Rep. Joe Wilson, R-South Carolina, has achieved the ignoble distinction of being admonished by the House after refusing to apologize on the floor for his outburst during the presidential address of President Barack Obama. What is astonishing is that only seven Republicans voted to uphold the House rules and to admonish their colleague in a 240-179 vote.
Continue reading “Wilson Admonished — With Only Seven Republicans Voting for the Sanction”
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) appears to have joined those governors threatening constitutional challenges under the Tenth Amendment to any federal health care bill. I discussed these arguments last night on this segment of Countdown and earlier on this segment of the Rachel Maddow show.
Rep. Joe Wilson has gone on the offensive with the release of this fund-raising video calling for contributions to prevent critics from “muzzling” him. This follows a \flood of contributions to his opponent Rob Miller in the immediate aftermath of his outburst on the floor of the House of Representatives during the President’s address — when he called President Obama a liar. For the original video, click here.
ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) has long been a target for conservative organizations and one such organization has released this video purportedly shown ACORN’s Baltimore office assisting two investigators posing as a prostitute and a pimp in getting federal assistance for a brothel.
In one of the most extraordinary breaches of congressional etiquette in the history of presidential addresses to Congress, Rep. Joe Wilson (R., S.C.) screamed at President Barack Obama last night “You lie” during his speech on health care. In this video, you can see the surprise on Pelosi’s face who appears honestly and legitimately shocked.
Continue reading “GOP Rep. Joe Wilson Calls the President a Liar During Address to Congress”
Suddenly, it appears that most extreme elements of our political debate have discovered the Tenth Amendment in arguing for either secession or a type of state independence that borders on separatism. This video of a Texas secessionist rally is shocking given the chants of “we hate the United States” but it is most telling in recognition that “legal secession” it no longer a serious claim. Others do not want to secede but rather to use the Tenth Amendment to bar such things as the national health bill from closing their borders. I discussed this story last night on this segment of the Rachel Maddow show.
Continue reading “Secessionists and Separatists Discover the Tenth Amendment”
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel has played a large role in tax policy — and advocated increasing taxes to pay for the massive spending of this Congress. He is now accused of underreporting his own income by a shocking degree. Republicans have complained that the media and blogs have been relatively muted in covering the story.
The ‘Lion of the Senate” is dead. Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy lost his battle with brain cancer on Tuesday and died at 77. With his death, the country lost one of the most tireless and passionate voices for the poor and powerless in our nation.
For months, many Democrats and civil libertarians have complained about the disconnect between what President Obama says and what he does as President. One area of the greatest criticism has been the effort of the Obama Administration to block public review of embarrassing pictures, White House logs, controversial memoranda, or disclosure of governmental actions — despite his promise to guarantee transparency in government. One such person who appears to have lost patience with the Administration is Chief U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska. Judge Preska has rejected efforts by the Obama Administration to withhold information on who received $2 trillion dollars in bailout funds. The Obama administration argued that the public has no right to know such information. Given today’s news that the federal debt level will be reach $9 trillion, many people would like to look a bit closer at what Congress and the White House has been doing with the public fisc.
Continue reading “Obama Administration Loses Bid to Keep Secret the Recipients of $2 Trillion in Stimulus Money”
The Justice Department appears close to re-opening nearly a dozen prisoner abuse cases that were all but buried by the Bush Administration. The move comes after a recommendation of the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The Obama Administration, however, is still blocking any investigation into war crimes and the torture program. I discussed the appointment of Mr. Durham in <a href="“>this segment of Countdown.
Continue reading “Report: Justice Department To Re-Open Nearly a Dozen Prisoner-Abuse Cases”
It is a dream of many a Democratic strategist: A Hannity-Palin Ticket or Palin-Hannity Ticket in 2012. According to one news report, Sean Hannity added fuel to the speculation this week by saying that he would not rule out a run and would await direction from the Almighty. (It is assumed that that is a reference to God as opposed to Roger Ailes).
Continue reading “Palin-Hannity in 2012 — A Republican (and Democratic) Fantasy Moves Closer to Reality”
Despite his past denials, memos and transcripts released by Congress show that former White House political adviser (and current Fox analyst) Karl Rove was deeply involved in the firing of the U.S. attorney in New Mexico David Iglesias . The material also shows that the White House planned the firings of Iglesias and the other prosecutors for months.
Continue reading “Bush White House Memos Show Greater Role of Rove in Firings of U.S. Attorneys”
Many of us have been complaining that the Democrats and Republicans have used the economic crisis as an excuse to spend wildly in the stimulus package — pushing our deficit to unprecedented levels. If you are looking for an example, you need to look no further than the “airport to nowhere” in Takotna — population 46. The village is slated to received $18.7 million for an airstrip — or over $400,000 per person. For that money, we could have simply moved them to their own beach house or their own village of Takotna.
Continue reading “Over-Stimulated: Alaskan Town of Receives Over $400,000 Per Person for Airport to Nowhere”
Reports indicate that Attorney General Eric Holder is close to naming a prosecutor to look into interrogation abuse, but that he is going to structure the investigation to protect high-ranking officials from investigation for war crimes. While Holder admits that waterboarding is torture, he is reportedly going to allow only the investigation into whether some interrogations went beyond the torture guidelines set by the Justice Department — which allowed for waterboarding.
Continue reading “Holder Plans Whitewash of War Crimes Allegations”
The continuing decline of basic comfort and civility in air travel has been a source of continued complaint on this blog and other sites. Many have complained about how they book a flight with a major airline only to be shoved on to some small puddle jumper run by an unknown carrier. Then there are the horror stories of being held for hours on planes on the tarmac. A new story involving Continental Airlines Flight 2816 combines all of these problems into a nightmare where passengers were left on a plane with malfunctioning toilets overnight after being diverted from their intended airport. They were held overnight because the flight crew was over their limit for flying and the security staff at the airport had gone home for the night.
Continue reading “Flight 2816: Continental Takes Passengers For a Ride”