US Politics

"Frank Bruni's column in the New York Times today deplores what he calls the permanent circus in Washington, which is now manifest by the unspooling of the IRS story, the AP phone records story, and, of course, Benghazi, Benghazi!, BENGHAZI! As should be obvious by now, I agree, [...] A lot of scandals are created from no substance at all. See "Clinton, Bill" for details." - Andrew C (✓) from Bookmarklet

"Ratfking has a long history in American politics, and I'd be loath to preside over its disappearance. Politics would become remarkably boring. However, we used to know what it was, and what to do with the people when they got caught practicing it. We used to be able to distinguish ratfking from actual reporting. That all fell apart during the Clinton years, [...] If you were part of... more... - Andrew C (✓)

"As your kindergarten teacher probably told you, two wrongs do not make a right. But the discrepancy in reactions to wrongs does, indeed, show how Washington so often serves the interests of the political right." - Andrew C (✓) from Bookmarklet

Yeah, his own party filibustered Bush's immigration bill. - John (bird whisperer)

"Nick Confessore has an interesting piece in The New York Times today that delves a little deeper into how (and why) the IRS may have been examining somewhat more closely the various conservative groups that sprang up in the wake of the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, which is what led somehat directly to the bureaucratic dumbassery in Cincinnati that's got everyone in DC all hot and bothered. Confessore's reporting indicates that, faced with a staggering amount of new work, the IRS may have simply picked what it believed were easier groups to examine, leaving alone the huge 501(c)(4)'s of the type founded by Karl Rove, at least partly because the latter were able to afford better lawyers." - Andrew C (✓) from Bookmarklet

"However, I thought the more interesting element of the story was how Citizens United forced upon the IRS the job of regulating the insane way we have allowed money to drown our political system." - Andrew C (✓)

"This is just another example of how we have come to use taxes and the tax code as an instrument to create and sustain public policy. We do not appropriate money directly for X -- Because government spending baaaaaaaaddd!!! -- and, instead, we arrange tax breaks, and tax credits. That puts the IRS in our daily lives more often than simply the late hours of every April 15. Now, because... more... - Andrew C (✓)

The supply shock created by a surge in North American oil production will be as transformative to the market over the next five years as was the rise of Chinese demand over the last 15, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its annual Medium-Term Oil Market Report (MTOMR) released today. The shift will not only cause oil companies to overhaul their global investment strategies, but also reshape the way oil is transported, stored and refined. According to the MTOMR, the effects of continued growth in North American supply – led by US light, tight oil (LTO) and Canadian oil sands – will cascade through the global oil market. Although shale oil development outside North America may not be a large-scale reality during the report’s five-year timeframe, the technologies responsible for the boom will increase production from mature, conventional fields – causing companies to reconsider investments in higher-risk areas. In virtually every other aspect of the market, developing... more... - Eric from Bookmarklet

"Over the past few weeks, the spotlight has turned on Nuland. The charge is that intelligence officers prepared accurate talking points after the attack in Benghazi, Libya, and that Nuland, serving her political masters, watered them down. The charges come from two quarters, from Republicans critical of the Obama administration’s handling of Benghazi and intelligence officials shifting blame for Benghazi onto the State Department." - Hieronymous Boosh from Bookmarklet

"Is this a tale of hard intelligence being distorted for political advantage? Maybe. Did Victoria Nuland scrub the talking points to serve Clinton or President Obama? That charge is completely unsupported by the evidence. She was caught in a brutal interagency turf war, and she defended her department. The accusations against her are bogus." - Hieronymous Boosh

"Here's hoping the Heritage spends its time getting more serious about producing methodologically sound work on immigration." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"The real issue is this: Will Heritage, under the relatively new leadership of former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) start producing serious work again? " -- No. This has been Simple Answers to Simple Questions. - Andrew C (✓)

"Here's what places like Detroit, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh do have, however: big universities, if not inside their city limits, then fairly close by. And so unsurprisingly, some Rust Belt efforts at immigrant outreach have been focused on convincing international students to stay put after graduation." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"By a vote of 223-204, the House on Wednesday passed the Working Families Flexibility Act, which allows employers to offer hourly workers comp time when they exceed their 40-hour workweek. It was a party line vote, with all but a few Democrats voting against the bill. Republicans say the bill is family-friendly and gives workers the flexibility to choose how they would like to be compensated for their overtime - either with comp time or with overtime pay. Currently, employers must offer hourly workers "time and a half" for every hour they work over 40 hours a week." - Andrew C (✓) from Bookmarklet

This bill is so amazingly disgusting it's clear it was written by corporate lobbyists. - Anika

"Former Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies authorities said were born alive before having their necks cut with scissors. A jury found Gosnell not guilty of first-degree murder in a fourth baby’s death. In addition to the murder charges, the 72-year-old was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the overdose death of former patient Karnamaya Mongar. Gosnell was also found guilty of several other crimes including one count of infanticide, two counts of conspiracy, 21 of 24 counts of abortion of an unborn child of 24 weeks or more and 208 of 227 counts of violation of informed consent of an abortion. In all, Gosnell was found guilty of 237 crimes. He will now face the death penalty in the sentencing phase, which will begin a week from Tuesday." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet

For two weeks in the summer of 1982, U.S. and Soviet jets dueled in the skies over Lebanon in one of the largest aerial dogfights since World War II. The pilots were Israelis and Syrians. In a classic Cold War proxy battle, U.S.-backed Israel humiliated Soviet-backed Syria, downing 86 MiGs without a single loss. It was the finest example of Israel’s strategic value to the United States: In return for the planes, Israel served as America’s shield and a model for the superiority of American-made weaponry. In the summer of 2013, American-made Israeli jets are humiliating Syria once again. Israel’s ability to evade sophisticated Russian-made anti-aircraft systems to bomb Syrian territory over the past week does not just signal a possible expansion of Syria’s civil war or the latest salvo in the struggle with Iran. It also suggests that the U.S.-Israel alliance may be returning to its Cold War roots—which is good news for both countries. - Eric from Bookmarklet

"It's a huge mistake to allow our politicians to fear-monger us on behalf of their wealthy benefactors to give up the meager benefits we know we will need many years hence." - Andrew C (✓) from Bookmarklet

"Just in case you were worried that our elected officials might be paying insufficient attempts to completely imaginary attempts to sully our precious national body fluids, or something, the legislature in Missouri has stepped up and bravely thrown itself athwart Agenda 21, the secret Illuminati UN plot to steal all our golfs." - Andrew C (✓) from Bookmarklet

"There's been a lot of earnest punditizing about the president's alleged lack of "leadership" in getting his agenda passed. You know what leadership would be? Leadership would be Mitch McConnell's and John Boehner's calling meetings of their respective caucuses and telling them to knock this shit off. Leadership would be the upper echelons of the Republican party's taking a good look around and assessing some actual penalties for being publicly nuts. Alas, I think it's much more likely that we will hear a lot of "some people are even saying..." thumb-sucking among the gobshites." - Andrew C (✓) from Bookmarklet

"Senate To Take Up Bipartisan Bill This Week" - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

we should all remember to constantly remind them, they are only there because WE put them there by voting for them - Halil from Bookmarklet

Early in 1914 Henry Ford, spurred by a combination of wanting to cut down the high turnover in his workforce and what seems to have been genuine altruism, announced that henceforth the base wage in his factory would be five dollars a day. This at a stroke doubled the prevailing salary for industrial work, and it caused a sensation. But Ford company workers discovered that achieving their five-dollar day came with some rigid stipulations. To qualify for his doubled salary, the worker had to be thrifty and continent. He had to keep his home neat and his children healthy, and, if he were below the age of twenty-two, to be married. The job of ensuring such behavior went to John Lee. He was in charge of what today goes under the pallid name of "human resources," and was one of the very few of Ford's high executives who was universally liked. Lee put out a booklet called Helpful Hints and Advice to Employees, which opened by declaring a "sole and simple" purpose that was far from simple. It... more... - Eric from Bookmarklet

"The bipartisan U.S. Senate panel's proposed bill that would bring about comprehensive immigration reform survived its first major test Thursday during its first day of consideration before the Senate Judiciary Committee, one that was largely split on the bill." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"Oh, yes, Dick. Great idea. Except, Dick Cheney has never believed that the executive branch is subject to congressional subpoenae, and Hillary Clinton's job as Secretary of State falls under the purview of the executive branch. When Dick was the Defense Secretary and the Vice President, he dodged probes and regulations by claiming all kinds of crazy things, but he became best known for hiding under dubious "executive privilege" (by dubious, I mean at one time ruled unconstitutional by a judge W appointed)." - Andrew C (✓) from Bookmarklet

Whenever the massive quantities of 'public record documents'--pertaining to his backroom/backdoor activities in the White House--are finally located, there'll be hell to pay. Except that they've been secreted so deeply into the bowels of some federal storage warehouse 10 stories below ground level that we'll all be dead. #FOIAfoiledAgain - Jkram|ɯɐɹʞſ

"Some experts believe it could be linked to global warming and craft from outer space are appearing because they are concerned about what man is doing to this planet." - Eric from Bookmarklet

In one of the odder discoveries related to climate change, researchers with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) have found that rising carbon dioxide levels are causing opium poppies to become more potent. Scienceline, New York University’s environmental reporting programme, says researchers have found that poppies grown today produce twice as many alkaloids — chemical compounds such as morphine (which can be used to make heroin) — as they did in 1950. Based on those growth levels, scientists expect the morphine levels in poppies could triple by 2050 and increase by 4.5 times by 2090. - Eric from Bookmarklet

This piece of the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act is aimed at curbing employment of undocumented immigrants. But privacy advocates fear the inevitable mission creep, ending with the proof of self being required at polling places, to rent a house, buy a gun, open a bank account, acquire credit, board a plane or even attend a sporting event or log on the internet. Think of it as a government version of Foursquare, with Big Brother cataloging every check-in. “It starts to change the relationship between the citizen and state, you do have to get permission to do things,” said Chris Calabrese, a congressional lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union. “More fundamentally, it could be the start of keeping a record of all things.” For now, the legislation allows the database to be used solely for employment purposes. But historically such limitations don’t last. The Social Security card, for example, was created to track your government retirement benefits. Now you need it to purchase health insurance. - Eric from Bookmarklet

The Cleveland Foundation will not assess fees on this fund, so all money raised will go to help survivors and their families. Donors can give online at clevelandfoundation.org\courage . Donations may also be mailed to: Cleveland Courage Fund c/o the Cleveland Foundation 1422 Euclid Ave., Suite 1300 Cleveland, Ohio 44115 - Eric from Bookmarklet

He says it's terrible Obama didn't call the attack terrorism. Willis says he did, using the term 'act of terror'. Pdon115 says that wasn't about Benghazi, implicitly conceding that 'act of terror' meant terrorism, but Obama wasn't talking about Benghazi so it doesn't count. - Andrew C (✓)

Willis then points out the "four Americans were killed in attack" phrase, to which Pdon says Obama wasn't calling the attack terrorism. Fantastic. - Andrew C (✓)

and just think, this guy gets to vote. - Andrew C (✓)

"In the first legislative test for the U.S. Senate's bipartisan immigration bill, the Judiciary Committee defeated repeated efforts by Republicans on Thursday to significantly delay legalization for 11 million undocumented immigrants, a central focus of the bill." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"The evangelical "Pray for Reform: 92 Days of Prayer and Action to Pass Immigration Reform" campaign called on Congress in a press call on Wednesday to pass meaningful legislation in the next 92 days, throwing further support behind the current momentum in Congress to finally pass a immigration reform bill." - LANjackal from Bookmarklet

"But it's getting to the point where, if another pundit tells me that the president's primary failure is that he hasn't been able to persuade congressional vandals to drop their spray-paint cans and back slowly away from the subway car of government, I might start sending Rahm Emanuel a card every year on Political Carnivores Day." - Andrew C (✓) from Bookmarklet

"The McCarthy circus is by far the more revelatory of the two. Her confirmation hearing before the Senate's Environment AND Public Works Committee was a month ago. She's already answered more than 1000 questions. The EPA needs a permanent director. And still she's hanging out there in the wind to twist simply because someone like David Vitter can arrange it. Someone will have to explain... more... - Andrew C (✓)

"So they just convincingly voted for Mark Sanford, a man who cheated on his wife, tried to cover his actions with an absurd story about hiking the Appalachian Trail, and trespassed on his ex-wife’s property, over an exemplary Democratic candidate. And you know what? Given their preferences, this was the right thing to do." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet

"Look, we have an intensely polarized political system, and in Congress, at least, party affiliation is basically all that matters. When Massachusetts voters chose Scott Brown because he seemed like a nice guy, they were being idiots; his character (which I suspect they misjudged, but never mind) didn’t matter, while the loss of that 60th seat in the Senate almost killed health reform." - Steven Perez

"Maybe, just maybe, you can make a case for choosing the right person for governor, regardless of party. But when you’re sending someone to Congress, all that matters is the R or D after that person’s name. It seems that conservative voters understand that; liberals and moderates should, too." - Steven Perez

One of the most telling parts of Ramsey’s interview is the fact that he intervened because he thought this was a Domestic violence case. What better example can we have than a former abuser learning from his mistakes and then getting involved in helping others? That Is certainly a better example of the criminal justice system working than the half dozen cops and 9-11 operators who did nothing over the years despite community complaints. His 15 year old daughter has every right to cut his pictures out of all family albums, just like Gina DeJesus family has every right to hug and praise him until they are hoarse. Good Samaritans, good neighbors and heroes don’t have to be perfect in America, just have to stand up for what is right when it counts and go above and beyond what they have to do. Charles Ramsey’s past doesn’t make him less of a hero, it makes him more of a human being. And aren’t we all more inspired by the idea that heroism can come from anyone with any past? I know that I am. - Eric from Bookmarklet