Mitt Romney Tax Information - At Last

I've not been watching the Republican debates, because frankly I'd rather stab myself in the face, and because if I want to know what happened in them I can just watch the news where they will regurgitate the main points over and over ad nauseum for 24-48 hours after each debate.

However, I was aware of the issue where Mitt Romney acted shady about his taxes for a while and then made a quip about not earning much from his speaking engagements (over $350,000 a year if you're interested).

Well bowing to pressure from his opponent Newt Gingrich he apparently released his tax information today.  While he pays a healthy dollar amount on his vast fortune as his critics suspected his tax percentage is lower than many middle class Americans.

Rather than pay 35% tax, he pays closer to 15% and has money 'invested' in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland, which he assures us is NOT a tax shelter.

But more disturbing than his $200+ million dollar fortune, his insane income of $42m a year, for me was the fact that per Mormon tradition he pays some 15% of his income to the Mormon cult church.  Yep, that's right, a guy who wants to have his finger on the nukes, and become leader of the free world, is so besotted with the cult leaders at his 'church' he gave them $7m between 2010 and 2011.

I'm all for religious freedom.  But when you feel compelled to give SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS to the church every couple of years, you have to wonder what kind of control they have over this man.  What decisions would they be guiding him in if he, Joseph Smith forbid, becomes president?

Romney has already shown himself to be a slick salesman.  He tells people exactly what they want to hear, moving his position with the changing wind of public opinion.  I for one don't believe a word out of his smarmy mouth, and I certainly don't trust anyone who feels the need to continually send millions of dollars to their church.

The last President would keep telling us that God had told him what to do.  And that was bad enough.  But what's going to happen when Mormon elders are dictating our path to their obedient servant and donor?  Pretty scary stuff.

Oh, and for those of you who don't think the Mormon Cult is in fact a cult, consider the opinion of hundreds of ex-Mormons who keep a great recovery site for those who escape the cult here.

Happy New Year 2012

2012 has already started well with the news that some of the scary bat-shit crazy presidential candidates have been forced to drop out of the race.

First Herman Cain stepped down, after giving stupid and ignorant answers (or simply yelling 9-9-9 - which rather aptly in the UK is the emergency services number like 911 in the States).

Now after Iowa, Michelle Bachmann found out the hard way that bat shit crazy wasn't enough to make it in politics.  And I'm not just harping on because I'm a liberal, this woman was so crazy, so stupid, and such a fucking bigot, there is no place for her thinking she can run for president of the free world.  I wouldn't trust her to run a gas station.

Also good news, Rick Perry, or George W. Bush II, got slammed, polling double what Bachmann managed; a measly 10% of the vote.  While he pledges to continue the fight, it's only a matter of time before that dumbass is kicked out of the race.

We've still got a VERY scary field out there, Mitt Romney; the cult member who will say anything or adopt any policy to get elected, and another bigot in the shape of Rick Santorum.

Since he came within 8 votes of beating Romney, I thought I'd share some of his world views:

1. Says he will annul all same sex marriages since gay marriage 'destabilizes' a society.
2. Says he will repeal all funding for birth control, and even allow states to ban the sale of birth control.
3. Says he will reinstate don't ask don't tell, and then made a bunch of homophobic statements about gay people in the military.
4. Claimed that because obesity rates are high in America, we should do away with food stamps.
5. Claimed that his child, who was born with a serious medical condition, would have died under socialized medicine.  Odd then that our infant mortality figures are in the gutter given how great our system is.
6. Back in August he said that poor people who 'whine' about affording health care should cut back on 'luxuries' like having a car or phone.
7. He sided with insurance companies who believe in charging more or denying coverage to people with 'pre-existing conditions.'

It scares me that some radical asshole like this can actually have a real chance at running for President.

I guess it's going to be an interesting and scary year.