Massachusetts Job Growth, 2003 to current.

Willard Mitt Romney was in office from 2003 through 2007. What was so special about his Governorship with Bush as President as compared to Patrick and President Obama as President?


Massachusetts Employment Changes (graph above - click here)

The charts below shows the monthly job growth for Massachusetts as measured by the CES and CPS surveys. To illustrate the trend, the 3 month moving average change in employment is shown in green.

Current Population Survey (CPS) - US Census conducts this.

Current Employment Statistics (CES) - Bureau of Labor Statistics records this.

Time to read more of The American Job Act.

Strong Leadership - He just isn't what his ads say he is. He is the man of half-truths.

Romney is dishonest. He is untrustworthy for an electorate. He is deceiving. And he has had election success in dealing in half truths.

Seeking Taxes, Romney Went After Business (click here)

Alan LeBovidge, Mitt Romney's revenue commissioner, said the governor “wanted us to go after the big game” to find income.

By MICHAEL BARBARO

Published: October 1, 2011

BOSTON — Much of the business community in Massachusetts was puzzled. Mitt Romney, a Republican with high-caliber corporate credentials, had run for governor pledging to sweep aside barriers to business and act as the state’s “top salesman.”

But just a few months after Mr. Romney took office in 2003, what he delivered seemed anything but friendly to the C.E.O. crowd: a bill to financial firms for what they saw as $110 million in new corporate taxes — and a promise of more to come....

...For the next three years, the Romney administration relentlessly scoured the tax code for more loopholes, extracting hundreds of millions of corporate dollars to help close budget gaps in a state with a struggling economy. It was only after Mr. Romney was gearing up in 2005 for a possible White House bid that he backed away from some of his most assertive tax enforcement proposals amid intensifying complaints from local companies and conservative anti-tax groups in Washington....

By every indication he did in Massachusetts exactly what President Obama and the tax proposal of Simpson-Bowles states needs to be done. Yet, today and his ambitions of the past ignore that fact and side with exploitation of standards that support the Middle Class. He is flip flops and waivers on everything. His position on anything is as fluid as the people he is speaking to at the moment.

Stand by your man.

I don't have a lot of faith in setting bail for George Zimmerman. The couple has funds and if they believe there is nothing to lose by leaving the country, they would have the means to do so. Her bail was $1000 and she made it, age twenty-five with a record now. I just can't see how a husband would allow this to occur. He allowed her lie for him, while compounding all that by lying himself. He never put dignity or her innocence before his involvement? There are character issues with both George and his spouse Shellie.

The Associated Press

June 12, 2012

 1:49 p.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Authorities say the wife of Trayvon Martin's shooter faces one count of perjury on an accusation that she lied to a judge about their finances during his bond hearing.

An order issued Tuesday by assistant state attorney John Guy charged Shellie Zimmerman with knowingly making false statements during the April hearing. George Zimmerman has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting. He was granted $150,000 bond at that hearing and released.

The judge revoked that bond earlier this month after state attorneys argued that Zimmerman and his wife had lied to the judge about their finances, especially about money raised from a website. 

George Zimmerman is back in jail. 


Why was the label ripped off the iced tea can? I guess that is just the can. It looked as though a section of label was removed.


Trayvon Martin's cell phone below.

I am no detective, but, this is the shell casing?

The leaf shows where it was found in both pictures immediately above and below. Where was the struggle, I would think it was obvious. I mean the leaf is laying there after it fell off the tree. It wasn't much of a struggle.

Romney on bus tour through rural towns he didn't consider significant during primaries.

Some say the 2012 GOP candidate is running among the most secretive campaigns in recent history. (click here)

By Kasie Hunt, The Associated Press / June 11, 2012

Keeping his secrets, Mitt Romney tends to lift the veil on his finances and campaign only if the law says he must.

The Republican presidential candidate refuses to identify his biggest donors who "bundle" money for his campaign. He often declines to say who's meeting with him or what he's doing for hours at a time. He puts limits on media access to his fundraisers. And he resists releasing all of his tax returns, making just a single year public after facing pressure to do so.

"We've released all the information required by law and then some," Romney said last month about his tax returns.

He's indicated that part of the reason for his secrecy is to avoid political problems in his race against President Barack Obama.

He has said of his election foe: "He's going to try and make this campaign about the fact that I've been successful, that I've made a lot of money. So he wants to be able to get all the details on each year and how much money I made this year and that year. I'm not going to get into that."...

Political problems like the Koch Brothers? The Brothers that are purchasing the country? Those political problems?

Romney Campaign Memo: The Koch Brothers Are The ‘Financial Engine Of The Tea Party’ (click here)

By Lee Fang on Nov 3, 2011 at 3:10 pm

Tomorrow, billionaire David Koch and presidential candidate Mitt Romney are set to speak at the a Tea Party conference financed by the same Koch brother’s fortune. The Defending the Dream Summit, a conference funded by Koch and sponsored by his Americans for Prosperity group, is a yearly event where Republican politicians come to praise the Koch brothers and their political network. For instance, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), as he was seeking the Republican nomination, paid tribute to the Koch’s political network at the same event in 2007....

TUESDAY, JUN 12, 2012 08:26 AM EDT

Romney would fire teachers, too (click here)

BY ALEX SEITZ-WALD

Romney to fight firefighters with firings: The Romney campaign has refused to “provide any clarification on the record of what else Romney might have meant to say” when he criticized President Obama for wanting to hire more firefighters, other than that he wants to fire some, despite being “asked repeatedly for elaboration” by reporters.

When the campaign has spoken on the record, it has suggested that Romney would indeed seek to lower the number of firefighters, as top surrogate John Sununu did on MSNBC yesterday.

Teachers too: Rival-turned-surrogate Newt Gingrich said last night on CNN that Romney would go after teachers too. “Does that mean there will be fewer teachers? The honest answer is yes,” he said. Romney has previously suggested bigger class sizes would be an acceptable way to cut education spending....

To privatize the educational system in the USA using a voucher system will mean the public system will stop to exist and eventually will no longer be 'vouchered,' but, only tuition. It will return to Revolutionary War USA and the private educational system exampled by The Pinkerton Academy.

By TRIP GABRIEL

Published: June 11, 2012 

“Voucher” is a fighting word in education, (click here) so it may be understandable that when Mitt Romney speaks about improving the nation’s schools, he never uses that term.

Nonetheless, as president, Mr. Romney would seek to overhaul the federal government’s largest programs for kindergarten through 12th grade into a voucherlike system. Students would be free to use $25 billion in federal money to attend any school they choose — public, charter, online or private — a system, he said, that would introduce marketplace dynamics into education to drive academic gains.

His plans, presented in a recent speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, represent a broad overhaul of current policy, one that reverses a quarter-century trend, under Republican and Democratic presidents, of concentrating responsibility for school quality at the federal level....

This speech at the Chamber of Commerce is typical of his 'style' if you want to call it that. He removes all references to 'known' content and substitutes his own definition of understanding problems. He basically disorients the electorate to challenge them to understand their concerns 'his' way. It keeps the electorate guessing to understand him. He has control. I am sure that technique served him well in the private equity and fortune hunting venue when striking up deals, but, 'public beware.' Literally, Romney talks out of both sides of his mouth at the same time.

...I’d love to stand here today (click here) and join you in celebrating the end of our education crisis. Wouldn’t it be great if we could look back on the last four years with confidence that the crisis had been confronted and we’d turned the corner toward a brighter future?

But sadly, that hasn’t happened.  (That statement starts the beginning of the 'Romney Mind Speak. I mean he is a crook through and through, beginning with robbing the electorate's dignity to hammer a different reality.) And the tragedy is not just a matter of test scores and international rankings. (He throws out STANDARD and measurable indications of success.) It’s the frustration of a sixth grader who wants to learn more, but is stuck in a class that’s moving too slowly. It’s the embarrassment of a 10th grader who knows he can’t read the books he’s assigned. It’s the shame of a 12th grader who’s supposed to be ready to graduate, but hasn’t mastered the skills he or she needs to succeed in life.... (And creates an individual measure that is different for every person. Individuality is the measure of the USA, so it is a rather interesting way of flag waving without the flag.)

...But America’s public education establishment shows no sense of urgency.  Instead, there is a fierce determination to keep things the way they are.... (That statement is a direct attack on unions. He is stating unions cause problems in education by remaining the same. I don't know any teacher in the USA that has lesson plans approved by the union. It is not the union here that would be to blame if that were the truth, which it is not, but the higher education system of the USA that educates teachers from ancient textbooks and methodologies. That is a lie. Teachers in the USA have incorporated all kinds of media and computerization to their classrooms, with some advanced classes being taught remotely. Romney is a liar and nearly every word he states is contrived without solid reference to reality. He only has his own rhetoric and reality to rely on. I have never been so annoyed with a speaker in my life. I can listen to anyone, Beck, Hannity and Liimbaugh; in my opinion some of the slickest rhetorical inventors in the world without being as annoyed as I am listening to Romney.)

See, indeed, Romney is going to be every parent's answer to any problem their child(ren) have in achieving their first million or more.

...Let’s not kid ourselves – we are in the midst of a National Education Emergency. The only reason we don’t hear more about it is because our economic troubles have taken our national attention away from the classroom.  But if unemployment was where it should be and home values were going up, there is no question that the crisis in American education would be the great cause of this campaign....

My, my Willard Mitt is the only one alive worried about our educational system. God bless his sorry ass.

...Much as you have in your own business careers, I’ve found that you can’t expect dramatically different results unless you are open to dramatic change.  As president, I will pursue bold policy changes that will restore the promise of our nation’s education system.

First, I will expand parental choice in an unprecedented way.  Too many of our kids are trapped in schools that are failing or simply don’t meet their needs.  And for too long, we’ve merely talked about the virtues of school choice....

How many Mr. America? How many children don't pass muster? How many is the USA educational system failing? I want numbers, Bubba, not simply pie in the sky dreamscapes. And how DRAMATIC are the changes you are proposing and where can you show EXACTLY how, once implemented, they are going to change the outcomes of our young people? Success of same in Massachusetts? Changes in the educational system there? Dramatic turn arounds and now Massachusetts kids are exceeding expectations on a global basis. 

What are the EXACT particulars to the Romney promises and what are the exact outcomes, because, if he wants to promise all these wonderful things, he needs to back it up and not simply promise wide sweeping changes to a country at loss and in pain from the last two term President and his lack of ideas ,but, only godly extolling? 

...As President, I will give the parents of every low-income and special needs student the chance to choose where their child goes to school.  For the first time in history, federal education funds will be linked to a student, so that parents can send their child to any public or charter school, or to a private school, where permitted.  And I will make that choice meaningful by ensuring there are sufficient options to exercise it. 

To receive the full complement of federal education dollars, states must provide students with ample school choice.  In addition, digital learning options must not be prohibited.  And charter schools or similar education choices must be scaled up to meet student demand....

Small government, sir? Digital choices, like homeschooling and making remote learning the pinnacle to American education that will put every child's mind surpassing anyone on a global level? Is that the American Dream we are all hoping for? Electronically produced children where someone somewhere controls the content of learning so they all turn out to be 'screen dependent robots of the system?" Is that the future of our children?

DC Opportunity Funding for all? Is that it? 

The DC Opportunity Funding, one program introduced by George W. Bush as written by the Heritage Foundation increased by $3,451,600 in seven years. TWENTY FIVE PERCENT in costs in seven years. I don't think so! Eventually, this program will be unsustainable and that is exactly why the GOP candidates from sea to shining sea promise to end the Department of Education. Romney wants to end it too, but, that isn't electable now is it?

Funding Status

2011

• Appropriation: $17,369,000

2010

• Appropriation: $13,200,000
• Number of New Awards Anticipated: 0
• Number of Continuation Awards: 1

2009

• Appropriations: $14,000,000

2008

• Appropriations: $14,800,000
• Number of New Awards Anticipated: 0
• Number of Continuation Awards: 1
• Average Continuation Award: $12,694,186

2007

• Appropriations: $13,860,000
• Number of New Awards Anticipated: 0
• Number of Continuation Awards: 1
• Average Continuation Award: $12,454,200

2006

• Appropriations: $13,860,000
• Number of New Awards Anticipated: 0
• Number of Continuation Awards: 1
• Average Continuation Award: $12,454,200

2005

• Appropriations: $13,888,000

2004

• Appropriations: $13,917,400

Of course, unions will not be needed as they are the sole responsibility of the entire US educational system. 

...The teachers unions don’t fight for our children.  That’s our job.  And our job keeps getting harder because the unions wield outsized influence in elections and campaigns....


Wow, unions are taking over the minds of our children. Who knew?

...Here in America, every child deserves a chance.  It shouldn’t be reserved for the fortunate few. 

Who are the reserved few? Who are those few children in the USA that have reserved their place at the table of high achievement? What are the few children Mr. American has in mind to model an entire national school system after?

If America is going to continue to lead the world in how much we build, create, and invent, (The USA leads the world in all that? Where? Show me the statistics and the money. Show me the money it will take for every child in the USA to be number one globally? I want to see it!)  then we must transform how we teach, train, and educate.  We already have good teachers, engaged parents, and big ideas.  What we need now is strong leadership and the political will.

A choice for every parent means a chance for every child.  That can be more than our hope – it can be our future.  It can begin this year, in the choice you make, so I ask for your help, your support, and your vote on the sixth of November.

Thank you all, and God bless America.

Well, I'll be darn, Mr. Fix It All has arrived on the scene. God Bless It. 

I had believed children were being used as human shields.

I also believe the evidence in regard to ethnic cleansing is substantial enough. If I may?

Syria crisis: UN says children used as human shields - live updates (click here)

• UN reports highlights abuse of children in Syria
• Observers alarmed about escalating violence
• Footage shows rebel leader watching troops fire RPGs 

Whitaker

Tuesday 12 June 2012 07.14 EDTguardian.co.uk

The clip shows Colonel Qassim Saadeddine (in the green camouflage) who last month defied the Turkey-based leader of the FSA by issuing the Assad regime with a 48-hour deadline to abide by the ceasefire. Since that deadline elapsed on 1 June, the FSA has stepped up its attacks on government forces.

11.44am: Kofi Annan is pushing ahead with plans to set up an international contact on Syria, despite objections from the US and UK about the idea of involving Iran in such a group.

AFP quotes Annan's spokesman as saying:

We hope that this contact group meeting will take place soon. The objective of creating this group is to give teeth to the [six point peace] plan, is to convince the parties to implement the plan in its entirety - it's not to create a new plan.

Last week Annan suggested that the group would include the five permanent members of the UN Security Council as well as Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and others. But the US and its western partners firmly oppose membership for Iran, a close Syrian ally....

The map to the left is a population map. The darker the color the more concentrated the population in Syria.

This is a map naming the Syrian cities currently involved in the violence, Hama, Homs and Damascus. I believe the rebels in Damascus are taking on the a similar approach as the Libyan rebels did in taking the capital city there. The rebels may succeed. I believe the Assad regime, including the military is in disarray. As an example, when UN inspectors went to assess the recent location of the killings of women and children, they were confronted by what appeared to be a death squad. That cluster of armed resistance may have been a troop of the Syrian military no longer able to act in a cohesive manner so much as offensive and defensive in a location where they were cut off by rebels. That thought has to be at least entertained in coming to conclusions regarding the violence. The authority currently in Syria, I believe, may be more local and less decentralized than anyone might expect. Syrian sovereignty may already be disintegrating. 

But, Homs has one of the densest populations in Syria, more dense than even Damascus. If I were a dictator and wanted to eliminate my dearest enemy why not justify it by saying the 'terrorists' are from Homs. It would solve a great deal of problems for justifying the killing.

The map to the left is religious distribution of populations in Syria. Homs being the most densely populated is also Sunni Muslim. 

Bashar Assad is a member of the Ba'ath Party and is Alawite Shia Islam. Assad and Iran have a lot in common in their religious affiliations and there has been at least rumors that Iran is an active merchant of the Syrian military.

It just seems to me if I were Assad and receiving protests about a dynasty the family has held for a long time and I wanted to scapegoat 'terrorist rebels,' Homs would be more than inviting to that 'theme.'

A series of devastating explosions (click here) rocks the Syrian city of Homs in an image taken from amateur video. (Bambuser/Homslive, Associated Press / June 11, 2012)

Is Mayor Rahm Emanuel ending the gang violence while Chicago education is tops record graduation rates.

Jeremiah Trask, 5, who lost an uncle to violence, takes part in an anti-violence protest outside St. Sabina church.

Police authorize overtime to help curb rising violence (click here)

By Jeremy Gorner, David Heinzmann and Peter Nickeas, Chicago Tribune reporters

June 12, 2012

With homicides soaring so far this year and another bloody weekend in the books, Chicago police intend to announce at roll calls that overtime will be paid to officers working their days off beginning this weekend, according to a department-issued memo obtained by the Tribune.

The communication from First Deputy Superintendent Alfonza Wysinger makes clear that the initiative is targeted at curbing the growing violence. It comes at a time when the city is struggling with budget woes....

When gangs fracture there can be a spike in violence while members seek to re-establish their own authority, compete and create new gangs. If Chicago's finest are making an impact on gang violence, they will attempt to reorganize to shed the knowledge currently at play by authorities.

Gang organizers ain't completely stupid, they know how the streets work and will seek to harness power. Chicago is correct to increase police presence while protesters call for cessation of violence.

The police need to ask what has changed for gangs in the way of resources lately, less drugs on the street, a crack down on prostitution, what has changed over the past few months to cause stress on the street with the gangs. A review of those arrested within six to eight months of the latest violence might provide a clue. If the gangs feel threatened they will become scared and look to change their leadership, too. I wish the city of Chicago great success in ending the violence and bringing down the gangs.

Fractured gangs blamed for Chicago homicide surge (click here)

By DON BABWIN

CHICAGO — There are many theories about what has caused a recent spike in Chicago's homicide rate, including a splintering of established drug gangs, the warm winter and high unemployment in some neighborhoods that seem a world away from the city's beaches, lush parks and skyscrapers....

I question if the 'good weather' as a reason for increased violence. If that were the case there would be increases in violence across an entire year when good weather occurred. It isn't the weather, come on now. 

8Shot Dead in Chicago, 40 Injured for Second Weekend in a Row (VIDEO)(click here)

By Sami K. Martin , Christian Post Contributor

June 11, 2012|12:27 pmA weekend in Chicago turned deadly, with eight people killed and 43 left wounded. At least one was a teenager, and police are wondering how the violence could have escalated across the city and left so many hurt."None of it is OK," Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy told NBCChicago.com. "And I don't want it to seem like we're managing it, but the realistic expectations have to be over the long-term," he stated.It is believed that the majority of violence was gang-related. Two were shot during a party in the Back-of-the-Yards neighborhood last night. A pair of siblings was shot as they sat in their vehicle; an SUV approached the vehicle, opened fire and killed 21-year-old Derrick Wilkerson and injured his 19-year-old brother....

Maybe, just maybe, members of Chicago gangs (I am thinking ladies with children) are finding graduation is a better option than waiting for Daddy to get out of jail. It could be, ya know? Women can be just that status conscience. Getting an education and making money just might be more inviting sometimes.

Rahm Emanuel celebrates a record graduation rate (click here)

By RAHM EMANUEL 
Daily Splash columnist 
June 10, 2012 9:20PM

It was commencement weekend in Chicago and this year we have a lot to celebrate. For the first time on record, Chicago Public Schools have achieved higher than a 60 percent graduation rate. A higher percentage of those graduates are enrolling in college next year than in any year since CPS started keeping records. I had the honor of speaking to the Class of 2012 at Morgan Park High School where 80 percent of seniors are graduating, as well as at Golder College Prep where 100 percent of seniors are graduating. ...

AND JOBS can be a good reason to stop participation in a 'drug economy on the street.' Maybe, huh? Maybe a high school graduation with the promise of good paying jobs in Chicago could be a real incentive to live the life of a legitimate citizen. Could be.

RahmEmanuel forms Chicago Infrastructure Trust (click here)

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Posted Jun 11, 2012 @ 03:00 PM

CHICAGO — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has picked five people to serve on the inaugural board of the Chicago Infrastructure Trust.

The City Council approved formation of the trust in April. The program includes plans to replace crumbling commuter rail stations and century-old water pipes. The trust will start with $225 million in energy efficiency projects for government buildings.

Emanuel today announced his choices for the board, saying they were chosen for their finance and infrastructure experience and they'll operate under the "strictest fiduciary and ethical standards."

Emanuel's picks are: retired Boeing executive James Bell; former Sara Lee executive Diana Ferguson; attorney David Hoffman; Alderman John Pope; and Chicago Federation of Labor President Jorge Ramirez.

The appointments must be approved by the Chicago City Council.

Go, Rham, Go !!!!!!

Previous to Rahm Emanuel taking office as Mayor of Chicago, the city has an 11% unemployment rate January 2010. The new mayor is doing a lot right.

Chicago area jobless rate drops to 8.9% (click here)

March 29, 2012 2:08PM

The Chicago area unemployment rate fell to 8.9 percent in February, down significantly from 9.6 percent a year ago, according to data released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

It was the lowest monthly rate reported since local unemployment reached a peak of 11.8 percent in January 2010. The local jobless rate, which is not seasonally adjusted, was 9.6 percent in January....