Thursday, March 31, 2005
The $85 Million Dollar Man
Hey Michigan, last week Willard Mitt, who claims to be pro-business, filed a bill to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars. (source: Boston Globe, 3/26/2005)
Hey South Carolina, last week Willard Mitt, who purports to be pro-business, filed a bill to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars.
Hey Iowa, last week Willard Mitt, who purports to be pro-business, filed a bill to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars.
So, Willard Mitt wants to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars.
Why does this sound so familiar? (Aside from the fact that Team Reform has increased corporate taxes in Massachusetts each year that they've been in office to a degree that the Council on State Taxation has termed Romney an "alleged pro-business Republican." (source: Boston Globe, 3/26/2005))
As the Rat Line pointed out, "Sounds like Dukakis circa '88."
Zounds. Willard Mitt Dukakis. Has a nice ring to it. Unless of course your last name is Dukakis.
Ah yes, we remember it like it was June 15, 1988. Mr. Wizard, set the Wayback Machine....
DUKAKIS PLANS FEE PACKAGE TO BOOST REVENUES
Boston Globe
June 15, 1988
Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff
The Dukakis administration, trying to balance next year's budget, is preparing a "corporate tax reform" package designed to stem the downturn in corporate excise revenues. One source in the Dukakis administration sharply objected to a description of the reform package as a set of tax increases, even though they are expected to boost revenues $25 million next year and $40 million the year after.
"We're not increasing taxes," the source said. "We're protecting our revenue base."
But critics of the administration said the governor is using semantics to disguise major tax increases.
"If some of the initiative and the creativity that is supposed to exist in the Dukakis administration were used to better manage our spending as opposed to finding new ways to tax people, I think we would be well served," said House Minority Leader Steven Pierce (R-Westfield)."
If Steven Pierce were alive today he'd be .... Excuse us? He is? Oh.
Back when Steven Pierce used to be noticed he warned that the Massachusetts Governor's "slipshod" budget process would become a presidential campaign issue. (source: Boston Globe, 7/17/2005)
"This is all a godsend for the Republican presidential candidates," he said.
Who knew that Pierce's statement toward a candidate from Massachusetts in 1988 could be applicable to a candidate from Massachusetts in 2008.
Hey Texas, last week Willard Mitt, who purports to be pro-business, filed a bill to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars.
Hey Florida, last week Willard Mitt, who purports to be pro-business, filed a bill to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars.
Hey Utah. Nah, forgot it. We don't care about you.
Hey New York ....
Hey Michigan, last week Willard Mitt, who claims to be pro-business, filed a bill to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars. (source: Boston Globe, 3/26/2005)
Hey South Carolina, last week Willard Mitt, who purports to be pro-business, filed a bill to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars.
Hey Iowa, last week Willard Mitt, who purports to be pro-business, filed a bill to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars.
So, Willard Mitt wants to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars.
Why does this sound so familiar? (Aside from the fact that Team Reform has increased corporate taxes in Massachusetts each year that they've been in office to a degree that the Council on State Taxation has termed Romney an "alleged pro-business Republican." (source: Boston Globe, 3/26/2005))
As the Rat Line pointed out, "Sounds like Dukakis circa '88."
Zounds. Willard Mitt Dukakis. Has a nice ring to it. Unless of course your last name is Dukakis.
Ah yes, we remember it like it was June 15, 1988. Mr. Wizard, set the Wayback Machine....
DUKAKIS PLANS FEE PACKAGE TO BOOST REVENUES
Boston Globe
June 15, 1988
Bruce Mohl, Globe Staff
The Dukakis administration, trying to balance next year's budget, is preparing a "corporate tax reform" package designed to stem the downturn in corporate excise revenues. One source in the Dukakis administration sharply objected to a description of the reform package as a set of tax increases, even though they are expected to boost revenues $25 million next year and $40 million the year after.
"We're not increasing taxes," the source said. "We're protecting our revenue base."
But critics of the administration said the governor is using semantics to disguise major tax increases.
"If some of the initiative and the creativity that is supposed to exist in the Dukakis administration were used to better manage our spending as opposed to finding new ways to tax people, I think we would be well served," said House Minority Leader Steven Pierce (R-Westfield)."
If Steven Pierce were alive today he'd be .... Excuse us? He is? Oh.
Back when Steven Pierce used to be noticed he warned that the Massachusetts Governor's "slipshod" budget process would become a presidential campaign issue. (source: Boston Globe, 7/17/2005)
"This is all a godsend for the Republican presidential candidates," he said.
Who knew that Pierce's statement toward a candidate from Massachusetts in 1988 could be applicable to a candidate from Massachusetts in 2008.
Hey Texas, last week Willard Mitt, who purports to be pro-business, filed a bill to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars.
Hey Florida, last week Willard Mitt, who purports to be pro-business, filed a bill to increase corporate taxes in Massachusetts by $85 million dollars.
Hey Utah. Nah, forgot it. We don't care about you.
Hey New York ....
Monday, March 28, 2005
Small Fry
Sign we may not have Romney to kick around anymore:
Team Reform is apparently still using the same standards to vet state government appointments. But the going rate appears to have dropped a wee bit.
Case in point - Renee Fry, Willard Mitt's latest Director of the Department of Business and Technology is a card carrying member of Romney/Healey Inc, having made donations in 2002, 2003 and 2004. It was less the frequency of Fry's largess which caught our eye however, than the amount. Fry gave Sherry Kerry Healey $10 in 2002, and $10 in 2003. She also gave Willard Mitt $10 - but split the donation over two years, giving $5 in 2003 and another $5 in 2004. (source: OCPF)
$5.
And for this she gets a Directorship? Too bad she didn't look under the floor mats of her Saab. She was probably 35 quarters, dimes and nickles away from a judgeship.
Prior to joining Team Reform, Fry worked for the Cambridge-based technology company Celarix. (source: Associated Press, 3/21/2005) Celarix made their political bones in 2002 when CEO James Daniell gifted $1000 to Romney/Healey Inc. (source: OCPF)
And now Daniell's protege is atop the Department of Business and Technology pyramid.
Reform works in mysterious ways.
Planning in Advance
Sign we may have Romney to kick around some more:
An unusual ad appeared in a national on-line listing. At last search it was still posted on Bloggersmarket.com. (Go to page two of two, under the heading Advance Coordinator.)
In the event the language is removed, the ad read as follows:
Posted on: 3/21/2005 7:04:45 PM
Posted by: jb (USA - Washington DC - Washington DC - Jobs - Government/Policy)
Advance Coordinator
The Office of Governor Mitt Romney is seeking an individual with political advance and events planning experience. Relocation to Boston is a requirement. Qualified individuals should send a resume and cover letter to commonwealthjobs@hotmail.com
Wait a minute. The Office of Willard Mitt is seeking a political advance (wo)man? Not 'the campaign of,' or the 'state GOP of,' but 'The Office of.' Er, aren't state employees supposed to abjure political work on state time?
Nah. We didn't think so.
GOZ: Grand Old Zombie
Willard Mitt and State GOP Strongman Darrell Crate (aka - the Zombie King) could not have been more emphatic about rebuilding the once morabund state party.
Crate pledged that the GOP would use "the set of values put forward by (Willard) Mitt" to "not only to hold on to the governor's office but to build in the Legislature." (source: Boston Herald, 12/14/2004)
They planned on rebuilding the Party by running candidates throughout Massachusetts. Promised Crate, "Nobody gets a free pass." (source: Boston Globe, 2/20/2005)
So how'd the newly rebuilt GOP do in the recent elections to replace exiting members of the state Legislature?
Not too well.
In fact Romney's resurgent GOP didn't even field candidates in two of the three elections. In the 12th Suffolk they gave the Democrats ... a free pass. (source: Boston Herald, 3/16/2005)
Willard Mitt, the Fraud Governor who would be President, couldn't negotiate any Republicans into running in two state rep races. (Makes you wonder how he'd do against the North Koreans!)
So the GOP is back to running empty slates.
Looks like those Romney values have taken hold.
Quirk Load
In an attempt to divert attention from Willard Mitt's travels away from Massachusetts, State GOP Strongman Darrell Crate let loose a phony release blaming the General Court for doing nothing on a heap of Romney's proposals, including his health care plan - which, ironically, Fraudo has yet to file. (source: source)
For the best take on the state GOP's latest stupidity you can't do better than the good people at Point08 who point out that under the Zombie King, Crate et al raised $3.6 million dollars for the 2004 Congressional campaign cycle, and awarded a measly $385 to one candidate - the immortal Stephen P. O'Malley, Jr, a former aide to Democratic congressman Nick Mavroules. (source: townonline.com)
Which, by comparision, almost makes Willard Mitt's work product as (fraud) governor look slightly less than completely pathetic.
Almost.
Sign we may not have Romney to kick around anymore:
Team Reform is apparently still using the same standards to vet state government appointments. But the going rate appears to have dropped a wee bit.
Case in point - Renee Fry, Willard Mitt's latest Director of the Department of Business and Technology is a card carrying member of Romney/Healey Inc, having made donations in 2002, 2003 and 2004. It was less the frequency of Fry's largess which caught our eye however, than the amount. Fry gave Sherry Kerry Healey $10 in 2002, and $10 in 2003. She also gave Willard Mitt $10 - but split the donation over two years, giving $5 in 2003 and another $5 in 2004. (source: OCPF)
$5.
And for this she gets a Directorship? Too bad she didn't look under the floor mats of her Saab. She was probably 35 quarters, dimes and nickles away from a judgeship.
Prior to joining Team Reform, Fry worked for the Cambridge-based technology company Celarix. (source: Associated Press, 3/21/2005) Celarix made their political bones in 2002 when CEO James Daniell gifted $1000 to Romney/Healey Inc. (source: OCPF)
And now Daniell's protege is atop the Department of Business and Technology pyramid.
Reform works in mysterious ways.
Planning in Advance
Sign we may have Romney to kick around some more:
An unusual ad appeared in a national on-line listing. At last search it was still posted on Bloggersmarket.com. (Go to page two of two, under the heading Advance Coordinator.)
In the event the language is removed, the ad read as follows:
Posted on: 3/21/2005 7:04:45 PM
Posted by: jb (USA - Washington DC - Washington DC - Jobs - Government/Policy)
Advance Coordinator
The Office of Governor Mitt Romney is seeking an individual with political advance and events planning experience. Relocation to Boston is a requirement. Qualified individuals should send a resume and cover letter to commonwealthjobs@hotmail.com
Wait a minute. The Office of Willard Mitt is seeking a political advance (wo)man? Not 'the campaign of,' or the 'state GOP of,' but 'The Office of.' Er, aren't state employees supposed to abjure political work on state time?
Nah. We didn't think so.
GOZ: Grand Old Zombie
Willard Mitt and State GOP Strongman Darrell Crate (aka - the Zombie King) could not have been more emphatic about rebuilding the once morabund state party.
Crate pledged that the GOP would use "the set of values put forward by (Willard) Mitt" to "not only to hold on to the governor's office but to build in the Legislature." (source: Boston Herald, 12/14/2004)
They planned on rebuilding the Party by running candidates throughout Massachusetts. Promised Crate, "Nobody gets a free pass." (source: Boston Globe, 2/20/2005)
So how'd the newly rebuilt GOP do in the recent elections to replace exiting members of the state Legislature?
Not too well.
In fact Romney's resurgent GOP didn't even field candidates in two of the three elections. In the 12th Suffolk they gave the Democrats ... a free pass. (source: Boston Herald, 3/16/2005)
Willard Mitt, the Fraud Governor who would be President, couldn't negotiate any Republicans into running in two state rep races. (Makes you wonder how he'd do against the North Koreans!)
So the GOP is back to running empty slates.
Looks like those Romney values have taken hold.
Quirk Load
In an attempt to divert attention from Willard Mitt's travels away from Massachusetts, State GOP Strongman Darrell Crate let loose a phony release blaming the General Court for doing nothing on a heap of Romney's proposals, including his health care plan - which, ironically, Fraudo has yet to file. (source: source)
For the best take on the state GOP's latest stupidity you can't do better than the good people at Point08 who point out that under the Zombie King, Crate et al raised $3.6 million dollars for the 2004 Congressional campaign cycle, and awarded a measly $385 to one candidate - the immortal Stephen P. O'Malley, Jr, a former aide to Democratic congressman Nick Mavroules. (source: townonline.com)
Which, by comparision, almost makes Willard Mitt's work product as (fraud) governor look slightly less than completely pathetic.
Almost.
Thursday, March 24, 2005
A House Divided
Sorry, kids. We're not buying.
As we've heard tell, when Team Reform goes out to eat, Willard Mitt won't even let his Lightweight Lieutenant Governor, Sherry Kerry Healey, order her own salad dressing. Romney makes her cut her steak with a butter knife and sit at the kids table during Sunday dinner. But now we're expected to believe that Healey was free-lancing when she sat with the State House News Service and let loose that 'the elderly should give up their houses for the young' pap?
No sir. We're not buying. Not gonna happen. Wouldn't. Be. Prudent.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
As most of you know, Team Reform has not exactly been pro-Grandma and Grandpa Taxpayer. The Fraud Governor has proposed taking their homes to pay for Medicaid, doing away with the Department of Elder Services (source: RiaF, 5/16/2003), and he vetoed a senior tax relief plan approved by the Legislature. (source: Boston Globe, 3/22/2005)
So when Sherry Kerry said "to extend tax breaks to seniors in order to keep them overhoused and isolated in the suburbs is not necessarily the right answer ... they're probably aging in homes that are too expensive or difficult for them to maintain and where the property taxes are larger than their fixed incomes. Plus, they may have three or four bedrooms and only be using one of them. There are families that need that housing" we weren't surprised. We assumed Team Reform was just being Team Reform: kicking the elderly until they found something better to do.
Then Romney threw Sherry Kerry under the bus and 'backed away' from Healey's suggestion. (source: Boston Herald, 3/22/2005)
This after Romney has spent years suggesting that public policy be directed at reducing the cost of home ownership in Massachusetts. (source: Cape Cod Times, 10/23/2002) Which sounds great if you are 25, looking to score your first unfinished Cape. But sounds suspiciously like collectivism if you are 75 and your house holds your life savings.
Okay already. We'll play Willard Mitt's game.
Madam Lightweight LG, were intrigued by "your" suggestion that the elderly move out of their homes so that young families can move in. We have a few questions.
First, just how much house should a family have? Is 3,000 square feet too much? How about 1,500 square feet?
If 3,000 (or 2,000 or 1,500) square feet is too much for an elderly couple, is it also too much for a young couple? What if the young couple only have one child? What if they find out they can't have any children? Should they, too, move into "more appropriate housing"?
Let's get back to our initital question: how much house should a family have? Because as our pals over at Bear Left pointed out, your four-person family lives in a six-bedroom house. Is your family 'over-housed'? Will your family set an example by swapping homes with a more deserving family of six from, say, Dorchester?
Madam LW LG, when did you become a Communist? And is this what you and Willard Mitt meant when you said you were Red State Republicans?
Finally, how the heck did you get the State House News Service to hold this story for two weeks? What did you offer Craig Sandler to kill that piece?
Nope. We just not buying it. We think Willard Mitt was using Sherry Kerry as a trial balloon.
Hey, they don't call her Lightweight for nothing.
Sorry, kids. We're not buying.
As we've heard tell, when Team Reform goes out to eat, Willard Mitt won't even let his Lightweight Lieutenant Governor, Sherry Kerry Healey, order her own salad dressing. Romney makes her cut her steak with a butter knife and sit at the kids table during Sunday dinner. But now we're expected to believe that Healey was free-lancing when she sat with the State House News Service and let loose that 'the elderly should give up their houses for the young' pap?
No sir. We're not buying. Not gonna happen. Wouldn't. Be. Prudent.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
As most of you know, Team Reform has not exactly been pro-Grandma and Grandpa Taxpayer. The Fraud Governor has proposed taking their homes to pay for Medicaid, doing away with the Department of Elder Services (source: RiaF, 5/16/2003), and he vetoed a senior tax relief plan approved by the Legislature. (source: Boston Globe, 3/22/2005)
So when Sherry Kerry said "to extend tax breaks to seniors in order to keep them overhoused and isolated in the suburbs is not necessarily the right answer ... they're probably aging in homes that are too expensive or difficult for them to maintain and where the property taxes are larger than their fixed incomes. Plus, they may have three or four bedrooms and only be using one of them. There are families that need that housing" we weren't surprised. We assumed Team Reform was just being Team Reform: kicking the elderly until they found something better to do.
Then Romney threw Sherry Kerry under the bus and 'backed away' from Healey's suggestion. (source: Boston Herald, 3/22/2005)
This after Romney has spent years suggesting that public policy be directed at reducing the cost of home ownership in Massachusetts. (source: Cape Cod Times, 10/23/2002) Which sounds great if you are 25, looking to score your first unfinished Cape. But sounds suspiciously like collectivism if you are 75 and your house holds your life savings.
Okay already. We'll play Willard Mitt's game.
Madam Lightweight LG, were intrigued by "your" suggestion that the elderly move out of their homes so that young families can move in. We have a few questions.
First, just how much house should a family have? Is 3,000 square feet too much? How about 1,500 square feet?
If 3,000 (or 2,000 or 1,500) square feet is too much for an elderly couple, is it also too much for a young couple? What if the young couple only have one child? What if they find out they can't have any children? Should they, too, move into "more appropriate housing"?
Let's get back to our initital question: how much house should a family have? Because as our pals over at Bear Left pointed out, your four-person family lives in a six-bedroom house. Is your family 'over-housed'? Will your family set an example by swapping homes with a more deserving family of six from, say, Dorchester?
Madam LW LG, when did you become a Communist? And is this what you and Willard Mitt meant when you said you were Red State Republicans?
Finally, how the heck did you get the State House News Service to hold this story for two weeks? What did you offer Craig Sandler to kill that piece?
Nope. We just not buying it. We think Willard Mitt was using Sherry Kerry as a trial balloon.
Hey, they don't call her Lightweight for nothing.
Monday, March 21, 2005
Squeeze Play
If Team Reform was a DVD, Election Day 2004 would be on the Special Features flip side, in the Gag Reel/Bloopers section. Not because every challenging Republican put up by Willard Mitt went down to defeat. But because of this boast of political juice by Romney's $150,000-a-year Loathsome Spokesman: "(Willard Mitt) is the only bridge Massachusetts has to the White House and a strengthened Republican majority in both houses of Congress." (source: Boston Globe, 11/4/2004)
The only bridge to the Republican majority in both houses of Congress?
So why was Willard Mitt forced to ask George W. to name someone from Northeast to the panel that will recommend military base closings, because "each of the six people recommended by the Senate and House leaders hails from west of the Mississippi River. To address the current geographic imbalance, I urge you to include among your nominees at least one individual from the Northeast region of the country"? (source: Associated Press, 3/4/2005)
The only bridge to the White House?
Last week George W announced that his base closing panel would include two comissioners from California, one from Nevada, one from Virginia, one from Florida, one from Georgia, one from Illinois, one from Texas, and one from Utah. (source: Associated Press, 3/16/2005)
And no one from the Northeast.
Looks like Romney's juice has turned into sap.
If Team Reform was a DVD, Election Day 2004 would be on the Special Features flip side, in the Gag Reel/Bloopers section. Not because every challenging Republican put up by Willard Mitt went down to defeat. But because of this boast of political juice by Romney's $150,000-a-year Loathsome Spokesman: "(Willard Mitt) is the only bridge Massachusetts has to the White House and a strengthened Republican majority in both houses of Congress." (source: Boston Globe, 11/4/2004)
The only bridge to the Republican majority in both houses of Congress?
So why was Willard Mitt forced to ask George W. to name someone from Northeast to the panel that will recommend military base closings, because "each of the six people recommended by the Senate and House leaders hails from west of the Mississippi River. To address the current geographic imbalance, I urge you to include among your nominees at least one individual from the Northeast region of the country"? (source: Associated Press, 3/4/2005)
The only bridge to the White House?
Last week George W announced that his base closing panel would include two comissioners from California, one from Nevada, one from Virginia, one from Florida, one from Georgia, one from Illinois, one from Texas, and one from Utah. (source: Associated Press, 3/16/2005)
And no one from the Northeast.
Looks like Romney's juice has turned into sap.
Friday, March 18, 2005
Mincemeat, or Wacko!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... make way for the Fraud Governor of the Commonwealth.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls ... make way for the Fraud Governor of the Commonwealth.
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Live Shot
The following was found in a trash can on the lower depths of the north slope of Beacon Hill, which used to have a reputation as a neighborhood of vice, intemperance, and general social decay. No wait a minute, it was found on Merrimac Street. We always get those two places mixed up.
For Immediate Release - Thursday, March 17, 2005
LIVE SHOT ROMNEY ALL WET ON BIG DIG
CONTACT: (the name is illegible)
"Fraud Governor Willard Mitt should cease his campaign for President and get to work doing something about the management of the Big Dig.
"Romney is more concerned about where his next out-of-state fund-raising availability is taking place than he is about protecting the hard-earned dollars our
Massachusetts taxpayers have spent on a broken, overpriced tunnel. The Fraud Governor has the power to replace the Turnpike Commission chairman. So what is he waiting for?
"Instead of diligently taking charge on controlling his Big Dig managers, Romney has spent his time at carefully orchestrated press events 'calling for Turnpike chairman Matt Amorello's resignation.'
"In November 2004, Romney asked Amorello to resign. (source: Worcester T&G, 11/13/2004)
"In January 2005, Romney asked Amorello to resign. (source: Boston Globe, 1/26/2005)
"In March 2005, Romney asked Amorello to resign. (source: Boston Globe, 3/16/2005)
"Each time Amorello said no, and Willard Mitt piously looked to the heavens as if searching for the strength to go on. Or for cameras above Nurses Hall.
"Given a free microphone and a red light, Live Shot Romney let escape no opportunity to call for Matt Amorello's resignation. Hoping, we suspect, against hope that Amorello would kindly demur and assume the position for the next attack.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.
"Because it suddenly looks like ... Willard Mitt had the power to click his heels three times and remove Amorello the whole time! But rather than actually remove the guy, Romney instead has decided to hide behind the collective skirts of the Supreme Judicial Court. (source: Boston Globe, 3/16/2005)
"(Hey Larry Summers, this is when you say something about the Fraud Governor being genetically disinclined to take a leadership position.)
"Wait a minute. Romney purportedly wants Amorello out. So he asks the SJC if he can take Amorello out? Why not ... take Amorello out, and let Amorello fight to get back in? Oh right. That would take guts. But we digress.
"So now we play the waiting game. And we suspect that Romney will play the waiting game, too. For as long as he can string it out so that the question of 'can Willard Mitt can Matt Amorello?' is never quite answered. And Romney can continue to kick Amorello's rumpus from Provincetown (or at least Truro) to North Adams and back again. (With a quick stop in Iowa, Missouri, Michigan and South Carolina.)
"It is becoming increasingly clear that Willard Mitt is part of the problem and not part of the solution. Shifting the blame from Live Shot Romney's pals at Bechtel to Matt Amorello has done nothing to solve the problems at the Big Dig or to recover millions owed to the taxpayers. Romney is just another self-promoting politician in cahoots with Mike "Wispy" Murphy and his other fraud reformers looking to protect his ambitions so he doesn't get stained by his mismanagement of the Big Dig."
Zounds. Wonder who could have written that thing!
Whacko Willard Mitt
According to press reports, Willard Mitt - aka, the Most Moral Man in Massachusetts - last week "celebrated" his 58th birthday by arriving at his State House party dressed like accused child-molester (or is it alleged child-molester?) Michael "Jacko" Jackson. Romney was purportedly dressed in pajama pants, a white glove, sunglasses, and "flanked by aides holding umbrellas." (source: Boston Herald, 3/14/2005)
Earlier this year, Prince Harry, heir to the English throne and scion of the House of Stupidity, received wide-spread opprobrium for "wearing a swastika armband to a friend's fancy dress party." (source: BBC, 1/13/2005)
Astute observers of l'Affair Harry noted that the moronic Prince did not, in fact, dress up like any one particular Nazi. He did not, for example, wear particular facial hair in an effort to mimic any one killer. The idiot Prince simply wore to a private party in a private setting an arm-band, a symbol of hate to be sure, but an anonymous icon of genocide. Willard Mitt, on the other hand, "celebrated" his special day in the State House by dressing like a man who was then on trial as an accused child molester.
To which we replied, 'get a grip.' Not even we would suggest that Willard Mitt identifies with alleged child molesters. Not even (accused) alleged celebrity child-molesters.
Willard Mitt's dress-up was all in fun.
Hey, it's not as though he dressed up like a polygamist who fled to Mexico with his three wives, one of whom may have been under-aged, to escape the long-arm of federal law!
Now that would have been in poor taste!
(Contest alert: be the first person to send us a photo of the Most Moral Man in Massachusetts dressed like an accused child molester, and win two fabulous prizes: a meat pie, and a Rich "Mr. Potato Head" Gedman baseball card, circa 1987. (The Gedman card is 1987, the meat pie will be slightly more current.) Be the second person to send us said photo we'll send you two meat pies and a Calvin Schiraldi card.)
The following was found in a trash can on the lower depths of the north slope of Beacon Hill, which used to have a reputation as a neighborhood of vice, intemperance, and general social decay. No wait a minute, it was found on Merrimac Street. We always get those two places mixed up.
For Immediate Release - Thursday, March 17, 2005
LIVE SHOT ROMNEY ALL WET ON BIG DIG
CONTACT: (the name is illegible)
"Fraud Governor Willard Mitt should cease his campaign for President and get to work doing something about the management of the Big Dig.
"Romney is more concerned about where his next out-of-state fund-raising availability is taking place than he is about protecting the hard-earned dollars our
Massachusetts taxpayers have spent on a broken, overpriced tunnel. The Fraud Governor has the power to replace the Turnpike Commission chairman. So what is he waiting for?
"Instead of diligently taking charge on controlling his Big Dig managers, Romney has spent his time at carefully orchestrated press events 'calling for Turnpike chairman Matt Amorello's resignation.'
"In November 2004, Romney asked Amorello to resign. (source: Worcester T&G, 11/13/2004)
"In January 2005, Romney asked Amorello to resign. (source: Boston Globe, 1/26/2005)
"In March 2005, Romney asked Amorello to resign. (source: Boston Globe, 3/16/2005)
"Each time Amorello said no, and Willard Mitt piously looked to the heavens as if searching for the strength to go on. Or for cameras above Nurses Hall.
"Given a free microphone and a red light, Live Shot Romney let escape no opportunity to call for Matt Amorello's resignation. Hoping, we suspect, against hope that Amorello would kindly demur and assume the position for the next attack.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end.
"Because it suddenly looks like ... Willard Mitt had the power to click his heels three times and remove Amorello the whole time! But rather than actually remove the guy, Romney instead has decided to hide behind the collective skirts of the Supreme Judicial Court. (source: Boston Globe, 3/16/2005)
"(Hey Larry Summers, this is when you say something about the Fraud Governor being genetically disinclined to take a leadership position.)
"Wait a minute. Romney purportedly wants Amorello out. So he asks the SJC if he can take Amorello out? Why not ... take Amorello out, and let Amorello fight to get back in? Oh right. That would take guts. But we digress.
"So now we play the waiting game. And we suspect that Romney will play the waiting game, too. For as long as he can string it out so that the question of 'can Willard Mitt can Matt Amorello?' is never quite answered. And Romney can continue to kick Amorello's rumpus from Provincetown (or at least Truro) to North Adams and back again. (With a quick stop in Iowa, Missouri, Michigan and South Carolina.)
"It is becoming increasingly clear that Willard Mitt is part of the problem and not part of the solution. Shifting the blame from Live Shot Romney's pals at Bechtel to Matt Amorello has done nothing to solve the problems at the Big Dig or to recover millions owed to the taxpayers. Romney is just another self-promoting politician in cahoots with Mike "Wispy" Murphy and his other fraud reformers looking to protect his ambitions so he doesn't get stained by his mismanagement of the Big Dig."
Zounds. Wonder who could have written that thing!
Whacko Willard Mitt
According to press reports, Willard Mitt - aka, the Most Moral Man in Massachusetts - last week "celebrated" his 58th birthday by arriving at his State House party dressed like accused child-molester (or is it alleged child-molester?) Michael "Jacko" Jackson. Romney was purportedly dressed in pajama pants, a white glove, sunglasses, and "flanked by aides holding umbrellas." (source: Boston Herald, 3/14/2005)
Earlier this year, Prince Harry, heir to the English throne and scion of the House of Stupidity, received wide-spread opprobrium for "wearing a swastika armband to a friend's fancy dress party." (source: BBC, 1/13/2005)
Astute observers of l'Affair Harry noted that the moronic Prince did not, in fact, dress up like any one particular Nazi. He did not, for example, wear particular facial hair in an effort to mimic any one killer. The idiot Prince simply wore to a private party in a private setting an arm-band, a symbol of hate to be sure, but an anonymous icon of genocide. Willard Mitt, on the other hand, "celebrated" his special day in the State House by dressing like a man who was then on trial as an accused child molester.
To which we replied, 'get a grip.' Not even we would suggest that Willard Mitt identifies with alleged child molesters. Not even (accused) alleged celebrity child-molesters.
Willard Mitt's dress-up was all in fun.
Hey, it's not as though he dressed up like a polygamist who fled to Mexico with his three wives, one of whom may have been under-aged, to escape the long-arm of federal law!
Now that would have been in poor taste!
(Contest alert: be the first person to send us a photo of the Most Moral Man in Massachusetts dressed like an accused child molester, and win two fabulous prizes: a meat pie, and a Rich "Mr. Potato Head" Gedman baseball card, circa 1987. (The Gedman card is 1987, the meat pie will be slightly more current.) Be the second person to send us said photo we'll send you two meat pies and a Calvin Schiraldi card.)
Monday, March 14, 2005
Choo Choo Romney
Back when he was just a Fraud Candidate Willard Mitt said Massachusetts deserved a complete, integrated transportation plan, with "clear, objective criteria to evaluate all capital projects." Romney promised to rank projects according to need so that he could "take politics out of the process." (source: Romney/Healey Inc, "Romney/Healey propose a commuter bill of rights," 9/3/2002)
Almost two and a half years later the Fraud Governor finally unveiled his transportation Plan for Action.
Buried deep inside, in the section on Southeastern Massachusetts, Romney recommends the extension of commuter rail service to New Bedford and Fall River. (source: Exec Office of Transportation, "A Framework for Thinking, A Plan for Action, page 275")
We can hear them now:
"The train's coming to New Bedford! Yay! Lookit the map. Lookit the lookit the lookit the map! It's right here on page 276. The railroad is coming to New Bedford and Fall River. The 20th Century is finally coming to the great Southcoast. Yay!" (source: "Framework for Thinking, Plan for Action," page 276)
Yay.
Let's hope they didn't turn the page.
Or eleven pages to be exact.
Because on page 287 the railroad disappears.
On page 287 the report describes the Old Colony part of the state and lists its recommended projects including expanded bus service, land use changes, and highway capacity issues. (source: "Framework for Thinking, Plan for Action," page 287, 288)
And no railroad.
Which is strange. Because the railroad that heads north on page 276 should, logically, go somewhere. Like page 288.
Raynham is just south of Easton. Raynham is shown on page 276. Easton is shown on page 288.
The railroad that is shown headed north from New Bedford and Fall River (through Raynham) on page 276 disappears when it gets to page 288.
Which means that Romney is either proposing another Big Dig once the railroad hits the Easton line, or that he is recommending a major transit undertaking to extend commuter rail service from New Bedford and Fall River ... to Raynham.
To the tune of $650 million dollars. (Which is $200 million less than has been estimated in the past, but we digress.)
So does the disappearing railroad have anything to do with the fact that Willard Mitt won Easton by over 2,000 votes in 2002, and doesn't want to risk alienating the good GOP groups that thought they'd benefit from Team Reform's brand of stewardship? (source: PD-43 2002, page 115)
Is this just an oversight?
Or did it actually take Team Reform 2.5 years to plan half a railroad?
Or is the New Bedford to Raynham Railroad just ... the New Bedford to Rayham Railroad?
And can other parts of the state now expect their own whacky transit schemes?
Howsabout a Lowell to Pepperell Monorail?
Or a Holyoke to Great Barrington Hot-Air Balloon Shuttle?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Back when he was just a Fraud Candidate Willard Mitt said Massachusetts deserved a complete, integrated transportation plan, with "clear, objective criteria to evaluate all capital projects." Romney promised to rank projects according to need so that he could "take politics out of the process." (source: Romney/Healey Inc, "Romney/Healey propose a commuter bill of rights," 9/3/2002)
Almost two and a half years later the Fraud Governor finally unveiled his transportation Plan for Action.
Buried deep inside, in the section on Southeastern Massachusetts, Romney recommends the extension of commuter rail service to New Bedford and Fall River. (source: Exec Office of Transportation, "A Framework for Thinking, A Plan for Action, page 275")
We can hear them now:
"The train's coming to New Bedford! Yay! Lookit the map. Lookit the lookit the lookit the map! It's right here on page 276. The railroad is coming to New Bedford and Fall River. The 20th Century is finally coming to the great Southcoast. Yay!" (source: "Framework for Thinking, Plan for Action," page 276)
Yay.
Let's hope they didn't turn the page.
Or eleven pages to be exact.
Because on page 287 the railroad disappears.
On page 287 the report describes the Old Colony part of the state and lists its recommended projects including expanded bus service, land use changes, and highway capacity issues. (source: "Framework for Thinking, Plan for Action," page 287, 288)
And no railroad.
Which is strange. Because the railroad that heads north on page 276 should, logically, go somewhere. Like page 288.
Raynham is just south of Easton. Raynham is shown on page 276. Easton is shown on page 288.
The railroad that is shown headed north from New Bedford and Fall River (through Raynham) on page 276 disappears when it gets to page 288.
Which means that Romney is either proposing another Big Dig once the railroad hits the Easton line, or that he is recommending a major transit undertaking to extend commuter rail service from New Bedford and Fall River ... to Raynham.
To the tune of $650 million dollars. (Which is $200 million less than has been estimated in the past, but we digress.)
So does the disappearing railroad have anything to do with the fact that Willard Mitt won Easton by over 2,000 votes in 2002, and doesn't want to risk alienating the good GOP groups that thought they'd benefit from Team Reform's brand of stewardship? (source: PD-43 2002, page 115)
Is this just an oversight?
Or did it actually take Team Reform 2.5 years to plan half a railroad?
Or is the New Bedford to Raynham Railroad just ... the New Bedford to Rayham Railroad?
And can other parts of the state now expect their own whacky transit schemes?
Howsabout a Lowell to Pepperell Monorail?
Or a Holyoke to Great Barrington Hot-Air Balloon Shuttle?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Manchester by The C
Willard Mitt, who promised not to reward political supporters, supplicants, hangers-on or ne'er-do-wells (correction, Romney never promised to not reward ne'er do-wells) recently appointed Christopher Collins of Collins Nickas & Company to the MassDevelopment Board of Directors. (source: office of (fraud) gov, "Romney taps Sec Kimball to chair MassDevelopment," 3/4/2005)
Christopher Collins' qualifications include family gifts of $10,000 to the Republican State Committee and $5,000 to Romney's Commonwealth PAC. (source: OCPF, campaignmoney.com)
As an added bonus, since 2002 employees of Collins Nickas have gifted over $20,000 to Romney, the Republican State Committee, or Lightweight LG Sherry Kerry Healey. (source: OCPF)
Collins Nickas, "a nationally recognized developer that specializes in the acquisition, rehabilitation and preservation of existing affordable housing properties," is not expected to benefit from Collins appointment, because that would be unethical. And everyone knows that Team Reform has the highest ethical standards around.
What Are Best Friends For?
What's up with Willard Mitt and the William Bennett family?
Not too long ago we wrote how Romney cribbed from Bennett during his State of the State speech. (source: RiaF, 1/14/2005)
Well, this week the Massachusetts House overturned a Romney veto of legislation that dealt with federal abstinence-only funds. (source: Associated Press, 3/9/2005)
The original language would have allowed the Department of Public Health to use monies either in classroom education or outreach campaigns, like television or subway ads. Romney, however, rejected the outreach angle, and added his own language restricting the roughly $800,000 dollars to only classroom sex education. (source: virtually stolen from said Associated Press. We changed a comma to make the paragraph our own)
And we care about this why?
William Bennett's wife, Elayne, started something called the "Best Friends Foundation" which provides school-based curriculum for middle- and high-school students which push abstinence from sex until marriage. (source: Bestfriendsfoundation.com)
Repeat: school-based curriculum.
If Romney's veto had survived, Elayne Bennett's Best Friends Foundation may have received additional funding for school-based abstinence programs.
Oh yeah, we almost forgot. Willard Mitt's wife, Ann Romney, has worked with the Best Friends program. (source: Worcester T&G, 10/22/2002)
So, had Romney's veto survived, would the Best Friends Foundation have received any benefit? And would any of that benefit have accrued to Ann Romney?
And did Willard Mitt sign a statement of disclosure outlining this possible conflict of interest when he vetoed the abstinence legislation?
Why do we ask? Just curious.
Stage Fright
Speaking of Ann Romney, does anyone else find it ironic that she has been chosen by the Central New England Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to headline this year's MS Lobby Day on Beacon Hill?
The Society annually holds a lobby day to "put a face to multiple sclerosis and a voice to issues that affect" members interested in advocating for changes to public policy. (source: nmsm.org) And this year their 'energize the troops' speaker is the Fraud Governor's spouse.
Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but Central NE Chapter of the MS Society, WHAT ARE YOU, STUPID?
Willard Mitt has apparently decided to try to quash stem cell research and to use Ann Romney as a martyr for his presidential ambitions. (source: RiaF, 2/17/2005)
And this is the person you want to rally your membership before they go lobby for public policy change? Or has the MS Society decided to lobby against stem cell research and for Romney's presidential ambitions?
Maybe Ann Romney will be speaking on the joys of abstinence from medical advances in pursuit of higher values.
Or maybe she just to see how it feels to be a cattle rancher at a vegetarian convention.
Willard Mitt, who promised not to reward political supporters, supplicants, hangers-on or ne'er-do-wells (correction, Romney never promised to not reward ne'er do-wells) recently appointed Christopher Collins of Collins Nickas & Company to the MassDevelopment Board of Directors. (source: office of (fraud) gov, "Romney taps Sec Kimball to chair MassDevelopment," 3/4/2005)
Christopher Collins' qualifications include family gifts of $10,000 to the Republican State Committee and $5,000 to Romney's Commonwealth PAC. (source: OCPF, campaignmoney.com)
As an added bonus, since 2002 employees of Collins Nickas have gifted over $20,000 to Romney, the Republican State Committee, or Lightweight LG Sherry Kerry Healey. (source: OCPF)
Collins Nickas, "a nationally recognized developer that specializes in the acquisition, rehabilitation and preservation of existing affordable housing properties," is not expected to benefit from Collins appointment, because that would be unethical. And everyone knows that Team Reform has the highest ethical standards around.
What Are Best Friends For?
What's up with Willard Mitt and the William Bennett family?
Not too long ago we wrote how Romney cribbed from Bennett during his State of the State speech. (source: RiaF, 1/14/2005)
Well, this week the Massachusetts House overturned a Romney veto of legislation that dealt with federal abstinence-only funds. (source: Associated Press, 3/9/2005)
The original language would have allowed the Department of Public Health to use monies either in classroom education or outreach campaigns, like television or subway ads. Romney, however, rejected the outreach angle, and added his own language restricting the roughly $800,000 dollars to only classroom sex education. (source: virtually stolen from said Associated Press. We changed a comma to make the paragraph our own)
And we care about this why?
William Bennett's wife, Elayne, started something called the "Best Friends Foundation" which provides school-based curriculum for middle- and high-school students which push abstinence from sex until marriage. (source: Bestfriendsfoundation.com)
Repeat: school-based curriculum.
If Romney's veto had survived, Elayne Bennett's Best Friends Foundation may have received additional funding for school-based abstinence programs.
Oh yeah, we almost forgot. Willard Mitt's wife, Ann Romney, has worked with the Best Friends program. (source: Worcester T&G, 10/22/2002)
So, had Romney's veto survived, would the Best Friends Foundation have received any benefit? And would any of that benefit have accrued to Ann Romney?
And did Willard Mitt sign a statement of disclosure outlining this possible conflict of interest when he vetoed the abstinence legislation?
Why do we ask? Just curious.
Stage Fright
Speaking of Ann Romney, does anyone else find it ironic that she has been chosen by the Central New England Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to headline this year's MS Lobby Day on Beacon Hill?
The Society annually holds a lobby day to "put a face to multiple sclerosis and a voice to issues that affect" members interested in advocating for changes to public policy. (source: nmsm.org) And this year their 'energize the troops' speaker is the Fraud Governor's spouse.
Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but Central NE Chapter of the MS Society, WHAT ARE YOU, STUPID?
Willard Mitt has apparently decided to try to quash stem cell research and to use Ann Romney as a martyr for his presidential ambitions. (source: RiaF, 2/17/2005)
And this is the person you want to rally your membership before they go lobby for public policy change? Or has the MS Society decided to lobby against stem cell research and for Romney's presidential ambitions?
Maybe Ann Romney will be speaking on the joys of abstinence from medical advances in pursuit of higher values.
Or maybe she just to see how it feels to be a cattle rancher at a vegetarian convention.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Saving Bechtel's Savings
Signaling that the 'Save Bechtel' tattoo is again rippling across Team Reform's drum-line, Willard Mitt's legal counsel, Mark D. Nielsen, recently tried to again yammer Massachusetts AG Tom Reilly into blaming the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority for the financial problems associated with the Big Dig.
Nielsen, who has laughingly been called a Construction Law specialist, is seemingly trying to get Reilly to blame the Turnpike for providing poor oversight to the project, a position that would take Bechtel off the 'hey youse guys certainly ran a crappy project' hot-seat. (source: Boston Herald, 3/5/2005; Boston Globe, 3/6/2005)
So is the Fraud Governor trying to use his legal counsel to dampen Bechtel's potential Big Dig cost-recovery lawsuit liability?
Well, Romney does have ties to the construction giant.
He allowed them $1.3 billion in contracts (source: Associated Press, 6/2/2000) when he was the Salt Lake City Winter Games chef - despite their having authored a flawed 20-volume study that apparently underestimated the cost of the games. (source: cfo.com)
And SLOC hired several of Bechtel's top executives as senior vice presidents.
And Romney's $150,000-a-year Loathsome Spokesman once fawned that the Fraud Governor "has a great deal of respect for Bechtel" and that the company "is one of the world's finest consulting firms." (source: Boston Globe, 2/28/2003)
But are these ties to Bechtel reason enough to try to protect the company from liability lawsuits, or does Romney have another agenda in mind?
And what happened to that Big Dig audit that Romney promised back when he was Fraud Candidate? As KMarx writes, today, Romney promised "to audit and personally inspect Big Dig spending." Or was Willard Mitt referring to another Big Dig?
Snow Job
Remember how Willard Mitt stood tall in the wake of Katherine Abbott's firing, and declared that the Mass Highway Department would heretofore plow Parkways that thentofore had been(tofore) the responsibility of the Department of (MDC job) Conservation and Recreation?
Well look what the Rat dragged in.
Seems that the MHD/DCR snow plow policy was not Willard Mitt's after all. It had been designed by ... Katherine Abbott, just one fey day before the Blizzard of 2005 cost her a year of pension salary average.
According to those who purport to know these things, "Abbott had signed a memo of understanding between MassHighway and DCR (nee MDC) the day before the kids were hit."
Zounds. And now its Romney's reform?
Kudos to Mostly Harmless for fleshing out this tale of Romneyesque duplicity. MH ironically notes that MassHighway "only provides snow removal from curb-to-curb. In other words, they don't do sidewalks."
We're only surprised that Team Reform didn't try to solve the sidewalk plowing problem by ... removing the sidewalks.
Signaling that the 'Save Bechtel' tattoo is again rippling across Team Reform's drum-line, Willard Mitt's legal counsel, Mark D. Nielsen, recently tried to again yammer Massachusetts AG Tom Reilly into blaming the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority for the financial problems associated with the Big Dig.
Nielsen, who has laughingly been called a Construction Law specialist, is seemingly trying to get Reilly to blame the Turnpike for providing poor oversight to the project, a position that would take Bechtel off the 'hey youse guys certainly ran a crappy project' hot-seat. (source: Boston Herald, 3/5/2005; Boston Globe, 3/6/2005)
So is the Fraud Governor trying to use his legal counsel to dampen Bechtel's potential Big Dig cost-recovery lawsuit liability?
Well, Romney does have ties to the construction giant.
He allowed them $1.3 billion in contracts (source: Associated Press, 6/2/2000) when he was the Salt Lake City Winter Games chef - despite their having authored a flawed 20-volume study that apparently underestimated the cost of the games. (source: cfo.com)
And SLOC hired several of Bechtel's top executives as senior vice presidents.
And Romney's $150,000-a-year Loathsome Spokesman once fawned that the Fraud Governor "has a great deal of respect for Bechtel" and that the company "is one of the world's finest consulting firms." (source: Boston Globe, 2/28/2003)
But are these ties to Bechtel reason enough to try to protect the company from liability lawsuits, or does Romney have another agenda in mind?
And what happened to that Big Dig audit that Romney promised back when he was Fraud Candidate? As KMarx writes, today, Romney promised "to audit and personally inspect Big Dig spending." Or was Willard Mitt referring to another Big Dig?
Snow Job
Remember how Willard Mitt stood tall in the wake of Katherine Abbott's firing, and declared that the Mass Highway Department would heretofore plow Parkways that thentofore had been(tofore) the responsibility of the Department of (MDC job) Conservation and Recreation?
Well look what the Rat dragged in.
Seems that the MHD/DCR snow plow policy was not Willard Mitt's after all. It had been designed by ... Katherine Abbott, just one fey day before the Blizzard of 2005 cost her a year of pension salary average.
According to those who purport to know these things, "Abbott had signed a memo of understanding between MassHighway and DCR (nee MDC) the day before the kids were hit."
Zounds. And now its Romney's reform?
Kudos to Mostly Harmless for fleshing out this tale of Romneyesque duplicity. MH ironically notes that MassHighway "only provides snow removal from curb-to-curb. In other words, they don't do sidewalks."
We're only surprised that Team Reform didn't try to solve the sidewalk plowing problem by ... removing the sidewalks.
Thursday, March 03, 2005
R U Serious?
Remember Victor Kiam who "used the Remington microblade and loved it so much (he) bought the company"?
Willard Mitt bought into a lot of companies. Do you think he loved those companies products, too?
We only ask because Romney has recently made it a point to tell residents of South Carolina, Utah and all viewers of C-Span in between that, when it comes to abortion, he is 'personally pro-life, if you will.'
Which confused us.
Because back in '94 Romney endorsed the legalization of RU-486, the abortion-inducing drug that was then being used in Europe. (source: Boston Globe, 5/19/1994, 5/27/1994) And back in '94 not many pro-life people were endorsing the legalization of RU-486. At least not for use as an abortion drug, if you will.
So what does this have to do with Victor Kiam?
Well, RU-486 was produced by the Roussel company, which was a division of Hoechst AG. You may recall that Hoechst was a spin-off of the I.G. Farben company, the German company which "produced the stabilizer for Zyklon B and owned 42.5% of Degesch (the "German Vermin-Combatting Corporation"), developer of this highly virulent weapon" which was later used in Concentration Camps during World War II. (source: lifeissues.org)
In 1997, Bain Capital - of which Willard Mitt was President - and the investment firm Goldman Sachs appear to have partnered with Hoechst to form Dade Behring. (source: Hoechst.com) Hoechst later abandoned RU-486. However, at the time of its announced partnership with Willard Mitt's Bain Capital, Hoechst and its subsidiary produced RU-486.
This just three-years after Romney endorsed the legalization of the abortion-inducing pill.
Strange actions for a 'personally pro-life' if you will man who is said to take positions "based on principle." (source: Boston Globe, 3/3/2005)
Although it does allow Romney a catchy slogan that he could use in a 2008 Presidential primary campaign:
"I endorsed RU-486 and bought into the company."
Let's see him try that out for size in South Carolina.
Remember Victor Kiam who "used the Remington microblade and loved it so much (he) bought the company"?
Willard Mitt bought into a lot of companies. Do you think he loved those companies products, too?
We only ask because Romney has recently made it a point to tell residents of South Carolina, Utah and all viewers of C-Span in between that, when it comes to abortion, he is 'personally pro-life, if you will.'
Which confused us.
Because back in '94 Romney endorsed the legalization of RU-486, the abortion-inducing drug that was then being used in Europe. (source: Boston Globe, 5/19/1994, 5/27/1994) And back in '94 not many pro-life people were endorsing the legalization of RU-486. At least not for use as an abortion drug, if you will.
So what does this have to do with Victor Kiam?
Well, RU-486 was produced by the Roussel company, which was a division of Hoechst AG. You may recall that Hoechst was a spin-off of the I.G. Farben company, the German company which "produced the stabilizer for Zyklon B and owned 42.5% of Degesch (the "German Vermin-Combatting Corporation"), developer of this highly virulent weapon" which was later used in Concentration Camps during World War II. (source: lifeissues.org)
In 1997, Bain Capital - of which Willard Mitt was President - and the investment firm Goldman Sachs appear to have partnered with Hoechst to form Dade Behring. (source: Hoechst.com) Hoechst later abandoned RU-486. However, at the time of its announced partnership with Willard Mitt's Bain Capital, Hoechst and its subsidiary produced RU-486.
This just three-years after Romney endorsed the legalization of the abortion-inducing pill.
Strange actions for a 'personally pro-life' if you will man who is said to take positions "based on principle." (source: Boston Globe, 3/3/2005)
Although it does allow Romney a catchy slogan that he could use in a 2008 Presidential primary campaign:
"I endorsed RU-486 and bought into the company."
Let's see him try that out for size in South Carolina.
