Just when the Benghazi scandal was dying down, along came the controversies over the IRS investigating conservative groups and the Department of Justice obtaining the phone records of several AP reporters and editors. The former seems to have died down some with the resignation of the acting IRS commissioner (Why was there no formal commissioner? Ask Congress) and the AP scandal has likewise subsided.
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Stub
Author: wickedpam
Date: 05/17/2013 12:37:18
Until my brain kicks in to write something this morning   
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Throughout our history, the federal budget has always been a focus of discussion and debate. How much is too much? Can we cancel or reduce programs that help the less fortunate (or in Republicans' eyes: lazy freeloaders)? Is austerity or stimulus spending the best way to get the economy moving, and why? It was these incessant arguments to the point of dysfunction that led Congress to create the "trigger" and the "sequester", a "nuclear" warning to get things done. Things didn't get done, and this economy-killer went off. Congress has been trying to clean up the mess ever since. Many of the aforementioned safety net programs took a beating, including WIC, which provides food for families with children.
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Last year, there was a controversy about national security leaks in the White House. BuzzFeed published the following June 12, 2012. The news of an interrupted Al Qaeda bomb plot—first reported by Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Adam Goldman of the AP—prompted the White House and the CIA to ask the wire to withhold the story.
The AP complied with the request until the next week, finally publishing the story over White House objections. The AP story was picked up by most major outlets, including the Times, adding new details, including the nationality of the double agent. White House insiders said that leak pushed James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence, over the edge—furious at both the media and the source or sources of the leaks. (snip)
(The Department of Justice declined to say when the FBI started its investigations, and did not respond to the question of whether the White House asked Holder to investigate.)
Another consequence of the investigations, however, is that it puts the Obama administration on a collision course with some of the most powerful media outlets in the country. )
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Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec
Date: 05/14/2013 10:24:47
Good Morning. Today is our 4,237th day in Afghanistan. We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing war, courtesy of Antiwar.com: US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 2,216 Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,085 We find this morning's cost of war passing through: $ 1, 439, 059, 950, 000 .00 "To Protect and Serve" is a phrase we normally associate with the police. However, this saying just as easily crosses over to the military. While they're off "protecting and serving" us, we're supposed to reciprocate and make sure that being in the military is as safe as being in the military can be, and that when they come home, there is something worth coming home to. We've failed on both counts.
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Insane or Liars?
Author: BobR
Date: 05/13/2013 12:43:07
Republicans are going nuts. That may seem like an obvious statement. The root cause of their distress is a Democrat in the White House. They went nuts when Bill Clinton was president, and they've been losing it ever since Barack Obama became president. They tried hard to make his presidency ineffectual by blocking him in Congress at every step, especially after the mid-term elections in 2010 when they took control of the House. Their goal was to make him a one-term "failure". Instead, it was they who failed, and President Obama was re-elected by a healthy margin. So now the focus (beyond the continuing obstruction) is on tainting his presidency, trying to find grounds for impeachment, and pre-smearing the most likely candidates for 2016. Hence my previous blog on the "Ground Hog Day"-like Benghazi hearings. They have a new chew toy, however, in that some low-level IRS agents were targeting tea party groups for additional scrutiny (yeah, because when you have a name that's an acronym for "Taxed Enough Already", there's absolutely no reason for the IRS to be concerned).
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Today's blog is written by former U.S. Representative from Missouri 2nd District, Todd Akin.I wish to address an issue concerning my previous comments about rape and pregnancy. Specifically, I said: "Well you know, people always want to try to make that as one of those things, well how do you, how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question. First of all, from what I understand from doctors, that’s really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down. But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child."
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Saturday Stubby
Author: clintster
Date: 05/11/2013 16:57:39
Hey everybody. I saw there was no blog post from Tri, and thought I'd put something up just in case. Short and sweet. You've probably all heard about the various idiocies at the state legislative level going on. Well, Missouri Democrats came up with a way to combat it:
Democratic state Rep. Michael Frame was reprimanded by GOP Speaker Tim Jones for wearing a tinfoil hat, as a sartorial comment on the nature of the legislation before the House. This led to a brief debate about whether a cravat is appropriate attire.
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At one point, a remote-control helicopter flew up from the floor to the press gallery, leading observers to their that a few legislators could have taken advantage of the dinner break prior to the evening session to enjoy some adult beverages. “If you can't beat 'em with votes, baffle 'em with snark.” - appropriated from W.C. FieldsHappy Saturday, everybody!
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Benghazi!!
Author: BobR
Date: 05/10/2013 12:33:51
witch-hunt
n
An investigation carried out ostensibly to uncover subversive activities but actually used to harass and undermine those with differing views The term "witch hunt" comes from a sad episode in American history where early settlers in Salem, MA became obsessed with the notion that there were witches among them. They were certain that they were the cause of any calamity that befell them. Surely their new home in the new world was blessed by God and anything that interfered with that must be the work of the devil? And so they held "trials" in which anyone accused of being a witch had to prove that they weren't. The proof generally meant dying. Throughout our history, this sort of behavior has occurred again and again, with the term "witch hunt" being applied once the reality of the paucity of evidence has become clear. It happened during the McCarthy hearings, it happened during the Clinton "Whitewater" investigation, and it is happening now during the Benghazi "investigation. There isn't any real evidence - it's just people who want something to be wrong digging until they can find something - anything - to hang around the neck of their target. For President Bill Clinton, that became a stained blue dress.
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Be that person. Be the person that steps up in spite of awful situations. Be the person who in spite of having a less than perfect past steps up to do the right thing. Be the person who says hello to your neighbors and does things for your community. Be the person who says 'what can I do' when someone asks for help. Be the person who looks to make sure the people around you are okay. Be aware. Be a member of a community. Be a person that helps to lift up even in the face of bad things. Be the person up the street, down the hall, in your building, next door -- who you call 'a neighbor.' Don't be this dude: Jake Tapper. Continue reading...
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