June 5, 2013

"all the pureed peas I could eat"

June 5, 2013

FBI has now been given sworn testimony and documents alleging Bachmann approved secret payments

FBI has now been given sworn testimony and documents alleging Bachmann approved secret payments

While Congresswoman Michele Bachmann was announcing her retirement to much fanfare in the media, according to information given exclusively to Take Action News, the FBI was busy collecting potentially damaging evidence against her from two former campaign aides.

According to sources close to the criminal investigation of Bachmann's presidential campaign, the FBI has now been given sworn testimony and documents alleging Bachmann approved secret payments to Iowa state Senator Kent Sorenson in exchange for his help and support in that state's 2012 Presidential caucuses. Ethics rules explicitly prohibit Iowa lawmakers from accepting payments from Presidential campaigns or PACs. Investigation sources tell Take Action News the FBI is examining money laundering allegations against Bachmann, as well as possible wire fraud and mail fraud.

As we detailed on my nationally syndicated radio and YouTube show Take Action News this past Saturday, the key claims against Bachmann are coming from two of her former campaign insiders -- former Congressional chief of staff Andy Parrish and former national field coordinator Pete Waldron. Waldron has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, alleging the payments to State Senator Sorenson were improper. Parrish has provided an affidavit to investigators, confirming Bachmann knew of and approved the payments.

more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-shuster/new-details-in-fbi-crimin_b_3381810.html

June 4, 2013

Its as if House Republicans have had their central nervous system removed-There is no brain activity

The GOP Knows That it is Broken
by BooMan
Mon Jun 3rd, 2013 at 10:36:52 PM EST

.................

Ninety-percent of what the House is doing is nothing more than a colossal waste of time. Even Fox News doesn't cover it. No one but Cantor even cares about it. Speaker Boehner has totally checked out. Do you know how he plans to act if the Senate passes immigration reform? Does he?

It's almost as if the House Republicans have had their central nervous system removed. There is no brain activity. Even the think tanks have stopped trying to be even remotely serious. The Heritage Foundation made Jim DeMint their director and promptly put a guy in charge of their immigration reform analysis who posted at racist websites and did his college thesis on how stupid Latinos are. Plus, their data was laughed out of town by Republicans. It's gotten to the point that Democratic wonks are lamenting that they no longer have anyone honest to debate.

What the GOP is doing makes no sense. They behave as if they can get 100% of what their most radical and deluded members want even though they only technically control one half of Congress and there is a relatively popular and freshly-reelected Democrat in the White House. It doesn't matter how many times the Speaker points those facts out, he has no ability to get those facts to sink in. They act like President Obama is more intransigent than President Clinton, but the Gingrich-led Congress actively worked to find areas where they could work with Clinton. When Boehner tried to do that, he almost lost his speakership. And Gingrich had a lot more leverage because Bob Dole and Trent Lott were in control of the Senate.

I believe the root problem here is that Republicans told lies for so long that they finally produced a generation of officeholders who actually confuse lies with the truth. They got high on their own supply. No wonder Bob Dole thinks they need to go to a collective rehab.

........

more:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/6/3/223652/0867

June 3, 2013

Frum dims his lights & admits GOP must come to their senses

All Good Things...
by David Frum Jun 3, 2013 11:05 AM EDT

.......................

Conservative reformers are understandably allergic to arguments about income inequality…one of the lessons I think conservatives should take from the 2012 Romney defeat is that the increasing concentration of wealth in America has dangerous political and intellectual consequences. [...]

Conservative reformers must not absent themselves from the environmental debate. Humanity’s impact on the climate — and how to address that impact — is our world’s largest long-term challenge. If conservatives refuse to acknowledge that challenge, they only guarantee that the challenge will be addressed in ways that ignore conservative insights and values.

Conservative reformers should make their peace with universal health coverage. It’s the law, and it won’t be repealed. Other countries have managed to control costs while covering everyone, and the US can too. A message of “protect Medicare, scrap Obamacare” reinforces the image of conservatism as nothing more than the class interest of the elderly.

I appreciate that conservative reformers must pay lip-service to shibboleths about Barack Obama being the worst president of all time, who won’t rest until he has snuffed out the remains of constitutional liberty, etc. etc. Dissent too much from party orthodoxy, and you find yourself outside the party altogether. Still … conservative reformers should admit, if only to themselves, the harm that has been done by the politics of total war over the past five years. Now Republicans are working themselves into a frenzy that will paralyze Congress for the next 18 months at least, and could well lead to an impeachment crisis. As it becomes clear that the IRS story is an agency scandal, not a White House scandal, conservative reformers need to be ready to do their part to apply the brakes and turn the steering wheel.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/06/03/all-good-things.html

June 3, 2013

"credit"

June 3, 2013

"Mandatory warning label to place on every newborn human upon birth"

June 3, 2013

Wise words: "One person dressed as a badger might just redeem Meet The Press."

Lost Career Opportunities
By Charles P. Pierce
at 9:47am

Personally, I don't think we're anywhere near as imaginative as we need to be in employing ridicule in our politics. One person dressed as a badger might just redeem Meet The Press.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Political_Zoology?src=rss

June 3, 2013

Mitt's "CHEAP THRILLS"

HOLDING COMPANY

The man who was almost president



"The White House staff is similar to a holding company with a large collection of offices, each of which has its own set of responsibilities, constituents, and work flows," says a slide that would have been part of a victorious Romney's post-Election Day briefing. "It is a holding company with three main divisions." Those divisions were to be "'Care & Feeding Offices,' like speechwriting, 'Policy Offices,' like the National Security Council, and 'Packaging & Selling Offices,' like the office of the press secretary."

In addition to "restructuring White House operation's to suit Romney's corporate management style, with clear deliverables," Miller says R2P recommended "corporate-style training seminars" intended to teach appointees and nominees "management skills" before the inauguration, the extensive use of flow charts to "achieve unity," and the installation of a deputy chief of staff for Cabinet oversight to "systematically (assess) the efforts of their (Cabinet secretaries') departments in contributing to (Romney's])priorities and objectives." And, of course, the agenda included plans to repeal Obamacare, reform the tax code, and loosen federal regulations, as the Republican candidate vowed to do during his campaign. Unfortunately for Romney & Co., voters decided to put a pin in all that indefinitely.

......................

the rest:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/romneys-transition-team-releases-agenda.html

June 3, 2013

hahahahah: Jennifer Rubin: Bush Demanded 'Accountability and Candor' on Plame Leak

Jennifer Rubin: Bush Demanded 'Accountability and Candor' on Plame Leak


Maybe Rubin could do a little reading here http://crooksandliars.com/2007/01/23/libby-sacrificed-to-save-rove, and here, http://crooksandliars.com/2007/08/19/matt-cooper-says-rove-did-leak-valerie-plames-identity-to-him and here http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/03/patrick-fitzgerald-legacy_n_1575631.html to refresh her memory about the Plame affair and whether Karl Rove told the truth to the grand jury.

And I hate to break it to Rubin, but Lois Lerner, the Bush appointee who took the Fifth when asked to testify before Issa's committee, is not one of President Obama's "people."

video, transcript & more:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/jennifer-rubin-bush-demanded-accountabilit

June 3, 2013

It's official: poverty bad for health

QuickStats: Percentage of Adults Aged ?65 Years Who Reported Excellent or Very Good Health,* by Selected Race/Ethnicity† and Poverty Status§ — National Health Interview Survey, 2009–2011¶
Weekly
May 31, 2013 / 62(21);431



more:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6221a5.htm?s_cid=mm6221a5_e
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/06/03/1213364/-It-s-official-poverty-bad-for-health