When Will Alison Grimes Declare 'Game On!' Against Mitch McConnell?

by Sunnyjane

Since you asked, Mitch:  Repealing the Second Amendment, Defending Obamacare, Ending the War on Clean Energy, and Protecting the Living. There.  How's that?

In about seven months, Americans will vote to keep or replace their congresspeople, all four hundred and thirty-five of them.  There are also thirty-three gubernatorial races and thirty-three senate races to be decided on November 4. Personally, with the 2012 general election, Virginia's gubernatorial election in 2013, and this year's election, I feel like all I do is vote. 

While the University of Virginia professor and director of its Center for Politics Larry Sabato dismisses the Kentucky senate race as hardly one worth watching -- he believes there's no way McConnell can lose -- there are plenty of others who disagree. 

Waaa...I Wanna be the Senate Majority Leader!

All right, Mitch, you had your fun, now let go.  Stop it!  I said, LET GO OF THE GUN!

Perhaps Grimes is waiting to see what happens in the Republican primary election in May between McConnell and his loudest opponent, Tea Party darling Matt Bevin before she starts fighting in earnest.  Bevin has support from all the right places (pun intended), including Jim DeMint's Senate Conservative Fund.  The McConnell campaign seems less than impressed by this support: Matt Bevin now has the dubious honor of standing with a self-serving D.C. fundraising group that made its name by recruiting and promoting unelectable candidates that ensured Barack Obama a majority in the Senate.  (Ouch!)  The Bevin-McConnell kerfuffle is more than just a newbie trying to oust a long-time senator: it's a battle between the Tea Party and the establishment Conservatives.  The Tea Party  big-wigs would support a maggot-infested Twinkie if they thought it would send another Ted Cruz/Rand Paul/Mike Lee, etc., to the Senate.

McConnell also faces the likelihood of being ousted from his Minority Leader position if the GOP does not win control of the Senate.  Even if they should somehow gain control, an even bigger threat is that he would not be allowed to become Majority Leader.  That would leave a bruise.  Mitch has a lot of issues facing him this election and his campaign is going to have to navigate each one of them.

So, Alison, time to get serious.  It's not like there's nothing in Mitch's legislative record to criticize.  And giving him a poke about how he holds a gun -- KY women do it better -- ain't gonna cut it.

Running in Place -- Backwards

OK, Turtle-head, which part of "paycheck fairness" don't you understand?  The "paycheck" part or the "fairness" part?

That Sen. McConnell is a leadership-weenie is hardly worth my typing that fact.  The Tea Partiers in the Senate ignore him, and he has little following from so-called regular conservatives.  He follows before he leads.

And such was the case with the Paycheck Fairness Act when he harrumphed that  At a time when the Obama economy is already hurting women so much, this legislation would double down on job loss, all while lining the pockets of trial lawyers. It's just another Democratic idea that threatens to hurt the very people that it claims to help.  This is, of course, so much bullshit balderdash.  President Obama did win the gender gap in 2012 by eighteen percentage points, after all, and has done everything allowed by law to make women's lives easier.  The same can hardly be said for the Tea Party Republicans.

We Can't Afford to Give Those Slackers More Money!

Yeah, so $4.9 trillion for real important stuff.  But the President is trying to bankrupt the country!

After trying -- but failing, fortunately -- to add an amendment to the unemployment benefits extension that would, ahem,  boost job growth by approving the Keystone XL pipeline, reducing taxes on small businesses, and eliminating the 30-hour workweek rule in Obamacare, the Senate passed the bill on April 7 and sent it to an empty House; they decided to go on vacation until April 28.  Great work if you can get it, I suppose, to do nothing while earning $174,000 a year.  Now, has it occurred to anyone on the Hill that this could have been done last December?  No, I suppose not.  They don't give a damn anyhow.  Makes you wonder if they understand that part of their mission as elected representatives of the people is to Promote the General Welfare.

Obamacare is a Disaster, Too Expensive, and Must be Repealed!

HUH?  You're telling me Obamacare is working?  Even in KENTUCKY?

Not only is the Affordable Care Act working -- yes, even in Kentucky -- it is becoming more, well, affordable.

The Tea Party-run GOP has been all over the place on the ACA.  Ted Cruz is beginning to sound like a badly stretched 8-track tape with his We'll repeal every word of Obamacare! mantra.  This, of course, is one of the brilliant people who said two years ago that Americans don't need health insurance because that's what Emergency Rooms are for.  Now, he's joining forces with those who are pushing the idea that ERs should turn away people without health insurance, but offers no solution as to how they would obtain that health insurance.  OK, I know this makes no sense, but indulge me: we're talking about the Tea Party here.

Alison Grimes has welcomed the support of former president Bill Clinton, who told Democrats back in March that they should not run away from Obamacare in the 2014 elections.  But even though Kentucky has signed up almost four hundred thousand of its citizens for the ACA,  Grimes seems bent on taking the advice of Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who cautions: Don’t defend Obamacare.  Say it was flawed from the beginning, and we’re going to fix it.

If Alison Grimes cannot stand in front of her supporters and stick up for a program that has allowed four hundred thousand Kentuckians to be enrolled in the ACA and Medicaid, perhaps she shouldn't be running for the U.S. Senate after all.

Maybe she's seeking counsel from the horoscope column in her local newspaper.  I dunno.

Fortunately, There is GOOD News for Grimes

Just before publishing this post, there came late-breaking news that Grimes is taking in a good amount of money -- she's topping the Turtle -- through her grassroots campaign.  Looks like Kentuckians really do hate Mitch McConnell.

End Note

  

Ted Cruz publishes facebook poll, then unwillingly creates one of the most powerful "pro-Obamacare" messages ever, as Americans tell Ted Cruz what they really think!

By Patrick

Notable political rascal Senator Ted Cruz, who himself receives luxury health insurance through Goldman Sachs, recently had a great idea for using the power of Facebook for political gain. Ted Cruz, who is famous not only for causing the $ 23 billion dollar shutdown, but also for his extremist father Rafael Cruz, on March 24 posted on facebook a simple question to his audience, writing:

"Quick poll: Obamacare was signed into law four years ago yesterday. Are you better off now than you were then? Comment with YES or NO!"

The Senator from Texas, who just recently declared that "Obamacare", the Affordable Care Act, is the "the most unpopular law in the country" and that Republicans still have a chance to repeal “every single word” of Obamacare, apparently believes his own propaganda and also seriously thinks that Americans believe what he believes.

But Ted Cruz was proven wrong.

In one of the most memorable political facebook moments ever, Ted Cruz received a clear overwhelming response from many American people, who said:

"YES."

He received more than 40.000 responses to his question, and I don't think that this number includes all the numerous, individual replies to these responses.

A look at the "top comments" reveals a general picture that Ted Cruz surely didn't expect. Yes, "Obamacare" is actually very, very popular, and many people are very thankful for this first step in helping to solve healthcare issues in the USA.

At least Cruz does not censor his facebook page like his close friend Sarah Palin has already done for years, but she might now fell compelled to give him some advice, you never know! :-)

Here are the first 49 "top comments", the screenshots were only taken a few minutes ago, for your viewing pleasure. The people have spoken, loud and clear, and Democrats should stop being insecure about the ACA. Yes, citizens want decent healthcare, and they also want Ted Cruz to shove off:

Trying to please his teabagging fans, Ted Cruz instead inspired a powerful response PRO Obamacare.

See also the earlier, very good report at "Addicting Info."

Thank you, Ted, for being so foolish, and thank you, Americans, for being so outspoken!

+++

BONUS:

In a new advert, Ted Cruz also says that he wants to "abolish the IRS."

Demagoguery at its finest.

Hail Anarchy!

WATCH:

Rand Paul: Pre-2016, He's Dumpster Diving and Trash Talking

by Sunnyjane

I did NOT have plagiarized sex with my hair!  That was my OWN idea!

There is a major chapter in Reince Priebus' 2016 Republican Tea Party playbook titled When You're Desperate, Just Spout Stupid Shit.   In Rand Paul's copy, this particular section has been referred to so often that it's become thoroughly thumb-spit-moistened and dog-eared. (I understand that the Centers for Disease Control is considering classifying it as an infectious disease carrier.)

Just one of about three hundred or so Republicans who are planning to run for president in 2016, Senator Paul (RTP-McConnellville) is searching high and low (mostly low) for a solution in need of a problem.  And because he's up against some tough competition for the top Tea Party spot in the Governors v. Congress Cretins race to the bottom, he intends to get the publicity he thinks he so richly deserves: I want to be part of the national debate, so whether I run or not, being considered is something that allows me to have a larger microphone.

So anxious is the senator for that larger microphone, that he actually gave a pre-taped response to President Obama's 2014 State of the Union address.  In it, he began with the Godhead we discussed in a recent post, Ronald Reagan.  I  kid you not!  If you're up for it, you can watch Paul's less-than-riveting rant for nine minutes and thirty seconds.  Personally, I decided I didn't have enough time left in my life to waste more than sixty seconds on him.

Obamacare:  BAD Thing!  Freedom to Die:  GOOD Thing!
 

Even though Ted Cruz has pretty much co-opted the Affordable Care Act for his own Down-With-Obama project, Rand Paul has had to take a stand against it, too; his Tea Party backers demand it.   Sen. Paul has said that Obamacare will kill women, kill seniors, kill children...oops, sorry, wrong Tea Party hack.  What he really said about the ACA was equally stupid:   Just because a couple of people on the Supreme Court declare something to be "constitutional" does not make it so.  The whole thing remains unconstitutional.  Gosh, why didn't the Democrats come up with that argument after the Citizens United decision?  Although it is definitely not true that President Obama injured his knee when he fell on the floor laughing at this statement, there may be some truth to the rumor that the Supreme Court has sent the esteemed senator a fifth-grade United States Government textbook with the chapter on Role of the Supreme Court in American Democracy prominently highlighted.

Since the upstanding Sen. Paul admitted to an audience in October 2013 that while he never lies or cheats, he sometimes spreads misinformation.  It's a great tactic.  Misinformation can be very important, it should come as no surprise that he spread a little misinformation about his son's being signed up for Medicaid against his will.  Turned out, not surprisingly, that it  was a lie.

Even weakling Wolf Blitzer, who rarely if ever challenges a Republican's veracity, pummeled Paul on his statements about the Affordable Care Act:  [President Obama is] making the point that if you have health insurance you're going to be healthier, presumably, because you'll be going to doctors. You're a physician; you understand that.  Senator Paul's response was a spin that's definitely snort-worthy: It doesn't necessarily equate. Now, good behavior, exercise, and diet may prevent illness. Going to the doctor doesn't necessarily prevent illness.  (Gosh, I don't believe I've seen the senator speak out in support of a similar initiative that is championed by the First Lady.  Hmmm...)  Besides, if this is his philosophy -- good behavior, exercise, and diet may prevent illness -- I wonder why he hasn't told his Medicare and Medicaid patients that these practices would prevent their glaucoma, cataracts, and macular degeneration.  Perhaps then he could avoid accepting that awful government socialized medical insurance.

Paul's war on Obamacare seems to be a losing one, as the latest figures show that over three million people nationwide and more than two hundred and thirty thousand citizens of Kentucky have signed up, thirty-five percent of whom happen to be under age thirty-five -- a significant number for the push to insure young people.  In addition, six Republican-run states (Florida, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin) are expected to meet or exceed figures they had originally projected.         

Keep digging, keep digging...

Extending Unemployment Benefits Makes Jobless People Lazy

Go to hair school and I'll let you give me Mohawk.  I've gotta pow-wow with Native Americans.

When the Republicans left Washington in late December to enjoy their bounteous holidays with their families, they did so with a Let-them-eat-fruitcake disdain for 1.3 million Americans who, because they remain jobless due to the GOP's refusal to pass a jobs bill, are now without unemployment benefits. 

Using Tea Party Libertarian logic, Sen. Paul had no compunctions about this unfairness at all because ...the longer you have [unemployment benefits], it does provide some disincentive to work and there are many studies that indicate this.  And just which study did he rely on to back up his idiocy?  Welllll...he chose a paper by economist Rand Ghayad, who upon hearing this bit of news, said that Rand Paul was a colossal idiot had completely misread his work.  In a rebuttal article, Ghayad said, There's no reason to cut unemployment benefits.  People aren't long-term unemployed because they prefer getting benefits. People are long-term unemployed because there still aren't enough jobs. 

Well, at least he didn't plagiarize Mr. Ghayad's work, right?  And speaking of which...

I Challenge Thee to a Duel!

Too many laws and regulations!  Stealing other people's work shouldn't be a crime!

Like another Tea Party ignoramus we could easily name, Rand Paul hasn't learned to keep his mouth shut when he's called out for his political ignorance and his various transgressions.  And he certainly should not pick a fight with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow; that is one he'll never win.

Maddow has been all over Paul about his little plagiarizing habit, so much so that he'd like to shoot her or stab her -- if dueling were legal in Kentucky of course, because people who call him out are haters and hackers.  Maddow's response:  There is nothing wrong with the reporting.  You can try to make this about me, but how about addressing the substance?  Responding to the person rather than to the charge is a time tested tactic. Honestly, it is a symptom of immaturity in our political discourse that it's expected that this is part of the way he'll respond.

It has also come to light that for his book, Government Bullies, the senator lifted three pages almost verbatim from a Heritage Foundation paper without a proper citation. 

Snarling Little Ankle-Biter Goes After Beloved Big Dog

Before the interminable Benghazi hearings even began, little Rand Paul was hot-footing it around the country telling anybody who would listen that Benghazi should disqualify Hillary Clinton from ever again holding high office.  Then, during the hearings, he told her directly that If I were president, I would have relieved you of your post.  I'm not certain, but I believe I saw former Sen. Clinton stifle a grin.

Well, that whole thing didn't turn out too well for the GOP or Rand Paul, and it was delightful to read General David Petraeus's praise for the former Secretary of State:  Hillary Clinton would be a tremendous president. Like a lot of great leaders, her most impressive qualities were most visible during tough times. In the wake of the Benghazi attacks, for example, she was extraordinarily resolute, determined, and controlled.  Ouch!  That certainly must have put a crimp in Sen. Paul's colon.

Further demonstrating his acute economy of good sense, the flapping yapper has decided to attack the Big Dog.

The senator initiated this bit of argle-bargle when he decided that Bill Clinton's 1998 peccadillo with then twenty-five-year-old intern Monica Lewinsky was somehow germane sixteen years later.  It gets a little confusing here, dear readers, so bear with me: Randy thinks that is important now because the Democrats insist that the Republicans are waging a war on women and Bill's predatory behavior and being a serial philanderer and people who benefited when Bill raised money for their campaigns should be ashamed and should give it back and if they don't they have a lot of explaining to do because Bill used his authority to take advantage of a young woman in the workplace and even though he's not so sure what all of this has to do with Hillary running for president, it's hard to separate Bill from Hillary.  

Jesus!  Did you get all that?  (I continue to be perplexed by the GOP's definition of what is timely news and what is not.  Scott Walker seems to think that his emails from 2010 are old news not worthy of discussion, while Rand Paul thinks that the 1998 Monica Lewinsky issue is pertinent and must be rehashed immediately.)

While I cannot think of one person who condoned Bill Clinton's behavior, it's important to understand a little of Ms. Lewinsky's less than savory sexual history.  She was having an affair with a married man when she decided to become a political intern.  In fact, she told the wife of the guy she was screwing that I'm going to the White House to get my presidential knee pads.   So it's difficult to put her in the category of a sweet young thing who was an innocent being taken advantage of by a powerful man.  

Oh, you do remember that Rand Paul called Newt Gingrich, who had an affair with his twenty-seven-year-old intern at the same time he was trying to get Bill Clinton impeached, a sexual predator and a serial philanderer when Newt was running for president in 2012, right?  No, I don't remember that either.  Didn't happen.

Karl Rove, whom you will remember is trying very hard to keep Republicans from being verbally asinine (and losing the battle), said recently that Rand Paul spending a lot of time talking about the mistakes of Bill Clinton does not look like a big agenda item for the future of the country.  Snort!

But Reince Priebus, who's never been accused of being the sharpest pair of scissors in the tailor's shop, thinks it's all fine and dandy, telling Andrea Mitchell earlier this month, Hillary Clinton provides a lot of opportunity for us.  Everything's on the table for 2016.   

Trust me, that particular statement will come back to haunt the GOP during the upcoming presidential campaign cycle.  Everything's on the table for 2016 cuts both ways.

End Note

HELP!  I'm stuck ass-up in here, a rat is eating my face, and I still haven't found a scandal!

Ted Cruz's father Rafael Cruz in taped speech: Suggests that Barack Obama is a "Muslim", says that Obamacare provides "suicide counseling" and that the "RINO's" should be replaced by "Constitutional Conservatives" - In earlier interview Rafael Cruz says that his son is "destined for greatness", and explains how he politically educated him

Ted Cruz appearing together with his father Rafael Cruz

By Patrick

The rise of Ted Cruz also put a spotlight on his father Rafael Cruz, who is a radical right-wing pastor in North Texas. At closer inspection, it becomes apparent that Rafael Cruz had a significant influence on Ted Cruz's political beliefs, and they both appeared together numerous times.

Just a few days ago, a tape was published with excerpts from a speech by Rafael Cruz at the Adams County GOP Lincoln Dinner in Thornton, Colorado, which took place on September 27, 2013. At this event, Rafael Cruz was not shy to show his true colors: He made it absolutely clear that he agrees with the notion that President Obama is a "Muslim", he used outrageous lies to rant against Obamacare and he wants the "RINO's" to be thrown out of the Republican Party.

(via "Political Carnival" and "Talking Points Memo")

Watch:

Kathleen transcribed these remarks by Rafael Cruz:

Rafael Cruz: Obama's fault (inaudible)….shift on the side of the Muslims.

Woman: He is a Muslim.

Rafael Cruz: Pah! McCain couldn’t say that because it wasn’t politically correct. It is time we stop being politically correct!

Rafael Cruz: Our lives! Well look at what is happening to our lives. From the cradle, 55 million babies have been murdered by abortions since 1973. At the other end, Obamacare with denying care to the elderly with care being rationed, with care being postponed for twelve to eighteen months. With care being controlled by a group of bureaucrats that on the basis of cost benefit will decide whether you get a medical procedure or not they’re destroying our end of life. As a matter of fact one of the things in Obamacare is that for the elderly every five years you must have end of life counselling. Translation: Suicide counselling.

Rafael Cruz: I know that I am in an Republican Party meeting. If you want to throw tomatoes at me, throw tomatoes at me! But unfortunately, you cannot say that the Republican Party is without blame. We have too many RINO’s in the Republican Party! (Applause and whoops). They have their minds made up and basically their ideas is this “You are too stupid! I know what I am doing.” Well, I’ll tell you what, we the people are not stupid. We the people are smart enough to vote them right out of office or primary them and put constitutional conservatives in their place! (More whoops etc.)

But there are more facts about Rafael Cruz which are noteworthy. He himself is very proud that he apparently had a great influence on the political and religious beliefs of his son Ted, which Rafael Cruz explained in great detail in an interview from July 2013. There, he also claimed that his son Ted is "destined for greatness."

Watch:

Transcript via RightWingWatch.org:

David Brody, Christian Broadcasting Network: Talk me about your son and his rise. This must be a thing of God. It's meteoric.

Cruz: Yes, but you know something, it is not something that started a couple of years ago. Let me just go back to when he was maybe four. When he was four I used to read Bible stories to him all the time. And I would declare and proclaim the word of God over him. And I would just say, ‘You know Ted, you have been gifted above any man that I know and God has destined you for greatness’. And I started making declarations about the Word of God to him every day. When he was eight years old I was very active in an organization called the Religious Roundtable.

...

This was a coalition of Christians and Jews who was very instrumental in helping Reagan get elected. I was on the state board of the Religious Roundtable, so when my son Ted was eight years old, all we talked about around the dinner table was politics because I was so involved with the Reagan campaign. So during that time is when I asked him so many times, ‘You know Ted, when I lost my freedom in Cuba I had a place to come to. If we lose our freedoms here where are we going to go? There is no place to go.’

...

Ted enters high school, the Free Enterprise Institute organizes a group of five kids, called them the Constitutional Corroborators, now Ted is reading the The Federalist Papers, The Anti-Federalist Papers, and each of the five kids memorized the entire US Constitution.

...

So before my son left high school he was passionate about the constitution. He was passionate about freedom and free markets and limited governments. Before he left high school he knew without a shadow of a doubt what his purpose in life was and it was to defend and protect freedom and the Constitution, to fight for free markets and limited government, and it became a passion in his life. So this is not a trajectory of three years, this is a trajectory of 30 years.

This is interesting. Knowing how Ted Cruz was indoctrinated by his radical father from a very early age onwards, it is much easier to understand the "crusader" Ted Cruz these days - where he comes from, and why it is virtually impossible for him to agree on a compromise. For true "crusaders", there can be no compromise. It is all or nothing.

When it comes to crusading, Ted's father Rafael Cruz certainly aspires to be on the forefront: In another  "rousing" speech, this time from July 2013 at a Tea Party event in Dallas reported by RightWingWatch.org, Rafael Cruz demanded more political participation by evangelical Christians and said that "we have what we deserve, we have allowed the wicked to rule us", and claimed: "We could take every position in office, from dogcatcher all the way to the highest position in life."

In this speech, Rafael Cruz also says that the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are "divine revelations from God." 

Watch the excerpts:

The full speech by Rafael Cruz from this event can be viewed here.

Rafael Cruz surely is on a "big tour" right now, appearing at many events, trying to rally the evangelicals. In yet another speech from August 2013 at the "Family Leadership Summit" in Iowa, he crusaded against gay marriage and declared that a godless "socialist" government is behind "homosexual marriage", trying to destroy "traditional marriage" as well as "loyalty to the family."

Quote (via "Burnt Orange Report"):

RAFAEL CRUZ: When you hear this attack on religion, it's not really an attack on religion. The fundamental basis is this: socialism requires that government becomes your God. That's why they have to destroy the concept of God. They have to destroy all loyalties except loyalty to government. That's what's behind homosexual marriage. It's really more about the destruction of the traditional family than about exalting homosexuality, because you need to destroy also loyalty to the family.

Watch:

Therefore Rafael Cruz is living the American dream like he sees it, preaching bigotry, hate and division as a pastor, tax-free and surely with substantial financial backing.

The "origins" of Rafael Cruz himself are murky, and just how he established himself in the USA as an immigrant from Cuba is clouded in a lot of secrecy. Ted Cruz himself claims that his father never was an illegal immigrant, and at this moment, we have to take his word for it, because evidence to the contrary is hard to come by  - although serious doubts about this bold claim certainly remain. The most extensive account of the "official" Cruz-family story can be found in an article by the Dallas Morning News from October 2011:

Cruz, though, has remained silent as others incorrectly placed his father among the many Cubans who left the island nation after Castro took power, rather than as someone who fought on the same side as Castro to topple a rightist dictator, though he departed for Texas before the revolution succeeded.

"He was a guerilla, throwing Molotov cocktails and blowing up buildings," Ted Cruz told the Austin American-Statesman for a profile published in January 2006.

Earlier this month, Liberty Institute president Kelly Shackelford introduced Cruz to 3,000 Christian conservatives at the Values Voters Summit in Washington, D.C., as "the next great conservative hope."

"He's the combination of the intellectual skill and principle of [Utah GOP Sen.] Mike Lee and the story, the personal story of a Marco Rubio -- his dad having escaped Fidel Castro, came into the United States, working as a dishwasher," Shackelford said.

Last month, a Houston Chronicle political blog described Cruz as "a Cuban American whose family escaped from Castro tyranny."

In an interview Monday, Cruz professed not to be aware of confusion about when his father, Rafael Cruz, left Cuba.

"If Kelly [Shackelford] said that, I did not notice that statement," he said. "That's certainly not something I say because it's not the case."

Cruz said he hasn't misled.

"I have many, many times described the full context of his fighting with [Fidel] Castro -- in the broader sense, ... not side by side, but on the same side as Castro," he said.

Shackelford, reached on Monday, said his point was the elder Cruz "came here for freedom" after being a "political prisoner."

"As to whether it was Batista or Castro [in power,] I'm like, it doesn't really matter," Shackelford said. "There was one dictator replaced by a future dictator."

Cruz, a former state solicitor general enjoying tea party and social conservative support, is one of four major Republican candidates in the March primary to succeed retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

He said his father began fighting against Batista's regime when he was 14, in 1953. When the elder Cruz was 17, he was imprisoned and tortured by Batista's government, his son said. The next year, 1957, Rafael Cruz legally went to Texas on a student visa issued by the Batista regime, Ted Cruz said.

Ted Cruz, who opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants, said at no time was his father an illegal immigrant. He said his father, who graduated from the University of Texas in 1961, eventually became a permanent legal resident. The elder Cruz is now a U.S. citizen, living in Carrollton, his son said.

Ted Cruz said his father described himself as among young teenage boys who fought Batista and allied with Castro's forces because "they didn't know Castro was a Communist, what they knew was that Batista was a cruel and oppressive dictator."

Cruz said his father became a staunch critic of Castro, along with several family members who remained in Cuba, when the rebel leader took control and began seizing private property and suppressing dissent. Rafael Cruz' younger sister and their parents eventually made it to the U.S. during the 1960s, Ted Cruz said.

It is much easier to understand the current actions of Ted Cruz if one is aware of the details of the extremist political views of his very outspoken father, and of the role his father played in the political and religious education of Ted Cruz. 

The last thing the USA need right now are hard-right political and religious crusaders for who there can only be "victory or death", because anything else would be a betrayal of the just and righteous cause.

Ted Cruz surely is a dangerous extremist, but I am confident that the American people won't be fooled in the end and will reject him and his ilk.

+++

Read the follow-up at Politicalgates:

NEW VIDEO: Rafael Cruz, father of Senator Ted Cruz, caught lying on tape about President Obama, trying to discredit Obama's Christian beliefs - Watch the video evidence!

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"The radical religious friends of Senator Ted Cruz: Anointed by Dominionists who want to "wage war to restore America to our Judeo-Christian heritage" - The overlooked religious extremism of the new rising star of the GOP"

Sarah Palin slams "socialization" of the USA and supports Ted Cruz's lone fight against Obamacare, but at the same time her husband, children and grandchildren receive state-funded free Alaska native healthcare, as court documents reveal - Can you say "hypocrite"? Watch her meltdown at Fox News during her interview with Cavuto! - UPDATE!

Comrade Sarah Palin: "Socialism is only for me, me, me!"

By Patrick

Dear Sarah Palin, first things first: Steve Schmidt is not anonymous! He is a gentleman called "Steve Schmidt", he grew up in New Jersey, has a degree from the University of Delaware, and despite a rather "checkered" political history, he seems to be a very decent person in my opinion.

Sarah Palin right now seems to be engaged in the "fight of her life", the final battle, so to speak, and it really appears to be like a "life or death" situation for her, given her latest interview on Neil Cavuto's show at Fox News.

Watch her total meltdown:

So what the heck is she saying there? From her world salad, which is rather like a huge flood of words streaming out her mouth, one can decipher for example the following points:

- Sarah Palin hates "socialized healthcare"
- Sarah Palin will not surrender
- That the "GOP machine" is "turning on each other" comes as "no surprise"
- The "GOP machine" controls soooo much in America right now
- Steve Schmidt and "his crew" are sooo mean, and they are also anonymous
- We forget what America "was built upon"
- "If I die, I die"
- Ted Cruz is doing a "quasi-filibuster" right now
- There are no journalistic ethics any more
- Sarah Palin won't be anonymous
- John McCain also hates anonymous sources, he told Sarah
- Karl Rove is an "appeaser", these people are "sheeple"
- Obama and his minions are driving the country towards bankruptcy
- Sarah Palin thinks that she has a "record" and a "reputation"
- Sarah Palin "not surprised" that the "RINO's" turn on her
- Sarah Palin won't run for president, she raises a family, has businesses, hunts moose
- The USA already has a "third party", the "good guys" in the GOP
- Sarah Palin has "always be very independent"
- People said nasty things about Sarah, but she stayed strong, just like Ted Cruz
- Tell the soldiers that they shouldn't storm the beaches...Omaha beach...that they should wave the white flag...
- Tell the people who have fought "physically" for the "sovereignity" of the USA that they should wave the white flag now
- Time is short, we must stop "these things" now which are happening, the transformation of the USA
- Allow the USA to continue to be "exceptional"
- The "socialist healthcare coverage policy of Barack Obama" is "unpopular" and "unaffordable" and will be "implemented" by the IRS
- The IRS is evil
- Don't wait until there is "a smaller hilltop to climb"
- Say no to the "socialization" of the USA

But this interview really has to be watched in order to be believed...

Sarah Palin's interview on Cavuto: She now believes she fights on Omaha beach! Shall we shout "MEDIC"...?

OK, Sarah, but let's get real for the moment. We all know that your brain is doing some crazy things from time to time, and that Fox News is more than happy to transmit some of these brain activities for ratings. But let's get real right now.

Sarah, you don't hate the government when there are things to receive from the government - am I right? You just hate the government when "hating" is good for ratings.

In real life, you love socialized medicine. Yes, you do. Or how would you explain the fact that your family has no hesitation to receive healthcare via the free native Alaskan healthcare system?

This rather inconvenient fact came to light during the custody trail between Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston in February 2010, when Bristol and Levi were fighting for custody for their son Tripp.

Astonishingly, Bristol Palin's lawyer explained in one of his submissions during the trial that health insurance for Tripp is "unnecessary". Why is that? Thomas Van Flein explains:

"Tripp is an enrolled tribal member of Curyung Tribal Council within the Bristol
Bay Native consortium. Because the majority of Tripp's health care costs are already covered by the IHS and the Alaska Native Medical Center, Mr. Johnston has no need to purchase additional health insurance and his deduction should not be allowed."

Screenshot:

Full document:

Look, look! Those crafty Palins! Todd Palin had a native Yup'ik grandmother, and what does this mean? He himself as well as his children and grandchildren are entitled to receive free fully socialized native healthcare in Alaska!

In fact, the complete side of Todd's family is entitled so receive the free native healthcare - and they surely will take advantage of that!

This is of course not a scandal, but a good thing! Many more people should have free fully socialized healthcare in our opinion!

But surely Sarah Palin would say no to such an evil thing like "free healthcare"...?

Heck, no!

It is a scandal of the highest order that Sarah Palin wants to destroy "Obamacare" on the basis that Obamacare allegedly constitutes "socialized" healthcare, when her family members have no hesitations to accept the free native healthcare in Alaska which is open to them! You can "betcha" that Tripp will not be the only Palin family member who receives this free native healthcare!

That is Sarah Palin for you: A hypocrite to the core, a demagogue par excellence. Time for the media to get the facts straight and expose this evil woman once and for all. Sarah Palin doesn't say no to free healthcare, but it is great for ratings to rant against "socialized healthcare." It makes the teabaggers soooo happy, doesn't it!

Sorry, Sarah, if this was too much of "reality" for you. Now you can continue with your weird brain activities and can continue to fight on the beaches, all bells ringing.

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UPDATE:

I decided to make an update, because the reported fact that Todd and his children and grandchildren receive free native healthcare in Alaska found a lot of interest on twitter. However, some people were understandably confused by the news and found it hard to believe - examples:

Therefore it could be helpful to go into more detail. Thankfully the fact that Sarah's family receives free native healthcare had already been reported in the past, so it is not difficult to find more information. I found particularly helpful a post that Regina wrote at Palingates in February 2010, where she presents some documents which provide more background.

Regina quoted from an article at the Anchorage Daily News (ADN) from October 19, 2008, in which the native background of Todd Palin's family was explained in detail, and the ADN even specifically mentioned that Sarah Palin's children are being eligible for Alaska native healthcare.

Excerpt:

Yup'ik ties give Palins unique Alaska connection
NATIVE: Grandmother on Todd's side calls the governor a 'special gal.'
By TOM KIZZIA
tkizzia@adn.com

(10/19/08 23:59:49)
HOMER -- Like many Alaska Natives of her generation, Lena Andree, Todd Palin's 87-year-old Yup'ik grandmother, grew up living between two worlds.

Her father was a Dutchman, Glass Eye Billy Bartman, a sled dog freighter in the Bristol Bay region and caretaker of the Alaska Packers saltry on the Igushik River.

Her mother was full-blooded Yup'ik, growing up in a sod-roofed barabara in the now-abandoned village of Tuklung, somewhere on the tundra between Dillingham and Togiak.

Growing up in two worlds along the Igushik River in Bristol Bay, Lena Bartman spoke broken English with her father and more fluent Yup'ik with her mother, whose Yup'ik name was Ahchitmook and western name was Amalia. Later she would make a career as a translator, bridging the cultures of Dillingham, speaking English with the doctors and storekeepers and pilots, and "speaking Native" with the residents.

"I just love that language," she says today.

Sarah Palin's personal story has captivated America from the time she was named John McCain's vice-presidential candidate.

Yet the Heath family story is a familiar one in Alaska, a pioneer narrative. Her father was a schoolteacher who loved to hunt and fish. They moved to Alaska when Sarah was a newborn.

Todd Palin's roots in Alaska are more complicated and run deeper -- all the way back to that sod house on the tundra and the winter day Glass Eye Billy made a freight stop at Tuklung on a dog run to Togiak.

The musher, who had come to Alaska after leaving Holland at 14 as a cabin boy, saw a young woman dipping water from a frozen creek. The first thing he noticed about her was her fur boots and gorgeous white parka made from the supple fur of reindeer fawn.

The courtship and marriage arrangements took a year.

Their first-born's full name was Helena, her Yup'ik name Tikchu, or Chickadee.

Andree grew up in the 1920s along the Igushik River. Along with her father, a couple of other white men lived nearby and looked after the saltries in winter -- White Headed Pete and Rum and Gum Johnson.

Otherwise, her neighbors were Yup'ik families drawn by summer fishing jobs to live along the river.

"Kids would come to play, and sometimes my sister and I talked English and the kids said, 'Don't talk funny,' " Andree recalls today.

The idea that someday a grandchild of hers would be married to the governor of Alaska, much less to the Republican candidate for vice president of the United States -- needless to say, such an idea never remotely entered the mind of a little Yup'ik girl playing along the tideflats of the Igushik.

"I have to say, is it really happening in my family?" says Andree, a short and sunny woman who now lives in Homer near a son and daughter. "Just to see her running. We love Sarah. She is kind of a special gal to me. She honors my Native side."

PURSUING THE NATIVE VOTE

As a candidate for governor two years ago, and more recently on the national stage, Sarah Palin has avidly pointed to her husband's Eskimo heritage. Lena Andree is one-half Yup'ik, and Todd Palin is one-eighth.

The Palin children are Native, too -- one-sixteenth, eligible for Indian health benefits under federal law, as lineal descendants of Native enrollees under the 1970 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.

During the 2006 governor's race, Palin introduced Andree on stage at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention and described her own family's mixed roots as an example of how whites and Natives can surmount controversies that divide them.

"I look at Alaska as a family, and I want my own family to be used as an example of how it can work," Palin told the state's biggest Native organization that year.

When it came time to debate, however, Palin was often at odds with her Native listeners. On sensitive subsistence hunting and fishing issues, her positions resembled those of urban sportsmen's groups who backed her.

In the election, she finished far behind Democrat Tony Knowles in rural, Native-dominated districts. Urban and small-town votes carried her to victory. As governor, she has come under criticism for not reaching out to Natives, though her efforts to assist rural Alaska economically have been praised.

Culturally, the Palins live a lifestyle of small-town Alaska. Todd does not take part in Native organizations or tribal politics. He grew up in Glennallen and Wasilla. His Native roots can be seen in his dividends from the Bristol Bay Native Corporation and boyhood visits with his grandma, where he learned to tend fish nets along the Nushagak River.

Efforts to reach Todd Palin for this story, through the governor's office and the McCain campaign, were unsuccessful.

From Sarah Palin's financial disclosure form for 2008, which she had to submit as Governor of Alaska, we can see that Todd as well as Palin's children received dividends from the "Bristol Bay Native Corporation", and therefore we have to assume that they are all enrolled tribe members (just like Tripp, see above!) - which is a requirement to receive the free native healthcare (however, it is not even necessary to be an enrolled tribe member - being a lineal descendant of a native person is sufficient in order to be eligible for free native healthcare, as explained below).

In any case, you have to be a Alaska Native in order to be a member of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation. The registration form for descendants specifically asks for the "blood quantum." For more details, see also the FAQ at the website of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation.

Screenshots from Sarah Palin's 2008 public disclosure form:

Full document as PDF:

In a document published by the Alaska Native Medical Center it is explained that people who are for example lineal descendants of a native person listed on the original Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) are eligible for free healthcare as an "Alaska Native." As I explained above, Todd Palin has a native Yup'ik grandmother, and therefore he and his lineal descendants are eligible.

Screenshots:

Full document:

So yes, it is actually "true!"

However, it is unlikely that the media will call out Sarah Palin on this. I tweeted the reason - but please prove me wrong, media!

Bonus revelation:

But now comes the "kicker": Sarah Palin herself was also eligible for free native healthcare during her pregnancies - more screenshots from the document mentioned above:

Well, did Sarah Palin take of advantage of that, or should we believe that Todd Palin had sufficient insurance coverage as an oil field worker? We can only speculate, but in any case, "$$$" is Sarah's middle name, so she surely would have taken advantage of the free native healthcare, if it seemed necessary. It's a pity that Sarah's counterparts on Fox News won't ask her these type of questions.

While the Republican National Convention (slowly) starts in Tampa, Sarah Palin will be giving a headline speech at a Barbecue in Arizona - PLUS: Sarah Palin goes rogue again, considers a conservative third party "a possibility" - UPDATE: Mitt Romney praising the virtues of female Chinese factory workers at private fundraiser (VIDEO)

By Patrick

So what is Sarah Palin doing these days? The Alaskan rogue who has fallen from grace was destined to conquer the RNC 2012, according to her remaining few dozen fanatical followers (hint: never annoy Karl Rove). However, this is not how things turned out in the end. Sarah was not allowed to speak at the RNC, which is a wise move, given the fact that there are countless bombshells in her closet which are just waiting to go off at some point. But it now looks that she might not even be there at the RNC: On Monday, August 27th, when the RNC is supposed to start (the convention will now start on Tuesday due to storm "Isaac"), Sarah Palin will be "headlining" a Barbecue in Arizona, supporting Kirk Adams, Republican candidate for Congress.

Sarah Palin's support for Kirk Adams is actually quite interesting. Kirk Adams is currently embroiled in a hot & dirty primary battle with Republican Matt Salmon. As we all know, some Republicans still believe that the endorsement by the mentally ill quitter from Alaska matters a lot, and Matt Salmon apparently falls into this category as well. Salmon's campaign manager voiced his dissatisfaction about Palin endorsing Kirk Adams:

Adam Deguire, Salmon's campaign manager, responds:

“It’s a wonder why Sarah Palin would endorse a politician like Kirk Adams who has a record of voting for wasteful spending, higher taxes and supports amnesty for illegal immigrants. Matt Salmon is supported by Governor (Jan) Brewer, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and every Tea Party organization in the East Valley – we’re confident his proven record of conservative leadership has resonated with the voters.”

Matt Salmon's opponents found the new "ultimate weapon" against him: He cashed in as a lobbyist on Obamacare! Well, this is at least what Kirk Adams' campaign claims in the following advert:

While investigating this claim, I discovered some interesting details. Matt Salmon's opponents claim that he "cashed in on Obamacare" because they claim that he represented as a lobbyist the pharmaceutical companies Lundbeck and Millennium, which "are part of Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA), which struck a deal with President Obama and the Whitehouse." Who would have thought that lobbying for pharmaceutical companies could be held against you in a Republican primary!

However, the truth is apparently more complicated, and we can also find indications that "Obamacare" is not the Socialist monster that the Koch-sponsered tea-hadists want Americans to believe it is. On a blog called "Western Free Press" we find interesting comments about this topic. This blog examines Matt Salmon's "rebuttal" to the potentially very damaging claim that he "cashed in on Obamacare" - a rebuttal which reads like this:

1) Matt Salmon has NEVER lobbied for the passage of ObamaCare, the expansion of ObamaCare, or supported ObamaCare in any way, shape or form. 2) Matt Salmon has NEVER lobbied for or against any legislation pertaining to ObamaCare. 3) Matt Salmon’s former business partner, John Haddow, was the consultant who represented Lundbeck and Millennium pharmaceutical companies 4) John Haddow actually lobbied AGAINST ObamaCare, NOT for the passage of it NOR for the expansion of it.

While it is doubtful that this statement can be viewed as the full truth, as "Western Free Press" also points out, there are some interesting comments on the blog which Matt Salmon's former partner business John Haddow then left himself, in an apparent attempt to control the damage.

John Haddow comments:

My name is John Haddow. I was Matt's partner while at both Policy Impact and Upstream Consulting. I had both Lundbeck and Millennium as clients before Matt joined the firm. As a small firm it was customary to list all the lobbyists on the forms, more as a form of protection from the very onerous reporting requirements and penalties that are now in place. You err on the side of safety.

With respect to those two clients I was the only person in the firm that met with these two clients and had the technical background to understand the issues before them. I have repeatedly stated that Matt Salmon did not lobby on these clients behalf and that in fact we did not support ObamaCare since it was harmful to almost all small pharmaceutical companies. We did vigorously engage to ensure that the treatment of Orphan products in the bill was corrected to ensure that patients using these products would have continue access to them to keep their quality of life at the level they currently enjoy.

There are some clients that Matt was working for that I was listed for but in fact did no work on as well.

Now things get confusing: John Haddow claims in this comment that Obamacare "was harmful to almost all small pharmaceutical companies" - but on the other hand, just recently the Wall Street Journal made the rather sensational claim that "Big Pharma colluded with the White House at the public's expense", a claim which was then quickly exploited by the right-wingers. I am not sure where "little pharma" ends and "big pharma" starts, but it is more than obvious that President Obama wanted to please the "industry", which actually sounds like classic Republican policy to me.

That Obama's healthcare reform was not governed by "Marxist" policies also becomes even more obvious when you look at the next paragraph from John Haddow's comment:

The major health insurance companies all cut a deal with the Obama administration to support the bill. They did this because the most crucial part of the bill, the mandate to buy insurance, was in their interests. Kirk Adams and his family insurance company sells health insurance policies. Should we now say that Kirk Adams was supporting ObamaCare since his insurance company and the companies they write policies for would benefit? That is the leap of logic that Kirk wants you to take with Matt Salmon but ignore with him.

So, wait a moment: President Obama cut a deal with "big pharma" as well as with "the major health insurance companies?" Is this what Socialist policy look like these days? The legions of brainwashed Fox News-fans believe that Obama is a "Marxist" or "Communist" who wants to enslave the USA, but in reality Obama is doing nothing more than to implement what I would call "classic moderate Republican concepts" (although some of you might disagree with this classification).

On the one hand, the fact that Obama managed to bring through healthcare reform is certainly "progressive", but on the other hand, the details of the implementation are just what somebody like Mitt Romney could have had in mind (who just today boasted about his "Romneycare" achievements in Massachusetts). In any case, many Americans will certainly be very grateful to President Obama that in future your eligibility for healthcare insurance will not depend any more whether you have a pre-existing condition or not. 

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Finally, Sarah Palin displays again her personal brand of "rougeishness." Asked on Fox News the clearly "pre-approved question" (like all the questions, no doubt)...

"Would you consider at any point a viable conservative third party if neither party will move from their current positions?"

...the quitter from Alaska is clearly elated to nurture her grudge against the GOP-people when she explains in quite some length why she believes that a third party is "a possibility":

I think Karl Rove might be annoyed again! She did not learn, did she?

Have a great Sunday, everyone!

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UPDATE:

This clip is just about to go viral - somebody videotaped Mitt Romney at a $ 50,000-per-plate private fundraiser and published a first clip: Mitt Romney praising the virtues of the notoriously appalling working conditions in Chinese factories - a Capitalist's dream!

Watch the clip:

UPDATE - The video clip is not available any more as the "Rachel Maddow" youtube account has been deleted, but I uploaded the clip again, and here it is, in its full glory:

Mitt Romney letting the audience know about his rather peculiar views:

"95% of life is set up for you if you were born in this country. And, I remember going to ah, uh, sorry just to bore you with stories.

When I was back in my private equity days, we went to China to buy a factory there. It employed about 20,000 people. And they were almost all young women between the ages of about 18 and 22 or 23. They were saving for potentially becoming married.

And they work in these huge factories, they made various uh, small appliances. And uh, as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they
worked per day, the pitance they earned, living in dormitories with uh, with little bathrooms at the end of maybe 10, 10 room, rooms. And the rooms they have 12 girls per room.

Three bunk beds on top of each other. You've seen, you've seen them? (Oh...yeah, yeah!) And, and, and around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire and
guard towers. And, and, we said gosh! I can't believe that you, you know, keep these girls in! They said, no, no, no. This is to keep other people from coming in.

Because people want so badly to come work in this factory that we have to keep them out. Or they will just come in here and start working and, and try and get compensated. So we, this is to keep people out. And they said, actually Chinese New Year as the girls go home, sometimes they decide they've saved enough money and they don't come back to the factory.

And he said, so, on the weekend after Chinese New Year there will be a line of people hundreds long, outside the factory, hoping that some girls haven't come back. And they can come to the factory. And, and so as we were experiencing this for the first time, going to see a factory like this in China some years ago.

The Bain Partner I was with turned to me and said, you know, 95% of life is settled if you are born in America. This is uh, this is an amazing land and what we have is unique and fortunately it is so special we are sharing it with the world."

Isn't it cool to have millions of impoverished people wanting to work for you...?

These are the values of the wannabe President of the United States...?

This is what working conditions in Chinese factories often look like - watch the documentary "Santa's Workshop":

(h/t IWantTheTruth)

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The uploader of the video (who calls herself "Rachel Maddow", but is just a Rachel Maddow fan) said in the comments of the video that she will make the full speech available to the MSM:

There can be in my view no doubt whatsoever that this video is "real" (other websites think the same, for example "Crooks & Liars"). It is clearly Mitt Romney's voice, you can also see him in the video, and the uploader recorded from a fairly concealed position. It might very well have been an employee who was working at this event. It is also apparent that the video uploader is pretty inexperienced as far as "internet activities" are concerned, because he or she chose the rather unfortunate youtube name "Rachel Maddow" (although explaining in the profile that he/she is just a "fan"), which resulted in a rather absurd controversy, with even Rachel Maddow tweeting about the video.

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UPDATE 2:

Alaska, love it or suck it! Todd Palin, following in the footsteps of his "wife" Sarah Palin, now has his very own "speaker's bureau" - the "All American Speakers Bureau" has taken him on, according to their website! The former "first dude" can now be booked to give expert advice for example on how to bully friends and foes, and he has a lot of special knowledge to offer ("What to take into account when planning to fake a pregnancy"). No, that was a joke, but he really is available for speeches now:

This is his bio on the website:

Todd Palin has served as Alaska's First Gentleman, is a four-time winner of the Iron Dog snowmobile race and a reality television personality.

Categories:  Adventurers, Entertainment, Reality TV Stars, Television Personalities

Booking Fee Range:  Contact booking agent for fee info   (About Fees)

Speaker Travels From:

Todd Palin was born on September 6, 1964 in Alaska. He is the husband of former Alaskan governor and McCain's vice-presidential nominee in 2008, Sarah Palin. He graduated from Wasilla High School in 1982 and worked as a commercial fisherman and in the oil production field.

He's a four-time winner of the Iron Dog, the world's longest, toughest snowmobile race that stretches over 2,000 miles from the Mat-Su Valley to Nome to Fairbanks in Alaska.

Palin was the First Gentleman, also referred to as the "First Dude" of Alaska from 2006 to 2009. While in this position, he focused on vocational job opportunities for workers in Alaska.He also holds his Private Pilot Certificate and owns a Cessna 185 float plane.

He appeared on the TLC show, Sarah Palin's Alaska, with the rest of his family, in which he assisted with logistics and production. Todd is currently a contestant on NBC's reality show Stars Earn Stripes, where celebrities contend with one another while executing military challenges that are inspired by real exercises.

Well, this should be another piece of evidence to prove that the Palins left the political scene for good and try to find a "safe haven" in the celebrity world instead. But is the celebrity world really ready for the Palins...?

It should also be noted that the Palins always tell Levi Johnston that he should get a "real job." However, if there is anyone who lost any interest in "real jobs", than it is the Palin family. Todd, the slope is waiting for you!