And the nutjobs are still at it:
"We can confirm that there was a threat against Senator Bennet's office and that the FBI working with the Capitol Police have arrested the individual responsible for the threat. Per their advice, we are referring inquiries related to this matter to the Capitol Police. Michael has full confidence in the law enforcement agencies handling the case and remains focused on his job serving the people of Colorado."
So the party of “financial responsibility” is going to spend about $1.1 million just on reading the Constitution on the House floor:
The amount I get is nearly $1.1 million. $1,071,872.87, to be exact, though of course this is more back-of-the-envelope than exact.
When one chamber of Congress is in session but not working, we the people still have to pay for members’ salaries and expenses, and for their police protection, and for keeping their lights and phones and coffee machines on. Even Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Mike Pence (R-IN) combined don’t blow enough hot air to heat the Capitol in January.
To get this estimate, I took the total FY 2011 costs for House salaries and expenses and House office buildings, then added half the costs of joint House-Senate expenses, the CBO, the Capitol Police and the Capitol power plant. Then I divided that sum by 205, the number of days the House was in session last year, then divided again by 24 (the number of hours in a day) and multiplied by 3 (the estimated length in hours of members reading the Constitution). It might not take three hours to read the document, but on the other hand, Congress is usually in session for considerably less than 205 days a year. Also, I didn’t include staff costs, since most aides will probably be working through the reading. But not all will be, so overall I think this is a conservative estimate.
Of course the wingnuts are already in full defense of this, just the same way they defended Bush and the GOP’s runaway spending during the last decade.
This makes this case that much more disturbing:
The man who was arrested with two guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition near the Capitol during President Barack Obama's health care speech in September had been an employee of the George W. Bush White House. The arrest of the man, Joshua Bowman, was widely reported at the time, but the news stories made no mention of his previous employment: For several years he worked in the Executive Office of the President, dealing with tech issues, including White House emails, his lawyer, George Braun, tells Mother Jones.
On the night of September 9, Bowman was on his way to meet Braun, a Bush administration political appointee, at the National Republican Club on First Street, SE when he was stopped by Capitol Police around 7:45 p.m.—minutes before Obama was scheduled to deliver a major address to Congress pushing his health care initiative. Bowman had driven up to a security checkpoint and told officers he wanted to park, but his lack of a permit for the area aroused their suspicions, and they asked to search his car.
Seriously – shouldn’t someone who worked in the White House know better? I know this was an honest mistake on Braun’s part, but still – a little common sense please?
This is what the lies and fear mongering of that GOP has lead us to:
The Secret Service may investigate a fax sent to a Democratic lawmaker that depicts President Barack Obama as the Joker and warns of “death to all Marxists.”
The black-and-white fax portrays Obama in makeup similar to that worn by actor Heath Ledger in his portrayal of the Joker in last summer’s “The Dark Knight.”
On Obama’s forehead is a communist hammer-and-sickle insignia, and beneath the image is the text: “Death to All Marxists! Foreign and Domestic!”
Rep. Brian Baird (D-Wash.) received the fax and passed it along to U.S. Capitol Police.
I’ve been reading a lot of right wing blogs and its amazing how they try to compare these teabaggers and actions to those of the anti-war protestors. I don’t remember any anti-war protestor faxing death threats against Bush.
Again – when will GOP leadership get out there and strongly denounce these actions? When will they act like not only leaders, but also responsible adults instead of fanning these flames of extremism? Their silence on this issue is complicit in these crimes.
The right wing loons are at it again. Aravosis has a complete run down of their latest attack and this time it is on the Capital Police. Here is a prime example, but please read the entire thing:
1. ALLEGATION: The Capitol Police "allowed" the protesters to spray paint the US Capitol - the police saw the protesters defacing the property and did nothing about it because the chief of police ordered his fellow officers to let the evil protesters do whatever they wanted.
TRUTH: The Police had no idea that a small group was defacing anything, and had they seen the defacement, there would have been immediate arrests. And I quote the chief of police:
Some members of this group did covertly mark the pavement on the Lower West Terrace during their confrontation with us. Had this been observed, I would have directed arrests to be made. However, the size and continual movement of the crowd provided concealment and made detection of their actions impossible. Once the crowd dispersed, I was appalled and disgusted that any individual, whatever their cause, would deface the grounds of the Capitol. Fortunately, due to the notable efforts of the staff of the Architect of the Capitol, their signs of disrespect were quickly washed away.
Now the war bloggers are up in arms over this and wanting to "jam" the switchboards at the Capital Police:
This is very interesting and should demand an immediate investigation:
Yet the black officers say that McKinney was targeted because she wrote a letter on behalf of their black officer's association demanding the ouster of the counsel of the Capitol Police, John Caulfield, for racist remarks and for contributing to and supporting a hostile environment in the police organization.
Capitol Hill police officers are trained to recognize all congresspeople, especially black congresspeople. Yet some white police officers repeatedly stopped black congresspeople like Cleo Fields of Louisiana for identification, whether or not they were wearing business suits or casual wear. The black officers witnessed these white policemen openly speaking of 'getting' McKinney, and celebrating vociferously when she was caught and the incident made news. As a result, McKinney is now facing charges brought by that same counsel, John Caulfield.
Check out Booman Tribune for links to the video and more.
They are just determined to keep this story going:
Police labor officials, angry over a federal grand jury's refusal to indict Rep. Cynthia McKinney for assaulting a police officer, said Monday said they want the House ethics committee to review her conduct.
And they said the grand jury's decision last week sent the message that "it's okay to hit a police officer."
"We hope that members of Congress will review her actions in light of their rules within their own ethics committee," Andrew Maybo, chairman of the U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee, told reporters Monday at a news conference in Washington.
I of course do not know all the facts of this case but one thing sticks out in my mind. When we first started hearing details about what happened, it was reported that the officer came from behind and grabbed Rep. McKinney. After that, Rep. McKinney turned around and hit the officer. If that is the case then how could she be in trouble for hitting a police officer if she didn't know it was a police officer? Her actions could be claimed in self defense.
If the House Ethics Committee does decide to investigate this then there should be a loud scream by Democrats for an investigation into Karl Rove. The same thing happened, there was an investigation and a grand jury decided not to indict. Of course it would take a different committee to investigate Rove but if the House wants to get in the business of investigating issues that have been decided by a grand jury then it must be so across the board.
This just in from NBC:
WASHINGTON - Charges against antiwar protester Cindy Sheehan, who was
arrested after an incident involving a T-shirt she wore to the State of the
Union address, will be dropped, officials told NBC News Wednesday.U.S. Capitol Police took Sheehan away in handcuffs and charged her with
unlawful conduct, a misdemeanor, when she showed up to President Bush’s
address Tuesday night wearing a shirt that read, “2245 Dead. How many more?â€ÂÂ
 a reference to the number of soldiers killed in Iraq.But Capitol Police will ask the U.S. attorney's office to drop the
charges, NBC News’ Mike Viqueira reported Wednesday.
Article continues here.
Sue them to hell and back Cindy. They can drop the charges but it won't give
back the embarrassment they caused you last night.
It turns out Cindy wasn't the only one facing problems last night:
Florida Rep.'s Wife Says She Was
Ejected From State Of UnionST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Indian
Shores, told a newspaper that she was ejected during the State of the Union
address for wearing a T-shirt that says, "Support the Troops Defending Our
Freedom."Beverly Young told the St. Petersburg Times that she was sitting in the
front row of the House gallery Tuesday night when she was approached by
someone who told her she needed to leave.She said she reluctantly agreed, but argued with several officers in an
outside hallway.In a telephone interview with the newspaper, Young said she told them her
shirt wasn't a protest but a message of support.Capitol Police Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said Young wasn't ejected from the
gallery and she left on her own. She couldn't provide additional details.Young's husband found out about the incident after Bush's speech and
called it unacceptable.
Via local6.com
OK. I have a major problem here. Young's wife was asked to leave. She even
argued with the police but was allowed to stay in the gallery. Why didn't she
get the same treatment Cindy did? She should of been handcuffed and held until
after the speech or Cindy should of received the same treatment Mrs. Young got.
If Bush wants to really unite this country then he will make a statement
speaking out against what happened and call for an investigation into the
difference in treatment between the two women. This is unacceptable.
