Romney Supporters: "Forget The Polls, Romney Will Win"

Add polling data to the growing list of things Republicans and Democrats don’t see eye to eye on.

With Barack Obama, by the reckoning of most polls, surging ahead of challenger Mitt Romney in recent weeks, many prominent Republicans have begun questioning the methodology, and the motives, of the pollsters. The skepticism has trickled down to the local level.

At Romney’s Sept. 28 rally at Valley Forge Military Academy—a state where he faces, according to election forecaster Nate Silver of fivethirtyeight.com, an 8.6 point deficit and has just a three percent chance of winning—each of the attendees Patch spoke with expressed the view that recent polling data isn't an accurate reflection of the state of the race.

Poll Dance

Sharon Kanze is among the dubious. The problem, to her mind, is this: it’s a broadly accepted political truism that voters are more likely to support candidates who they perceive as doing well. So left-leaning pollsters, aided by members of the media with sympathetic views, have gamed the system to give the president a reelection nudge.

More News: New Effective Battle Cry of the Republicans

“That’s why I think they’re being manipulated in that direction,” the Romney supporter explained from her spot in line outside the academy. “The press is just so pro-Obama.”

Polly Beckham, a Romney volunteer out of Ambler, doesn’t have quite as fully-formed views as Kanze’s about the hows and whys of the polling problem, but she shares her sense that there’s a growing disconnect between how the race is being reported and the actual facts on the ground.

“I work in the Conshohocken Ryan/Romney office, and I talk to people. I’ve had people on the line who have said, for instance, a Democratic leader in Aliquippa, said ‘I’m so sick of this environment, I’m voting Republican.’”

She added, “There’s a lot going on below the surface. I think we’re about even in Pennsylvania.”

Brian Peppel, the head of the Phoenixville Republican Committee and a key player in Romney’s Chester County campaign, said, polls aside, there are other important indicators that auger well for his candidate.

Century Fox Analysis: American Issues at stake in elections

Because TV ads are prohibitively expensive in Pennsylvania, both campaigns have focused on the “ground game”—old-fashioned, get out the vote efforts—and in that area the Romney team, Peppel says, is well ahead of the competition.

“The voter contacts we’ve made in Chester County have surpassed the last two elections already. And we’re leading the nation in voter contacts and get out the vote efforts,” he said.

“Pennsylvania is in play, despite what people are saying.”

Bad Intentions, or Just Bad Technique?

Congressman Jim Gerlach (R-6), who spoke at the rally, told Patch he thinks the polls are off, but attributed their shortcomings more to bad methodology than ideology.

“[Pollsters] are using the wrong turnout model in their polling. If you’re using the 2008 turnout models, you’re using the wrong models, because Republicans have more voter intensity right now than Democrats. That’s the opposite of what it was four years ago,” said the congressman who is, by measure of the very polls he criticized, a heavy favorite to return to Washington for his sixth term.

Gerlach also threw cold water on the notion that the impression of a lead in a campaign necessarily becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“I’ve been in this before, it cuts both ways,” he said. “It might depress your turnout.”

Edward Kochman, a Romney supporter who has residences in King of Prussia and Florida—“Two swing states,” he noted—is similarly optimistic.

“I’m very glad that the pollsters are saying Obama has a lead,” he laughed. “I hope the Democrats will stay home hoping he doesn’t need their help again.”

EXPLORE: World News     Romney     Ann Romney     Paul Ryan     Obama    Todd Akin   Jillian Manus   Obama's Economic Patriotism     Akin's Apology    Obama's Remarks  White House     Medicare     U.S      Religion     CBO    Voters Undecided    Clint Eastwood          Bill Clinton        Moody's Investor Service     Curing U.S Economy    Obama Vs Romney       Pelosi      Romney's Secret Video     Sarah Palin     Madonna

Read More

Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

Follow @centuryfoxpost

Jared Followill And Martha Patterson Got Married In Lucchese Boots

Four months after announcing their engagement, Kings of Leon's bassist Jared Followill and model girlfriend Martha Patterson tied the knot in a casual affair. The wedding was held outdoor in Charlotte, Tennessee on Saturday, September 29.

The wedding picked a rustic theme with the bride and groom wearing Lucchese boots during the ceremony. Friends and family including Followill's bandmates stayed around for a celebration at the rustic Front Porch Farms after the ceremony. "They had a great farm-to-table cuisine with all of their favorite things. It was down home and very real. It was very much true to their style," a source told People mag. 

More News: Anne Hathaway gets married.

Followill tweeted a photo of them after the wedding. The 21-year-old bride was wearing a Monique Lhullier gown while the groom and his groomsmen went with Gucci suits.

"Marrying my best friend today. I'm the luckiest girl in the world," Patterson tweeted. Followill also shared his own, "Today, I get married. It's the biggest step I've ever taken. I've dreamed about this day since I was a little girl." He proposed to Patterson in April after dating for only a few months with a four-carat cushion cut diamond ring, which he designed himself. After the wedding, the 25-year-old tweeted again, "Aaaaaand I'm married. Happiest man in the world."

Jared Followill is the fourth and final member of Kings of Leon to get married. The other three, Nathan Followill, Caleb Followill and Matthew Followill, have either been parents or will be. 

EXPLORE: Celebrity    New York Fashion   Shakira      Elisabetta Canalis     Primetime Emmy Awards      Emmy Award Winners        Leighton Meester   Jessica Simpson      Malin Akerman  

 Anne Hathaway

Read More

Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

Follow @centuryfoxpost

Anne Hathaway Gets Married On Beautiful Private Estate

Anne Hathaway is a married woman. The actress walked down the aisle on Saturday night during a beautiful ceremony in breathtaking Big Sur, California, and by all accounts, the nuptials exchange went swimmingly. 

She and longtime boyfriend Adam Shulman are committed to going through life together, and now, they have more than one hundred witnesses to prove it.

According to People, the ceremony took place at a private estate that was altered to make the property a bit more rustic and in congruence with the surrounding scenery. 

Branches and other bits of nature were reportedly brought in to help achieve the effect. Hathaway wore a custom design from her friend Valentino Garavani, and considering no one has yet mentioned Shulman’s clothes, it’s a safe bet he opted for something within the normal bounds of tradition.

These two have always been an intensely private couple. They didn’t even release a statement admitting they were engaged until pictures of a rock on her finger forced their hand. Thus, it’s highly unlikely either will begin outlining more details about the wedding than we have now. We more than a hundred guests, some of whom are probably celebrities, however, it seems likely one of them will spill at least a few beans in the near future.

Pop Blend’s sincerest congratulations go out to Hathaway and Shulman. Here’s to hoping this is the last relationship for both. 

EXPLORE: Celebrity     New York Fashion    Shakira      Elisabetta Canalis       Primetime Emmy Awards        Emmy Award Winners        Leighton Meester   Jessica Simpson      Malin Akerman

Read More

Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

Follow @centuryfoxpost

Spain to Borrow $267 Billion of Debt Amid Rescue Pressure

Spain plans to borrow 207.2 billion euros ($266.5 billion) next year, the Budget Ministry said today, as pressure builds for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to tap the European rescue fund instead of financial markets.

Spain’s debt will widen to 90.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2013 as the state absorbs the cost of bailing out its banks, the power system and euro-region partners Greece, Ireland and Portugal. This year’s budget deficit will be 7.4 percent of economic output, Budget Minister Cristobal Montoro said at a press conference. Spain’s 6.3 percent target will be met because it can exclude the cost of the bank rescue, he said.

The budget “seemed to be an indication that Spain would be asking for some official financing soon,” Megan Greene, director of European economics at Roubini Global Economics LLC, said in a Bloomberg radio interview Sept. 28. “There’s huge political pressure on Spain already.”Spain’s borrowing plans may test investors’ willingness to continue financing the government with the European Central Bank waiting to buy the country’s debt should Rajoy agree to conditions. The government this past week unveiled 43 measures designed to boost economic growth that Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said go beyond the European Union’s recommendation for Spain’s restructuring.

Maturities Shorten

Spanish 10-year bonds rallied late on Sept. 28 on speculation the nation may request a bailout over the weekend. The yield on the securities fell 1 basis point to 5.94 percent after earlier breaching 6 percent. The cost of insuring the nation’s debt against default fell 25 percent since August, the biggest monthly drop since January 2011.

Spain intends to cover 41 percent of its new financing needs by selling treasury bills and 51 percent from bonds, increasing the share of short-dated notes in circulation to 15.7 percent, the ministry said in its so-called yellow book, which provides details of the budget.

Century Fox Report: Spain sinks, many in Catalonia want out.

The average maturity of Spanish borrowing will fall to about 5.8 years from 6.3 at the end of 2012. Net debt sales will total 48 billion euros with 159.2 billion euros of issuance used to cover securities that mature next year. Last year’s budget deficit was revised upwards to 9.4 percent after including the cost of bank rescues, which will push the debt-to-GDP ratio up 17 percentage points to 85.3 percent in 2012.

The 207.2 billion euro gross debt issuance forecast for 2013 compares with a forecast of 192 billion euros for 2012 made at this time last year. Spain has sold 145.4 billion euros of debt so far this year.

Stress Test

“Rescuing the banks comes at a big cost,” said Thomas Costerg, an economist at Standard Chartered Plc in London. “The upward revision of the ‘all-in’ deficit may fuel fears about next year’s budget deficit targets.”

The banking system needs 59.3 billion euros of additional capital to cover losses from investments in real estate, the Bank of Spain and the Economy Ministry said yesterday. The nation will probably draw about 40 billion euros of that capital from the European rescue fund, Deputy Economy Minister Fernando Jimenez Latorre said yesterday.

Montoro outlined on Sept. 27 about 13 billion euros of tax hikes and spending cuts for next year to meet Spain’s budget deficit target of 4.5 percent of GDP next year.

‘Achilles’ Heel’

The cuts will narrow the central government deficit by 7 billion euros in 2013 as the economic slump stretching into a sixth year undermines tax income. Even that prognosis is hostage to the government’s forecast of a 0.5 percent contraction next year.

“The Achilles’ heel of this budget is the economic outlook,” said Jose Ramon Pin, a professor of public administration at IESE business school in Madrid. “If it proves accurate, the numbers will stack up.”

Economists forecast that growth will contract 1.3 percent, almost three times the government’s forecast, according to the median of 21 responses in a Bloomberg survey. Such a result will force Montoro to increase the 3.9 billion-euro reduction in spending cuts he’s imposed on ministries or reverse an increase in pension spending if he’s going to meet his target.

Before that, Rajoy may decide the conditions the EU will set on a bailout are an acceptable price to lower an interest bill on public debt that Montoro forecasts will jump 34 percent to 38.6 billion euros without intervention. That forecast assumes Spanish 10-year bond yields average 5 percent next year compared with an average of 5.966 so far in 2012.

“We aren’t in the euro to finance ourselves at these rates,” Montoro said today. “Those differentials in the risk premium make no sense in a monetary union. As soon as markets realize that the institutions are solid, they will ease.”

It’s more probable that Spain will need a bailout to lower its borrowing costs, said Greene at Roubini Global Economics. Once the premier has got past regional polls in the Basque Country and Galicia on Oct. 21, he has to face more than 20 billion euros of bond redemptions. The government must repay a 5.3 billion-euro floating-rate note due Oct. 29 and a 15 billion- euro bond that matures Oct. 31.

“I do think we’ll see Spain asking for help before then,” Greene said.

EXPLORE:  World News       Spain Out On Streets        Madrid Protestors       Spain Sinks 

Read More

Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

Follow @centuryfoxpost

True Story: Wake Up, Its About Your Love

Diana was our General Manager whose husband died suddenly of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insight with us.

With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said, " I would like to share with all of you a thought that is unrelated to work, but which I feel is very important.
     
 As she spoke, tears in her eyes became visible to all of us..With efforts she was holding them back. She said "A day  would come when you have your loved one in your life.Then all you have to do is love him and hold on to him.Because one day when he is not there with you to hold your hand and care for you.That day you would want to go back and tell him again and again that you love him and that you cannot live without him..But it would be too late then.
        "None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end. It can be taken away at any moment. Perhaps this is God's way of telling us that we must make the most of every single day."

Her eyes began to water as she went on, "So I would like you all to make me a promise..Value your love more than anything else.Or someday he may just not be there".

Everybody was completely quiet. That day we learnt the most valuable lesson of our life..But for a few of us it was too late.Wake up if it is still not too late for you.


EXPLORE:  Lifestyle         Anti Ageing Tips         Beat Bloat     Curvy Figure        Sexy Legs     Wrinkle Free Skin           Flat Tummy      Power Nap        Dress Colour     Your Walk      Beauty Blunders    Vitamin A         Prevent Hairfall        Jogging         Stretch Marks      Working Mothers        Minestrone Soup        Rainbow Fruit Salad

Read More

Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

Follow @centuryfoxpost

Panic And Scare Grips Israel

The Haaretz Internet site published a survey on Thursday showing that half of Israelis are concerned for the survival of the country in the event of a confrontation with Iran.

 The public, it appears, isn’t worried any more about the casualty toll that the rockets could produce, or the destruction of our economy. These are small potatoes for the public. According to the poll, we have gone one stage further.

Now the public fears for the actual existence of Israel. It’s possible, according to public opinion, that the State of Israel could cease to exist following this much-hyped war with Iran. In short, the second Holocaust is here. Put out your hand and touch it. Another two or three historic speeches from the prime minister and we are there.

Century Fox Report: Iran warns that it will demolish Israel.

This is the primary achievement of Binyamin Netanyahu’s policy. Panic as diplomacy. Some 64 years of blood, sweat and tears, unprecedented achievements of a state established on the ashes of the Holocaust, which became a regional superpower with huge strength, have gone up in the smoke of rhetoric.

Before his address to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, he could pat himself on the back. The Israeli public has demonstrated that if you repeat something enough times, as exaggerated as it is, it will finally be absorbed. Even though the reality, by the way, is nothing close to the situation he describes.

A war with Iran will not pose any danger to the existence of Israel. Iran, at least for now, does not have the ability to cause Israel significant strategic harm. Its missiles, whose that can penetrate the various defense mechanisms that Israel has developed (which, obviously, no other country has) would cause only limited damage.

More News: Iran-"Israeli strike may lead to World War III"
Hezbollah’s arsenal would inflict much more damage, but this too would not result in anything we haven’t encountered before. The 1948-49 War of Liberation was much more dangerous, the Six Day War was much more scary, the surprises of Yom Kippur were much more disastrous, and the second intifada was not a pleasant afternoon stroll either.

Israel knows how to deal with problems, better than any other country in the world. The damage that we can cause to the other party is so much more. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah knows that he he fires his ammunition at us, Lebanon will be destroyed. They know this in Gaza, too.

And the expected damage in Iran in the case of a confrontation with Israel would be much heavier than the damage caused here.

And yet, half of Israeli citizens, almost 4 million women and men, fear that Israel could stop existing if a war breaks out with Iran. Really.

What is so fateful here? Relations with America. They are really crucial to our future. Without the United States to lean on, without the F-15s and F16s and the jets that go under the radar, the Apache helicopters and the spare parts and the bombs and the missiles from the huge US arsenal that are already here and represent an insurance policy for the future, without the intelligence and the economic deterrent, without the technological and moral support, and without the knowledge of the whole world that America stands behind Israel in every scenario and in any weather, that we and they are one, we really are in existential danger.

It is difficult to imagine Israel in the past few decades without America. It is more important, even, than the Iranian nuclear program. Think about it. It is important in the event that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons (because this presumably will happen only thanks to America), and it is so much more important if Iran does, ultimately, become a nuclear power (in which case, America’s back will turn into a real rock of our existence).

And it is this, if you haven’t noticed, that Netanyahu is harming. Never has an Israeli prime minister been so unwanted a personality among the US administration as Netanyahu is today.

We can only hope that we will be able to find a way to live with this.

EXPLORE:  World News       Iran       Israel      Panetta Report On Iran       World War III       Iran President Interview       

Read More

Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

Follow @centuryfoxpost

Fierce Clashes In Syria's Aleppo As Fire Engulfs Souk

ALEPPO, Syria — Troops shelled rebel positions in Aleppo on Sunday after a night of fierce fighting for control of Syria's second city where a fire tore through a historic souk, monitors said.

In Damascus province, soldiers backed by aerial firepower stormed the rebel stronghold of Harasta as regime forces carried out arrest raids in the town of Zabadani, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Clashes were reported elsewhere in the northern province of Aleppo, where rebel mortar fire damaged two helicopters at the Al-Nairab military airport, said the group which relies on a network of activists on the ground.

Century Fox Report: World Powers urge the Syrian opposition to unite.

The fighting was accompanied by intense overnight shelling that continued into the morning, destroying several houses and killing at least three people in Aleppo city, including two civilians and a rebel fighter, it said.

Aleppo, Syria's most populous city, has been the main battleground for the past two months of the country's 18-month conflict, and has been gripped by fighting on an unprecedented scale in recent days. And lately the Syrian Rebels seemed to be struggling against the army forces of Assad.

Much of the fighting has centred in and around the Old City, and this is believed to have sparked the fire in the centuries-old souk which destroyed many shops, said an AFP correspondent and the Observatory.

Elsewhere, troops trying to dislodge rebels fired heavy artillery into areas of the southern province of Daraa, central region of Hama and Idlib in the country's northwest, said the Observatory.

In the northeastern province of Hasakeh, the army fired on several houses, injuring several people, as security forces conducted arrest operations in the coastal city of Banias, it added.

Violence across Syria killed more than 118 people on Saturday -- 48 civilians, 41 soldiers and 29 rebels, the Observatory said, adding to its toll of over 30,000 killed since an anti-regime uprising erupted in March 2011.

EXPLORE:  World News     UN   Ban Ki-moon  Syria    Abu Allawi   Assad     Iran     Iraq     War   Drug War     Syrian Sad Stories    Afghanistan    Obama And Israel    Warplane      Dariya     Taliban    Aleppo Assault     Israel     UN In Syria     Syrian Rebels      Lebanon  

Read More

Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

Follow @centuryfoxpost

Telangana March: Hyderabad Tense As Students Clash With Cops

 

HYDERABAD: Tension prevailed in parts of Hyderabad as hundreds of pro-Telangana activists were reaching the Necklace Road on Sunday to participate in a march to demand separate Telangana state.

Telangana protagonists from various parts of Hyderabad and neighbouring districts started reaching the venue on the bank of Hussain Sagar lake in the heart of the city since Sunday morning. Protestors were trying to take out rallies to reach the Necklace Road.

Tension prevailed at Osmania University, the nerve centre of the movement for separate state, as students clashed with police.

Students, who wanted to take out a rally, were stopped by police at the main gate of the campus.

Century Fox report: Chief Minister and the Telangana Agitation
Raising slogans of 'Jai Telangana', the students removed barricades and pelted stones at the police personnel. Although police fired teargas shells, hundreds of students were still present on the campus, determined to take out a rally.

Police said that permission was given only for the march at the Necklace Road and that they would not allow any other rally.

There was also tension at Secunderabad Clock Tower as leaders and activists of CPI-ML New Democracy were prevented by police from taking out a rally.

The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the Bharatiya Janata Party, and various organisations of students, employees and lawyers also planned to take out rallies from various places in the city to join the main march at the Necklace Road.

Leaders of the Congress party from Telangana, including eight MPs, and leaders of the Telugu Desam Party ( TDP) from the region are also likely to participate in the protest, demanding that the central government take immediate steps for statehood to the Telangana region.

JAC convenor M. Kodandaram and leaders of other parties condemned what they called the government's conspiracy to foil the march by cancelling trains and buses from various parts of Telangana to Hyderabad.

They alleged that hundreds of people coming to Hyderabad from various districts were arrested by police.

"On one hand the government has given permission for the march but on the other it is resorting to repressive measures," said Kodandaram.

Another Telangana leader and state legislator, N. Janardhana Reddy warned that if the government tried to foil the march, they would disrupt the UN global biodiversity meet opening in the city Monday.

EXPLORE:  World News     India      Telangana Agitation     Manmohan Singh   Sonia Gandhi   CWC   Coalgate Scams         Pak     Indian President     Mumbai     Assam        26/11 Riots      

Read More

Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

Follow @centuryfoxpost