Charity on a Presidential Scale

While the liberal talking heads continue to focus on Romney's 14% taxes ... and not his 30% charitable giving ...  and try to call him selfish and greedy, I'd like to point out a few things

• The Romneys paid 14.1% in income taxes and 30% in charitable giving for a total of 44.1% of their income in taxes & contributions.
• The Obama's paid 20.5% in taxes and 22% in charitable giving (2010 he contributed only 6% while making five times more in income) for a total of 42.5% of their income in taxes & contributions.

There is little difference here, yet Romney is being excoriated in the press for not "paying enough." Nevermind that he only claimed half of his charitable donations so that his tax rate would remain more than 13%. Clearly he wasn't too concerned about "hiding" money in the Caymans if he's not taking all the deductions he needed to maintain a minimum tax rate that he set for himself.

But there is more to charity than money, and the Romneys know this and live this .... out of the way of cameras, never being boastful about what they do for others. It's against their nature and the guidelines of their church to point out these things.  Of course, our current President's campaign and the press take advantage of this by painting him as some heartless, soulless business shark, but this image is simply not true.

Below I have copied & pasted an article mentioning just seven acts of charity that paint a more honest picture of Governor Romney. I would love to know that President and Mrs. Obama do such things. It is hard to know if the Obamas are simply modest, like the Romneys, or lacking in their volunteerism and personal aid to others. That's for you to decide for yourself.

In reading through this list it is obvious that Governor Romney is a man who sees a need then addresses it .... as opposed to President Obama who appears to see a problem and then blames someone else for it.  This is a matter of character, and character is what makes a good leader, not TelePrompTer led speeches that spill lofty rhetoric but don't actually accomplish anything.  Romney gets things done. Obama talks about it.  Therein is the difference in these two men.

Enjoy the article

7 Incredible Personal Stories About Mitt Romney That You May Not Know

by John Hawkins (link to article)

Over the last few months, it has been absolutely stunning to see Mitt Romney, of all people, portrayed as some sort of greedy, ruthless, unfeeling corporate raider who plows over everyone who gets in his way so he can make a few dollars more. Of all the criticisms you could aim at Mitt Romney, there is none that has less validity than that one. In fact, the vast majority of people who read this column -- whether they're liberal, conservative, or moderate -- probably don't personally know a single person who has proven to be more generous and compassionate than Mitt Romney. Yes, really. It's okay if you're skeptical -- but, you won't be after you finish reading this column.

1) Mitt Romney saved the life of a 14 year old girl: Imagine what it would be like if we could have this kind of decisive people-centered leadership in the White House..

In 1998 the 14-year-old daughter of one of Romney's partners at Bain Capital, Robin Gay, had disappeared after attending a rave party in New York City. The distraught father was beside himself with terror of what may have happened to his little girl.

Upon hearing of this, Romney stopped all operations at Bain and flew himself and all of the company's employees to New York to conduct the search. Using his contacts with establishments in New York that did business with Bain and an outlay of cash, Romney led a search for the girl from a command post he had set up in the LaGuardia Marriott that involved a private detective, Bain employees and customers putting up posters, handing out flyers, and interviewing prostitutes, drug addicts, and other street people in New York, and coordination with the New York Police.

A break came, after media publicity of the search, when a teenage boy called a tip line asking if there was a reward. He hung up, but not before the police traced the call to a home in New Jersey. The girl was found in the basement of the house undergoing withdrawals from a hit of ecstasy.

Romney, through his efforts, had saved the girl's life.

2) Mitt Romney gave milk to a V.A. hospital: This is the kind of thing Mitt Romney has done for people in need who cross his path.

He shared a story of a V.A. hospital in Boston that Mitt Romney stopped at while on the campaign trail running against Ted Kennedy. Ted Kennedy had made a thirty minute stop at the same location a couple of weeks prior.

After touring the V.A. hospital, Mitt asked to look at their books. After he spent forty minutes going through their books, he told them, “You run a very good place, very tight. Very good.” Romney asked to go on another tour of the hospital, and after spending an hour and forty minutes there, the last question he asked was, “So what… what do you -- what are you lacking? What do you need help with?”

The response? “Milk.”

Since the press was around, snapping photos and asking questions, Glenn explained that Romney did a really awkward joke where he said, “maybe we should teach everyone here how to milk a cow.”

Of course, that’s all the press cared to hear and ran with a story that claims “Mitt Romney says veterans should have to milk cows.”

“This is where it gets good,” Glenn started. “Romney calls him up the next morning.”

Romney first apologizes to the man who runs the hospital for any problems the attention from the press jumping on his words brought to the hospital. He next offers to help with the milk situation.

“Friday comes, and the milkman comes,” Glenn continues. “This is what the vets needed – they needed 7,000 pints of milk a week. Milkman shows up, 7,000 pints. The head of the V.A. hospital asks, ‘Where did all this come from?’ He [the milkman] said ‘an anonymous donor.’ Now, the guy didn’t put it together.”

Glenn explains that when the next week rolled around, the milkman shows up again, and continued to show up every week for two years. After two years of delivering 7,000 pints of milk a week to the hospital, as the milkman is retiring, the man finally gets him to reveal the anonymous donor.

It’s Mitt Romney.

“Mitt Romney was writing a personal check and didn’t want anybody to know for two years and provided the vets with all of their milk in Boston,” Glenn explained to listeners this morning.

When Romney became governor, he sent a bill through to help the V.A. hospital – it was down to the dollar.

3) Mitt Romney helped a dying 14 year old boy write his will: In a profession filled with people who steal the credit for every good thing that happens and pass the buck at every opportunity, Mitt Romney's humility -- which is a wonderful trait in a human being, but a maladaptive one in a politician -- has kept him from hammering home stories like this in every swing state.

Pat Oparowski talks about the loving friendship Mitt Romney developed with her dying son David, remembering,

"David, knowing Mitt had gone to law school at Harvard, asked Mitt if he would help him write a will. He had some prize possessions that he wanted to make sure were given to his closest friends and family. The next time Mitt went to the hospital, he was equipped with his yellow legal pad and pen. Together, they made David’s will. That is a task that no child should ever have to do. But it gave David peace of mind. So after David’s death, we were able to give his skateboard, his model rockets, and his fishing gear to his best friends. He also made it clear that his brother Peter should get his Ruger .22 rifle. How many men do you know who would take the time out of their busy lives to visit a terminally ill 14 year old and help him settle his affairs?"

David also helped us plan his funeral. He wanted to be buried in his Boy Scout uniform. He wanted Mitt to pronounce his eulogy, and Mitt was there to honor that request. We will be ever grateful to Mitt for his love and concern.”

Ted Oparowski summed it up nicely when he said,

"You cannot measure a man’s character based on the words he utters before adoring crowds during times that are happy. The true measure of a man is revealed in his actions during times of trouble — the quiet hospital room of a dying boy, with no cameras and no reporters."

4) At one point, Mitt Romney was doing 10-20 hours a week of volunteer church service: At the Republican National Convention, Mitt Romney's friend and fellow church member Grant Bennett talked about the Mitt Romney he knew.

While raising his family and pursuing his career, Mitt Romney served in our church, devoting 10, 15, and even 20 hours a week doing so. ...Drawing on the skills and resources of those in our congregation, Mitt provided food and housing, rides to the doctor, and companions to sit with those who were ill. He shoveled snow and raked leaves for the elderly. He took down tables and swept floors at church dinners. He was often the last to leave. Mitt challenged each of us to find our life by losing it in service to others. He issued that challenge again and again.

What do you think the chances are that the current occupant of the White House would voluntarily shovel snow and rake leaves for the elderly without any television cameras around?

5) Pam Finlayson talks about how Mitt Romney treated her family and her extremely ill child:Pam Finlayson gave one of the finest speeches at the Republican National Convention when shetalked about her family's experience with Mitt Romney.

Later, when Finlayson and her husband Grant had a baby girl born dangerously premature, the man who decades later would stand at the threshold of the presidency was a steady and supportive presence at the hospital.

“Kate was so tiny and very sick,” Finlayson recalled. “Her lungs not yet ready to breathe, her heart unstable, and after suffering a severe brain hemorrhage at three days old, she was teetering on the very edge of life.”

“As I sat with her in intensive care, consumed with a mother’s worry and fear, dear Mitt came to visit and pray with me,” she continued, as the partisan crowd listened in rapt silence. “I will never forget that when he looked down tenderly at my daughter, his eyes filled with tears, and he reached out gently and stroked her tiny back.”

“I could tell immediately that he didn’t just see a tangle of plastic and tubes; he saw our beautiful little girl, and he was clearly overcome with compassion for her.”

The little girl was slated for surgery around Thanksgiving, and Finlayson recalled Romney and his sons showing up with a Thanksgiving feast for the preoccupied parents. Finlayson said she later learned from Ann Romney that the food had been prepared by her husband.

Kate Finlayson survived, and the two families remained close, said Finlayson, who even babysat for the five “rambunctious” Romney sons before the family moved from Boston.

Last year, Kate Finlayson died at age 26 from complications she’d battled from birth, her mom said. And although Romney was in the midst of preparing his bid for the presidency, they remembered their old friends in yet another hour of anguish.

“When they heard of Kate’s passing, both Mitt and Ann paused, to personally reach out to extend us sympathy, and express their love,” Finlayson said.

“When the world looks at Mitt Romney, they see him as the founder of a successful business, the leader of the Olympics, or a governor,” she said. “When I see Mitt, I know him to be a loving father, man of faith and caring and compassionate friend."

6) Mitt Romney and his sons saved a family and their dog from drowning: Mitt Romney saw people in trouble and he didn't wait for the government to save them, he made a REAL gutsy call, anddid what he had to do to save their lives.

But way back in the summer of 2003, the then-Massachusetts governor made the news for a very different reason: He helped save a Tewksbury family from drowning in New Hampshire’s Lake Winnipesaukee.

The Morrisseys of Tewksbury were motoring their vintage wooden boat through the large lake on July 4 weekend that year when, around sunset and about 300 yards from shore, the vessel began taking on water. Robert Morrissey attempted to dial 911 on his cell phone, only to lose the device in the water as the boat started sinking rapidly.

That’s when Romney, who owns a home on the shore of the lake, and two of his sons jumped on jet skis and rode out to assist the six people, along with the family dog, struggling in the water.

The Romneys took two of the passengers ashore, and others in the area helped the rest of the family—and the dog, too — make it back to land without injury.

7) Mitt Romney pays for the college education of two boys who were left as quadriplegics after a car wreck: As you read this, imagine how you'd feel about Mitt Romney if you were Mark and Sheryl Nixon. Americans would be fortunate to have someone like Mitt Romney doing his best to try to help them.

Mark and Sheryl Nixon, along with their sons Reed and Rob and their daughter Natalie, told of a car accident that left Reed and Rob quadriplegics. Although the Nixon family knew of Romney and Romney had served as their Mormon stake president, they weren't well acquainted.

Reed and Rob returned home from rehab in the late fall, near Christmas, Mark said. Around that time, Romney called and said he'd like to do something for the two boys. So Romney, his wife Ann, and three of their sons brought Christmas gifts to the family.

While Romney later offered to pay for Reed and Rob's entire college education, that Christmas Eve visit stands out in Mark's mind, he said, because instead of vacationing in Utah, New England or the Caribbean, the Romney family was visiting the needy.

"That actually, to me, has been more important to me than the financial help he gave," Mark said.

"After the initial experience of showing up, he didn't check that off his list and say, 'I did my duty,'" Natalie added. "He has, year after year, shown up at 5K races to run the event and participate."

Social Extortion and the Borg

We live in an interesting time of contradiction.  We are a people of diversity and multiculturalism, and we as a nation are encouraged to be tolerant and accepting of people and beliefs that are different from us. On the surface this is a great idea, but sadly the ugly underbelly is that only SOME people are expected to be tolerant and accepting.

No doubt some of you think I'm talking about Christians versus Muslim extremists, and, considering recent events, that does apply.  However,  for the purpose of this blog, I'm talking about the venom and animosity directed at conservatives.  In general (here's my disclaimer ... not all liberals, just the loud ones), liberals are not expected to display that same courtesy, acceptance, and tolerance demanded of conservatives.

There's an old saying: If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't own one, if a liberal doesn't like guns he doesn't want anyone to own one. That, in a nutshell, is what has happened to our society ... we are split in two, those who simply don't participate in what they don't like, and those who want to squash what they don't like, preventing anyone else from participating either.

For example, liberals can mock people of faith, call them all kinds of names, and accuse them of "clinging to their guns and religion." Conservatives typically go on their merry way living their lives following their faith and knowing that those who make such comments come from a place of judgmentalism and ignorance. They move along. But if a single radio talk show host asks if a college coed demanding free birth control is a slut, the world explodes into irrationality and demands the host be taken off the air and punished for his transgression against their opinion .... that a single woman going to a $45,000/year law school is somehow entitled to free birth control without objection.

From these types of activists there exists a complete lack of respect for anyone's opinion that differs from theirs.  Those who disagree with their supreme opinion must be either assimilated or destroyed. Specific examples as of late include Chick-fil-A, the Boy Scouts, and the Catholic church.

Chick-fil-A donates both money and chicken sandwiches to non-profit organizations as part of their business plan. For including traditional marriage groups in their contributions, they have been vilified, protested against, and (illegally) threatened by city leaders and politicians. It isn't enough that there are dozens of other chicken places liberals could support instead, they had to squash Chick-fil-A for daring to support something other than gay marriage ... even though it isn't even legal in more than 40 states. The heck with those organizations that benefit from the financial and food contributions, Chick-fil-A must be damaged for not conforming to the liberally approved agenda.

The Boy Scouts of America is a private, religion-based, 501c3 service organization. It has produced Presidents, astronauts, and a great many leaders and heroes of our country. But Boy Scouting does not think it's appropriate to have homosexual leaders, and as a private organization they are entitled to their position whether or not we agree. However, they have been targeted for not supporting the gay agenda. The Boy Scouts are being punished by trying to get them kicked out of United Way (unsuccessfully), getting them thrown out of public parks for meetings and camping (no matter the mutually beneficial relationship) and corporate sponsors have been so heavily bullied that scouts lose their financial support.  Intel is the most recent victim of such social extortion. Boy Scouts will feel that financial loss, and there now may be boys in lower income communities who now won't be able to be involved in boy scouting.  The heck with them, Boy Scouts must be damaged for not conforming to the liberally approved agenda.

There are other chicken restaurants, there are other service organizations. Why can't such activists direct supporters of gay marriage and gay leaders to other businesses and organizations? Sadly, the answer appears to be that they truly don't care if a service or business is provided for our communities or what benefits they bring, if their liberal opinion is not embraced, the business/organization will be targeted for destruction.

Due to this kind of social extortion fewer boys can have scouting experiences and fewer jobs will become available in cities that sorely need new businesses.  The myopia involved in this kind of thinking and activism is staggering.

Also targeted in this battle is the Catholic church. This is even more heinous as our government is involved in overruling the church's right to sponsor hospitals and universities following the precepts of their own faith, forcing them to provide birth control and abortions within their health insurance coverage. The church's choice will ultimately come down to not offering health insurance at all, violating their faith and providing the birth control and abortions, or closing these facilities. Why? Because adherence to religious faith over the government's demands will not be tolerated, and that, my friends, is a blatant violation of our First Amendment rights.

Damaging the Boy Scouts, Chick-fil-A, or the Catholic church ultimately brings no benefit to society. It only feeds the self-importance this type of activism promotes, and it is harmful in how it removes services and opportunities for our communities. Why can't they just choose to go to KFC, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and public hospitals? Because that is not the purpose of their actions ... you aren't allowed to disagree with their ideas, their beliefs, their opinions. If you do, they are entitled to destroy you, and the hell with those who lose services and job opportunities over it.

Social extortion is essentially the Borg. Resistance is futile, assimilate or you will be destroyed.

What is this election about?

What this election IS about ....

• Our President's priorities
• Las Vegas taking priority over dead Americans in Libya
• Beyonce & Letterman taking priority over the Prime Minister of Israel
• Weakness in dealing with countries who shout "Death to America"
• Giving billions of dollars to countries who shout "Death to America"
• Our ambassadors' security detail only allowed to carry rubber bullets (if any at all)
• He's only attended 37% of security briefings during his Presidency
• An empty chair (because he's never there)
• Unconstitutional executive edicts
• Excessive regulations strangling business growth
• 8% unemployment for four years
• The national debt
• Increased deficit spending
• The true pros and cons of Obamacare
• Enormous tax increases for EVERYONE in January 2013
• No federal budget for three years (The Senate's job, the House passed one)
• No federal budget even submitted for three years
• Continuing to blame Bush
• Golf
• Class warfare
• False accusations of unearned wealth
• False accusations of anyone not paying "their fair share"
• Calling our country arrogant
• Fort Hood
• Professor Gates
• Toning down the rhetoric
• Clinging to guns & religion
• Occupy everything

What this election IS NOT about ...

• Romney's tax returns
• Romney daring to call attention to a serious issue in the middle east ahead of the President
• Romney mentioning the 47%

What the press thinks this election is about ....

• Romney's tax returns
• Romney daring to call attention to a serious issue in the middle east ahead of the President
• Romney mentioning the 47%

It's not the video

This week showered our great nation with a barrage of heartbreaking events ....

1. The 11th anniversary or 9/11 where we again honor and mourn the more than 3000 people representing more than 90 countries were deliberately murdered
2. The murder of our American ambassador to Libya and three others, including former Navy SEALS.
3. An attack on our Embassy in Cairo
4. Attacks on a dozen or so more American embassies in other Middle Eastern countries.
5. The complete lack of focus of our President and our national press in addressing these events
6. Perpetuation of a deliberate lie that somehow an obscure Youtube video caused all this unrest. 
7. The shunning of the Prime Minister of Israel. 

The anniversary of 9/11 is always a challenge for Americans. We need to remember, we need to honor those who were killed, especially those who gave their lives in trying to save others. It is an anniversary of national pride as much as anything else ... and it should never, ever be used as an opportunity to politicize.  As a nation, our thoughts and/or prayers continue to go out to those who lost loved ones, the lives that were forever shattered, and the long-lasting scar on our nation as a whole. That scar is healing, but we will never be the same again.

How this event is handled is indicative of character, particularly in those who lead our country.  The first thing from the Romney campaign was a heart-felt statement from Governor Romney honoring those who died eleven years ago. The first word from the Obama campaign was a tweet asking people to volunteer to work for his campaign.  Um. Yeah. Not cool.  President Obama eventually got around to making a public statement about 9/11, but his priority that day was clearly his campaign, not the emotional state of our country.

On that same day this week, our Embassy in Cairo was attacked.  Protests, they called it.  Threats, fire, guns, violence ... that's not a protest, that's a riot.  A misguided statement came out of the Egyptian Embassy which, in essence, blamed the riots on an obscure youtube video. No one appears to know if this was an attempt to calm down the violence or even where the statement originated. It made no difference and appeared to inflame the mob even more.

Within hours Governor Romney called a press conference and decried the Embassy's statement insisting that this was not a time for Americans to be apologizing for anything. He, of course, tied the statement to the Obama administration because, well, Obama is the President and surely an embassy wouldn't make such a public statement without approval.  Romney was immediately vilified by the press for daring to speak out on a matter of foreign policy .... odd considering they've hammered him for months about NOT speaking out on matters of foreign policy. Our press is nothing if not fickle.

The following day we discovered our Ambassador to Libya had also been the victim of such a protest, as well as three others on his staff, that he had been murdered (some say raped as well) and his body was dragged through the streets of Benghazi while "protesters" celebrated their great victory over America.

Our President did not make a statement for almost 16 hours, and even then he echoed what Governor Romney said, that the Embassy statement was inappropriate and it wasn't his fault. He sniped about Governor Romney a little and emotionlessly reported the death of our Ambassador.  Then he hopped a plane to Las Vegas for a fundraiser.

Wait.  What??  Yep, our President, clearly consumed with concern for our representatives abroad and the blatant attacks on our soil, flew off to the party city of our country to hold a personal pep rally and raise some more campaign contributions.  In other words, that 3 a.m. phone call and he refused to answer the phone.

Governor Romney held a press conference to answer questions about these events.  The press asked him eight questions, seven of them were the same question challenging him on his "tone" in making a statement too early in the events to know what was going on in Cairo or Libya.  Of course his statements were correct and eventually validated by President Obama, so they couldn't jump on him for that, so it was about his "tone" and "jumping the gun."  Except he didn't.  He made a statement to us as Americans about what had happened and reassuring us.  

So we have a Governor acting Presidential and a President acting like a frat boy and the press focusing their more of their attention and venom on the responsible adult in the room instead than reporting on the actual terrorist attacks and murders. Our nation is under attack, folks, how about you keep your eye on the ball?

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to notice that the White House and everyone else associated with this administration are blaming some obscure Youtube video for the riots & murders.  In doing so they are ignoring actual evidence of more logical reasons .... 

• These attacks occurred on 9/11
• The mobs were chanting "We are all Usama"
• At least one of the mobs burned President Obama in effigy
• Some of the rioters stated that these attacks were in retaliation for the death of one of their #2 leader by an unmanned drone in Pakistan
• Most people have not actually seen the video, they were told about it by their clergy 

Isn't it more likely that the rioting & murdering took place because our President and his Vice President continue to chant"Usama is dead and GM is alive?" Wouldn't bragging about the death of Usama bin Laden inflame these so-called protesters or even inspire them to plan an attack on our nation/embassies?  

Is it rational to call any attacks on our nation that take place on 9/11 a coincidence?

Taking a back seat in all of this is the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is understandably getting a little nervous about Iranian development of nuclear weapons.  He asks for a meeting with our President while they are both in New York for the U.N. assembly, and the White House says no. NO? Our President, who claims our country is Israel's closest ally, won't meet with Netanyahu because of "scheduling," yet while he's in New York he's going to tape Letterman? So the phone is ringing again ... this time from Netanyahu who has genuine concerns that his country is going to blown off the face of the earth (as Iran has pledged to do), and again our President isn't even answering the phone.

It's both tragic and amusing that our President, who has criticized Romney's lack of foreign policy experience, isn't even attending security briefings while our country is under attack. Romney stood up to the plate and hit a home run with Americans, while Obama and the press continue to say he struck out.  It's ridiculous. It's asinine.

Our country deserves better.  Up until now this election has been about the poor economy and the only thing President Obama had to brag about was the death of bin Laden. Now it looks as if that one event has turned into the catalyst for rioting and terrorism against us, and his solution is to blame a youtube video.

It's time to think, people.  Voting for Obama is voting for more of this national immaturity and tolerating more of the blame game from the leader of the free world.  Let's get someone in there who actually WANTS the job instead of President Obama who clearly prefers running for the job rather than actually doing the job.