IntoxiNation

In my previous post I mentioned how the IRS targeting political groups is an actual scandal and one that needs investigated and addressed. I also mentioned how the last thing we need is to turn something so serious into a run of the mill, beltway witch hunt. Well that's exactly what some of the darlings on the right is planning on doing:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) on Monday called on the IRS commisioner to resign in the wake of the agency's admission that staffers in the Cincinatti branch targeted conservative political groups for extra scrutiny in the run-up to the 2012 elections.

"[I]t is clear the IRS cannot operate with even a shred of the American people’s confidence under the current leadership," Rubio wrote in a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. "Therefore, I strongly urge that you and President Obama demand the IRS Commissioner’s resignation, effectively immediately. No government agency that has behaved in such a manner can possibly instill any faith and respect from the American public."

But there is a big problem with Rubio's statement here:

Commissioner Douglas H. Shulman, who was appointed by President Bush in 2008 and held by President Obama, left the agency in Nov. 9, 2012. Any pre-election misconduct would have had to occur on his watch. The current acting commissioner is Steven T. Miller -- a permanent replacement has not been nominated.

That's right. The man who let this happen under his watch was a Bush appointee and isn't there anymore. To me this should mean that Rubio is disqualified from any hearings into the matter, because he is not aware of the facts. The fact is the commissioner at the time of the scandal was a Bush appointee. Oh and that's not "blaming Bush" as Drudge and many on the right have claimed; that's a statement of FACT, which is the basis of what we need in these hearings.

Tags:

internal revenue service,

Douglas H. Shulman,

Steven T. Miller,

Jack Lew,

Marco Rubio

On That IRS Scandal

jamie — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:40:12 +0000

With news that the IRS was targeting conservative groups, the right has a true scandal on their hands. The IRS is not to be used as a political tool and this kind of activity should give everyone of us reason to worry, despite our ideological beliefs.

Luckily Congress is going to be holding hearings into this scandal, as they should. But, as with any of these scandals, comes time for political posturing. For example, yesterday George Will actually floated impeachment of President Obama over this. Of course we don't know if anybody in the administration was actually involved and the IRS commissioner at the time of the scandal was actually a Bush appointee.

Now if it does turn out that someone in the Obama administration was directly involved, I would support action against that person. If it turns out that Obama himself was involved, then let's start the impeachment process and I will back it 100%. But what we don't need right now is intellectual midgets, like George Will, out there spreading false blame. We also don't need Congress to distort the investigation into a political witch hunt. After all, we are investigating those political witch hunts and justice is not served by engaging in yet another. Instead we need a truly open investigation that examines all the facts and only the facts.

And something else to remember on this. Republicans had every reason to rid themselves of the Tea Party. After all, the Tea Party has proven to be a much bigger asset to the left than the right. They go out and primary Republicans, who have held onto seats for a long time, and end up winning that primary, only to lose the seat to a Democrat in the fall. The Tea Party is the very reason the GOP is dying today, so motivation for a Republican to go after them is much higher than that of a Democrat.

Tags:

republican party,

tea party,

internal revenue service

Wingnut Hypocrisy Of The Week

jamie — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:54:27 +0000

Yesterday Bill Richardson did a special web interview for This Week. In it he was asked what he thought about Ted Cruz:

ABC News: Do you think he represents most Hispanics with his politics?
RICHARDSON: “No, no. He’s anti-immigration. Almost every Hispanic in the country wants to see immigration reform. No, I don’t think he should be defined as a Hispanic. He’s a politician from Texas. A conservative state. And I respect Texas’ choice. But what I don’t like is… when you try to get things done, it’s okay to be strong and state your views, your ideology. But I’ve seen him demean the office, be rude to other senators, not be part of, I think, the civility that is really needed in Washington.”

Breitbart instantly noticed this and did a post. Soon after all the wingnuts went into outrage mode, including The American Thinker:

And yes, Richardson is Hispanic himself. It doesn't matter. Bigotry is bigotry wherever it rears its head. And in that interview, Richardson took bigotry out of the closet and paraded it in front of anyone watching.

I don't think Richardson should have really said what he did either, but this exposes the blindness to the bigotry that really exists within the GOP today. For example. Here is a clip of Rush Limbaugh in 2011 saying Obama isn't "authentically black":

Authentically black? The fat, white hate monger can tell people who is and isn't black and the GOP continues to slobber all over him.

And that wasn't the only time Limbaugh has done this. Here he is almost exactly a year later:

Limbaugh says Obama isn't black because he doesn't have "slave blood"

But again, it's OK for the white guy to question other races, but not people of that race. It's like when Republicans tell me what I should/shouldn't think of Jewish people and Israel. Somehow they are the experts, despite me being of Jewish decent and even having a great uncle who was a rabbi.

This is the right's race problem today. This is why more and more people are fleeing the GOP and either going independent or Democrat. It isn't so much that they make these kind of racist statements, but rather the fact that they don't see a damn thing wrong with them. They cheer on Rush for saying Obama isn't black, but go after Bill Richardson for saying he doesn't think Cruz should be called Hispanic, and then don't see a problem with it. That is some serious blindness happening there and that will continue the purge of Republicans around this country.

Tags:

bill richardson,

Ted Cruz,

This Week,

rush limbaugh,

racism

The Cost Of Propaganda

jamie — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:54:20 +0000

There is no mistake that the number one listened to talk radio show is Rush Limbaugh. In 2012 he enjoyed reaching 15 million pairs of ears per week. Being such a big name also comes with a big price. In 2006 Limbaugh signed a 10 year contract worth $400 million with Clear Channel. But at what cost to Clear Channel?

Over at DailyKos, ProgLegs notices a little piece of news that was well hidden about Rush's employer:

Buried on the business page of mysanantonio.com today, so brief you could easily have missed it, was the news that Clear Channel Media Holdings just reported losses for the last quarter of 2012 of $191 million, and $424 million for all of 2012.

Clear Channel has been in trouble for a long time for a variety of reasons, but one factor that contributed to their losses in 2012 was the death spiral of their golden boy radio host Rush Limbaugh.

So the nation's biggest radio giant lost almost half a billion last year. And let's consider what Rush's impact is on this. Remember Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown student Rush went after for speaking out about the need for contraceptives? His little tirade against this woman ended up costing Clear Channel tons of advertisers. It was to the point Rush's show would have dead space during commercial breaks because no one wanted to be associated with him. Despite that, Clear Channel continues to carry such a toxic name.

That means the only motivation for Clear Channel has to be propaganda. If they are willing to take such big losses in order to keep the word of Rush alive, the typical motivation in a capitalistic system of profit is now null and void. This is really troubling considering that Clear Channel's sole existence depends upon the use of our public airwaves.

Given the size of Clear Channel and the importance of radio remaining a viable form of free communication, perhaps it's time for Clear Channel to either be split up or taken over. We need to retake our airwaves and get rid of the vile that is Rush Limbaugh. We need to return to real radio programming in this nation.

Or perhaps Clear Channel will continue their death spiral and just hope that the taxpayers will bail them out down the road.

Tags:

rush limbaugh,

Sandra Fluke,

clear channel

New Ricin Arrest - A Republican And Suspected Child Molester

jamie — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 17:02:13 +0000

The FBI has made a new arrest in the case of ricin letters sent to a U.S. Senator and the President. The charges come just days after charges against a previous subject, Paul Kevin Curtis, were dropped:

A spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed J. Everett Dutschke, the man at the center of the investigation into ricin-tainted letters sent to President Barack Obama and other officials, was arrested at his home in the wee hours of Saturday morning.

"James Everett Dutschke was arrested, without incident, at his residence in Tupelo, MS, at approximately 12:50 a.m. Saturday, April 27, by Special Agents of the FBI," Deborah Madden, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Jackson, Mississippi field office told Talking Points Memo.

When Curtis was arrested the right instantly went into the "OMG he's a Democrat" meme. Looking at the Facebook page of Curtis, it appears this is the case. But as you may recall, some big name rightwing bloggers continued to hound Curtis, even after being released. They even went as far as saying he actually committed the crime, without the man ever being charged.

But who is Dutschke? Well he is a taekwondo instructor, a musician in a blues band and a former Republican candidate for office.

Oh yeah, and the man is also out on charges of child molestation (or convicted if you go by the Jim Hoft standards of journalism).

Did I miss anything?

Wait. It also appears that Dutschke may have set-up Curtis in this case.

Yes, we have a Republican here, who may have sexually assaulted children as well as tried to frame and innocent person, and the wingnuts go silent! I guess this is part of the family values platform.

Tags:

J. Everett Dutschke,

Paul Kevin Curtis,

ricin

Wingnut Bloggers Have Already Convicted Paul Kevin Curtis

jamie — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:43:25 +0000

Innocent until proven guilty? Apparently that doesn't apply to the maniacs of the right, where they have already convicted Paul Kevin Curtis of sending the ricin laced letters. As I previously reported, the FBI has released Curtis and now the possibility of him being framed has surfaced. There are even reports that a former Mississippi Republican candidate may now be involved.

But that hasn't stopped right wing bloggers from their erroneous headlines. Here's Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit:

And over at the Right Scoop:

While Curtis has been charged, he has not been convicted, as these headlines suggest. I hope that Curis' lawyer, Christi McCoy, notices these headlines and proceeds legally. No one has the right to convict someone without due process.

Tags:

Christi McCoy,

Jim Hoft,

Paul Kevin Curtis

Ricin Suspect Released. Possible Framed??

jamie — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:34:56 +0000

Paul Kevin Curtis, who was arrested last week for sending ricin laced letters to President Obama and Senator Wicker, has been released from custody:

Jeff Woodfin, chief deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service in Oxford, Miss., said suspect Paul Kevin Curtis has been released from custody, though Woodfin said he doesn't know if there were any conditions on the release.

The development comes less than two hours after officials canceled a detention and preliminary hearing without explaining the reason for the change.

His lawyer Christi McCoy, who has been pushing for the charges to be dropped, said in a text message Tuesday that she could only confirm that her client has been released.

And now there is the suggestion that Curtis may have been framed:

McCoy said in court that someone may have framed Curtis, suggesting that a former business associate of Curtis' brother, a man with whom Curtis had an extended exchange of angry emails, may have set him up.

When news broke of Curtis being the suspect, the right quickly jumped on what appeared to be his liberal leanings. But something seemed weird about the entire thing. I couldn't finger it, but the whole story just seemed off. Now it appears my suspicions may have been right.

Tags:

Paul Kevin Curtis,

Biochemistry,

U.S. Marshals Service,

Christi McCoy

Why I'm Thankful Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Was Taken Alive

jamie — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:41:02 +0000

The 19 year old Boston Marathon bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was captured alive Friday night. While he had sustained some major injuries, thankfully he is still alive and now answering questions through writing:

The 19-year-old suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, who was seriously wounded and unable to speak, is awake and responding in writing to questions from authorities, according to tweets by ABC and NBC news networks.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is in the intensive care unit of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is responding sporadically, the ABC news network reported on its Twitter feed.

NBC's Pete Williams is also reporting Tsarnaev is writing answers to questions from law enforcement.

I saw and heard so many people upset that the suspect was still alive, instead wishing that the police would have just killed him. But we live in a world of terrorism, where intelligence is the best key. The best place to gain that intelligence is through captured suspects we can question. It's really hard to question someone once they are dead.

So I am thankful we were able to capture Tsarnaev and not kill him. We may be able to get information from him to prevent the next attack, which could be much larger. We may also find out motive and connections, which can lead to a much larger picture.

Sure we want to see the worst happen to a monster that can so easily kill and injure so many innocent people, but we also want to stop this from happening in the future. Hopefully law enforcement gains lots of valuable information from him. After that, give him a trial and let him face the death penalty, but not until we use him for everything we can.

Tags:

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev,

Pete Williams,

terrorism,

Boston Marathon Bombing,

Boston Marathon

Arrest! No Arrest! No Story Here, Move Along!

jamie — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 20:25:20 +0000

Today was a real treat in just how screwed up our media is. It all started when CNN reported that they have a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. That quickly changed to an arrest being made. Soon after Fox and the AP went with the same story. Suddenly, the Boston Police Department and FBI announce that no arrests have been made.

If you like roller coaster rides, then today was a big one! But instead of pulling into the station at the end of the ride, we ended up with some of our biggest names in news with a lot of egg on their face. So how does the media respond to such an utter-failure in journalism? Well, if you are Fox's Megyn Kelly, you go on the defense and try to switch the story back to the actual bombing.

They key part is about half way through, when Kelly went on this little rant:

Listen. Right now Mark we are talking about a media story, because the media is all over the board on this. But this is not about the media. This is about someone, who unleashed hell on our citizens on Monday afternoon when people were gathering for a sporting event, trying to support their loved ones and wound up getting their legs blown off or losing their lives, and that is the story, ok, that we are trying to cover.

But the media did become the story, and that was at the hands of the....wait for it......MEDIA!

Again, instead of confirming stories, then reporting, the media jumped the gun. In a day of ratings and "first to report" mentalities, the media jumped the gun and reported inaccurate developments in a tragic terrorist event that rocked our nation this week. People, for a moment, had a feeling that justice may have come, but that was quickly taken away and disappointment returned in greater proportions because of our media's failure.

Instead of trying to ignore what happened today, like Megyn Kelly wants us to do, instead the media organizations in our country need to take stock and realize that these type of ridiculous failures are the reason people turn to other sources to get their information. In short, the media needs to bring in some actual, journalistic standards, instead of resorting to this "jump the gun" reporting they have been engaging in for the past several years.

Tags:

CNN,

megyn kelly,

the Boston Marathon,

terrorism,

Boston Marathon Bombing,

fox news,

media failure

BREAKING: Arrest Made In Boston Marathon Bombing (UPDATE)

jamie — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:55:11 +0000

CNN is reporting that an arrest has been made in the bombing of Monday's Boston Marathon. The suspect was identified via numerous videotapes. No further details are available yet, but a nation is anxiously waiting to see who could cause such a horrible act of carnage and for what reason.

UPDATE (2:40pm edt)

Now they are saying no arrest has been made and Boston Police just sent out this tweet

Despite reports to the contrary there has not been an arrest in the Marathon attack.

— Boston Police Dept. (@Boston_Police) April 17, 2013

Sounds like another day of "no one knowing".

Tags:

CNN,

Boston Marathon,

terrorism,

breaking news

Intercepted Letter To President Obama Contains Suspicious Substance

jamie — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:05:20 +0000

It's like the early 2000's all over again:

The U.S. Secret Service has intercepted a letter addressed to President Barack Obama that contained a "suspicious substance."

A law enforcement official said the letter is very similar to one recently mailed to Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker. That letter tested positive Tuesday for poisonous ricin.

The official requested anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

There are reports that they have a suspect in the mailings to Sen. Wicker this week. If the two are connected then it appears we don't have some partisan hack engaging in this terrorism, but rather somebody out to just get our elected officials.

The only other thing I can think of is that Wicker was one of the 16 Republicans that voted to end the filibuster on extended background checks last week, so there could be that connection.

Tags:

barack obama,

roger wicker,

terrorism,

ricin

Senate Votes To Allow Debate On Expanded Background Checks

jamie — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:09:32 +0000

The Senate just voted 68-31 to move forward with debate on expanding background checks, a measure overwhelmingly supported by the public, including 91% of veterans in a new poll.

Of course we still have people out there that think expanded background checks won't help, like John Cornyn:

Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the second-ranking Senate Republican, called the bill under consideration “a symbolic gesture” and said Congress should focus more on bolstering federal funding for mental-health programs: “We need to make sure that the mentally ill are getting the help they need, not guns.”

I totally agree with what Cornyn is saying here and have been saying mental health needs to be part of the gun violence debate. After all, only a mad person can go in and take so many innocent lives. But this coming from Cornyn is rather curious.

Here's a pop quiz. Which President worked hardest to destroy mental health in this country?

If you said Ronald Reagan, you would be right. During his tenure as President, Reagan cut funding for mental health treatment and research. He decided to move mental health from the public sector to the private sector and with that we started seeing the closure of our nation's mental health facilities.

When you think about gun violence in our nation, especially these mass shootings, and then consider when our mental health services were cut, you start seeing a trend. These big shootings started becoming more epidemic in the 90's and have continued growing since. On top of that, most of the shooters are ones who have grown up under the system that Reagan built. See the trend?

So to hear a Republican like John Cornyn say we need to spend more in mental health is really a contradiction to what the hero of the Republican Party, Ronald Reagan, did. That means I can't really believe in what Cornyn is saying and think it's just another smokescreen to ignore the issues.

Hopefully I'm wrong on that, as I strongly believe we need to invest in the mental health of our nation, but I got a funny feeling I'm not. We haven't heard enough debate about mental health since Newtown, and that is a big part of the debate that we should be having.

Tags:

Newtown,

mental health services,

republican party,

john cornyn,

ronald reagan,

gun control

What's In A Name?

jamie — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 20:01:08 +0000

When I talk to a client about what their website should do, the number one point I hit on is recognition. You want people to see your site and know what it is you are trying to sell. A big part of that comes from the name.

So if you look at this site, what do you think?

(click for full version)

You do get that the site is NRCC, but what does that mean? Sure, we follow politics, so we will instantly recognize NRCC as being the acronym for the National Republican Congressional Committee, but fur the majority of people out there, they have no idea. As matter of fact, the site gives a feeling that they are avoiding the word Republican, until you get to the very bottom.

Having worked in the web business for over a decade, I have worked with countless PR professionals. They know what words sell and which ones don't. I'm sure the NRCC put money into research of this, and that is why they decided to hide the work "Republican" so hard on their new site, and that right there should tell us what Republican means in this country today - something not worth selling.

So, could this be the way in which Republicans heal after 2012?

A few weeks ago the GOP released their "autopsy" of the 2012 election. In that report a focus group used phrases such as "Scary", "Out of Touch", and "Stuff old Men" to describe the party. These are not phrases you want to hear when you are trying to win over a new generation of voters.

But instead of trying to redefine what the party stands for, it appears that the NRCC is just trying to disassociate themselves with the party, while maintaining the same positions that have failed the GOP in the past several years. Is this a fix? Absolutely not. Instead what we have is slight of hand.

It appears that the next few years are going to be more of the same out of the Grand OLE' Party, with "ole'" being the keyword. They are going to try and hide from the name, but not their positions, and that won't be enough to fool the new voters they need.

I say the NRCC needs to go back to the drawing board.

Tags:

national republican congressional committee,

web,

republican party

Is This How The Right Views Freedom And Liberty?

jamie — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:15:48 +0000

For all their talk about keeping government out of our lives and pursuing freedom, the Republican Party sure has a funny way of proving it. First up is this story out of Georgia:

The City Council of Nelson has approved an ordinance that requires each head of household to own a gun. The legislation passed unanimously and goes into effect in 10 days. Nelson, population about 1,300, is about 40 miles north of Atlanta.

So the government shouldn't have the right to force citizens to purchase healthcare, but they should be allowed to force citizens to purchase guns? Something seems funny there.

Then we had east to North Carolina, where this is the news of the day:

A bill filed by Republican lawmakers would allow North Carolina to declare an official religion, in violation of the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Bill of Rights, and seeks to nullify any federal ruling against Christian prayer by public bodies statewide.

Republicans. They love the Constitution, until it interferes with their true ideals of tyranny. But this is nothing new. We saw the same thing happen a couple of years ago when plans were out to build a mosque in New York City. Apparently "freedom of religion" should only apply to Christians.

And finally:

Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli has filed a petition with the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond asking the full 15-judge court to reconsider a decision by a three-judge panel last month that overturned the state’s sodomy law.

The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 on March 12 that a section of Virginia’s “Crimes Against Nature” statute that outlaws sodomy between consenting adults, gay or straight, is unconstitutional based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2003 known as Lawrence v. Texas.

A darling of the right, Cuccinelli wants to enforce laws saying what you and your partner can and can't do in the bedroom.

There you have 3 cases in the past 24 hours where Republicans yearn for greater control of government over our lives. They are even to the point that they don't give a damn about the Constitution in order to enforce it. It's also at a point where you can't say that this is a couple Republicans playing lone wolf. Instead we are seeing a distinct movement by the GOP as a whole.

And they wonder why the public perception of them is in such decline.

Tags:

Atlanta,

sodomy law,

republican party,

City Council of Nelson,

Kenneth Cuccinelli,

north carolina,

Georgia,

Virginia,

Law

GOP Chair: People Will Use Gay Marriage To Freeload

jamie — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:23:43 +0000

While a lot of people in the Republican Party have done a 180 on marriage equality, there is still a huge problem within the party. Take the comments this weekend of the chair of Georgia's Republican Party.

On Saturday the Marietta Daily Journal published a story, where chairwoman Sue Everhart warns that straight people would enter bogus marriages for "the benefits"

Everhart said while she respects all people, if same sex marriage is legalized across the country, there will be fraud.

“You may be as straight as an arrow, and you may have a friend that is as straight as an arrow,” Everhart said. “Say you had a great job with the government where you had this wonderful health plan. I mean, what would prohibit you from saying that you’re gay, and y’all get married and still live as separate, but you get all the benefits? I just see so much abuse in this it’s unreal. I believe a husband and a wife should be a man and a woman, the benefits should be for a man and a woman. There is no way that this is about equality. To me, it’s all about a free ride.”

All those gays and lesbians out there, fighting to enjoy the same rights as a straight couple are just interested in freeloading? I'm sorry, but this is total bullshit. I happen to know plenty of men and women, who are no longer in love and even see other people, yet they stay married just for the benefits. There is all kinds of proof of fraud from straight marriages like this, but none on same-sex marriage.

It's another strawman that the GOP is using to continue their platform of hate and fear. They also know this, which is why the Georgia GOP is refusing to talk about the comments.

The GOP keeps talking about changing and accepting that times are different than what they believe, but the leaders within the party sure don't show any signs of change. And when they continue to lose elections, the GOP will continue to blame the media and "freeloaders", while not looking at their own platform of hatred as their biggest problem. This is what being closed minded causes.

Tags:

republican party,

Sue Everhart,

Same-sex marriage,

Georgia

Sarah Palin - The Epitome Of Politician

jamie — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 15:23:24 +0000

No this isn't an endorsement of the "wink, wink" half-term Governor from Alaska. Instead it's an attempt to highlight that Sarah Palin is nothing more than a politician that engages in her "do as I say not as I do" form of leadership:

Sarah Palin attempted to relaunch her political career and her political action committee, SarahPAC, on Thursday with a Web video called “Loaded for Bear,” which presented the former Alaska governor as the new kingmaker for conservative populists in the GOP.

The video riffed off her speech at CPAC, in which Palin railed against “the big consultants, the big money men, and the big bad media.” But there’s an irony alert ahead: the current stated purpose of SarahPAC is to raise money ahead of the 2014 election—most of which will be spent on conservative consultants.

Palin is telling conservatives not to pay for consultants. Now that's a good idea in theory, but even Palin knows it is failed logic in our current state of democracy, so she goes out and hires consultants. And how much does she pay for these people?

But the real news comes when you look at how donors’ money was actually doled out: just $298,500 to candidates. The bulk of the rest of it, more than $4.8 million, went to—you guessed it—consultants.

Consultants have become a huge cancer on our political process, driving up the costs of running for office exponentially. The problem with Palin though is that she wants to act like the good guy in all this, but that's just an act. Instead she is still an enabler for the political consultant and those numbers are proof.

Tags:

republican party,

sarah palin,

political consultant

Tea Party Darling May Be In Serious Legal Trouble

jamie — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 19:04:16 +0000

There is no doubt about it that Michele Bachmann is a darling of the Tea Party and a heart throb for many wingnuts. It also turns out that she may be in some serious legal trouble, per The Daily Beast:

The Daily Beast has learned that federal investigators are now interviewing former Bachmann campaign staffers nationwide about alleged intentional campaign-finance violations. The investigators are working on behalf of the Office of Congressional Ethics, which probes reported improprieties by House members and their staffs and then can refer cases to the House Ethics Committee.

“I have been interviewed by investigators,” says Peter Waldron, a former Bachmann staffer who’s embroiled in his own fight with his former boss, involving his allegations of pay-to-play politics and improper payments by the campaign—making him one of several members of Bachmann’s inner circle who’ve fallen out with the woman they once hoped would become commander in chief. While he was careful to avoid specifics in regard to the investigating body, Waldron said that “investigators came [and] interviewed me and are interviewing other staff members across the country.”

Two other former staffers confirmed the existence of the investigation this weekend, and on Monday Bachmann’s campaign counsel, William McGinley, of the high-powered firm Patton Boggs, confirmed that the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) was looking into the congresswoman’s presidential campaign last year.

Maybe that explains why Bachmann is refusing to pay some campaign staffers. Of course this will just reinforce the belief the far-right has in Bachmann. They believe that our democracy should be an auction, as it symbolizes capitalism to them. Of course that is the worst parts of capitalism.

Tags:

michele bachmann,

House Ethics Committee,

ethics,

election 2012

George Zimmerman's Brother May Have Proven Race Was A Factor

jamie — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:32:26 +0000

Society

That tweet above was done by Robert Zimmerman, the brother of George Zimmerman, the alleged killer of Trayvon Martin:

Robert Zimmerman, Jr., brother of Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman, continued his everything-including-the-racist-kitchen-sink PR offensive on behalf of his brother by repeatedly tweeting a photo comparison of the teenager his brother shot, and De’Marquise Elkins, the 17 year-old who has been detained in the murder of a Georgia infant. Both pictures feature the young men flipping the middle finger at the camera, with the caption “A picture speaks a thousand words…Any questions?”

Zimmerman has, thus far, tweeted the comparison to the Anthony half of Opie and Anthony, Michael Moore, the NAACP, and a Breitbart News editor, as well as the NRA. If Zimmerman’s point is that anyone who uses that gesture is a murderer, then they’re going to have to arrest the entire Garden State Parkway. If you suspect that wasn’t his point, you might be right.

Sounds to me like Robert Zimmerman is becoming the prosecutions biggest asset, creating even more proof that George Zimmerman's actions last year could have been racially motivated. Other tweets make it even more obvious, posting things like:

Teen to West: “Do you want me to shoot your baby?” #TrayvonMartin to #GeorgeZimmerman : You’re gonna die tonight Motherf**ker”

As well as:

Lib media shld ask if what these2 black teens did 2 a woman&baby is the reason ppl think blacks mightB risky

But back to the original picture. If Zimmerman believes that someone giving the middle finger is indicative of them being a murder, then I would say we live in a country that is comprised of a vast majority of murderers, including many of our leaders.

And if I was on George Zimmerman's defense team, I would be telling my client that he needs to get his brother to shut his mouth. He's doing nothing at all to help the defense.

Tags:

George Zimmerman,

Trayvon Martin,

robert zimmerman

More Slimy Lies Of Right Wing Online Media

jamie — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:48:53 +0000

Let's face it, Tucker Carlson is slime. He has always been nothing but slime and it makes you wonder why any media, left or right, would have ever hired him. But once he ran his course with the networks and had to venture out on his own, he took his same, slimy brand and packaged it up into a website called The Daily Caller. Now it appears that Carlson is set to take on Rupert Murdoch to become the king of slime:

A top Dominican law enforcement official said Friday that a local lawyer has reported being paid by someone claiming to work for the conservative Web site the Daily Caller to find prostitutes who would lie and say they had sex for money with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.).

The local lawyer told Dominican investigators that a foreign man, who identified himself as “Carlos,” had offered him $5,000 to find and pay women in the Caribbean nation willing to make the claims about Menendez, according to Jose Antonio Polanco, district attorney for the La Romana region, where the investigation is being conducted.

I would love to see this hit the courts now and Menendez end up owning the little creep.

But let's think about this for a moment. What Tucker's site has allegedly done is right on course for the right wing online media. Look at Breitbart. They have used James O'Keefe to produce videos, edit them down to twist the facts and destroy the lives of countless people, including Shirley Sherrod, who lost her career because of these punks.

This is also a case where you can't say "hey the left does it too". I can not think of a single instance where the left purposely manufactured stories to destroy the lives of others. Now that's not to say there isn't any. I mean some no name blog could have done something, but on the right we are talking about the biggest names in wingnut online media.

So now I sit here and wonder what Tucker would do if say DailyKos decided to bribe someone to manufacture lies about him. I think we know the answer, but it sure as hell would be fun to watch.

Tags:

robert menendez,

rupert murdoch,

conservative web,

Shirley Sherrod,

tucker carlson,

The Daily Caller

Remember When That "Union Thug" Hit Steven Crowder?

jamie — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:14:55 +0000

Here's the video that went viral last year.

When that video first came out the right went into a frenzy over "union thugs". Steven Crowder even went on Fox and Friends to call the guy out:

Tony, we know who you are, come forward. I am offering you an ultimatum right now. You come forward, I press charges, you will go to jail. Or — since you like to sucker punch people — I will allow you to face me in the people's octagon, in a legal, sanctioned mixed martial arts bout, where we can settle it man-to-man, one-on-one. And all of the money that's been raised to find you, I will match it if you beat me and give it to a union of your choice. It's your choice: jail or face me like a man. Send your answer on Twitter.

Well it turns out that the man who punched Crowder won't be charged after prosecutors and state police reviewed the unedited footage and decided that he was acting in self defense. Sounds like the James O'Keefe epidemic is continuing to plague the right.

Tags:

Steven Crowder,

fox news

Meet the Republicans: "Scary", "Out of Touch", "Stuff old Men"

jamie — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:27:02 +0000

After their grueling loses in 2012 the Republican National Committee decided to spend some time and look into what went wrong. This morning, the party released their report, which included marketing research from focus groups. Here's what part of it said:

"Asked to describe Republicans, they said that the Party is “scary,” “narrow minded,” and “out of touch” and that we were a Party of “stuffy old men.” This is consistent with the findings of other post-election surveys," the report states.

There isn't much on issues in the report, but when it comes to gay marriage, the report concedes:

“Already, there is a generational difference within the conservative movement about issues involving the treatment and the rights of gays — and for many younger voters, these issues are a gateway into whether the Party is a place they want to be”

This comes a day after the top elected Republican, Speaker John Boehner said he "can't ever imagine" supporting gay marriage.

So how is the GOP going to fix this problem? Part of it has already been released and here is Josh Marshall's take on it:

So drastically shorter primary phase, much earlier nominating convention, many fewer debates. Aren’t all of Reince Priebus’s structural reforms basically aimed at dramatically reducing the time period in which the actual Republican party base is on display for the public at large?

Translation - don't change, just hide who we are. I really don't think that will play out well for the Republicans and will only help Democrats.

I have been saying for months now that the GOP really needs new leadership. It's time to shed the old thinking that has ran the party for years and embrace younger conservatives, that realize social issues really isn't the problem of our elected officials. Sadly they won't do that and we are quickly moving to becoming a one party nation. That's not a good solution for anyone.

Tags:

republican party,

Reince Priebus,

john boehner

Rob Portman Supports Gay Marriage After Son Comes Out Of The Closet

jamie — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:39:42 +0000

Leave it to these Republicans. They preach and preach how evil gay marriage is, but as soon as one of their own children comes out to them as being gay, they quickly change positions. The latest is Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH). Here is an interview he gave CNN to discus it:

In the interview, Portman even admits that his decision was based solely on his own child:

"I've come to the conclusion that for me, personally, I think this is something that we should allow people to do, to get married, and to have the joy and stability of marriage that I've had for over 26 years. That I want all of my children to have, including our son, who is gay," said Portman

That is a rather callous statement to make. Portman admits he never believed any other gay couple should have had the "joy and stability" of marriage, until it could have been his son.

Portman also said he talked about this with Dick Cheney and Cheney told him to "follow his heart". So before that Portman didn't follow his heart and instead used party lines to lead? That is a rather stark admission.

And what about the possibility of Portman being Romney's VP pick last year? Well Portman says he told Romney about his son and that Romney said it wasn't a deal breaker. I'm sure I believe that one too.

It's good to see Portman come around on this issue, but it's also troubling to see a first-hand admission of just how easy it is for Republicans to discriminate against the LGBT community. It shows that their own morals are fake.

Tags:

dick cheney,

rob portman,

gay marriage

Florida's Lt. Governor Resigns Amid Scandal

jamie — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:15:04 +0000

The Republican Lt. Governor of Florida has tendered her resignation amid a very nasty scandal:

Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll announced her resignation Wednesday, a day after she was questioned by authorities investigating possible illegal gambling at an Internet cafe company that she once represented.

The head of the company, Allied Veterans of the World, has been accused of a using the cafes as an illegal front for veterans' charity and keeping millions of dollars in profits.

Carroll's resignation letter to Gov. Rick Scott, dated Tuesday, offered no details about her reason for leaving. But Scott's chief of staff, Adam Hollingsworth, said she was interviewed by Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers Tuesday regarding her work with Allied Veterans of the World.

So this is how Republicans support our veterans? I'm speechless! And the details shed even more light on this scam:

According to an Internal Revenue Service affidavit filed in federal court, Allied Veterans evolved from a charitable organization that ran bingo games and held bake sales for veterans beginning in 1979 to a group suspected of operating more than 40 illegal for-profit gambling locations around Florida. The veterans charity was a fraud, according to the IRS.

"In an effort to mislead the public into believing that it is not profiting from an illegal gambling enterprise, Allied Veterans and others have engaged in a conspiracy and scheme to defraud," the affidavit said.

And it appears that Carroll has tried to help the company out while she was still serving as a state legislature:

While serving as a state lawmaker, Carroll's ties to the company were also questioned when she proposed a bill that would benefit Internet cafes. But the bill was withdrawn before the 2010 Legislative session started. She told the "Florida Times-Union" at the time, that the bill was filed by a member of her staff without her approval.

Oh ye ole' "the staff did it" defense. I just love how scapegoating always comes into play! Next she'll probably blame the veterans for having to resign...

Tags:

Jennifer Carroll,

Rick Scott,

Florida,

scandal

Paul Ryan Just Can't Face Reality

jamie — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 17:31:27 +0000

Paul Ryan has a very serious problem - he can't face reality. In his new budget, Paul Ryan depends upon the repeal of "Obamacare". Well that is part of a fairy tale, at least until 2016. In the last session of Congress alone, Republicans tried almost 40 times to do just that and it never happened. They know it won't get past a Democratically controlled Senate, let alone the President's veto pen. It's just not going to happen and Paul Ryan refuses to believe it.

And it now seems that fewer people are joining Ryan in this alternative universe. When you're an Obama-bashing winger and you lose Fox News, then you really are on the outs. Here's Ryan on Fox News yesterday and Chris Wallace just isn't buying this budget.

Wallace even tells Ryan that it's not going to happen:

"Are you saying, as part of you budget, you would repeal -- you assume the repeal of Obamacare?" Wallace pressed.

"Yes," Ryan insisted.

"Well, that's not going to happen," Wallace pointed out.

"Well, we believe it should, that's the point," Ryan replied. "This is what budgeting is all about, Chris. It's about making tough choices to fix our country's problems. We believe that Obamacare is a program that will not work."

The translation for Ryan is sticking his fingers in his ears and going "nah nah nah, I can't hear you!"

But Ryan isn't at total blame here. These kind of budgetary bait and switch tactics are common play for Republicans and they usually buy into it. Take a look at the Bush years. During his time in office, Bush never once accounted for the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq in his budgets. Once President Obama put a budget in, complete with these costs, Republicans said "look how much he increased spending". See, Republicans apparently don't know about emergency appropriation bills that aren't part of the budget, despite voting for everyone Bush had to put in to fight the wars.

Maybe it's time for the GOP to find a new budgetary wonder boy, because Paul Ryan sure as hell isn't it. If Republicans want everyone to learn to "live within their means", then they need to start leading by example. Putting out a budget that gets rid of expenses that can't be removed is a far cry from "living within their means". It's the same as saying "hell, I'm not going to pay my taxes or insurance". You just can't do it and it shows just how irresponsible today's GOP really is.

Tags:

chris wallace,

paul ryan

Speed Cameras: Profiting From The Law

jamie — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:44:59 +0000

Society

Last week a judge in Hamilton County, Ohio, ruled that speed cameras in a local community just north of Cincinnati are illegal:

Hamilton County Judge Robert Ruehlman's emphatic and colorful decision was adorned with capital letters, bold print and exclamation points. In it, he said two speed cameras in the village of Elmwood Place, which were installed last year and caused considerable controversy in the community, violated drivers' "due process guarantees" under the Ohio Constitution.

"Elmwood Place is engaged in nothing more than a high-tech game of 3 CARD MONTY," Ruehlman wrote. "It is a scam that the motorists can't win."

He wrote in his opinion that even when drivers request a hearing to contest the $105 fines, "the hearing is nothing more than a sham!" The judge said any driver who comes in for a hearing will effectively have to argue against a written report "produced by the company that owns the speed monitoring unit." There is no ability to cross examine, Ruehlman wrote, while stressing the financial stake the company has in the tickets.

Another issue Ruehlman brought up is the issue of calibration of these cameras:

"The device was not calibrated by a certified police officer, but rather it was calibrated by Optotraffic, the corporation that owns the device," Judge Ruehlman wrote. "Remember, Optotraffic has a financial stake in the game."

Regular radar guns are calibrated by police officers, who have no financial gain off of tickets. Here the calibration is done by someone with a direct financial stake, so that is motive to lie and falsify documents.

For those not familiar with the financial game of these cameras, the company that manufacturer them gets a portion of each ticket. In Elwood Place, as well as many others, they end up receiving 40% of every ticket. So in Elmwood Place, each $105 ticket translates to $42 for the company that owns and operates the camera.

About 20 miles northwest of Elmwood Place is New Miami, which also happens to be the next town over for me. They also have these cameras installed and have made a ton of money off of them:

In mid-December of last year, New Miami police had certified more than 9,700 violations since installing two mobile speed cameras in the village Oct. 1 and collected more than $210,000. That’s more than double the $101,300 generated by its police levy and 2012 general fund budget appropriation.

The struggling village has become dependent upon the revenue generated by these cameras. This really reduces faith we have in government. It was so bad that they even had to dismiss a lot of the tickets because they were getting a little too sneaky:

Police Chief Kenneth Cheeck says the cameras have made the streets safer. One camera was hidden in the trees on the west side of town. It has since been taken down. The 1,600 tickets generated from it were all dismissed.

Now that was nice for the people who learned the tickets were dismissed or hadn't paid them yet. For the ones who went home and mailed off a check, well they just gave away $95 for nothing.

But luckily we now have a group of lawmakers ready to put an end to this scam:

Tri-state legislators said they will support the new law. They said they want to ban the speed camera across the state.

Rep. Dale Mallory, of Cincinnati, said he will introduce House Bill 69 at a press conference Monday. State Reps. Ron Maag, John Becker, Alicia Reece and Wes Retherford will joing Mallory in supporting the plan.

Hopefully their legislation passes, as these cameras raise a lot of legal, as well as constitutional, concerns. The incentive for the owners of the cameras to cheat are high and our legal system should not become a source of profit for the private sector. If for some reason the legislation does fail, hopefully something can take its place stating that the cameras must be owned by the local municipality and remove the huge financial incentives given to the private sector in the current system.

Tags:

cincinnati,

New Miami,

Optotraffic,

Dale Mallory,

John Becker,

Robert Ruehlman,

Traffic enforcement camera,

hamilton county,

Ohio

Live On TV: Republican Senators Supporting Terrorism!

jamie — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 04:31:15 +0000

If you haven't heard yet, there's a good, old fashioned filibuster going on right now. The filibuster is over confirmation of John Brennan to head the CIA. It is being lead by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and other Republicans, such as Ted Cruz (R-TX) have now joined in.

The filibuster started almost 12 hours ago and is going in full force.

Now I want to take a page from the Republican playbook of the last decade. We are currently embarked in a global war on terror. At such a time we need someone to lead out main foreign intelligence agency. So why are Republicans trying to prevent that intelligence and aide terrorists?

Now do I believe that? No I don't, but it is the exact thing Republicans accused Democrats of over and over again during the Bush years.

But let's look into the reason for this filibuster. It boils down to 2 paragraphs from a response Attorney General Eric Holder gave to Rand Paul on the drone program:

“The question you have posed is therefore entirely hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no president will ever have to confront. It is possible, I suppose, to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States.”

“For example, the president could conceivably have no choice but to authorize the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland in the circumstances like a catastrophic attack like the ones suffered on December 7, 1941, and September 11, 2001,” Holder continued.

Since this became public yesterday the right has been up in arms, claiming that Obama is saying he can kill any citizen at anytime using a drone. Rand Paul even said today that "No President has the right to say that he is judge, jury and executioner."

Really? Well how about a vice-President?

On September 11, 2001, a very non-hypothetical situation like this did exist. We all know that date. What everyone might not know is that Dick Cheney actually ordered the military to shoot down Flight 93:

Newly published audio this week reveals that Vice President Dick Cheney’s infamous Sept. 11, 2001 order to shoot down rogue civilian aircraft was ignored by military officials, who instead ordered pilots to only identify suspect aircraft.

That revelation is one of many in newly released audio recordings compiled by investigators for the 9/11 Commission, published this week by The Rutgers Law Review. Featuring voices from employees at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and American Airlines, the newly released multimedia provides a glimpse at the chaos that emerged as the attack progressed.

Dick Cheney ordered the execution of 40 citizens on that day and none of these people were involved in a crime, only the 4 hijackers. Sadly, we know how the story ends, but still, Dick Cheney acted as judge, jury and executioner and he wasn't even President.

So where was Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and all the other Republicans at during this? I sure as hell didn't hear any complaints. As matter of fact, I remember hearing support. That support transformed into support for other actions, such as torture and indefinite detention. To justify this the right quickly went to the television show 24, which became a policy manual for the Bush administration, instead of a fictional show.

I can't even begin to explain how much it infuriates me to hear Republicans today whine and complains about our "rights". During the Bush years they didn't give a damn about our rights. They even famously claimed that no one had rights when they were dead. So why the change? It must be because there is a Democrat in the White House.

So listen to Rand Paul today, but remember that he and his party are the most hypocritical politicians to walk this planet. All Eric Holder did was use a hypothetical situation to answer the question. The right has twisted it and complained about it, when it was their own party that used a very real situation to justify such action.

It's sickening I tell you!

Tags:

Ted Cruz,

bush administration,

john brennan,

dick cheney,

eric holder,

Rand Paul,

central intelligence agency

Is Twitchy Fabricating A Story Here?

jamie — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:03:18 +0000

Twitchy, the right wing site created by Michelle Malkin to "debunk" tweets, has an interesting story up accusing MSNBC of using spambot accounts on Twitter to promote their shows. You can view the post here.

Now Twitchy is saying they have investigated these accounts and this is their finding:

Twitchy looked at about a dozen of these accounts and noted some common characteristics. First, most (not all) have small numbers of tweets and small numbers of followers, suggesting that they probably are not bona fide Twitter users.

Second, most (not all) of the profiles link to a service called Followers Delivery. The service claims to sell 100,000 Twitter followers for $320. It also sells Facebook likes and YouTube views.

So who is Followers Delivery? Well, if you go to their webpage, you are taken to a HostGator suspended account page. So that avenue of investigation is dead. Now let's go to another one. I asked "who is" Followers Delivery, so I will do a whois on followersdelivery.com:

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: FOLLOWERSDELIVERY.COM
Created on: 26-Feb-13
Expires on: 26-Feb-14
Last Updated on: 04-Mar-13

Registrant:
FOLLOWERS DELIVERY
P.P. 226, HR
Zagreb, - 10002
Croatia/Hrvatska

So this domain was just created last Tuesday and already got business from MSNBC? Damn, they are quick! Must have been someone in the MSNBC Croatia bureau.

But there are other interesting things in this post. Let's look at the first few tweets they highlight.

Oh boy, Michael .E.Dyson is here-time to get my dictionary! #edshow

— Ammie Mckerchie (@Ajahlmc) March 3, 2013

That user has 7 tweets, 0 followers and following 0 people. The first tweet was on 3/2.

Oh boy, Michael .E.Dyson is here-time to get my dictionary! #edshow

— Ethelene Cofer (@Marielthft) March 2, 2013

This account has 10 tweets ,following 278 people and has 5 followers. The first tweet was on 3/1.

Oh boy, Michael .E.Dyson is here-time to get my dictionary! #edshow

— Sherril Paar (@Ashelysiof) March 2, 2013

Again, 6 tweets, 0 followers, 0 following and created on 3/2.

And finally:

Oh boy, Michael .E.Dyson is here-time to get my dictionary! #edshow

— Valery Tegethoff (@releqedop) March 2, 2013

9 tweets, 315 following and 3 followers. This account was also created on 3/1.

So the first few tweets the article mentions were all created since last Friday and appear in Twitchy's article that came out yesterday.

I know this may be getting confusing, so let me put together a quick timeline:

Tuesday (2/26/13) - followersdelivery.com is registered.
Friday (3/1/13) - Saturday (3/2/13) - Tweets are published by new accounts pushing MSNBC shows. These accounts link to followersdelivery.com.
Sunday (3/3/13) - Twitchy embeds these tweets and accuses MSNBC of spamming Twitter.

Something in this timing seems very curious, almost like those accounts and that domain could have all been created just to go after MSNBC.

So, here's what I'm wondering. Twitchy is owned by right-wing darling Michelle Malkin. As we all know, Malkin is also a contributor to Fox News. Also, Fox News has seen a huge loss in ratings to (you guessed it) MSNBC over the past couple of months.

I think of that and I can't help but wonder if Malkin went out and had her people create some fake twitter accounts, use them to spam for MSNBC shows and create a fake company just so she could help out one of her employers?

The evidence is there to suggest that, as much as there is evidence to say that MSNBC paid a spam service to promote their shows. Maybe someone should ask Fox about their possible involvement in this as well.

Tags:

Twitchy,

michelle malkin,

MSNBC,

twitter

The GOP's Sugar Daddy Admits Possible Violation of an Antibribery Law

jamie — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:06:22 +0000