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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Rick Santorum

Judge Rules Against Rick Perry And Other Republican Candidates In Virginia Lawsuit

Judge John Gibney heard the case brought by Rick Perry and the other Republican candidates who joined the law suit, and he made the decision. Perry and the other candidates will not compete in Virginia. They knew the rules and did not do what was necessary to get their names on the ballot in a timely fashion.

“They knew the rules in Virginia many months ago; the limitations on circulators affected them as soon as they began to circulate petitions,” he writes. “The plaintiffs could have challenged the Virginia law at that time. Instead, they waited until after the time to gather petitions had ended and they had lost the political battle to be on the ballot; then, on the eve of the printing of absentee ballots, they decided to challenge Virginia’s laws. In essence, they played the game, lost, and then complained that the rules were unfair.”

The decision means Perry, as well as Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman, will not appear on the ballot in the state’s March 6 primary.

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Mitt Romney Politics Republican

Some Dumb Things Mitt Romney Have Said

This man wants to be you president. God help us all!

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Boston Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics South Carolina

Mitt Romney Also Took Jobs Away From South Carolina – Made Millions For Doing It

David Wren writes: 

Boston-based Bain Capital LLC more than doubled its money on GS Industries Inc. [of South Carolina] – the former parent company of Georgetown Steel – under Mitt Romney’s leadership in the 1990s, even as the steel manufacturer went on to cut more than 1,750 jobs, shuttered a division that had been around for 100 years and eventually sank into bankruptcy.

Bain Capital spent $24.5 million to acquire GS Industries in 1993, according to an investment prospectus for the company that was obtained by the Los Angeles Times and reviewed by McClatchy Newspapers. By the end of that decade, Bain Capital estimated its partners had made $58.4 million off its investment in GS Industries, according to the prospectus.

Bain Capital’s partners also earned multimillion-dollar dividends from GS Industries and annual management fees of about $900,000. But by the time GS Industries filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001, it owed $553.9 million in debts against assets valued at $395.2 million.

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Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Republican Rick Santorum

Conservatives Have Made Their Choice – It’s Rick Santorum

 

David Brody Writes: After a two day meeting at a ranch outside of Houston a group of 150 Christian leaders, business leaders and conservative activists have coalesced behind Rick Santorum.

Friday night surrogates from every GOP campaign (except that of Jon Huntsman) attended the meeting and made the case for their candidate.  Saturday leaders took part in a “passionate time” of discussions about what they’re looking for in a conservative leader.  After three rounds of balloting Santorum emerged as the candidate leaders feel they can support.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council says conservatives are looking for a candidate who will repeal the nation’s health care law, fight for pro family values and address the national debt.

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Barack Obama Politics United States weekly address White House

Weekly Presidential Address: Helping American Businesses Succeed

In his weekly address, President Obama highlighted companies and businesses that are bringing the jobs back home.

This week, I invited executives from businesses that are insourcing jobs to a forum at the White House. These are CEOs who take pride in hiring people here in America, not just because it’s increasingly the right thing to do for their bottom line, but also because it’s the right thing to do for their workers and for our communities and our country.

And the President spoke about the tax incentives he is offering to these businesses;

I will put forward new tax proposals that reward companies that choose to do the right thing by bringing jobs home and investing in America – and eliminate tax breaks for companies that move jobs overseas.

Just another move by the President to put the American people back to work.

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Barack Obama Politics United States White House

The S.O.P.A Debate And The White House Response

There is a big debate going on right now about a few pieces of legislation in Congress geared to fight online piracy. The Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) and the Online Protection and Digital ENforcement Act (OPEN) are making their way through the legislative body, but another bill called SOPA – the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) – has created a firestorm of controversies because of its wide and far-reaching powers.

If enacted and signed into law, SOPA, according to opponents of the bill, will (among other things) have the authority to tell Internet Service Providers to block the Domain Name Systems (DNS) of most law-abiding websites – including websites that operate under the Creative Commons License – simply because the site may have used contents protected under the Commons License, but not explicitly authorized by the content’s owner.

The author of the bill Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and those in favor of SOPA maintain that only sites outside the United States that violates the owner’s intellectual property, will be affected.

The debate over this particular piece of legislation cause the White House to put out the following statement, detailing their where they stand on the issue. The statement was issued by Victoria Espinel, Aneesh Chopra, and Howard Schmidt.

While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.

Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small. Across the globe, the openness of the Internet is increasingly central to innovation in business, government, and society and it must be protected. To minimize this risk, new legislation must be narrowly targeted only at sites beyond the reach of current U.S. law, cover activity clearly prohibited under existing U.S. laws, and be effectively tailored, with strong due process and focused on criminal activity. Any provision covering Internet intermediaries such as online advertising networks, payment processors, or search engines must be transparent and designed to prevent overly broad private rights of action that could encourage unjustified litigation that could discourage startup businesses and innovative firms from growing.

We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet. Proposed laws must not tamper with the technical architecture of the Internet through manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS), a foundation of Internet security. Our analysis of the DNS filtering provisions in some proposed legislation suggests that they pose a real risk to cybersecurity and yet leave contraband goods and services accessible online. We must avoid legislation that drives users to dangerous, unreliable DNS servers and puts next-generation security policies, such as the deployment of DNSSEC, at risk.

Let us be clear—online piracy is a real problem that harms the American economy, threatens jobs for significant numbers of middle class workers and hurts some of our nation’s most creative and innovative companies and entrepreneurs.  It harms everyone from struggling artists to production crews, and from startup social media companies to large movie studios. While we are strongly committed to the vigorous enforcement of intellectual property rights, existing tools are not strong enough to root out the worst online pirates beyond our borders. That is why the Administration calls on all sides to work together to pass sound legislation this year that provides prosecutors and rights holders new legal tools to combat online piracy originating beyond U.S. borders while staying true to the principles outlined above in this response.  We should never let criminals hide behind a hollow embrace of legitimate American values.

This is not just a matter for legislation. We expect and encourage all private parties, including both content creators and Internet platform providers working together, to adopt voluntary measures and best practices to reduce online piracy.

So, rather than just look at how legislation can be stopped, ask yourself: Where do we go from here? Don’t limit your opinion to what’s the wrong thing to do, ask yourself what’s right. Already, many members of Congress are asking for public input around the issue. We are paying close attention to those opportunities, as well as to public input to the Administration. The organizer of this petition and a random sample of the signers will be invited to a conference call to discuss this issue further with Administration officials and soon after that, we will host an online event to get more input and answer your questions. Details on that will follow in the coming days.

Washington needs to hear your best ideas about how to clamp down on rogue websites and other criminals who make money off the creative efforts of American artists and rights holders. We should all be committed to working with all interested constituencies to develop new legal tools to protect global intellectual property rights without jeopardizing the openness of the Internet. Our hope is that you will bring enthusiasm and know-how to this important challenge.

Moving forward, we will continue to work with Congress on a bipartisan basis on legislation that provides new tools needed in the global fight against piracy and counterfeiting, while vigorously defending an open Internet based on the values of free expression, privacy, security and innovation. Again, thank you for taking the time to participate in this important process. We hope you’ll continue to be part of it.

Victoria Espinel is Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget

Aneesh Chopra is the U.S. Chief Technology Officer and Assistant to the President and Associate Director for Technology at the Office of Science and Technology Policy

Howard Schmidt is Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff

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