May 19, 2014

Put Alan Grayson On BENGHAZI PANELl! Why He’s DEM'S BEST OPTION To Expose This CLOWN SHOW

Alan Grayson,.....a one-man- GOP wrecking crew!!..............



With the latest Benghazi! ™ extravaganza about to begin, the Democrats are faced with a dilemma. Should they boycott the silly hearings, thus leaving the Republicans to put on their pageant unimpeded, or should they join in with a full panel and add legitimacy to the process? The problem seems to be that whether they like it or not, these hearings are going to be covered. And if the press reaction so far tells us anything, they are looking for a show. This is why they should follow the advice of Ari Rabin-Havt in the American Prospect who says that a boycott would be a “colossal error.” He points out the unfortunate reality:







Yes, one might expect that the media would be able to straighten out all the factual misrepresentations and downright lies, but considering the fact that even Lara Logan and the venerable “60 Minutes” imploding with a full-fledged hoax did little to put the story to bed, it’s highly unlikely that allowing the GOP to harangue and harass Hillary Clinton will put an end to this phony scandal. In fact, it’s long past time the Democrats understood that they are not as successful as they think they are at letting the Republicans hang themselves. They seem to believe that because all their friends and wealthy donors think the GOP clown show is appalling that it always reads that way in the rest of the country. “Smell-test” scandal-mongering, where people begin to think there must be something to it or they couldn’t get away with spending all this time and money pursuing it, takes its toll. Nobody in American politics has dealt with this phenomenon more than the Clintons. And the one thing they were known for back in the day, always, was to never let charges go unanswered. They understood very well that expecting the press and the people to see through such inanity and recognize it for the rank partisan hack job it is is a fool’s game.



Still, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to try to deal with a three-ring circus by convening an academic seminar. In order to perform their role properly, they need to engage the issue at hand with intelligence and a grasp of the facts but also an ability to guide the questioning in a way that illuminates the absurdity of the hearings as a whole. And yes, they need to provide easy sound bites for the media so they have something to run with. Luckily, as Rabin-Havt points out, they have the perfect person right there in the Congress to do it: the original “congressman with guts,” Alan Grayson of Florida. Perhaps people don’t realize that Alan Grayson isn’t just another lawyer/congressman. He’s an experienced litigator who fought whistle-blower fraud cases aimed at military contractors. The Wall Street Journal characterized him in 2006 as “waging a one-man war against contractor fraud in Iraq.” And he was very successful at it. As a politician Grayson is usually seen as a pugnacious fighter always at the ready with a pithy put-down on cable news shows. His floor speeches are often fiery indictments of his political opponents and the power elite.



But that’s not why the Democrats should tap him for the job. As notable as all those characteristics are, they are not where Grayson’s true talent lies. He is a master at the task of committee questioning. During his first term as a member of the Financial Services Committee he practically had bankers whimpering on the hot seat and he took on everyone from Ben Bernanke to Timothy Geithner, eliciting important information. Unlike the vaunted prosecutor the GOP has tapped to lead the inquiry, Trey Gowdy (who specializes in browbeating and histrionic questioning), Grayson is never rude and he isn’t dismissive or insulting. He is serious, composed and extremely well prepared. And when he has the floor he is completely in control.



cont'


http://www.salon.com/2014/05/19/put_alan_grayson_on_benghazi_panel_why_hes_dems_best_option_to_expose_this_clown_show/

May 18, 2014

BOOM!!- Jesse Ventura: The LIFE & CRIMES of Dick Cheney

"..DICK CHENEY, YOU'RE BULLSHIT"!!..............

May 18, 2014

How Karl Rove, Rich Lowry and Politico Are DAMAGING AMERICA

This is how it works. First Karl Rove bleats something about how Hillary Clinton was wearing sunglasses that only people with "traumatic brain injury" wear, and says she was in the hospital for a month when she most provably was not, and this is all such obvious bullshit that only a moron could possibly take it seriously, and then people like Rich Lowry, a man who decided Sarah Palin was vice-presidential material because She Winked At Me, write approving essays in the opinion pages called things like "Rove Is Right".




So if we completely ignore the part where everything Karl Rove said was an outright lie—she was not in the hospital "30 days," she was not wearing sunglasses meant for "people who have traumatic brain injury" and prominent liar-for-cash Karl Rove either had to know both of those things himself or gets his news primarily from the voices in his own head—then Karl Rove's intended point is "unassailable" because Hillary Clinton is old. And it is the job of the professional damager of American discourse to studiously ignore the part where everything Karl Rove or some other titanic hack said was an outright lie, because that is how these things work. Let's ignore the part where he was promoting an outright lie; it feels like something that could be true, and so fellow professional liar Rich Lowry kicks the conspiracy can forward, just a little bit, in the supposedly serious pages of Politico.





Two possibilities, then: All of the facts as we know them are right and Karl Rove has no leg to stand on in his visions of 30-day hospital stays and brain-injury sunglasses, or there is a secret conspiracy, craftily aided by Hillary Clinton in her own perfectly lucid and agile public appearances, and demonstrable liar Karl Rove might be right secretly. Rich Lowry just wants to know. Can Hillary Clinton find her brain's birth certificate? Is it, you know, in the proper font?
What follows is several paragraphs pointing out that politicians are often attacked for being too old, followed by the final ascent to the top of Bullshit Mountain for the ceremonial planting of the flag:




And this is how it works, chapter and verse. The professional liar pipes up with a bald-faced lie. Though it is quickly and easily disproven, other professional liars pipe up to say that if we ignore the fact that the liar is lying, the liar raises a good point. The liars take to the op-ed pages to note that the liar is just asking the question, and now the question is out there. And they will make damn sure the question is out there for as long as it takes to get a flock of morons and dunderheads to believe that there is a conspiracy to not answer the question, even though "the question" was a lie to begin with and no less a lie through each of the various iterations meant to sanitize it enough for the public to forget that the whole thing was a fiction from the start.





cont'


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/18/1299603/-How-Karl-Rove-Rich-Lowry-and-Politico-are-damaging-America?showAll=yes

May 17, 2014

KOCH Brothers' SECRETS Revealed In New Book

~snip~

Schulman examines the roots of Charles and David Koch's libertarian worldview through the lens of their family, including the formative relationship that all four Koch brothers had with their father, the cold, ambitious Fred Koch. Schulman also traces the bitter and litigious history of Charles and David Koch's relationships with their lesser-known brothers: Frederick, the eldest, and Bill, David’s twin brother. At the center of the saga is patriarch Fred Koch, a staunch anti-communist who drilled his political ideology into his sons from a young age. In 1938, then sympathetic to the fascist regimes ruling Germany, Italy and Japan, Fred wrote that he hoped one day the United States would resemble these nations, which had "overcome" the vices of "idleness, feeding at the public trough, [and] dependence on government." Elsewhere, Fred warned of a future "vicious race war" in which communists would pit black Americans against white. "The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America," he wrote.



~snip~

Schulman describes how Charles, unable to convince brother Frederick to sell his stake in Koch Industries, allegedly resorted to "a homosexual blackmail attempt to force Frederick to sell his shares." And when the youngest twin, Bill, launched a bid to wrest control of Koch Industries from his older brothers, Charles' legal team responded by releasing a dossier of opposition research on Bill, filled with sordid details of his personal life. In 2000, Bill's then-wife Angela, the mother of two of his children, called the police to accuse Bill of punching her in the stomach and threatening "to beat his whole family to death with his belt." Bill was charged with domestic assault and threatening to commit murder. Angela later recanted parts of her account, shortly before receiving a divorce settlement worth $16 million. Nonetheless, Bill spent decades waging vicious legal battles against Charles and David, which cost the family tens of millions of dollars. Much of the book revolves around Bill's failed attempts to gain control of Koch Industries. As Schulman recounts, Bill hired private investigators to bug his brothers' offices and pick through the garbage cans at their homes. He planted false memos aimed at rooting out spies in his own company, Oxbow, who he suspected were secretly working for his brothers.





After losing a string of huge regulatory battles in the 1990s and paying heavy fines, Charles softened his stance somewhat. Still, the company remains a libertarian venture to this day. Schulman writes that Charles believes the role of government should be "only to keep a check on those who might attempt to interfere with the laws of supply and demand." Charles still lives in their hometown of Wichita, Kansas, with his wife, Liz, and generally avoids drawing attention to himself or his family. By comparison, his brothers can seem like dilettantes, despite Schulman's exceptionally fair treatment. As a bachelor, David was known for hosting hundreds of people at champagne-soaked, all-night parties at his homes in Aspen, Colorado, and Southampton, New York. He once boasted that at least a third of his guests were "beautiful, wild, single women." A guest told Schulman, "A lot of the crowd were these L.A. chicks who had just bought a new pair of tits and wanted to make sure that they did not go unnoticed -- those parties got pretty wild." In 1996, Bill went to court to evict his former girlfriend from the Boston apartment he had set her up in. Included in the court records were faxes the couple exchanged, some of them sexually explicit. One of the notes was signed "Hot Love From Your X-Rated Protestant Princess." In another, the woman described herself as "a wet orchid," writing, "every inch of my body misses you." Bill succeeded in having her evicted.






cont'

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/17/koch-brothers-book_n_5342694.html


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May 17, 2014

How PFIZER Helped Make ‘Spice,’ The DEADLY FAKE POT

In 1979, three researchers at Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant, came up with a synthetic cannabinoid—a drug that similarily to the active ingredient in marijuana. What the company did with this research, it won’t say. But decades later, a designer drug marketed as “fake pot” began to emerge—first in Europe, later in America—that went on to be blamed for contributing to tens of thousands of trips to the emergency room. One of the five active substances in that “fake pot”—also known as “Spice” or “K2”—was the synthetic cannabinoid first discovered at Pfizer. There’s no evidence that Pfizer had anything to do with the introduction or spread of Spice. But the unearthing of Pfizer’s little-known cannabinoid research does highlight the sometimes-uncomfortable relationship between Big Pharma and the illicit drug trade. And it also upends the popular origin myth of Spice, which usually begins with Clemson University Professor John W. Huffman.




The Los Angeles Times was one of the first to connect the dots between the Harvard graduate and the lethal designer drug marketed as “fake pot,” Spice. In a 2011 article titled Scientists’ Research Produces a Dangerous High, essentially declaring him the “reluctant creator of synthetic pot.” Which is only sort of true. In the midst of a 1984 study to find treatments for HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and chemotherapy, Huffman did develop an extremely potent synthetic cannabinoid with a similar high to cannabis, which he named JWH-018 (after himself). In 2008, German scientists announced that it was one of five active substances in Spice, at that point a dangerous new mystery drug sweeping Europe. So when Spice began to emerge in the United States a few years later, the question on everyone’s mind was the same: Who is responsible for this? All roads led to Huffman. “It bothers me that people are so stupid as to use this stuff,” Huffman told WebMD in 2010. In an interview with ABC News one-year later, Huffman’s frustration was palpable. “They’re playing Russian roulette,” he said of the people using Spice recreationally. “I mean, it’s just like taking a pistol with one bullet in it and spinning the chamber and holding it to your head and pulling the trigger.”




But eclipsed by the infamy of this sole drug researcher, and missing in the hundreds of news articles about it since, was an inconvenient fact: his synthetic cannabinoid wasn’t the only one found in Spice—and it wasn’t the first one created, either. Those distinctions belong to the largest research-based pharmaceutical company in the world: Pfizer. The missing part of the story—the prequel, if you will—begins like this. Less than three months after those German scientists—they were from the University Hospital Freiburg—landed on Hoffman’s synthetic in November 2008, the same forensic toxicologists stumbled upon another culprit: an analogue of a synthetic cannabinoid called CP 47,497. This one, they learned, was created almost a decade earlier—in 1979, by Pfizer. Made up of dried plant ranging from bay leaves to parsley, it’s Spice’s synthetic cannabinoids sprayed on top of the herbs that generate a high. As of this week, the DEA has discovered more than 400+ varieties of synthetic marijuana, making it impossible to regulate. Buying “fake pot,” then, is about as easy as picking up a coffee at the corner deli. Most often smoked, it can also be purchased in powder form (though rarely is). Sold mostly at gas stations and smoke shops, it cons users into thinking its legal—and, inevitably then, safe.





cont'

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/05/17/how-pfizer-helped-make-spice-the-deadly-fake-pot.html

May 17, 2014

Alan Grayson On Benghazi Committee: I Will Be The GOP's 'WORST & LAST NIGHTMARE'

Rep. Alan Grayson, the progressive from Florida really hopes that he'll be appointed to Trey Gowdy's House select committee on Benghazi.







Alan Grayson made his bones by waging a one man war against Iraq Contractor Fraud. Here's what he said about it.





He was a one man wrecking crew to all the fraud and waste that was going on in Iraq at our expense right under the Bush administration's noses. If anybody thinks he's going to punt away a chance at doing the right thing if he is placed on Gowdy's committee then they have another thing coming to them.






cont'


http://crooksandliars.com/2014/05/alan-grayson-benghazi-committee-i-will-be


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May 16, 2014

Repatriation: Even BIG DAWG Bill Clinton Will Have A Hard Time Selling This SNAKE OIL

Corporations LOVE the Clintons............................................




The game is rigged in big ways and small, as the powerful use their resources to protect and extend their privileges. Business as usual in Washington is testament to that. Here’s the next fix that the corporate lobby is gearing up to sell: a repatriation holiday. “Repatriation Holiday”-- the words ring with patriotism, country, returning home. But repatriation is merely a fancy term for one of the ways global corporations avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Repatriation starts with a tax dodge known as deferral. Multinational corporations have carved out a loophole that enables them “defer” taxes on profits earned overseas until they bring the money back to the US. That provides companies with a massive incentive to move jobs overseas or to report profits abroad.



Companies now have over $2 trillion dollars stashed abroad to avoid taxes, up 93% since 2008. About 45 mega companies account for 70% of the dough, led of course by General Electric, the poster child of tax avoidance. Naturally, they want to “repatriate” some of that money but without paying the taxes owed on it. They’ve lobbied hard for a “repatriation holiday,” that would enable them to bring the money back at a vastly discounted tax rate of say 5% or so, arguing that the money would be used to invest in new plants and equipment and create jobs, supplying a long needed “second stimulus.”



Problem is, however, the pitch rings hollow. They made the same arguments for the tax holiday on deferred profits that passed in 2004. But the promises proved false. There was no measurable increase in investment or jobs. In fact, many of the companies actually laid workers off. The money basically was used to free up other money for stock buybacks and increased dividends, hiking the value of the executive stock options. Taxpayers got snookered and CEOs cleaned up So this week, former president Bill Clinton, the big dawg himself, tried out a new label on the old snake oil. Speaking before the “Fiscal Summit” of the Peterson Foundation (founded by Pete Peterson the equity fund billionaire who has spent a fortune arguing that America’s debts require cuts in Social Security and Medicare), Clinton tied out a revised spiel:






~snip~

Worse, note the kicker Clinton slipped into the argument. This giveaway would be “a first step toward corporate tax reform.” But a tax holiday wouldn’t make sense if comprehensive tax reform abolishes deferral as it should. No, a tax holiday makes sense as a “first step” only if the plan is to move to a so-called “territorial tax system” that would permanently abolish taxes on profits reported abroad. This would essentially turn the rest of the world into a tax haven. Global corporations could use accounting tricks and transfer pricing to report more and more of their profits abroad. GE would continue to pocket billions in profits and pay less in taxes than the corner mom and pop dime store. And taxpayers get stiffed on the other end too. Even if multinationals were repatriate half of their profits (far more than likely), they would be required to lend the infrastructure bank about $100 billion. Compare that to the $3.6 trillion over five years that the American Society of Civil Engineers estimates would be needed simply to bring our current infrastructure up to decent standards. The modernization we need – in fast trains, a smart electric grid, a world speed Internet, greater climate resilience – all would cost more.







cont'


http://crooksandliars.com/2014/05/repatriation-even-big-dawg-will-have-hard



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May 16, 2014

LOL Correction:10 to 30 Tea Partiers Head To DC To Overtake Entire Government

10 to 30 MILLION??...............more like 10 to 30 Tea Baggers.......




Wingnuts are planning a big protest modeled after the "Arab Spring" on Friday:




And their plan is to overtake the entire government:






Unfortunately for the organizers of event, they're going to be lucky to get 10 to 30 similarly thinking Americans. But don't worry, they'll have an excuse for falling 10 to 30 million short of their goal: It was raining yesterday and this morning, and everybody knows revolutions are hard to do in the rain. Even during the spring.






http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/05/16/1299795/-10-to-30-million-tea-partiers-heading-to-DC-to-overtake-entire-government

May 16, 2014

LOL!!- The Great IDAHO DEBATE SUPERCUT

"...If either party wants to improve the ratings of televised debates, they just need these two guys from Idaho. (Very) longshot gubernatorial candidates Harley Brown and Walt Bayes provided the entertainment in the GOP primary debate as incumbent Gov. Butch Otter and Tea Party challenger Russ Fulcher got upstaged. Brown is a biker who says he's "as politically correct as a turd in a punchbowl," while NPR describes Bayes as "a full-bearded Santa Claus look-alike." The father of 16 is a frequent political candidate on a quest to stop abortion. It was the governor himself who insisted the pair be allowed to take part in the live debate, reports the Idaho Statesman, though the public TV station hedged its bets with a 30-second delay..."

May 16, 2014

UH-OH!- Ex-Christie Aide: I TOLD GOV About BridgeGate Plans Despite What He Told Press

TICK, TOCK, TICK, TOCK, TICK, TOCK...................




On Dec. 13, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) told the press that no one on his senior staff had prior knowledge of the plan to close access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September. But a lawyer representing Christie's former campaign manager Bill Stepien now says that was wrong. The claim was included in a letter sent in early April -- and made public Wednesday -- by attorney Kevin Marino. The letter was sent to Randy Mastro, the high-priced defense attorney who led the governor's internal review of the scandal. The letter demanded corrections to a report produced by Mastro and his team, which cleared Christie of any role in the scandal. Among Marino's demands: that Mastro retract the portion of the report claiming that Stepien had falsely assured Christie that he had no "prior knowledge of the [GWB] lane realignment."



"The Report itself acknowledges -- albeit obliquely -- that Mr. Stepien advised Governor Christie on December 12, 2013, that he (Mr. Stepien) did have prior knowledge of the lane realignment," Marino wrote, later adding: "When the Governor asked Mr. Stepien directly whether he had prior knowledge of the lane closures, Mr. Stepien truthfully told the Governor that [former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive] David Wildstein had come to him with the idea, to which Mr. Stepien responded that Mr. Wildstein would have to run the idea by normal channels in Trenton (i.e. the Governor's Office)."



At a press conference the next day, on Dec. 13, Christie told reporters that he had “made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this that they needed to come forward to me and tell me about it and they’ve all assured me that they don’t," according to The Bergen Record. Asked specifically at the news conference about Stepien, Christie said that he had spoken to his former campaign manager, who had assured him of “the same thing.”



Several weeks later, documents were released tying several of Christie's staff members to discussions of the lane closures both before and after they occurred.




http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/stepien-christie-bridgegate-plans