"We don't intend to turn the Republican Party
over to the traitors in the battle just ended.
We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged
to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support.
Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates
wouldn’t make any sense at all.""
-- President Ronald Reagan
Someone sent me this earlier. I may not agree with every word of it, but found it interesting nonetheless, since it contained information I wasn't aware of:
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June 27th, 2012
Romney’s Olympic 1.5 Billion Dollar Tax Payer Shakedown Road to the White House
Report Contributor: Tricia Erickson, author of the book, Can Mitt Romney Serve Two Masters? http://triciaerickson.tumblr.com/
Contact: Kay Bell , KayBellMedia@aol.com
Note: Ms. Erickson IS NOT a supporter of Barack Obama, but IS a supporter of the truth. As a Christian Conservative Republican, she will not vote for either candidate in the up-coming election. She strongly feels that both Romney's money and the GOP establishment "good ole' boy's network" has once again (first it was McCain) served up to Republicans another candidate who could very well lose to Obama, and a candidate that true conservatives cannot get their arms around....for good reasons.
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Romney’s Olympic Tax Payer 1.5 Billion Shakedown Road to the White House
Author/Contributor: Tricia Erickson, author of the book, Can Mitt Romney Serve Two Masters?
With the ABC News revelation of the IOC committee bribery scandal, the fate of the 2002 Olympics on U.S. soil, and a predominately Mormon city in the balance, the organizing committee searched for their white horse to salvage not only the Olympics, but Salt Lake City.
When it came to the Olympics, the relationship between Mitt Romney and the LDS church was symbiotic. The LDS church needed Romney to aid in ushering in the Mormon Kingdom on earth while portraying the Mormon faith as a wholesome, mainstream religion. With his eye on the Office Of the Presidency, and just coming off his loss to Senator Edward Kennedy, Romney needed the LDS church and its vast network to finance, support and promote his political aspirations. Nowhere was this more apparent than the Salt Lake City Olympics – the Greatest Show on Earth for the Mormon Church and Mitt Romney – all funded in part by you, the U.S. taxpayer.
Did businessman Romney deserve the “White Horse” reputation of saving the Olympics?
Let’s review:
According to the Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe,
“His determination to present himself as a white knight came at a cost. Some colleagues now say he magnified the extent of the Olympics committee’s fiscal distress, risked some possible conflicts of interest among board members, and shunted aside other people whose work had been instrumental in promoting the Games.”
A perceived enemy of Romney was Tom Welch. Tom Welch and David R. Johnson were accused of defrauding the organizing committee:
Romney urged Welch to accept a plea bargain, which he refused. All 15 felony charges against Welch were thrown out by Judge David Sam who said “I can only imagine the heartache, the disappointment, the sorrow that you and your loved ones suffered through this terrible ordeal. My hope is that you will now be appropriately recognized and honored for your efforts.” Romney refused to acknowledge his efforts or accept Welch’s innocence, calling the prosecutors “inept.” (Source: Bob Hohler, Boston Globe)
Quoting an article by David Baumann, "Romney Helped Salvage Olympics." St. Petersburg Times: Sydney Fonnesbeck, who was on the Salt Lake City Council and a friend of Welch’s, said, “He” (Romney) “just came in and gathered the money that was already (pledged) … He didn’t want to give anyone else any credit. We became nobodies. A lot of us were hurt and angry. It didn’t surprise any of us when he ran home and ran for governor.”
Lisa Roche wrote in the Deseret News,
“Mitt didn’t save the games. It was a publicity ploy from the beginning to build his platform in politics,”
“Mitt’s objection was to look as good as he could.”
Bob Drogin of the Los Angeles Times reported:
“In 2000 Senator John McCain, railed against the “pork barrel spending” and “fiscal abuse” of tax payer money used for the Salt Lake Games”. “The American taxpayer is being shaken down to the tune of nearly a billion and a half dollars,” he said. “He (McCain) repeatedly denounced ‘pork barrel subsidies’ for the 2002 Games, identifying earmarks for construction projects, road improvements, new post offices and other infrastructure in and around Salt Lake City.”
In their December 2001 Sports Illustrated article “Snow Job,” Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele (Barlett, Donald L., and James B. Steele. "Snow Job." SI.com. CNN/Sports Illustrated, 10 Dec. 2001. Web. 25 Apr. 2010)., wrote “For the past few years, while attention was focused on the Great Olympic Bribery Scandal…private and public interests have siphoned an estimated $1.5 billion out of the U.S. Treasury, all in the name of the Olympics.”
Barlett and Steele cited four “Olympic records” set by the Salt Lake City Olympics:
Federal Handouts: The amount of federal taxpayer money spent in Utah was more than “the amount spent by lawmakers to support all seven Olympic Games held in the U.S. since 1904 – combined. In inflation-adjusted numbers.
Private Interests: For the first time, private enterprises – primarily ski resorts and real estate developments – stand to derive significant long-term benefits from Games-driven congressional giveaways.
Milking of Government Agencies: Utah’s five-member congressional delegation has used the Olympics to drain money from an unprecedented number of federal departments, agencies and offices – some three dozen in all, from the Office of National Drug Control Policy to the Agriculture Department.
Most Amount of Taxpayer Money per Athlete: Federal spending for the Salt Lake City games will average $625,000 for each of the 2,400 athletes who will compete. (Not a penny of it will go to the athletes.) That’s a 996% increase from the $57,000 average for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. It’s a staggering 5,582% jump from the $11,000 average for the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Again, these are inflation-adjusted numbers.
On her blog, Debbie Schlussel (What's So Great About the Olympics? Part II) wrote in February 2002:
U.S. taxpayers will pick up nearly $1 out of every $5 spent on the Salt Lake City event…That doesn’t include the $1.1 billion in federal transportation funding of projects like Interstate 15 reconstruction and building light rail in Salt Lake
Contrary to previous practices of the US Olympic Games, Romney’s Olympic Games used more US Federal tax dollars to enhance the long term worth of for-profit non public Utah business interests than any of the former US host states.
Cronyism was demonstrated at its best when Kem Gardner, friend of Romney, was awarded the contract to build the Olympic Legacy Park in his shopping mall with millions of tax dollar reimbursements at his disposal. Funny how there was no competition for the bid to do so. Could it not have been built on public land?
It is further interesting that 25 of the board senior manager’s severance pay was boosted. They obviously felt so good about it that they donated to Romney’s campaign for governor of Massachusetts soon after the games ended, along with additional donations from the board of trustees.
According to the Globe, All told, Romney reaped more than $1.5 million in campaign funds during his governorship from individuals and families with ties to the Olympics. Moreover in 2007, Many of his Olympic-related donors have since joined a massive fundraising movement for Romney’s presidential campaign. (Source: Bob Hohler, "Romney's Olympic Ties Helped Him Reap Campaign Funds." Boston.com)
Thinking minds want to know, did Mitt Romney’s business experience truly save the Olympics or did he USE the Olympics to save his political career on his gubernatorial pit stop to the White House?
If his judgement is so bad, why does so much of what he touches turn to gold?
Fascism is quite the charge to bandy about - do you have any real evidence?
Do you require that every sick and old person is afforded unlimited health care? If government is involved at all, you must have people who decide when to stop paying the bill. Everyone in any sort of socialized medicine decision making capacity is on a death panel. In or out, you don’t get to pick. You are smart enough to figure this out, but instead, you LIE.
Just as the liberals do, you accuse your hated target of the things you are guilty of. You are beneath contempt. The fact that this forum allows you to spew your stupidity diminishes its value greatly.
Go away. You disgust me.