When I heard the words as spoken by Willard M. Romney today, "...Republicans want to help the Middle Class..." it sounded eerie and familiar.

And then I remembered where I had heard it before.


The year was 2000 and the candidate George W. Bush stated he would cut taxes that would help the Middle Class.


There was a surplus in the USA Treasury at that time, established by the Clinton/Gore administration.


So, Bush decided he'd 'buy' the electorate.  The promise to give the lower tax brackets the biggest percentage reductions didn't really work out the way most people thought. Bush somehow mixed up his words when he actually meant the HIGHER TAX BRACKETS would receive the biggest percentage of reductions.


I knew I heard those words before.  At least when I heard them when Bush said it, it was believable with a USA Treasury surplus existing.

...Cut Taxes and Make The System Fairer. (click title to entry - thank you)

The Bush economic plan saves over half the surplus to strengthen Social Security and reduce the national debt, and saves over 10% of the surplus for important priorities like education, national defense and health.

This still leaves a quarter of the surplus for much needed, long-overdue tax relief. Governor Bush’s goal is to make it easier for people to join the middle class by cutting taxes and making them fairer.

The Governor’s tax cut will reduce tax rates for every taxpayer, double the child tax credit, slash the marriage penalty, expand deductions for charitable giving, make the research and development tax credit permanent and end the death tax. The biggest percentage reductions go to those in the lower tax brackets because they often face higher marginal tax rates than the wealthy. Taxpayers earning below $50,000, will see their income tax bills cut by over 20% on average. Some politicians say America cannot afford a tax cut in this time of prosperity. Governor Bush says if we leave the money in Washington, it will spent on more government and that giving it back to taxpayers through cuts and reforms is an important insurance policy to help guarantee continued prosperity....

I'd be worried the Iranian fishing vessels were sabotage, but, the Navy doesn't seem to worry about it.

In this handout (click here) provided by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd (DDG 100) responds to a distress call from the Iranian fishing vessel Al Molai off the coast of Somalia approximately 400 nautical miles north of the Republic of Seychelles January 5, 2012 in the Arabian Sea. (File photo by U.S. Navy via Getty Images )

Iran can't respond to the danger their own fishermen face?  Something tells me no matter how much the Iranian authorities attempt to demonize the USA Navy to their people, they don't believe them.  I am telling you, those 'fast boats' like riding the US Navy's wake waves.  They appear to be doing that everytime there is a video loop of them.

Repeating success is not a fantasy. Congratulations to the President and the Seals. Thank you.

Obama had authorized the mission Monday night. (click here)

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

...American Jessica Buchanan (click title to entry - thank you) and Dane Poul Thisted, who both worked for the Danish Refugee Council Demining Group, were rescued unharmed after helicopter-borne US commandos swooped in on scrubland in central Somalia early Wednesday local time, according to a local Somali official....

Evidently, there were no diplomatic missions that would rescue the pair.  Why do NGOs go into such dangerous areas of the world?  I realize there are people starving in Somalia, but, there has to be a limit to the amount of danger NGOs expose themselves.  Being kidnapped dismantled any ability to deliver the care the people of Somalia need.

By the order of the President of the United States (click here) and under the direction of U.S. Africa Command (U.S. AFRICOM), early Wednesday morning, January 25, 2012, U.S. Special Operations Forces rescued an American citizen and a Danish citizen from captivity in Somalia.

Mrs. Jessica Buchanan of the United States and Mr. Poul Thisted of Denmark, who both worked for the Danish Demining Group, a non-profit humanitarian organization, were kidnapped at gunpoint on October 25, 2011, near Galcayo, Somalia, and were being held for ransom.

The Department of Justice requested assistance from the Department of Defense, which, in turn, directed U.S. AFRICOM to plan and conduct the rescue operation....

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