WHY ROMNEY IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT AND AWAY FROM TAX DISCLOSURES, By Louise Annarino, August 3, 2012
Recently, (Democracy for America)DFA members attempted to deliver more than 245,300 petition signatures to Romney’s Boston campaign headquarters, asking for disclosure of more of his tax returns. They were turned away and escorted out of the building. This not the first, nor will it be the last request for more information from Mr. Romney regarding his tax returns. Every time he is asked he inadvertently drops another tidbit of information not only by what he let’s slip (I’ve been audited a few times) but by what he refuses to discuss (I don’t know if I ever paid zero% but I’ll get back to you). To give him credit he never squirms while he skids.
Now, Senator Harry Reid is playing a well-worn political game of filling in the missing blanks for Romney with unsubstantiated allegations that Romney did not pay any tax for more than 10 years. This may or may not be true. This may be fun to watch. Games are fun to watch. I think this is too serious a matter to play games. I also find it undignified and wrong to make unsubstantiated charges against anyone. Besides, I don’t think Romney would refuse to open his tax returns for scrutiny simply because he paid no or very little tax. He is too proud of his ability to use the system for his personal gain to want to hide his skill at making and keeping money. He clearly has no qualms about outsourcing workers, gutting and shutting down companies. He brags about it constantly. He knows Americans admire millionaire entrepreneurs, and each aspires to become one. This would not be enough for Romney to fail to disclose his tax returns. There must be more than how much he earned and how much tax he paid in those returns and their attachments. There must be more he does not want us to know.
I would submit that Romney hides his returns for the same reason he is running for president. He is running as the front man for the now-global military-industrial-banking complex – the Great Pirates– which has been seeking more power over government.We have openly watched this replacement of political power owned by American voters with corporate power owned by too-big-to-fail-or share business since Ronald Reagan’s presidency through George W. Bush’s. President Obama’s greatest fight to change the way Washington works has been with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and ALEC via the Republican Party and Blue-dog Democrats. Obama’s pragmatism is the only thing which has saved him and us thus far.
When Reagan busted the air-traffic controller’s strike it was a blow against unions. The union of American workers was hard fought, opposed at every step by the Great Pirates. They have tried ever since to dismantle unions because unions are the one thing standing in their way of absolute domination of workers, wages, hours, safety and working conditions. Unions have led the environmental and consumer movements by opening our eyes to unsanitary conditions,unsafe products,hazardous chemicals and processes, and threats to our health and safety. Unions have led the movement for technical schools and training, access to higher education, and improved school models and increased funding for education.The Great Pirates want to eliminate the EPA, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Department of Education, Federal Reserve and any institution in their way as they seek to maximize profits at the expense of our people and our planet. They seek small government or no government so they may pursue wealth with no restrictions, and no concern for anyone’s welfare but their own.
Mr. Romney, like George W. Bush is not his own man. He belongs to the Great Pirates fraternity, and is proud of it. But, he and they cannot afford for us to discover how that fraternity works against us. Why Romney? Why now? The Great Pirates now have firmly in place a global consortium of business and banks. They ply their trade across borders and seas as pirates of old did. They seek to control not only American workers, but the world’s workers. They have alliances not only with American bankers but with the world’s bankers. It is no mystery that Romney met privately with British bankers while in London, the same persons associated with LIBOR. Do we know why? We do know he was fund-raising. Fund-raising from foreign interests? He told us this. It is not a point of shame nor worry for him. What don’t we know about his foreign associations with the old friends he met with while abroad. It is reported he is an old friend of, and used to work with Bebe Netanyahu. Doing exactly what?
What is it about politics that renders Romney silent? He is a bright and literate man, capable of organizing and running companies. What is he hiding? He disappears inside himself when campaigning, and becomes robotic and nonsensical. Since his first political run for Governor of Massachusetts,this is his campaign modus operandi. He is uncomfortable and unsure of what to say unless someone else writes his script. Then he knows no shame, no uncertainty. Like George W. Bush, he is not his own man. He is the Great Pirates’ man. In front of the American public, he is only comfortable stepping back inside himself and being their man. It pays very well. Neither the Great Pirates,nor Mitt Romney, would have it any other way.
And,why has the Republican party shoved aside its great conservative intellects like Buckley, Will, and Krauthammer for tea-party ideologues like Buchanan, Palin,and Bachmann? The coffers of the Great Pirates exceeds the traditional Republican campaign chest, which in part led to McCain’s loss in 2008. Popular support for Obama with most donations less that $200 and a changing demographic less supportive of the Republican party platform cleared the way for tea party candidates supported by Great Pirates to win seats in the House and Senate in 2010. Republican leaders of Congress Sen.Mitch McConnel and Rep. John Boehner had little financial choice but to allow the tea party front for the Great Pirates take the lead strings from their tired,tight hands. Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan,bidding for leadership, jumped the Republican ship for the Pirate ship to McConnell’s and Boehner’s chagrin. If Congress is at sea, it is because the Great Pirates have boarded the Ship of State.
Their next goal, planned and put into operation since Inauguration Day, is to mutiny against the captain and make President Obama a one-term president.
The answer to why this multi-billionaire would run for president is not merely ego, nor to “outdo Dad”. He is the right pirate for the times, but he can’t tell you that!
annarino writes 
I AM A SLUT
I AM A SLUT
Louise Annarino
3-2-2012
Sandra Fluke, I stand with you. I am a proud “slut”. If I had a dollar for every slur against womanhood I have heard I would be a very rich woman. All women would. From my earliest memories I was aware that no one should “throw like a girl”, “cry like a girl”, or “complain” like a girl”. These comments were not simply illustrative, but derogatory. I felt such sadness hearing them, as I wondered why being a girl was “no good”; why just being “like” a girl was cause for ridicule. How much worse was it to actually “be” a girl?
High school taught me little was expected of me. Called into the Principle’s office one afternoon, I leaned that I would not be the class Salutorian, even though my grades were tied to the 4th. decimal place, and higher carried to the 5th decimal place, when compared with those of a male classmate. Father explained that being a young man such an accomplishment would help him in life; and, since I was a girl, it would mean nothing. It had been decided my accomplishment would not be acknowledged.
In law school I was chided for too much “color” in my voice, and using my body and hands to communicate during oral argument, even though I “won” the case. My male opponent was praised for gripping the podium and never changing his inflections, remaining “professional”, even though he lost the case.
Practicing law brought its own set of put-downs. After the first day in trial, I carried a photocopy of my Ohio License which I routinely placed in the judge’s hands as I introduced myself. The first day, as both attorneys and our clients stood before the bench,I had introduced myself to the judge stating, “Good morning, your honor, my name is Louise Annarino. I am an attorney with Columbus Legal Aid Society. This is my client Ms. X, the petitioner in this matter.”
The Judge responded, “Young lady, you can’t just waltz in here and represent yourself. you need an attorney.” I then reintroduced myself as the Judge an opposing counsel smirked knowingly to one another. The judge responded, “Well, little lady, you need a real attorney.” This happened two more times as those awaiting to be called for their case and their respective attorneys began laughing. My client leaned close and whispered, “Should I go get a real attorney?” We won the case, despite such outrageous treatment to my client and to me.
Such belittling, dissembling, sarcastic, disgruntled behavior in response to sharing power with women has got to stop. Yet, Rush Limbaugh uses his power, licensed over our airwaves, to attack women as “feminazis” and now “sluts”. Ms. Fluke did not deserve such an attack;no woman does. Mr. Limbaugh continued again today to abuse her publicly for exercising her constitutional right address congress.
In July 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (who kept her name when she married) wrote teh following in the “Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions” presented at the Seneca Falls Convention:
“all men and women are created equal” and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights…” (man)”has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and to her God.” (result?) “the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.”
It is clear Rush Limbaugh and his supporters have more in common with men of 1878 than with fair-minded men and women of 2012. Sex sells in America and Rush and his ilk are using sex to sell oppression of women. This is not a new tactic. Too often, religions and armies use sex to oppress and maintain power. Rush asked for tapes of Ms.Fluke engaging sex. He equated a stated expectation that women’s health care needs should be covered under insurance plans with asking for “paid for sex”, making Ms. Fluke a “prostitute”. He said her parents “would not be proud” of her. He called her a “slut”. Well, if she is all women are; because, all women expect to be treated equal to men in the United States of America. President Obama knows this and is fighting to protect women’s rights. And, after thanking her for speaking on behalf of women’s rights, he told Ms. Fluke in a personal phone conversation that her “parents should be proud” of her.
I once served briefly on a joint task force of women attorneys from across Ohio, sponsored by the Ohio Supreme Court and The Ohio State Bar Association,to address sex discrimination in Ohio’s legislation, law schools and courts. At the first meeting, I listened to the women who spearheaded the effort speak, followed by the male president of the Ohio Bar Association, and finally the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ohio. At the close of remarks I felt myself rising to my feet unbidden to contest a comment from one of the men (I paraphrase since it has been so long ago):
“Be gentle with the men as you proceed, ladies. Any negative comments are very hard on the men and you don’t want to create a backlash. So take it slow as you petition for change, and be mindful of the men’s feelings.”
That is when I leapt to my feet announcing that it was Malcolm X’s birthday that day and if he were alive he would remind us that, “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.” And I added, “We women are not petitioning for freedom,equality, and justice; we are taking them. I have a hard enough time handling my own grief and anger over the injustice of sexism and racism to be asked to handle yours,too. Men need to take responsibility for themselves and handle their own feelings for a change.” And, I added, “if you have trouble with that, recall another comment of Malcolm’s, ‘If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.’ If you can’t handle yourself, and you can’t handle us then, at least, get out of our way.” One woman clapped and pins dropped throughout the room. No more.
Today, I ask women to take justice and seize your equal rights. Don’t ask for them from men. They don’t own your rights; you do! Stick together. Today, I am a proud “slut”.
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