May 2011

With all the chest thumping over "runaway spending" and the growing deficit, you would think the party that claims to be the fiscal hawks would look at cutting spending in all areas of the budget. Well that's not the case. It turns out the Republicans want to add an additional $17 billion to the defense budget over what President Obama had requested.

But that isn't even that troubling. What really gets me is this:

Legislative language withholds three-quarters of the funds until the Defense and State Department come up with a report to Congress on how the money is being used and what metrics are being used to measure progress by Pakistan in rooting out terrorist and Taliban elements inside its borders.

The requested report would include a discussion of “United States strategic objectives in Pakistan” and a “listing of the terrorist or extremist organizations in Pakistan opposing United States goals in the region and against which the United States encourages Pakistan to take action.”

The administration would be asked to spell out “the gaps in capabilities of Pakistani security units that hampers the ability of the Government of Pakistan to take action against the organizations” and what standards will be used to measure progress by the Pakistan in “combating the organizations listed in clause.”

Does this sound familiar? Well it should. Democrats used to try this same thing when Bush was President. They wanted the details of what the plan was and where the money was going in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Weasel Zippers has this headline up:

Obama: My “Deepest Condolences” to Joplin Tornado Victims, Now Watch Me Drink This Beer!…

And it is followed by this picture:

Even the commenters are chiming in:

But Bush would never do that - would he?

That would be then President Bush strumming along the day after hurricane Katrina wiped out New Orleans and while the whole Gulf region was still in disarray, thousands were trapped and people were still dying. But just ask the wingnuts - this never happened!

The other night I covered the pardon problems of Mike Huckabee and Tim Pawlenty. Now a new GOP pardon problem comes to life. This one doesn't involve a presidential candidate, but rather a former President and aTea Party darling:

Though it’s typically pardon-empowered governors who must fret about their felons in the closet, legislators can also have some cause for worry. Case in point: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who might need to explain her support for a pardon for a donor named Frank Vennes.

Vennes was convicted in 1988 on money-laundering charges, and pleaded no-contest to illegally selling a gun and aiding in a cocaine sale. He claimed he discovered religion while in prison, and went on to become a well-known donor - in fact, he was a top giver to Bachmann’s 2006 congressional campaign.

She reportedly wrote in a pardon letter to then-President George W. Bush in 2007, “Mr. Vennes is truly a unique man in that he is not asking for a pardon that he may achieve personal success. By the grace of God, this has been done. Mr. Vennes is seeking a pardon so that he may be further used to help others.”

Well, that depends on the meaning of helping others—in 2008, the feds raided Vennes’ home as part of a probe into a massive Ponzi scheme.

Vennes was indicted a few weeks ago. Bachmann also wrote another letter saying she acted to "hastily".

Luckily Vennes is a white-collar criminal. Could you imagine if he was a murderer or rapist? I'm sure that wouldn't have mattered to Bachmann, as the almighty dollar outweighs anyones safety.

Remember the story of Maurice Clemmons? He was a man that executed four Washington State police. Clemmons was essentially serving a life sentence in Louisiana for a series of burglaries, rape and a bunch of other nasty crimes. Well he was until then-governor, Mike Huckabee, decided to commute the sentence of Clemmons. After that he went to Washington and gunned down four police officers.

There's a reason for this trip down memory lane. Tomorrow morning former Minnesota Governor, Tim Pawlenty, is going to announce his run for the White House in 2012. Pawlenty, like his fellow Republican former governor Mike Huckabee, also has a problem with not taking crimes seriously (h/t Kos):

​Jeremy Giefer served time in jail in 1994 for having sex with a 14-year-old girl. But you wouldn't know it to look at the record of the man now charged with sexually molesting his daughter more than 250 times over the last eight years.

That's because two years ago, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Attorney General Lori Swanson, and then-Chief Justice Eric Magnuson unanimously voted to wipe Giefer's record clean, granting him a pardon extraordinary.

One reason Giefer wanted his record cleared? His wife wanted to open a childcare center in the house where they live--the same house where Giefer allegedly molested his young daughter throughout the six years prior.

So what happened with Giefer? Well: