28
Apr
Arlen Specter switched loyalties today. A move that surprised me only in the fact it proves he’s not completely daft. Some people are reading a lot into this:
OK, I’ll say it, the Republican party is better off without Specter. My logic is a little pretzeled, but here goes. With the numbers what they were before his switch, the Republicans had no power, no authority, and realistically no real chance of a successful filibuster with the Republican in name only Specter. But, that option mathematically was there. So, a lot of people could easily argue things that the Republicans had absolutely no ability to control was their fault. Take for instance the swine flu situation. People are actually saying Karl Rove had the ability to kill something Nancy Pelosi and David Obey wanted. Not so now. This is 100% Obama, Pelosi, and Reid’s game. There can be no filibuster in the Senate and realistically little chance of one in the House. The only way it will happen is Democrats for some bizarre reason see fit to filibuster their own legislation. Won’t happen.
Now, the logic for Specter jumping sides is very obvious. During the 2008 election, a lot of Republicans switched parties to vote in the Democrat primary. Most I’m sure never switched back. So, I’m guessing Specter’s thinking is those people who voted for him five times in the past as a Republican in name only and then switched parties would only vote for him if he did likewise. If they switched registrations again in 2010, I’m sure Specter would too.
That filibuster-proof Senate of course is still contingent upon Al Franken getting more Republican votes thrown out of his election than the Republican can toss Democrats. And of course, the ability to maintain that filibuster-proof Senate is contingent upon Roland Burris fighting off his ethics charges and actually winning an election. We also can’t forget Jack Murtha dodging his own ethics issues.
With absolute power comes corruption. Maybe not as obvious as Murtha’s, but corruption nonetheless in that the ruling party feels no obligation to what it was that got them there. The Democrats had absolute power in the late 70′s, it crumbled immediately. The Republicans had absolute power at the onset of the 21st century. It crumbled just as quickly. So, whether it’s 58 or 60 votes, Democrats have absolute power now. Let’s see how long it takes to crumble as well. My guess, pretty dang quick.
This one is getting pretty wild pretty quick:
Now, that seems kind of serious to me, that a member of the Committee on Homeland Security was actively shaking down people under the carful watch of, you guessed it, Homeland Security. Just seems kind of dangerously dumb. This issue was an issue in 2006 when Time originally broke the story. After some investigation, Alberto Gonzalez decided not to pursue the issue. A lot of people scratched their heads. Now, it seems Gonzalez wanted Harman’s support for, you guessed it, the warrantless wiretap program that nailed someone he apparently didn’t want nailed.
What is new now is former national security officials are claiming publicly that Harman was taped by the NSA wiretap program. Gonzalez’s original claim of not enough evidence is apparently completely bogus if this is true. He’ll have to answer some questions I’m sure.
In her defense, Harman stated:
“These claims are an outrageous and recycled canard, and have no basis in fact,” she said in a prepared statement. “I never engaged in any such activity. Those who are peddling these false accusations should be ashamed of themselves.”
Now, her defense is morphing into:
“If there are tapes out there, bring it on,” Harman said in the NBC interview.
Pretty gutsy move. Now, the part that’s getting lost here is the people she considered “friends of mine” were members of AIPAC. Two of their members, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, were charged with communicating national defense information to the press and the Israeli government starting in 1999. Their trial is scheduled to begin June 2 in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, according to the court docket. This is where I see it getting very dicey real quick. I can see these tapes being made public outside of Harman’s control if these guys feel it will help their case. But the bottom line to me, is if AIPAC has such a questionable reputation to the point where their members are being charged with espionage, a member of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment, would know these people are people to stay very far away from in the first place. But, to her it doesn’t matter. She expects people to disregard whether or not she possibly compromised national security and focus only on the fact that she should never have been wiretapped in the first place even though she was talking to people who were legally under investigation.
Then there’s the sidebar to all this that Harman was a very rare Democrat who fully suported the warrantless wiretaps pretty much from the day of their inception. She bucked her party to the point where other Democrats moved to California just to run against her. And, needless to say, this ran totally contradictory to Nancy Pelosi’s claims that the wiretaps were illegal. However, at this time, Nancy Pelosi still calls Harman ““a very valued and informed member of the Congress,”. She of course, couldn’t comment on the wiretap issue.
The beauty of all this of course is the fact that the Democrats would love nothing more than to prosecute Alberto Gonzalez over the wiretap issue. However, if they do that, they of course pretty well destroy Jane Harman in the process if he chooses to drag her into it.
Maybe some of this explains why, after campaigning against the warrantless wiretaps, Obama immediately sought to have them continued. Wouldn’t it be grand for him to have something like this over all the Democrats? Controlling Republicans is sort of moot. It’s the Dems in charge now.
And the much more beautiful thing about all this is watching Nancy Pelosi squirm over the entire warrantless wiretap issue and how Obama threw her under the bus on the issue. This was her opinion last week:
And this is what she has to say now, watch and enjoy:
OK, is it illegal or is it something Obama has to have? And, if you’re going to prosecute Republicans for doing something that was deemed perfectly legal by the Supreme Court, shouldn’t you be prosecuting the Democrat who apparently made sure it stayed in place by means of offering bribes to members of a group charged with espionage?
This could wind up being a LOT of fun to watch.
“An ethical cloud hangs over the Capitol, … This culture of corruption must stop. … The American people deserve better.” — Nancy Pelosi. Yes we do.
This needs some looking into:
OK, the way I read it, Ms. Feinstein intervened on an issue she had no interest in to make sure a company her husband has an interest in is awarded a “competitive” contract at a rate higher than most would charge.
Senate ethics rules state that members must avoid conflicts of interest as well as “even the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
I am waiting for Nancy Pelosi to demand an investigation into yet another blatant example of the Democrat Culture of Corruption.
I just did a little piece about how media was going the way of National Enquirer. Now, I was somewhat limited in my disdain since I was relying on the internet for my news. Apparently, the sexual innuendo wasn’t limited to the internet. Anderson Cooper had this to say about yesterday’s demonstrations:
“It’s hard to talk when you’re teabagging,”
David Shuster wasn’t about to be outdone:
- “Teabagging day for the right wing and they are going nuts for it.”
- He described the parties as simultaneously “full-throated” and “toothless,”
- “They want to give President Obama a strong tongue-lashing and lick government spending.”
Now, I gotta admit, I had never heard of teabagging in the mode they were using it. Now I do thanks to a live news broadcast aired into the homes of children. I wonder how many kids across the land were asking their mommies why they didn’t go teabagging.
Class act David and Anderson. If there was ever a need for the FCC, now seems to be it. But, they won’t do anything. CNN and MSNBC won’t do anything. I guess the only real option is to block CNN and MSNBC so my child won’t be exposed to stuff I’d rather my six year old not be discussing at this time.
That’s nuts, guys. ( Heh,get it? Nuts? )
Is it a coincidence that both pieces I wrote today on media’s dissolving ethics involved MSNBC?
18
Mar
This is one of those things that is so wrong it just makes me chuckle. The group that counted people in their voter registration drives multiple times is now being given money to help count the 2010 census. They would have been investigated for fraud but Obama won. So, rather than facing voter fraud charges for being so incapable of simple documentation, they get rewarded with a federal contract to do what it is they do absolutely worst and are were being investigated for not being able to do in the first place.
ACORN’s defense is they have not been convicted of any felonies yet of not being able to count very well. And, there are lots of people doing this.
My guess is, when this is all said and done, 1/3 of all US citizens will be Democrat minorities living on the streets of Chicago.
And no one will question that.
In today’s news, we are looking at more Obama appointees. Today’s CNN headline is about his nominee for the US trade representative. Former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk got the nod. He has something in common with several other Obama nominees, he can’t seem to figure out how to pay his taxes correctly.
Kirk’s tax returns for 2005, 2006 and 2007 were reviewed by the Senate Finance Committee as part of the vetting process, according to a report released by the committee Monday.
The committee found that Kirk failed to report as income $37,750 in honoraria collected for 16 speaking engagements at Austin College over those three years. One year, he deducted honoraria from four events as charitable donations though he hadn’t reported them as income, according to the committee report.
He also deducted too much for the cost of tickets to see the NBA Mavericks, reporting the entire $17,382 as business expenses, the report says.
Kirk has agreed to pay the $9,975 he owes from amended returns, according to the report.
“The mayor is working with the Finance Committee on a few minor issues,” White House spokesman Ben Labolt said, adding that the “nomination is on track.”
Tax evasion is not only considered a “minor issue” with Obama, it as apparently a requirement:
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Tom Daschle failed to pay nearly $100,000. He subsequently dropped out. Obama later said he “screwed up” with Daschle. Not sure what his explanation for Kirk will be.
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Tim Geithner is my personal favorite. The guy expected to figure out our tax code couldn’t figure out how to use TurboTax
. He was strongly endorsed by Obama and subsequently confirmed by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Although Obama “screwed up” on Daschle, Geithner’s exact same issue, although not as big, is OK.
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Nancy Killefer dropped out as well after it was revealed she failed to pay her taxes. Obama hasn’t indicated he “screwed up” with her.
Now, the situation seems to be that in order to be in charge of something important, you have to have violated a law in regards to what it is that you’re overseeing. So, true to form, we get Kathleen Sebelius for Health and Human Services ( the position Tom Daschle gave up on ):
As governor, she had a bit of a mess with, you guessed it, health care administration. So, it just seems a natural fit she should join the Obama team overseeing Health and Human Services. However, her strong desire to raise taxes on everyone in the state of Kansas I’m sure appealed to Obama.
And, of course, we can’t forget Bill Richardson, Obama’s initial choice for commerce secretary. He dropped out when it was revealed he was under federal investigation for pay to play ( A nicer word for taking bribes. )
And, of course, we can never forget Hillary Clinton. I’m sure we’d know more about her dealings if so many people weren’t dead now.
I’m still waiting for that Rahm Emanuel ( Chief of Staff ) / Rod Blagojevich / Roland Burris saga to play out.
There ya go folks, the change you can believe in.
Nancy Pelosi’s culture of corruption is thriving quite well. Apparently her problem with Bush was he didn’t support it enough.
This one is precious. First, we start with the evidence:
Via Fox
When it gets real fun is when you read her rap sheet. She’s already in trouble for lying under oath to protect her nephew on manslaughter charges, tax evasion in the 90′s, and not reporting donations. Apparently the people of her district tired of her shenanigans and voted her out in their primary. That didn’t stop her tho, she’s running a write-in campaign. Now, this is where it gets fun for me. Regardless of the fact she has a long running criminal record and the fact her own voters wanted her out, she was still supported by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Gov. Deval Patrick. Her supporters are suggesting that the timing of the charges was political.
Yeah.
I hear Nancy Pelosi has publicly suggested Wilkerson give up the write-in campaign and take care of her legal problems, and publicly chastised Thomas Menino and Deval Patrick for supporting a candidate who does not meet the lofty ethical standards Pelosi has established for her perfect party.
Charlie Rangel, who everyone has to love, is in a little trouble with the IRS, and possibly the FBI I would imagine. The FBI just usually sort of comes along with the IRS. Here’s the abbreviated list of what he’s in some doo-doo over:
- Rangel’s papers over the past 10 years show no reference to the sale of a home he once owned on Colorado Avenue in Washington.
- The details of a property bought in Sunny Isles, Fla., are bewildering at best. The stated value changes significantly from year to year, and even page to page, from $50,000 to $100,000 all the way up to $500,000.
- Some of the entries for investment funds fluctuate strangely, suggesting that the person either didn’t have accurate information or didn’t fill out the paperwork correctly.
In addition, an ethics committee is investigating other unrelated issues that deal with:
- rental of three rent-stabilized apartments in his home district of Harlem,
- his use of official congressional stationery to try to find private donors for a college center named after the lawmaker.
Rangel has supposedly paid back everything he owed to the IRS. He’s now blaming the Republicans for having to do so.
Now, according to what I’m reading, Nancy Pelosi has agreed to consider an off-shore drilling proposal presented by Democrats. I’m sure she’ll tout this as a major new idea and an example of the failed economic policies of Bush.
However, it’s got thorns attached. From what I’m reading, and I’ve not read the actual proposals:
- No Gulf drilling off Florida until 2022
- Tax increases on oil producers immediately
- No revenue sharing with the states expected to approve it.
- No drilling within 50 miles
That’s enough for now. The scenario I see if Congress does pass this legislation is prices will increase immediately due to the added expense of paying the taxes whereas no actual increase in production will occur for several years. That is all reliant of course, on the states willing to take the financial risk of an oil-spill clean-up with no economic gain whatsoever if they do allow it. While, of course, a good portion of the oil to be gotten remains off-limits as it is now.
In other words, it’s guaranteed to fail if it does pass. And, because the Republicans have hammered the Democrats on this issue, she thinks they’ll be compelled to vote for it.
That’s your “bringing ethics back to Congress” Pelosi for ya.
Now, I think the Republicans are blowing this entire issue at this time. All they need to do is promise Nancy they’ll put one of T. Boone Pickens’ windmills on top of each oil platform and I bet she’d approve more than we ever needed.
3
Sep
Several in media have been insinuating that there might be a double standard at play regarding Sarah Palin. Let’s see. We’ve had a couple of very recent events to compare. So, let’s do, shall we?
- John Edwards ran for President as recently as early this year. He ran on ethics primarily. He lost but maintained a strong political position as Hillary and Barack possibly needed his supporters. The entire time of his campaign he was occasionally seeing a woman that might have born his child while he was screwing around on his cancer stricken wife. CNN, MSNBC, and others were not interested in the least. Dogged by The Enquirer and festering rumors circulating primarily in the blogworld, Edwards finally confessed his infidelity and national deception. One interview was given and that was that.
- Sarah Palin was accused by Daily Kos among others of not birthing her last child. But rather, adopting it to cover up the pregnancy of her daughter, who by the way, was pregnant at the time. There has been no indescretion on the part of Palin, or for that matter, her daugher. Regardless, her plight, or rather the plight of her daughter, has been non-stop media discussion for days as people debate very vocally on CNN, MSNBC, and others, whether or not Mrs. Palin can govern since her daughter is pregnant.
Maybe it’s just me. But for some reason I really think John Edwards should have been thrashed publicly by the media and people should have congratulated Sarah Palin on her impending grandmotherhood.
That’s just not how media works apparently. There’s obviously a bias there. Is it because Sarah Palin is, you know, Republican?
I could be way off here in my assuming tho. How’s about a poll?
