Ryan, Romney’s selection for vice president, has co-sponsored 38 anti-abortion measures while in the House of Representatives, including several containing no exception for pregnancies caused by rape or incest. But the GOP’s fanaticism goes far beyond the its growing absolutism about abortion.
Ryan’s proposed budget, approved by almost all House Republicans, is also an exercise in fanaticism. It replaces Medicare with vouchers that won’t possibly keep up with rising healthcare costs — thereby shifting costs directly on to the elderly.
That budget also harms the poor and rewards the rich, but does little or nothing to reduce the federal budget deficit. Over 60 percent of its spending cuts come out of programs for lower-income Americans. Its tax cuts for the rich reduce revenues by $4.6 trillion over the decade while saving the typical millionaire hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.The GOP’s looniness doesn’t even stop there. Republicans remain unwaivering in their support of state laws allowing or encouraging the profiling of Latinos. And unrelenting in their war against gay rights.
It’s not just women, seniors, budget hawks, the poor, Latinos, and gays who are catching on to the Republicans’ extremism. Americans who don’t fall into one of these categories are becoming alarmed, too — as they should.Although the GOP lurch to the right-wing margin of America may bode well for Democrats this coming Election Day, it bodes ill for America. The capture of one of our great parties by fanatics is nothing to celebrate. A democracy needs at least two sane political parties.
~~~
ROMNEY'S LYING MACHINE
by ROBERT REICH
Nation of Change / OP-ED
Published August 25, 2012
I’ve been struck by the baldness of Romney’s repetitive lies about Obama — that Obama ended the work requirement under welfare, for example, or that Obama’s Affordable Care Act cuts $716 billion from Medicare benefits.
The mainstream media along with a half-dozen independent fact-checking organizations and sites have called Romney on these whoppers, but to no avail. He keeps making these assertions.
Every campaign is guilty of exaggerations, embellishments, distortions, and half-truths. But this is another thing altogether. I’ve been directly involved in seven presidential campaigns, and I don’t recall a presidential candidate lying with such audacity, over and over again. Why does he do it, and how can he get away with it?
The obvious answer is such lies are effective. Polls show voters are starting to believe them, especially in swing states where they’re being repeated constantly in media spots financed by Romney’s super PAC or ancillary PACs and so-called “social welfare” organizations (political fronts disguised as charities, such as Karl Rove and the Koch brothers have set up).
Romney’s lying machine is extraordinarily well financed. By August, according to Jane Mayer in her recent New Yorker article, at least 33 billionaires had each donated a quarter of a million dollars or more to groups aiming to defeat Obama – with most of it flooding into attack ads in swing states.
In early August, “Americans for Prosperity,” one of the nonprofit front groups masquerading as a charity, and founded in part by billionaire right-wingers Charles and David Koch, bought some $27 million in ad time on spots now airing in eleven swing states.
So Romney’s lying machine is working.
But what does all this tell us about the man who is running this lying machine? (Or if Romney’s not running it, what does it tell us about a man who would select the people who are?)
We knew he was a cypher — that he’ll say and do whatever is expedient, change positions like a chameleon, eschew any core principles.
Yet resorting to outright lies — and organizing a presidential campaign around a series of lies — reveals a whole new level of cynicism, a profound disdain for what remains of civility in public life, and a disrespect of the democratic process.
The question is whether someone who is willing to resort to such calculated lies, and build a campaign machine around them, can be worthy of the public’s trust with the most powerful office in the world.
~~~
GOP revises convention schedule
Monday, August 27, 2012
2:00 p.m.
Chairman of the RNC Reince Priebus
Call to Order/Start Debt Clocks
2:10 p.m.
Announcement of Recess
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
2:00 p.m.
Chairman of the RNC Reince Priebus
Color Guard Knights of Columbus
Pledge of Allegiance by Former Governor Tim Babcock (MT)/ Tom Hogan (FL)
National Anthem sung by Philip Alongi
Invocation by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik
Opening procedural steps, appointment of convention committees
Welcoming remarks, and House and Senate candidates and RNC auxiliaries
RNC Chairman Priebus
RNC Co-Chairman Sharon Day
Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn
Convention Chief Executive Officer William Harris
Chairman of Tampa Bay
Republican Congressional Candidates
State Delegate Barbara Comstock (VA)
Representative Tim Griffin (AR)
Republican Senate Candidates
Republican National Committee auxiliaries
Consideration of convention committee reports
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus
Committee on Credentials Chairman Mike Duncan
Committee on Permanent Organization Chairwoman Zoraida Fonalledas
Convention Permanent Chairman Speaker John Boehner, Presiding
Official Convention Photograph
Committee on Rules Chairman John Sununu
Committee on Resolutions Chairman Governor Bob McDonnell
Committee on Resolutions Co-Chairman U.S. Senator John Hoeven
Committee on Resolutions Co-Chairman U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn
Roll Call for Nomination of President of the United States
Roll Call for Nomination of Vice President of the United States
6:40 p.m.
Recess
7:00 p.m.
Reconvene
Remarks by Speaker John Boehner
Remarks by RNC Chairman Reince Priebus
Video and remarks by Mayor Mia Love (Saratoga Springs , UT ), U.S.
Remarks by Janine Turner
Remarks by former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum
Remarks by Host , U.S.
8:00 p.m.
Remarks by U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (NH), accompanied by Jack Gilchrist
Remarks by Governor John Kasich (OH)
Remarks by Governor Mary Fallin (OK)
Remarks by Governor Bob McDonnell (VA), accompanied by Bev Gray
Remarks by Governor Scott Walker (WI)
9:00 p.m.
Remarks by Governor Brian Sandoval (NV)
Remarks by Sher Valenzuela (small business owner, candidate for DE Lt. Governor)
Remarks by Senate Republican Candidate Ted Cruz (TX)
Remarks by Artur Davis
Remarks by Governor Nikki Haley (SC)
10:00 p.m.
Remarks by Mrs. Luce’ Vela Fortuño
Remarks by Mrs. Ann Romney
Remarks by Governor Chris Christie (NJ)
Benediction by Sammy Rodriguez
Adjournment
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Convention convenes
Call to order
Introduction of Colors by Amputee Veterans of America
Pledge of Allegiance by Brigadier General Patrick E. Rea, US Army (Ret.)
National Anthem sung by Ayla Brown
Invocation by Ishwar Singh
Ron Paul Video
Remarks by Senate Republican Leader and Convention Temporary Chairman Mitch McConnell (KY)
Remarks by Senator Rand Paul (KY)
Remarks by Christopher Devlin-Young and Jeanine McDonnell
8:00 p.m.
Remarks by Senator John McCain (AZ)
Remarks by Attorney General Pam Bondi (FL) and Attorney General Sam Olens (GA)
Remarks by Governor Bobby Jindal (LA)
Remarks by Senator John Thune (SD)
Remarks by Senator Rob Portman (OH)
9:00 p.m.
Remarks by Governor Luis Fortuño (PR)
Remarks by Governor Tim Pawlenty (MN)
Bush 41, 43 Film
Remarks by Mike Huckabee
10:00 p.m.
Remarks by Condoleezza Rice
Remarks by Governor Susana Martinez (NM)
Remarks by vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan
Benediction by Archbishop Demetrios
Adjournment
Thursday, August 30, 2012
7:00 p.m.
Convention convenes
Call to order
Introduction of Colors US
Pledge of Allegiance by Dylan Nonaka
National Anthem sung by SEVEN
Invocation by Ken and Priscilla Hutchins
Remarks by U.S. Rep. Connie Mack (FL)
Reagan Legacy Video
Remarks by Newt and Callista Gingrich
Remarks by Craig Romney
8:00 p.m.
Remarks by Governor former Jeb Bush (FL)
Remarks by Bob White, chairman of Romney for President campaign
Remarks by Grant Bennett
Remarks by Tom Stemberg
9:00 p.m.
Remarks by former Massachusetts Lt. Governor Kerry Healey
Remarks by Jane Edmonds, former Massachusetts Secretary of Workforce
Remarks by Olympians Michael Eruzione, Derek Parra and Kim Rhode
10:00 p.m.
Remarks by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (FL)
Remarks by presidential nominee Mitt Romney
Benediction by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan
Speaker Boehner declares convention adjourned
~~~
If, the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise, I'll talk with you again on Tuesday September 4, 2012 if not before.
"GOD BLESS YOU ALL
&
GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATE OF AMERICA
Floyd
