Tag Archives: politics

May 27, 2011 · 8:32 am

Elizabeth Warren Fans Attack Patrick McHenry On Facebook Over Liar Charge

I love this!!!

If I didn’t despise Patrick McHenry so much, I would do this myself….

But I just can’t make myself “like” him under any circumstances….

I’m just going to set back and wait for his career to explode….

Like Larry Craig’s…but more loudly.

Rep. Patrick McHenry’s pants may not be on fire, but his Facebook page is getting thoroughly flamed after he called Elizabeth Warren a liar Tuesday in a subcommittee hearing.

Fans of Warren think the North Carolina Republican took some unacceptable liberties with the boss of the nascent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and they’re demanding that he get some McEtiquette and apologize.

Hundreds — and probably thousands — have flocked to McHenry’s fan page to singe him.

“I ‘like’ the fact that thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Americans are appalled by your behavior,” wrote Jill Budzynski. “You are an insult to the title of chairman of any committee. It is out of order to abuse a loyal public servant who is trying her best to accommodate your flip-flopping of schedules. How reprehensible to accuse her of lying. Apologize now.”

The dust-up Tuesday came near the end of a hearing on the CFPB when the Oversight Committee’s top Democrat, Maryland’s Elijah Cummings, noted that Warren had stayed beyond the time he had seen agreed to in internal committee communications.

But McHenry denied there was any agreement, even though the hearing time had been changed as recently as that morning to accommodate the subcommittee. “You’re making this up,” McHenry told her, to her shock and gasps from the hearing audience.

Warren and her staff had the same understanding as Cummings, and sources confirmed the previously agreed upon timing for The Huffington Post.

Warren is an extremely popular figure among people who think Wall Street and the big banks need to be reined in, and they’re expressing their displeasure on Facebook — even if it galls them to have to become a “fan” of McHenry to do so.

via Elizabeth Warren Fans Attack Patrick McHenry On Facebook Over Liar Charge [UPDATE].

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May 26, 2011 · 8:39 pm

John Edwards Plea Deal Possible As Potential Indictment Looms?

Speaking as a former supporter, he just needs to settle this and go away…

We’re all tired of him and his tacky ways.  I’ve always believed “Class will tell and the lack of it even faster”.

It took us way too long to find out the truth on Johnny Boy- he has none.

Now that we know all this, there is no possible “rehabilitation” of his image that I can see…

He just needs to go away….

From Huffington Post:

John Edwards is considering a plea deal that would allow him to avert a looming indictment in a more than two year investigation into alleged campaign finance violations, North Carolina station WRAL reports.

The AP relays background on the case:

Edwards’ mistress Rielle Hunter has sued former campaign aide Andrew Young to have a sex tape and other items returned to her. Young has said he helped cover up Edwards’ affair during the 2008 presidential campaign and worked for months to keep Hunter in hiding.

Edwards has admitted to the affair and fathering Hunter’s child. She worked as a videographer in 2006 for Edwards’ political action committee.

Edwards’ lawyer, Gregory Craig, issued a statement on Wednesday denying his client broke the law. “The government’s theory is wrong on the facts and wrong on the law. It is novel and untested. There is no civil or criminal precedent for such a prosecution,” he said.

Ben Smith at Politico reported on Thursday:

Two other sources in the Edwards camp also said that his own legal team is in deep discussions with their client — himself an almost legendary star of the North Carolina trial bar — over whether he should accept the risk and expense of a criminal trial or sacrifice his law license and possibly his freedom with a guilty plea that might nonetheless represent a real chance for reinventing his tattered public image.

ABC’s James Hill reported on Thursday night:

Multiple sources at the estate of Rachel “Bunny” Mellon confirm to ABC News that the former North Carolina senator met Mellon today for lunch at her sprawling compound in Northern Virginia.

The AP elaborates on the significance of Bunny’s role in relation to the probe into Edwards’ conduct:

According to the network, the reason for the meeting remains unknown. Young has said that Edwards agreed in 2007 to solicit money directly from Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, the 100-year-old widow of banking heir Paul Mellon. Young has said he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in checks from Mellon for his use and Hunter’s, with some of the checks hidden in boxes of chocolate.

Mellon’s attorney has said she didn’t know where the money was going but intended it as a personal gift.

via John Edwards Plea Deal Possible As Potential Indictment Looms? (VIDEO).

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May 26, 2011 · 7:00 am

Texas Gov. Perry Thinking About Presidential Bid

I knew they would get around to him eventually….

The GOP did so well with their last empty-headed Texas Governor/Figurehead…

All I can think is how the late, great Molly Ivins always called him Rick”Good Hair” Perry…

Good Hair/ Empty Head….

From Political Wire:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) chief political strategist, Dave Carney, tells the Texas Tribune Perry is probably mulling a presidential bid.

Said Carney: “Obviously, it’s flattering to have everybody, Rush Limbaugh and all these other conservative, right-of-center leaders, talk about you, urging you to think about it, urging you to run, saying they support you. But I don’t see any difference in terms of the governor’s thinking… I’m sure he’s thinking about it because it’s just human nature when you have Rush Limbaugh spend 20 minutes talking about you and have all these other people mention you, that you don’t sort of think that’s flattering and think about it. But I don’t see any change in his direction, what he’s planning to do.”

via Perry Thinking About Presidential Bid.

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May 26, 2011 · 5:34 am

Senate Republicans Vote Overwhelmingly To End Medicare

Good…

The GOP is finally in the record with what they gave been trying to hide…

If the Dems just hold fast and protect Medicare and Social Security, they/we can take back the House and hold the Senate….

That’s the only way to protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security from the GOP….

That’s a big “if” given the Dem’s habit of shooting themselves in the foot…

But I think the GOP just shot itself in the head….

From TalkingPointsMemo.com:

The GOP continued its bloody walk into the Medicare buzzsaw Wednesday, when 40 out of 47 Senate Republicans voted in support of the House GOP budget, and its plan to phase out and privatize the popular entitlement program.

The test vote failed by a vote of 57-40. But the roll call illustrates that Medicare privatization — along with deep cuts to Medicaid and other social services — remains the consensus position of the GOP despite the growing political backlash against them.

Voting with all of the Democrats against debating the plan were Sens. Scott Brown (R-MA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) — both 2012 incumbents — along with Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Rand Paul (R-KY) voted against it because it wasn’t radical enough.

Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Pat Roberts (R-KS), and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) did not vote.

Democrats intentionally scheduled the vote less than 24 hours after a Democrat won a special election in New York’s 26th — and heavily Republican — congressional district, on the strength of defending Medicare from a GOP onslaught. The outcome of that election heightened the political stakes, but sent few Republicans bolting for the exits.

via Senate Republicans Vote Overwhelmingly To End Medicare | TPMDC.

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May 26, 2011 · 3:23 am

After Terrible Tornadoes, GOP Congressman Eric Cantor Won’t Allow Fed Disaster Relief

More on Mr Compassion, Eric Cantor, the Virginia GOP Congressmean, I mean Congressman…

From Wonkette:

This should play well in Missouri next year: House majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Meanie) has blocked federal disaster-relief help for Joplin, where an incredible storm and tornado killed at least 122 people and leveled much of the town. Police and firefighters and ambulance workers are still pulling victims from the rubble, and the Republican House is saying no help for these people from the federal government unless a bunch of programs the Republicans hate (all of them, except for defense industry no-bid contracts) are de-funded. Why not just wear monster masks and go around scaring babies, too?

via After Terrible Tornadoes, Eric Cantor Won’t Allow Fed Disaster Relief.

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May 25, 2011 · 9:02 pm

Jane, I mean Laura, You Ignorant Slut…

Doesn’t NBC remember they started this as parody on Saturday Night Live in the 1970’s?

And now, it’s become reality….

This is the latest bust up at MSNBC

Ed Schultz will take one week of unpaid leave from MSNBC following his controversial comments about Laura Ingraham.

On his radio show Tuesday, Schultz called Ingraham a “right-wing slut.”

Wednesday evening, the network released the following statement about the matter, saying “remarks of this nature are unacceptable and will not be tolerated”:

And this is where Dan and Jane started it all….

Seems the times aren’t a changing that much.

Except satire has now become reality…

via Ed Schultz To Take Unpaid Leave From MSNBC Following Laura Ingraham ‘Slut’ Comment.

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May 25, 2011 · 8:46 am

Psychopaths in High Places

This explains so much…

Fr0m NPR:

Some psychologists have a theory that many of the world’s ills can be blamed on psychopaths in high places.

“Robert Hare, the eminent Canadian psychologist who invented the psychopath checklist, … recently announced that you’re four times more likely to find a psychopath at the top of the corporate ladder than you are walking around in the janitor’s office,” journalist Jon Ronson tells Guy Raz, host of weekends on All Things Considered.

Ronson is the author of a new book, The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry. The titular test is called the PCL-R. Invented by Hare, it’s a checklist of characteristics common to psychopaths: things like glib and superficial charm, grandiosity, manipulative behavior and lack of remorse.

Picture a psychopath and you might think of Norman Bates. But Ronson says successful businessmen can also score high on the checklist. While researching his book, Ronson visited the Florida home of Al Dunlap — known as “Chainsaw Al” — who as CEO of appliance maker Sunbeam was notorious for his gleeful fondness for firing people and shutting down factories.

“So I turned up at his house, and it was full of sculptures of predatory animals,” Ronson says. “And he immediately started to talk about how he believed in the predatory spirit, which was word for word what Bob Hare writes about in the checklist: Look out for their belief in the predatory spirit.”

But Dunlap managed to turn the psychopath test on its head, Ronson says.

“He admitted to many, many items on the checklist, but redefined them as leadership positives,” he says. “So ‘manipulation’ was another way of saying ‘leadership.’ ‘Grandiose sense of self worth’ — which would have been a hard one for him to deny because he was standing underneath a giant oil painting of himself — was, you know, ‘You’ve got to like yourself if you’re going to be a success.'”

via A Psychopath Walks Into A Room. Can You Tell? : NPR.

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May 25, 2011 · 8:40 am

John Edwards Prosecution Given Go Ahead By Justice Department

Since they are canceling so many long running soap operas on television, it’s amazing that this one just keeps going on and on….

But it looks like it might be retooled into a “Judge Judy” episode….

From HuffingtonPost.com:

The U.S. Department of Justice has indicated that it will allow John Edwards to be prosecuted in an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations, North Carolina station ABC11 reports.

According to the local outlet, the 2008 presidential candidate is expected to be indicted in the case.

NBC News confirms that the Justice Department will permit prosecutors to file criminal charges against Edwards.

WRAL News reported on Tuesday that the culmination of the probe was imminent.

Sources told WRAL News on Tuesday that a major development would occur in the next two weeks. It could be an indictment or perhaps a plea deal. Sources said it’s unlikely that prosecutors would walk away from the case.

The AP relays background on the case:

Edwards’ mistress Rielle Hunter has sued former campaign aide Andrew Young to have a sex tape and other items returned to her. Young has said he helped cover up Edwards’ affair during the 2008 presidential campaign and worked for months to keep Hunter in hiding.

…

Edwards has admitted to the affair and fathering Hunter’s child. She worked as a videographer in 2006 for Edwards’ political action committee.

WRAL reports:

Former Edwards aide Andrew Young wrote in his tell-all book, “The Politician,” that heiress Rachel “Bunny” Mellon gave Edwards a total of $700,000 as a gift. The so-called “Bunny money” helped fund the cover-up of Edwards’ affair with video producer Rielle Hunter, who was pregnant with the former U.S. senator’s child.

Political observers have said the money was a campaign contribution and should have been noted in Edwards’ campaign finance reports.

via John Edwards Prosecution Given Go Ahead By Justice Department: Report (VIDEO).

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May 24, 2011 · 9:32 pm

Maria Shriver’s People Leaked Arnold Baby Story

Good for her!

Hell hath no fury…..

From TMZ:

TMZ has new information from sources connected to Maria.  We’re told when Maria found out that Arnold was the father of Mildred Patty Baena’s son, she was “hysterical” and wanted to hold a news conference blowing the lid off the scandal.

We’re told Maria’s friends talked her off a ledge and a plan was eventually hatched to leak the details to the L.A. Times and TMZ.

And we have new information about when Maria found out about the baby.  Now we’re told Maria learned about Arnold’s love child in late April or very early May.

The timeline further supports the story TMZ broke earlier — that Maria was miserable in her marriage and wanted out for a long time.  As we first reported, Maria was looking at pricey L.A. condos back in January with a Beverly Hillls realtor.

Maria has told friends for nearly two years she wanted a divorce but never pulled the trigger.  Maria, we’re told, is now ready to end the marriage.

As for Arnold, our sources say he’s upset Maria was talking to her friends about the scandal.  Arnold and his people know the story leaked through Maria’s camp

via Maria Shriver’s People Leaked Arnold Baby Story | TMZ.com.

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May 23, 2011 · 8:37 am

NC governor will let Time Warner cable-backed bill restricting municipal broadband become law

Bev Perdue continues to be a most disappointing Democratic Governor here in North Carolina…

She’s will “neither sign nor veto” this horrible Time Warner Protection Bill …

Another bought and paid for politician?

I really hope she doesn’t run again and gets out of the way for a new Democratic choice.

She won’t though….

She will hand the Office of the Governor over to the GOP instead.

Thanks to my friend Gary for initially posting this on FaceBook…

We’ve repeatedly hammered Time Warner Cable (and its big-cable cronies) for crying to the North Carolina legislature about municipal broadband. TWC claims it can’t compete with taxpayer-backed ISPs such as Wilson, NC’s Greenlight — and that it shouldn’t have to. In fact, Greenlight and four other municipal providers came about specifically because corporate players refused to provide inexpensive, fast broadband. And now that local governments have proven they can provide it, the cable companies have cried foul, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into select political pockets all the while. That’s the drama so far, and now a bill restricting municipal broadband — mandating that providers pay taxes similar to private companies, for example — has landed on the desk of Governor Bev Perdue. She won’t veto the bill, meaning it will soon become a law; for whatever it’s worth (read: not much), she also refuses to sign it. The reason? Here it is from the horse’s mouth:

“I will neither sign nor veto this bill. Instead, I call on the General Assembly to revisit this issue and adopt rules that not only promote fairness but also allow for the greatest number of high quality and affordable broadband options for consumers.”

The legislation strikes a blow against public ISPs in a country that ranks ninth in the world for broadband adoption and download speeds. And that, apparently, is what “fair competition” looks like in the US.

via NC governor will let cable-backed bill restricting municipal broadband become law — Engadget.

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