snip

But They Are Grass Roots!

These Tea Party congressmen. They are nothing but common people, just like you and me. Right?

One-fifth of the 50 richest members of Congress are freshman House Republicans sent to Washington last year with strong Tea Party support, according to The Hill’s 50 Wealthiest for 2011.

Ohio’s Rep. Jim Renacci, the wealthiest of the 87 freshman Republicans elected in 2010, has an estimated net worth of $35.9 million and is the 11th richest lawmaker in Congress, according to The Hill’s list.

Like Reps. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.), and Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), who are also numbered among the most wealthy 50 lawmakers in Congress, Renacci had a successful business career before entering Congress.

[SNIP]

Two other new members of the rich list, Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Scott Rigell (R-Va.), made their fortunes with car dealerships. Kelly’s estimated wealth is $11.9 million, while Rigell’s is $10.7 million.

Ah yes, I feel like such a common man, much like these tea party people. Now excuse me while I bath myself in my millions!

National Security

FLASHBACK: In 2008 John McCain Blasted Obama For Saying He Would Hunt Osama Into Pakistan

There is so much spin and rewriting of history this morning that my head is ready to explode. I think it’s time for a quick refresher on what lead us up to this victorious point today, including how the Republican presidential candidate in 2008 went after then candidate Obama when it came of Osama bin Laden.

The following is from the transcript of the October 7, 2008 debate between John McCain and Barack Obama in Nashville.

QUESTION: Should the United States respect Pakistani sovereignty and not pursue al Qaeda terrorists who maintain bases there, or should we ignore their borders and pursue our enemies like we did in Cambodia during the Vietnam War?

OBAMA: [snip]

But I do believe that we have to change our policies with Pakistan. We can't coddle, as we did, a dictator, give him billions of dollars and then he's making peace treaties with the Taliban and militants.

What I've said is we're going to encourage democracy in Pakistan, expand our nonmilitary aid to Pakistan so that they have more of a stake in working with us, but insisting that they go after these militants.

And if we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act and we will take them out. We will kill bin Laden; we will crush Al Qaida. That has to be our biggest national security priority.

The response John McCain gave to this was:

MCCAIN: You know, my hero is a guy named Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt used to say walk softly -- talk softly, but carry a big stick. Senator Obama likes to talk loudly.

In fact, he said he wants to announce that he's going to attack Pakistan. Remarkable.

Society

Detroit Police Kill 7 Year Old Detroit Girl

What an absolutely horrible news story to start the week with:

Police in Detroit, Michigan, on Sunday expressed "profound sorrow" at the fatal shooting of a 7-year-old girl in a police raid.

Aiyana Jones was shot and killed by police executing a search warrant as part of a homicide investigation, Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee said in a statement.

[SNIP]

Upon entering the home, the officer encountered a 46-year-old female inside the front room, Godbee said. "Exactly what happened next is a matter still under investigation, but it appears the officer and the woman had some level of physical contact.

"At about this time, the officer's weapon discharged one round which, tragically, struck 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones in the neck/head area."

The girl was immediately transported to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Godbee said he and other officers went to the hospital while others stayed at the home to execute the warrant.

Aiyana's father, Charles Jones, told CNN affiliate WDIV, "She was sleeping and they came in the door shooting and throwing flash grenades ... burned my baby up and shot her, killed her."

National Security

Polish President And High Level Staff Die In Plane Crash

From HuffPo:

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and some of the country's highest military and civilian leaders died on Saturday when the presidential plane crashed as it came in for a landing in thick fog in western Russia, killing 96, officials said.

[SNIP]

Russia's Emergency Ministry said there were 96 dead, 88 part of a Polish state delegation. Poland's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Piotr Paszkowski, said there were 89 people on the passenger list but one person had not shown up for the roughly 1 1/2-hour flight from Warsaw's main airport.

Talk about unbelievable.

Politics

Barnes Says Kirk Can’t Vote After Tuesday

Fred Barnes, writing from his undisclosed la-la land location, is arguing that Paul Kirk won’t be able to vote after Tuesday. His argument:

But in the days after the election, it is Kirk’s status that matters, not Brown’s. Massachusetts law says that an appointed senator remains in office “until election and qualification of the person duly elected to fill the vacancy.” The vacancy occurred when Senator Edward Kennedy died in August. Kirk was picked as interim senator by Governor Deval Patrick.

[SNIP]

But based on Massachusetts law, Senate precedent, and the U.S. Constitution, Republican attorneys said Kirk will no longer be a senator after election day, period. Brown meets the age, citizenship, and residency requirements in the Constitution to qualify for the Senate. “Qualification” does not require state “certification,” the lawyers said.

Certification doesn’t mean qualification – sure. What certification does mean is that the election is finalized, complete, done.

And what precedent? We just have to look at recent history for precedent. Rolland Burris was appointed to the Senate, but the Senate couldn’t seat him until he was “certified” by the state. The election isn’t over until that process is complete.

The only precedent I can think of would be in the recent Franken/Coleman circus. One thing the lawyers seem to be overlooking is the basis for which Coleman could not serve any longer. Those are laid out in article 1 section 3 of the U.S. Constitution:

Science

OFA Feeling The Backlash

Obama’s grass roots organization is starting to really feel the heat on health care reform:

On Wednesday morning, Organizing for America, as Obama’s reconstituted campaign organization is now known, e-mailed its list of 13 million Obama supporters asking them to “call your senators now and help us ‘ring in reform.’”

The campaign yielded 150,000 calls — less than half the number of a similar effort in October — and it prompted a backlash among online and local activists who had logged countless volunteer supporting Obama’s campaign and legislative agenda, but who felt betrayed by recent Democratic concessions in the health-care reform fight.

[SNIP]

But there’s plenty of unhappiness. One leading OFA volunteer in Florida blasted an e-mail to a statewide listserv urging activists to “just say no” to the phone-banking effort — uncorking a torrent of frustration from Florida Democrats — while some OFA subscribers replied directly to the call-to-action e-mail with angry messages and others asked to be removed from the list entirely.

Still others said they would indeed call their senators — but would urge them to oppose the bill. And the liberal blogosphere registered its dissatisfaction with the call to action, with one prominent blogger on MyDD predicting that “Organizing for America will get a rude awakening when they try to round up canvassers and phone bankers.”

Science

Dean In The Hot Seat

It sounds like Howard Dean really got under the skin of some people:

Liberal Sen. Jay Rockefeller denounced Howard Dean’s call for the Senate healthcare bill to be axed as “nonsense and irresponsible.”

Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and the White House both fired back at Dean on Wednesday for saying that liberals should kill the Senate bill.

[SNIP]

“I don’t know what piece of legislation he’s reading,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday. “I don’t think any rational person would say killing a bill makes a whole lot of sense at this point.”

Rockefeller and the White House sure didn’t go after Lieberman this hard, and Lieberman is the one who has hurt healthcare the most. Now why is that?

News

Let’s Just Make A Registry Of Who Isn’t A Sex Offender

The biggest problem with the sex offender registry is that it has become convoluted with names of people who shouldn’t be on there. Here is a perfect example”

Freeman pleaded guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving force or coercion and was sentenced to probation in September 2003, court records show. By pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charge, he admitted to having sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend, who was two years younger. In Michigan, the legal age of consent is 16.

[SNIP]

Freeman, who had no criminal record, pleaded guilty to the fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct with force or coercion charge on the advice of his public defender, he said.

While he broke the law by having sex with an underage girl, the police report says the victim was “not forced to commit any act” nor “did she ask him not to commit any act.”

A 17 year old and 15 year old have sex and it’s a crime. Actually according to this law it could be his 16th birthday today and his girlfriend’s tomorrow and if they have sex tonight it’s a crime. For this this young man must register as a sex offender until 2028.

This is a major problem with criminal justice in the United States and one that needs to be seriously addressed. Labeling someone as a sexual offender should be taken very seriously, not just thrown at people nilly-willy. Now that we have been doing that, the list has become essentially ineffective.

Then There Was 18

Palin gets hit with ethics complaint number 18:

The latest complaint alleges she abused her office by accepting a salary and using state staff while campaigning outside Alaska for the vice presidency. It's the third complaint filed against the Republican since she announced July 3 that she was stepping down.

[SNIP]

In her complaint, Andree McLeod said that two days before Palin was named John McCain's running mate, she signed travel documents that stated "conclusion of state business." A similar document soon after the election stated "return to duty status."

McLeod said Palin's signature on the documents demonstrated a "willingness to forgo her duties as governor" to travel on the national campaign. She added that she filed the complaint now only because she was waiting for a final document from the state in response to a public records request.

McLeod said that given that temporary absence, Palin should have turned over the governor's responsibilities to Parnell as required by the state constitution.

She might be leaving office, but her problems appear to be lingering.

Boehner Busted For Lying

Here is John Boehner on Sunday claiming no stimulus is being spent in Ohio:

But there’s a problem. Ohio has been spending stimulus funds, and now John Boehner has been called out on his lie and had to issue a “clarification”:

When U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner told a newscaster Sunday that not a single stimulus-funded road contract in his home state of Ohio had been let, he was wrong.

The Ohio Department of Transportation has OK'd 52 stimulus-funded road and bridge projects at a cost of nearly $84 million.

[SNIP]

Boehner issued a clarification Monday.

"The entire process has been absurdly slow moving just as Republicans warned it would be when we called for an economic recovery bill based on fast-acting tax relief for small businesses and working families," Boehner said in a statement.

There is a pretty major project going on right here in Boehner’s own county. It bad enough to get the facts wrong on his own state and district, but his own home county? Come on. Either Boehner is lying or just doesn’t know what's going on in his district. Either reason is inexcusable. How in the hell can someone claim to be a representative when they don’t even know what they are representing?

Funny From The Local Scene

That is Rawinca Dillingham. Rawnica had an unsuccessful run last year to be one of our county commissioners. She was defeated in the primary despite her running as the “real Republican”. Well perhaps there is some truth to that:

HAMILTON — Police here arrested five women early this morning, Feb. 24, at a local nightclub, and issued a summons on a former candidate for Butler County commission.

The Hamilton Police Department's vice unit conducted an undercover operation late last night at V's Nightclub, 1483 Millville Ave., after receiving tips the business was planning to offer erotic dancers to patrons, according to a department news release.

[SNIP]

In addition to the dancers and customers, police said they issued a misdemeanor summons to bar manager Rawnica Dillingham for not having an area clearly defined and separate from the patrons area, according to the news release.

Hmmm the “real Republican” means violating something that is clearly law? I guess she so.

Change Has Come #6

When banks abuse their bailout funds, the Obama administration takes action:

A Treasury Department official on Monday called Citigroup, which has received $45 billion in bailout capital from the government, to protest plans to accept delivery on a luxurious $50 million corporate jet made in France.

[SNIP]

The Treasury official called the bank to complain and told the executive to find a solution. Among the possibilities would be selling or leasing the fancy flier, since there are penalties associated with killing the contract outright.

In any case, the administration does not want the plane put in service under the Citigroup banner.

Could you imagine the Bush administration doing anything like this? While they were pumping out money to these financial institutions, the executives were walking away with huge bonuses and Bush did nothing.

McCain Pollster Calls Pollster Who Got It Right A “Moron”

I can’t believe I am here defending Frank Luntz, but this is just ridiculous:

The chief pollster for John McCain's presidential campaign offered a candid diagnosis of how his candidate was done in, on occasion reserving harsh words for fellow Republicans.

Bill McInturff, speaking at a National Journal breakfast on Thursday, said the political environment for the GOP in 2008 was worse than anything he has seen in his time polling since former Soviet empires were breaking the shackles of communism.

[SNIP]

"I saw Frank Luntz," said McInturff, "who is a moron -- I want to make sure this is clearly on the record -- he was talking to Republican governors, making fun of John for not being able to use a BlackBerry. The man can't do it because he is much more disabled than people can imagine... I would like to take a hammer and start breaking bones in Frank's arms."

So McInturff wants to actually cause physical harm to a pollster who was right? And if Luntz is a moron, what does this make McInturff – brain dead? With people like this it’s no wonder McCain went down a massive blaze.

Obama Derails The Straight Talk Express

McCain trying to get back at Obama today:

McCain criticized Obama for saying in Tuesday night's Democratic debate that, after U.S. troops were withdrawn, as president he would act "if al-Qaida is forming a base in Iraq."

"I have some news. Al-Qaida is in Iraq. It's called `al-Qaida in Iraq,'" McCain told a crowd in Tyler, Texas, drawing laughter at Obama's expense. He said Obama's statement was "pretty remarkable,"

Obama fires back and shows he is damn well ready to take on the GOP lie machine:

"John McCain may like to say he wants to follow Osama bin Laden to the gates of Hell, but so far all he's done is follow George Bush into a misguided war in Iraq,"

[SNIP]

"I have some news for John McCain," Obama continued, "That's there was no Al Qaeda in Iraq until George Bush and John McCain" began the Iraq war, he said.

"They took their eye off the people who really were responsible for 9/11," he said.

Hell Yeah! Fighting back at distortions like this was something we didn't have in 2004. Obama has shown he is ready to take on the Republicans.

Rendition Fights Refueled In UK

And Gordon Brown isn't too happy about it:

The fact that US "extraordinary rendition" flights refuelled on a British overseas territory is "a very serious issue," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Thursday

[SNIP]

"We have just been informed by the United States of America about what actually happened. The United States has expressed regeet about us not knowing about these issues," he said.

"We share the disappointment that everybody has about what actually happened. I think the important thing is now that we put in place the best possible procedures to ensure that this could not happen again."

You know when we have a President who couldn't define sovereignty, don't expect him to follow it.