The VEEP race and its speculations

[Dave]

>>Humina, humina, huina
>>
>>
http://www.americablog.com/2012/07/w...s-vp-were.html

Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Wouldn't it be neat if Romney's VP were an exorcist?
By John Aravosis on 7/18/2012 04:19:00 PM

Seriously, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal participated in an exorcism in college.
From Tim Murphy at Mother Jones: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012...ege-girlfriend

No, really. Jindal himself wrote about the experience in 1994 for the New Oxford Review, in an article entitled "Beating a Demon: Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare." The short of it is that, while Jindal was an undergraduate, his close friend, Susan, with whom he had maintained a wholly non-romantic relationship, began acting strange. One might attribute this to the fact that she was undergoing treatment for cancer. Jindal assumed she had been possessed. A sample:

Maybe she sensed our weariness; whether by plan or coincidence, Susan chose the perfect opportunity to attempt an escape. She suddenly leapt up and ran for the door, despite the many hands holding her down. This burst of action served to revive the tired group of students and they soon had her restrained once again, this time half kneeling and half standing. Alice, a student leader in Campus Crusade for Christ, entered the room for the first time, brandishing a crucifix. Running out of options, UCF had turned to a rival campus Christian group for spiritual tactics. The preacher had denied our request for assistance and recommended that we not confront the demon; his suggestion was a little late. I still wonder if the good preacher was too settled to be roused from bed, or if this supposed expert doubted his own ability to confront whatever harassed Susan.
...
The crucifix had a calming effect on Susan, and her sister was soon brave enough to bring a Bible to her face. At first, Susan responded to biblical passages with curses and profanities. Mixed in with her vile attacks were short and desperate pleas for help. In the same breath that she attacked Christ, the Bible's authenticity, and everyone assembled in prayer, Susan would suddenly urge us to rescue her. It appeared as if we were observing a tremendous battle between the Susan we knew and loved and some strange evil force. But the momentum had shifted and we now sensed that victory was at hand.

College, right?

The problem for Jindal going forward is that the absolute last thing that Romney wants, as the first-ever Mormon presidential nominee from a major party, is to spend even more time talking about a religious tradition that many Americans view with suspicion.

Kiss that one goodbye.

[Cainanite]

Mitt is in a pickle. He just about alienated any potential running mate with the primaries getting so nasty. He can forget any big names. He can only choose from the batch of republicans that managed to avoid all the dark brown gooey bits that were flying at the time. That is a pretty small list.

How many can actually get through the vetting process at this point?

In the end, I don't see him making a VP choice that will help him. The best he can hope for at this point is an, "Oh, him? Well I suppose that's fine... I guess," reaction.

I half expect old Mitt to choose one of his clones... I mean sons to be his running mate. Would it surprise anyone? Would it really hurt his chances at this point, if it was a Romney/Romney ticket?

Sarah Palin's choice as VP is a blunder that has hurt the republicans for many years to come. ANY choice for VP is going to be scrutinized by the press, and their opponents very closely. It there is even one skeleton in the closet, it WILL be found and exploited. I'm not sure anyone is that squeaky clean.

One thing is for certain, whoever he chooses will not be an exciting choice. If I were advising Romney, that is what I would be suggesting. Pick someone so boring, they can put humming birds into slow motion. The VP cannot upstage Mitt, nor can the VP be interesting enough to attract the attention of the press or the democratic dirt hunters.

It is fun to speculate right now, but I fully expect we will all be disappointed with his choice. It is his best strategy.

[Uncle Flo]

>>Humina, humina, huina
>>
>>
http://www.americablog.com/2012/07/w...s-vp-were.html

Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Wouldn't it be neat if Romney's VP were an exorcist?
By John Aravosis on 7/18/2012 04:19:00 PM

Seriously, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal participated in an exorcism in college.
From Tim Murphy at Mother Jones: http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012...ege-girlfriend

No, really. Jindal himself wrote about the experience in 1994 for the New Oxford Review, in an article entitled "Beating a Demon: Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare." The short of it is that, while Jindal was an undergraduate, his close friend, Susan, with whom he had maintained a wholly non-romantic relationship, began acting strange. One might attribute this to the fact that she was undergoing treatment for cancer. Jindal assumed she had been possessed. A sample:

Maybe she sensed our weariness; whether by plan or coincidence, Susan chose the perfect opportunity to attempt an escape. She suddenly leapt up and ran for the door, despite the many hands holding her down. This burst of action served to revive the tired group of students and they soon had her restrained once again, this time half kneeling and half standing. Alice, a student leader in Campus Crusade for Christ, entered the room for the first time, brandishing a crucifix. Running out of options, UCF had turned to a rival campus Christian group for spiritual tactics. The preacher had denied our request for assistance and recommended that we not confront the demon; his suggestion was a little late. I still wonder if the good preacher was too settled to be roused from bed, or if this supposed expert doubted his own ability to confront whatever harassed Susan.
...
The crucifix had a calming effect on Susan, and her sister was soon brave enough to bring a Bible to her face. At first, Susan responded to biblical passages with curses and profanities. Mixed in with her vile attacks were short and desperate pleas for help. In the same breath that she attacked Christ, the Bible's authenticity, and everyone assembled in prayer, Susan would suddenly urge us to rescue her. It appeared as if we were observing a tremendous battle between the Susan we knew and loved and some strange evil force. But the momentum had shifted and we now sensed that victory was at hand.

College, right?

The problem for Jindal going forward is that the absolute last thing that Romney wants, as the first-ever Mormon presidential nominee from a major party, is to spend even more time talking about a religious tradition that many Americans view with suspicion.

Kiss that one goodbye.

It sounds more like a kidnapping than an exorcism. --FLO--

[Paolo]

I think he could chose Jesus Christ or any other major Deity for his running mate and still loose.
Anyone with half a brain can see what a fucktard he is.
(I just love that word! Kinda reminds one of "poptart".)

[moi621]

Chris Christie is the only choice to hopefully harvest some of
those recently lost States along the Rust Belt.

Why not Christie? It seems so obvious to me.
Romney needs Blue Collar appeal.

Moi
I I Were Romney's Political Strategist.

[Cainanite]

Chris Christie is the only choice to hopefully harvest some of
those recently lost States along the Rust Belt.

Why not Christie? It seems so obvious to me.
Romney needs Blue Collar appeal.

Moi
I I Were Romney's Political Strategist.

From what I've seen of Christie, he has his own aspirations to be president. Not just VP. I suspect he is working on a longer game that what Romney might have in mind.

He has also been quite clear. He is not currently interested. Perhaps I'll have to investigate him more. He might be working an angle. I know Fox News would blow their load if he were nominated.

[Dave]

>>Chris Christie will not be VP because of this little extravaganza being laid at his feet, and properly so.
>>

Unlocked - Inside New Jersey’s Halfway Houses

Part One Porous and Chaotic:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/ny...ives.html?_r=3
Part Two 'No Real Security’ : http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/18/ny...am-reigns.html
Part Three Freedom Unit: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/ny...-a-murder.html

As Escapees Stream Out, a Penal Business Thrives
A company with deep ties to Gov. Chris Christie dominates New Jersey’s system of large halfway houses. There has been little state oversight, despite widespread problems, The New York Times found.

After serving more than a year behind bars in New Jersey for assaulting a former girlfriend, David Goodell was transferred in 2010 to a sprawling halfway house in Newark. One night, Mr. Goodell escaped, but no one in authority paid much notice. He headed straight for the suburbs, for another young woman who had spurned him, and he killed her, the police said.

The state sent Rafael Miranda, incarcerated on drug and weapons charges, to a similar halfway house, and he also escaped. He was finally arrested in 2010 after four months at large, when, prosecutors said, he shot a man dead on a Newark sidewalk — just three miles from his halfway house.

Valeria Parziale had 15 aliases and a history of drugs and burglary. Nine days after she slipped out of a halfway house in Trenton in 2009, Ms. Parziale, using a folding knife, nearly severed a man’s ear in a liquor store. She was arrested and charged with assault but not escape. Prosecutors say they had no idea she was a fugitive.

After decades of tough criminal justice policies, states have been grappling with crowded prisons that are straining budgets. In response to those pressures, New Jersey has become a leader in a national movement to save money by diverting inmates to a new kind of privately run halfway house.

At the heart of the system is a company with deep connections to politicians of both parties, most notably Gov. Chris Christie.

Many of these halfway houses are as big as prisons, with several hundred beds, and bear little resemblance to the neighborhood halfway houses of the past, where small groups of low-level offenders were sent to straighten up.

New Jersey officials have called these large facilities an innovative example of privatization and have promoted the approach all the way to the Obama White House.

Yet with little oversight, the state’s halfway houses have mutated into a shadow corrections network, where drugs, gang activity and violence, including sexual assaults, often go unchecked, according to a 10-month investigation by The New York Times.

Perhaps the most unsettling sign of the chaos within is inmates’ ease in getting out.

Since 2005, roughly 5,100 inmates have escaped from the state’s privately run halfway houses, including at least 1,300 in the 29 months since Governor Christie took office, according to an analysis by The Times.

Some inmates left through the back, side or emergency doors of halfway houses, or through smoking areas, state records show. Others placed dummies in their beds as decoys, or fled while being returned to prison for violating halfway houses’ rules. Many had permission to go on work-release programs but then did not return.

While these halfway houses often resemble traditional correctional institutions, they have much less security. There are no correction officers, and workers are not allowed to restrain inmates who try to leave or to locate those who do not come back from work release, the most common form of escape. The halfway houses’ only recourse is to alert the authorities.

And so the inmates flee in a steady stream: 46 last September, 39 in October, 40 in November, 38 in December, state records show.

“The system is a mess,” said Thaddeus B. Caldwell, who spent four years tracking down halfway house escapees in New Jersey as a senior corrections investigator. “No matter how many escaped, no matter how many were caught, no matter how many committed heinous acts while they were on the run, they still kept releasing more guys into the halfway houses, and it kept happening over and over again.”

By contrast, the state’s prisons had three escapes in 2010 and none in the first nine months of 2011, the last period for which the state gave figures.

After The Times began its investigation last year, Mr. Christie adopted measures that his aides said would more tightly regulate the system. They said that because of these reforms, only 181 inmates had escaped in the first five months of 2012 — a 35 percent decline when compared with a similar period in 2009, before he took office.

But over several months of inquiries from The Times, state officials also revised downward the escape totals during Mr. Christie’s tenure.

Many inmates who escape from halfway houses are recaptured within hours or days, or turn themselves in after having second thoughts. But many remain at large for weeks, if not months, and are caught only after committing new crimes.

They have been arrested on charges of assaulting police officers, holding up a gas station and shooting strangers. They have been found selling drugs outside Newark schools and wielding a knife inside a Cape May bus station. Some have been caught as far away as Miami.

At least 85 inmates are currently at large, according to state records.

These men and women could be charged with felonies for escaping but typically are not. Usually, they are simply returned to prison to finish their original sentences. Some end up back at halfway houses.

The Times’s investigation encompassed more than 200 interviews with current and former halfway house workers, inmates, officials and others, as well as a review of thousands of pages of government, court and corporate records.

Mr. Christie, a Republican who took office in January 2010, has for years championed the company that plays a principal role in the New Jersey system, Community Education Centers.

Community Education received about $71 million from state and county agencies in New Jersey in the 2011 fiscal year, out of total halfway house spending of roughly $105 million, according to state and company records.

The company first obtained substantial contracts for its “re-entry centers” in New Jersey in the late 1990s, as state financing began increasing sharply. In recent years, it has cited its success in New Jersey in obtaining government contracts in Colorado, Pennsylvania and other states.

William J. Palatucci, who is the governor’s close friend, political adviser and former law partner, is a senior vice president at Community Education.

Mr. Christie himself was registered as a lobbyist for the company in 2000 and 2001 when he was a private lawyer, according to disclosure reports that his law firm filed with the state. In early 2010, he hired the son-in-law of Community Education’s chief executive as an assistant in the governor’s office, according to state personnel records.

And as United States attorney for New Jersey and then governor, Mr. Christie has often visited the company’s halfway houses and praised its work. The company has highlighted those visits in its publicity material.

“Places like this are to be celebrated,” Mr. Christie said in a 2010 speech at a 1,200-bed Community Education facility in Newark, a speech featured on the company’s Web site.

“A spotlight should be put on them as representing the very best of the human spirit,” he said. “Because as you walk through here, as I’ve done many times, what you see right before your very eyes are miracles happening.”

Mr. Christie would not be interviewed for this article.

In a statement, his spokesman, Michael Drewniak, said Community Education had been “associated with public contracting in New Jersey going back no less than 18 years to the administration of Gov. James Florio and every governor, Democrat or Republican, since that time.”

“The suggestion of favoritism is defeated by the demonstrable fact that none has occurred,” Mr. Drewniak said.

Mr. Drewniak emphasized that Mr. Christie had had a deep interest in improving drug treatment and other services for prisoners since his days as a county lawmaker in the 1990s.

Community Education said it had developed a highly successful model of “community corrections” that had improved the lives of hundreds of thousands of inmates across the country. It said the rate of escapes at its halfway houses in New Jersey was “staggeringly low,” given the many people who go through the system. And it blamed other halfway house operators for allowing escapes of inmates whom Community Education had first handled.

“To focus on walkaways from halfway houses would be to report on only part of the story and not include the positive outcomes for the majority of offenders who complete a halfway house program without walking away,” the company said in a statement.

Roughly 10,000 prison inmates and parolees a year — equivalent to about 40 percent of the state prison population — now pass through the system of halfway houses; most spend time at a Community Education halfway house.

But regulation by a patchwork of state and county agencies has been lax. The state comptroller determined last year that there were “crucial weaknesses in state oversight.”

The Christie administration began fining Community Education and other operators for escapes only in April, eight months after The Times undertook its investigation.

The Legislature has not scrutinized the system either.

Assemblyman Charles Mainor, a Democrat and police detective who is chairman of the Law and Public Safety Committee, was asked for his estimate of how many people escaped from halfway houses in 2011.

“I have heard of no more than three,” he responded.

According to state records, the number was 452.

Assemblyman Sean T. Kean, a Republican, said of the escapes, “It’s not really a problem.”

“It’s a cheaper way of doing business,” he said of the system, “so that’s why it behooves us to use that option.”

[moi621]

Two replies.

1) It's a Jersey thing.
2) I don't think anyone cares except those already committed to Obama.

Moi
Thank You for the research and info. really.

[Sweetpickle]

I don't care about the VP, I want Secretary of State TRUMP.

[moi621]

I just do not see a + about Jindal.

Moi

[Dave]

I don't care about the VP, I want Secretary of State TRUMP.

I'd rather have rats gnaw at my hemorrhoids

[A-1]

Two replies.

1) It's a Jersey thing.
2) I don't think anyone cares except those already committed to Obama.

Moi
Thank You for the research and info. really.

Right, nobody in their RIGHT mind is going to vote for the FUCKTARD anyway...

(neat word, Paolo, and an apt description. Thanks!!!)

I don't care about the VP, I want Secretary of State TRUMP.

I'd rather have rats gnaw at my hemorrhoids

Donald Trump for Secretary of State is like the head RAT chewing at the WHOLE World's HEMORRHOIDS...

Pretty HAIRY... or... not so much?

...one thing is sure... his VEEP is bound to be a CREEP!!!

[Wolf-Pup]

Chris Christie is the only choice to hopefully harvest some of
those recently lost States along the Rust Belt.

Why not Christie? It seems so obvious to me.
Romney needs Blue Collar appeal.

Moi
I I Were Romney's Political Strategist.

It was announced today that Christie is giving the keynote speech at the convention...so you can scratch him off the VP list.

[moi621]

Wolf-Pup Glad you are adventuring here.
( )0( )
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...estW_blog.html
01:26 PM ET, 07/18/2012
"Republicans say that, contrary to media reports, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has not been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the Republican National Convention in Tampa. "

A good rousing stump speech might get the luv of the delegates to promote his VP-ship.
Meanwhile
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201...obamas_le.html
July 18, 2012, 11:11 AM
WASHINGTON — Gov. Chris Christie this morning told donors at a Mitt Romney fundraiser that this election is about a choice between Republican ideas that he said have worked in New Jersey and what he called President Barack Obama's "failed leadership." . . . . etc. etc. etc.

Meanwhile the N.Y. Times is saying Christie's brashness works against him
That is the quality gentleman Mitt needs. Someone who can get the juices flowing by words.
Maybe, the bleeding LIBERAL NY Times is most afraid of a Romney/Christie ticket.
Times, please substitute Forwardness for Brashness. Thank You.

Moi
No ObamNey 2012

[A-1]

Maybe you are CrAZy, too.