huffington post

Welcome to today's outrage:

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's command center routinely monitors dozens of popular websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, WikiLeaks and news and gossip sites including the Huffington Post and Drudge Report, according to a government document.

A "privacy compliance review" issued by DHS last November says that since at least June 2010, its national operations center has been operating a "Social Networking/Media Capability" which involves regular monitoring of "publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites and message boards."

Of course this is starting a bunch of outrage, especially from the wingnut blogs. But here's the problem. This is nothing new and not something started by this President:

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research recently began funding a new research area that includes a study of blogs. Blog research may provide information analysts and warfighters with invaluable help in fighting the war on terrorism.

Dr. Brian E. Ulicny, senior scientist, and Dr. Mieczyslaw M. Kokar, president, Versatile Information Systems Inc., Framingham, Mass., will receive approximately $450,000 in funding for the 3-year project entitled “Automated Ontologically-Based Link Analysis of International Web Logs for the Timely Discovery of Relevant and Credible Information.

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Herman, oh Herman. It appears that you are now frightened of the news cameras. Gee, I wonder why?

If Herman Cain stumbles on a foreign policy question during Thursday’s scheduled editorial board meeting with New Hampshire's influential Union Leader newspaper -- as he did earlier this week when asked about President Obama's handling of Libya -- don't expect to see the clip on an endless cable news loop.

That's because Cain campaign has requested that the sit-down not be videotaped. And now, a scheduling matter puts the entire 10 a.m. interview in jeopardy.

Union Leader publisher Joe McQuaid told The Huffington Post that "no reason was given" and that he "was a bit surprised" by the no-camera request. So far, Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum have all met with the Union Leader and allowed C-SPAN to tape the newspaper interviews for broadcast.

When asked about the request, Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon told The Huffington Post that "video cameras are optional at Ed Boards and we decided not to pursue that option." Gordon added that "the interview is at a newspaper, not a TV station."

We expect a President to be a quick thinker. We learned about it in 2008 with the 3am ad. Last night I decided to have some fun with that ad:

We have had two different front runners for the GOP field experience their "red phone" moment and they both have failed miserably. Herman Cain and Rick Perry have now both tried the "run and hide" method to prevent any future gaffs. The problem is that these gaffs also exemplify the very reason neither man is suited to hold the office of President of the United States. The GOP just best suck it up and realize they need to go with Mitt.

There’s a lot of talk right now about earmarks. The Tea Party/GOP candidates, who campaigned heavily on getting rid of things like earmarks, have now reversed their positions since winning their elections. Examples of this can be seen in John Boehner and Rand Paul. But what about the non-Congressional supporters of the Tea Party/GOP? Well their hypocrisy is also the same:

Chicago Cubs owner Joe Ricketts dislikes government spending so much that he spent over a half a million dollars of his own money to fight against it. According to the Huffington Post (HuffPo) Ricketts was the “sole financier of the Ending Spending Fund” which invested nearly $600,000 into the Nevada US Senate race against Majority Leader Harry Reid.

HuffPo also points out that the fund is the political arm of a new nonprofit called Taxpayers Against Earmarks, which is "dedicated to educating and engaging American taxpayers about wasteful government spending and the misguided practice of earmarks."

That according to Joe Scarborough:

From The Huffington Post:

"I hear it on the Hill, I'm sure you hear it on the Hill all the time, it's not reported, but so many Republicans tell me this is a guy that is not the hardest worker in the world," said Scarborough on Wednesday's edition of Morning Joe. "Every Republican I talk to says John Boehner, by 5 or 6 o'clock at night, you can see him at bars. He is not a hard worker."

And Boehner’s office doesn’t really seem to be denying it either:

"Boehner grew up with 11 brothers and sisters, and his dad owned a bar, but the only time he's 'around town' these days is to raise money for our House Republican team. Thus far this year, he's headlined more than 230 events and raised about $27 million. And that's just the beginning."

As a person represented by John Boehner, I have a serious problem with this. Our county (and John’s) is in serious financial trouble. Our sheriff’s office just did some major layoffs, and now we got 4 on duty at any given time to cover a huge area. All these troubles go on and yet our representative seems oblivious to them.

Michael Bloomberg has a post up at the Huffington Post that addresses something very important in this age of terror:

It's amazing but true: we can prevent terror suspects from boarding an airplane, but the FBI doesn't have the power to block them from buying dynamite or an AK-47.

I believe strongly that they should. And so do the 500 mayors who are members of our bi-partisan coalition of Mayor Against Illegal Guns.

It is time to close the "Terror Gap" in our gun laws.

This morning I will be testifying at a hearing of the Senate Homeland Security Committee about the easy access that terror suspects have to guns and explosives. I wanted to share with lawmakers the hard-earned perspective New Yorkers have on this national security risk.

Democrats always run when it comes time to talk gun control. They are afraid that the NRA might attack them. In this instance I say “good – let them attack”.

Since 9/11 we have seen the right attack the 1st and 4th amendments. National security should trump freedom of speech and our rights against unwarranted search. It’s funny though. If we say that it should also prevent certain people from buying guns, the right goes into full defense mode accusing people of trying to violate constitutional rights. I missed the part of the Constitution that states the 2nd amendment trumps all others, but apparently the Republicans have found it somewhere in their minds.

So how big of a problem is it when talking about suspected terrorists buying guns? It’s this bad:

Today, the Government Accountability Office has released new data showing that suspects on the terrorism watch lists were able to buy guns and explosives from licensed US dealers 1,119 times between 2004 and 2010.

Joe Scarborough’s tweet last week slamming Keith Olbermann has gained some attention, including from their boss:

Griffin sent a memo, obtained by the Huffington Post, to network talent and executive producers clamping down on infighting within the network.

"We have many strong personalities with differing, passionate opinions, but it is important to remember that we are all on the same team," Griffin said in the memo. "I want to reiterate my long-standing policy: We do not publicly criticize our colleagues. This kind of behavior is unprofessional and will not be tolerated."

Earlier this week, "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough blasted Keith Olbermann on Twitter for his comments that Scott Brown is "an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, tea-bagging supporter of violence against women and against politicians with whom he disagrees."

The Huffington Post has the full memo here. Mediaite, a site founded by MSNBC legal analyst Dan Abrams, adds:

We hear Scarborough apologized to Griffin for his comments. Griffin also talked to Olbermann, and Olbermann didn’t think it merited punishment. So the letter to staff (but really to Scarborough) went out instead.

Well everything except for minor things like trying to pressure Joe Lieberman into it:

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs insisted once more that President Obama did everything he could to get a public option through the Senate, even if the administration never talked to Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) about his opposition to the provision.

On Tuesday, Gibbs reiterated that President Obama "absolutely" did everything he could to ensure that a government-run insurance option was part of the final legislative product. Pressed by the Huffington Post as to why no one from the administration ever reached out to Lieberman to alleviate his concerns about the proposal, the press secretary said he didn't want to "rehash" the past.

Al Franken had his first amendment pass the Senate since being sworn in, and it is a good one:

On Tuesday night, the Minnesota Democrat got his first piece of legislation passed by the United States Senate via roll call vote. The amendment stopped federal funding for those defense contractors who used mandatory arbitration clauses to deny victims of assault the right to bring their case to court. It passed by a 68-30 margin with nine Republicans joining each voting Democrat. And in the immediate aftermath, Franken was granted the chance to revel, ever so slightly, in his victory.

"The story came to my attention of Jamie Leigh Jones who, when she was 19, went to Iraq to work for [defense contractor] KBR and she was put in the barracks with 400 men and was sexually harassed," Franken told the Huffington Post in a brief interview shortly after the vote. "She complained. But they didn't do anything about it. She was drugged and gang raped and they locked her up in a shipping container. She tried to sue KBR and they said you have a mandatory arbitration clause in your contract. She tried to fight back and said this is ridiculous. She took it to court and they have been fighting her for three years."

"This bill would make it so that anybody in business with the Department of the Defense can't do this," he concluded emphatically. "They can't have mandatory arbitration on issues like assault and battery."

The amazing part is that a majority of Republicans voted against this. KBR makes far more from the government in one year than ACORN has over the past 15 years, and yet Republicans are fine with them trying to cover up a brutal attack on a U.S. citizen. They are every bit as sick as the perpetrators of this crime.