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Meet Darrell ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Issa
June 21, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I warned you about this tool back in January 2011 when the Tea-Publicans took control of the House. So let me reintroduce to you Darrell "Grand Theft Auto" Issa (repost):
Which brings me to the second headline in the Washington Post today: Issa says Obama administration is 'one of most corrupt'. That's right, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) wants to be the next Dan Burton who waged the witch hunts against the Clinton administration in the '90s.
You remember Dan Burton (R-IN), don't you?
- Burton led the House inquiry into the death of Vincent Foster; he was convinced that Foster was murdered and urged extensive investigation into the possible involvement of the Clintons. Burton gained attention for re-enacting the alleged crime in his backyard with his own pistol and a pumpkin standing in for Foster's head.
- Burton's investigation of the Whitewater controversy was based on opposition research conducted by Floyd Brown, who founded Citizens United in 1988, which created the well-known Willie Horton attack ad against Michael Dukakis. Because of the problems with the quality of Brown's research and testimony, the investigation was closed.
- In 1997, Burton headed an investigation into possible Democratic Party campaign finance abuse, focusing on the 1996 Presidential election. The committee investigation ran for several years and issued over 1,000 subpoenas of Clinton administration officials and cost over $7 million. The committee, and Burton's leadership, were labeled a "farce," a "travesty," a "parody," and "its own cartoon, a joke, and a deserved embarrassment."
Yes, but Burton provided right-wing talk radio and the fledgling FAUX News network the grist for its rumor mill of daily conspiracy theories with which to feed the conservative base. And the mainstream media, to its great discredit and eternal shame, reported many of these bullshit stories because of the "noise" in the right-wing echo chamber. This is the job that Issa has been tasked with performing for the next two years.
So who is this tool, Darrell Issa? He made his fortune hawking the Viper car alarm system in the '80s, using his voice for the "STAND BACK" warning. Issa later sold his controlling stake in Directed Electronics, the company that still sells Viper car alarms. As of last year, he was ranked the wealthiest member of Congress with a net worth estimated at $251 million. Yeah, he's that guy you curse every time your neighbor's car alarm goes off in the middle of the night. (Video below the fold).
American Library Association to hold conference session: “Ethnic Studies Under Fire”
June 21, 2012
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by David Safier Librarians think unwisely restricting access to books is a bad idea. They made that clear when the American Library Association and affiliated groups condemned the selective book banning at TUSD (Yes, it's still a ban, even when the books are accessible to some in TUSD, if you forbid/ban certain teachers from using … Read more
Obama’s immigration plan is on the table; where’s yours, TanMan?
June 21, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
We already have seen demonstrated that the TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, is the "Worst. Speaker. Ever." His "less-than-do-nothing" Tea-Publican Congress will be mocked by historians forever.
In a couple of related posts from Steve Benen, the insanity of putting Boehner in the leadership role is made clear. First, in 'Where's the president's plan?':
Complaining about President Obama's new immigration policy, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said yesterday the move will make it more "difficult" to pass a comprehensive reform package.Since reform efforts are impossible in this Congress anyway, it wasn't much of a complaint.
But Boehner added something else that struck me as interesting.
"Where's the president's immigration plan? Where does the president stand on this issue? Instead of campaigning all the time, maybe he ought to come back to Washington and go back to work," Boehner said.
It was an odd thing to say. If the House Speaker wants to know where President Obama's immigration plan is, he can type "President Obama's immigration plan" into the Google machine and, wouldn't you know it, one of the first results is President Obama's immigration plan. It's 29 pages long, written in easy-to-read language, and it's been online since May 2011.
Maybe Boehner isn't much of a reader? Well, Obama also delivered a detailed speech, outlining his immigration plan, last summer in Texas. The Speaker can watch the video.
When Boehner asks, "Where's the president's immigration plan? Where does the president stand on this issue?" it's disconcerting because it suggests the Speaker doesn't just disagree with Obama's approach; it suggests the Speaker doesn't understand that Obama's approach exists.
Willard ‘Mittens’ Romney flip-flops on immigration
June 21, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
After avoiding directly answering any questions from the media about his position on immigration policy since last Friday when President Obama announced his "DREAM Act-Lite" policy, Willard "Mittens" Romney today finally stated his position at the annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).
Romney spent months attacking his Republican primary rivals for being soft on illegal immigration. Today he called for loosening some immigration restrictions and reiterated a proposal for a path to legal status for some in the United States illegally who have served in the military. Romney calls for loosening immigration restrictions:
Romney said he wants to open the country to more legal foreign workers. But he said he did not plan on keeping in place the new order by President Obama halting deportations of hundreds of thousands of young illegal immigrants brought to the country when they were children.
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“Some people have asked if I will let stand the president’s executive order,” Romney added. “The answer is that I will put in place my own long-term solution that will replace and supersede the president’s temporary measure.”
Riiight. Mr. "Self Deport" who said he would veto any DREAM Act if it came to him as president is suddenly going to propose a "long-term solution" to immigration that would allow more foreign workers into the country? Romney's anti-immigrant policy advisor Kris Kobach, the author of SB 1070, must have had a stroke when he heard that.
These Latino legislators are not stupid, Mittens, they know you are willing to say anything in a pathetic attempt to pander to them.
The corporate media is bad for your health
June 21, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Greg Sargent has an important post about the failure of the corporate media to inform the public in the healthcare debate, which allowed the corporate forces aligned against the Affordable Care Act (the New York Times tallies it up: $235 million has been spent on ads attacking "Obamacare" since March 2010, versus only $69 million on ads favoring it), to create a narrative that was oft repeated in the media echo chamber.
This in turn created the milieu in which fringe right-wing ideas get mainstreamed, e.g., "death panels," and a conservative activist Justice like Antonin Scalia feels emboldened to legislate his radical political ideology from the bench by rejecting well-established court precedent, even his own opinion. Scalia Changes His Mind on Key Obamacare Precedent.
Greg Sargent writes GOP wims message war over health care:
A number of people are pointing to this big Pew poll today to argue that it shows that Republicans won the message war over health care reform. I don’t think there’s any doubt that this is true. But one of the reasons Pew cites for this victory seems particularly interesting:
An analysis by PEJ of the language used in the media (PEJ research) reveals that opponents of the reform won the so-called “messaging war” in the coverage. Terms that were closely associated with opposition arguments, such as “government run,” were far more present in media reports than terms associated with arguments supporting the bill, such as “pre-existing conditions.”
To conduct the analysis, researchers examined and identified three of the most common concepts being pushed by opponents of the bill and the three concepts being promoted by supporters and then examined the news coverage for the presence of those concepts and language. The concepts used by opponents were nearly twice as common as those used by supporters.
Pew finds that the press coverage was also more more preoccupied with the political strategies employed by both sides than it was with the policy specifics of the law itself.
SCOTUS Watch: quick recap of Thursday opinions
June 21, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Sorry folks, no health care, no SB 1070 decisions this week. The Court has 5 decisions left plus the health care cases next week. Some opinions will be announced on Monday, and a final round of announced decisions on a date yet to be noticed. Monday is also orders day, including American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock, the Montana Supreme Court challenge to Citizens United v. FEC.
Here is a quick recap of the opinions announced today. Amy Howe from SCOTUSblog summarizes the cases, followed by a link to today's opinions. Remaining merits cases: In Plain English : SCOTUSblog:
Southern Union Company v. United States
Argued on March 19, 2012
Plain English Issue: Whether the Constitution requires that a jury, rather than a judge, must find beyond a reasonable doubt any fact that leads to a higher fine for a criminal defendant.
6-3 decision. The First Circuit Court of Appeals decision is reversed. The rule of Apprendi v. NJ applies to the imposition of criminal fines. The opinion in Southern Union Company v. U.S. is here: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/11-94a1b2.pdf.
Knox v. Service Employees International Union
Argued on January 10, 2012
Plain English Issue: Whether a state can require its employees to pay a special union fee that will be spent for political purposes without first giving the employees information about the fee and a chance to object to it.
5-4 decision on ideological grounds, but 6-3 in the result (concurrence). The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision is reversed. The Court first ruled that the case is not moot. It then ruled on the merits: the union's treatment of nonmembers who had opted out when they got notice of the dues ran afoul of the First Amendment. A concurring opinion says that "[T]he majority thus decides, for the very first time, that the First Amendment does require an opt-in system in some circumstances [for union dues]: the levying of a special assessment or dues increase." The opinion in Knox v. Service Employees International Union is here: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-1121c4d6.pdf.
Elitism At Its Absolute Ugliest
June 20, 2012
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Posted by Bob Lord I read this article by Paul Begala this morning… http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/06/17/paul-begala-middle-class-in-free-fall-from-the-bush-depression.html … and can't get the first paragraph out of my head: I have a wealthy friend who lives in a wealthy neighborhood. One day he was in his front yard, chatting with his next-door neighbor, a Republican, who asked him why … Read more
Seriously, Dude? The Goldwater Institute and registered foreign lobbyist? That’s what you’re bragging about?
June 20, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Huffington Post has been following the Arizona senate race and reports Jeff Flake, Arizona Senate Candidate, Touts Lobbying Background On Facebook:
A Republican candidate for Arizona's open U.S. Senate seat is touting his background as a lobbyist for Namibian companies with ties to Iran in a Facebook post as a way to ward off attacks about his lack of private sector experience.
Rep. Jeff Flake, who is locked in a competitive GOP Senate primary, posted on Facebook on Wednesday morning a defense of his private sector expertise. This background is something that he has alternatively promoted and taken off his official biographies. The Facebook post comes as Flake's primary opponent, businessman Wil Cardon, has said Flake is a career politician.
"After returning to the United States, I formed Interface Public Affairs, which provided public affairs representation to Namibian companies and translation services to U.S. entities," Flake wrote in the Facebook entry, citing what he did after spending a year in Namibia in the early 1990s.
