The Red White and Blue Pill
The truth about the Fast and Furious scandal
A Fortune investigation reveals that the ATF never intentionally allowed guns to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. How the world came to believe just the opposite is a tale of rivalry, murder, and political bloodlust.
Worth a read. The ATF, while clearly not 100% in the clear here is not guilty of what the GOP is claiming.
‘America’s violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends.’ – Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter: US Foreign Policy Since 9/11 Has Been ‘Catastrophic’ for Global Human Rights | Common Dreams
House GOP Blocking Abortion Access for Raped Soldiers
if an Army medic serving in Afghanistan is raped and becomes pregnant, she can’t use her military health plan to pay for an abortion. If she does decide to get an abortion, she will have to pay for it with her own money. And if she can’t prove she was raped—which is difficult before an investigation is completed—she may have to look for services off base, which can be dangerous or impossible in many parts of the world.
Wow. This is just cruel.
Conservatives seem to believe that the rich will work harder if we give them more, and the poor will work harder if we give them less. Can this campaign be constructive? – The Washington Post
The Real Source of Corruption in Congress: Members’ Good-Faith Efforts To Help People
But why does Rogers care so much about Phoenix Products that he wants to send all this business his way?
What Phoenix Products has is something unique. It’s based in Kentucky, just like Harold Rogers. Its employees live in Harold Rogers’ district, they shop in stores that are in Harold Rogers’ district, their spouses and siblings live in Harold Rogers’ district, their incomes bolster the tax base for municipalities in Harold Rogers’ district. So if Harold Rogers wants to do the right thing for Harold Rogers’ constituents, he needs to do the right thing for Phoenix Products.
Hayek differentiated between an welfare state of Law versus one of administration. The former would function based on a set of rules in openness and transparency. The latter would be run by bureaucrats who distributed favors for their own political gain. The former would be compatible with a free democratic society, the later would subvert it.
I think we need to start looking at the defense industry as favor distributing patronage system that no longer serves its defined public purpose.
Paul Ryan Claims His Budget ‘Preempts Austerity’
House Budget Commitee chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) says that his plan to slash government spending on programs for the poor while increasing defense spending and giving tax cuts to the wealthy would actually “prevent austerity.”
We must pass austerity to prevent austerity? Not from the onion. Ryan is a smooth talking confidence man. Nothing more.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0kk57g543Y Bernie Sanders “The Truth Is Wall Street Regulates Congress” (by MOXNEWSd0tC0M) (Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Romney and today’s GOP often cite the balanced budgets and surpluses that marked the late years of the 1990s, generally crediting them to what was then a Republican-controlled Congress. They’ll also give Clinton a measure of credit, if only as a backdoor means of slamming Obama, by citing welfare reform or some other compromise he… Continue reading Untitled
Our Corrupt New Old Regime Aristocracy
Shortly after Mitt Romney’s failed 2008 campaign for the Republican nomination his son Tagg set up a private equity fund with the campaign’s top fundraiser. One of the first donors was his mum, Anne. Next came several of his dad’s financial backers. Tagg had no experience in the world of finance, but after two years in the middle of a deep recession the company had netted $244m from just 64 investors.
Tagg insists that neither his name nor the fact that his father had made it clear he would run for the presidency again had anything to do with his success.
He pulled himself up by his boot straps after using his dad’s money to hire a team of boot-strap-pullers and a staff of advisors to make sure his boot straps and the people helping him pull them would be tax deductible as business expenses.
States Quietly Exempt ALEC From Lobbying Rules While ALEC Insists They Aren’t Lobbyists
I’m waiting for someone to suggest that we legalize bribery under the guise that if bribery is illegal, only criminals will be out there willing and able to pay bribes.