Blog For Arizona

Stop picking on Sean Noble!

Crossposted at DemocraticDiva.com

Sean Noble is a type of right wing operative I find particularly annoying. These guys are total miscreants but have the cornpone choirboy routine down pat. They often like to preen about how they don’t use profanity, which makes them more moral than us dirty liberals. Arizona is thick with these homespun “consultants”, hoovering money out of gullible rich wingnuts with political aspirations, but Noble has really scored. He was recently the subject of a hard-hitting investigative report from ProPublica, in which he was revealed as the ringleader funneling “dark money” from the Koch brothers to various conservative causes around the country. One of them was Mitt Romney’s campaign – they might as well have taken a match to that money – but others were more successful, such as the defeat of the Scott Walker recall in Wisconsin. Dark Koch money has flowed like a river into Arizona. It funded the legal attack on independent redistricting and the defeat of Prop 204 (making the one cent sales tax permanent for education) in 2012, among plenty of other things.

Black helicopters day at the Arizona Lege came early this year

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The GOP crazy base bills are moving through the legislature at a break-neck pace this year. Last year "black helicopters day" at the Arizona Lege didn't come until April. Black helicopters day at the Arizona Lege.

On Wednesday the annual "constitutional sheriffs" bill, a favorite of anti-government right-wing conspiracy theorists who believe the black helicopters of the federal "guvmint" are coming for their guns and "freedom!", is sponsored by far-right extremist groups like former Graham County Sheriff Richard Mack's conspiratorial Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and the Oath Keepers, made up of former and current law enforcement officers and military personnel who believe it is their duty to defy what they deem to be unconstitutional orders. Here is a profile of Mack from the Southern Poverty Law Center. 'Army' of Sheriffs to Resist Federal Authority.

In 2012, wingnut Rep. David Gowan (R-Sierra Vista), who has now been promoted to House Majority Leader, sponsored HB 2434 which would have required employees of federal agencies to first notify the sheriff of the county "before taking any official law enforcement action in a county in this state." HB 2434 was actually approved by the Arizona legislature. It took a veto by Governor Jan Brewer to restore sanity. Governor Brewer vetoes 'States' Rights' Tea-Publican bill.

The sponsor of this year's version of the bill, SB 1290 (.pdf). is the "Birther Queen," Rep. Judy Burges (R-Sun City West), who is also the Grand Inquisitor of climate science denialism. This woman is never without her tinfoil hat.

Sen. David Farnsworth fears living a sci-fi TV series

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I don't watch a lot of television, mostly because of crappy television programming like NBC's post-apocalyptic science fiction television drama Revolution, the premise of which is that all electricity on Earth has been disabled and people are forced to adapt to a world without electricity.

Oh noes! Mankind survived for thousands of years without electricity. Hardly scary stuff. You can survive.

Sen. David Farnsworth (R-Mesa), he of "constitutional" chickens fame, fears one day he will be living the premise of this sci-fi TV series. When one can no longer distinguish between reality and a fictional TV series, I do believe it's time to seek professional help.

I almost spit out my coffee this morning when I read this report. Lawmakers discuss essential supplies for electronic disaster:

State lawmakers are moving to make sure you know what to have on hand when electronic Armageddon strikes.

Legislation approved Wednesday by the Senate Public Safety Committee would require the state Division of Emergency Management to develop recommendations for what Arizonans should buy now and store in the garage, basement or storage room just in case an enemy detonates a nuclear or other bomb that wipes out power and communications in the state — and possibly nationwide.

'Kochtopus' list of donors

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Ruh-roh. Someone who attended the recent "Kochtopus" confab in Palm Springs left behind evidence of the conspiracy of the corporatocracy to end our democratic Republic. The Washington Post reports, A rare look inside the Koch brothers’ political empire:

The labyrinthian design of the political network backed by the Koch brothers and their fellow conservative donors serves several purposes, but one of the biggest is to ensure the privacy of its financial backers. As we detailed last month, the money flows through a complex maze of tax-exempt groups and limited liability corporations, creating multiple barriers that shield the identities of the donors. Such anonymous contributions should be allowed, Charles Koch has argued, to protect people from the attacks that he and his brother David and their company have fielded. Critics say the Kochs and their allies seek to influence elections without accountability.

Now a document published by Mother Jones provides a rare glimpse inside the closely held network. The spreadsheet -- apparently left behind by a guest who attended a recent Koch-sponsored donor seminar at a resort outside Palm Springs – lists the names of more than 40 top donors, along with the senior Koch officials they met with during the three-day conclave.

Sen. Gail Griffin wants a piece of Pima County for Rosemont Mine

Posted by AzblueMeanie:

On Tuesday, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted to oppose the Rosemont Mine in Pima County. Supervisors OK formal objection to Rosemont Mine. "The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 Tuesday to send the Forest Service a formal objection to the agency’s tentative approval of the mine and its final environmental impact statement. The letter is expected to compel the federal agency to respond to Pima County’s long list of concerns over the planned copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains."

So Rosemont Mine and its supporters have proposed a novel idea: they will seize part of Pima County and give it to to Santa Cruz County, where they apparently believe people are more amenable to being bought off with Canadian "loonie" to approve their mine. This is some in-your-face corruption.

The Green Valley News reports, Griffin introduces bill to move Santa Cruz County line north:

State Sen. Gail Griffin on Tuesday breathed life into a bid to bring Green Valley, Sahuarita and the mines into Santa Cruz County, though the idea hasn't proven popular locally.

* * *

Griffin said she introduced the bill at the request of constituents, doesn't expect to have trouble getting it through the Legislature, and wants to hear “about any possible unintended consequences” it may bring about.

Griffin, a Republican whose District 14 skirts the eastern edge of Green Valley, introduced SB 1357, which would put a boundary change to a vote in Santa Cruz County and to those affected in southern Pima County.

That "constituent" is Emmit McGloughlin, " a former Tucson City Council member who now lives in Sonoita, and formed the Santa Cruz County Committee for Quality Jobs more than a year ago to explore moving the county line from Amado to Pima Mine Road, which is where Griffin's bill would put it."

Benghazi is spelled IOKIYAR

Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

 

To be a liberal in America is to be acutely aware of the gaping double standard that exists with regard to the expectations placed on you versus those put on conservatives. The disparity is so enormous that I doubt even the most dimwitted “both sides do it!” centrist pundits can deny it to themselves. Liberals are expected to argue politely and rationally, have our facts perfectly in order, and maintain a calm and pleasant demeanor at all times no matter what mendacious, hateful nonsense the other side is flinging at us. No concomitant expectation exists for conservatives. They are free to behave as poorly as they want and take whatever liberties with the truth they’d like, knowing that “both sides” will be blamed, which lets conservatives escape accountability and encourages them to see how much farther they can push the envelope.

FAUX News military contributor would 'lead a coup against the U.S. government'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tea Party leader, retired Army general and former Fox News contributor Paul Vallely, in a recently published video told the Surprise Tea Party Patriots that, if given the troops, he would lead a coup against the U.S. government. Retired Army General To Tea Party Group: I Would Lead A Coup Against The U.S. Government:

Vallely made his comments in a discussion with the Arizona-based [Surprise Tea Party Patriots] last December, a recording of which the website Right Wing Watch recently acquired. “I had a call this afternoon from Idaho, the gentleman said, ‘If I give you 250,000 Marines to go to Washington, will you lead them?’” Vallely, who was Fox News’ senior military analyst during the Iraq War, told the group. “I said, ‘Yes, I will, I’ll surround the White House and I’ll surround the Capitol building, but it’s going to take physical presence to do things.”

Video below the fold.

This week in the Arizona GOP's war on democracy

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

This has been some week in the Arizona GOP's war on democracy, hasn't it?

On Thursday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman "Fast Eddie" Farnsworth's (R-Gilbert) bill, HB 2196 (.pdf), to repeal the GOP Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, and to deny the citizens of Arizona their constitutional right to vote on a citizens referred referendum, was pulled after angry citizens and the media showed up at the hearing. More than 100,000 Arizonans signed the petitions for a "citizens veto" of the GOP Voter Suppression Act, exercising their constitutional right under the Arizona Constitution to vote to veto the legislature's anti-democratic measure. No matter.

The Arizona GOP's plan is to repeal HB 2305, and to pass the separate provisions for voter suppression in the bill as separate bills to make another citizens referendum virtually impossible, and to get their way by "skullduggery," as Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts called it. Are legislators plotting end run around voters in election-law referendum?" "Fast Eddie" promises to bring his bill back up for a hearing, possibly as early as this week.

On Friday, the Arizona GOP was in U.S. District Court arguing to a three judge panel of federal judges that you, the voters of Arizona, by enacting a citizens referred initiative to create the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (AIRC), Prop. 106 (2000), violated their federal constitutional right to gerrymander congressional districts in favor of GOP candidates. (Where are the Neo-Confederate "states' rights" federal "guvmint" haters now?) As I explained, their legal argument is entirely without merit. Arizona Legislature v. the AIRC court hearing this Friday. This is one of those frivolous "junk lawsuits" you hear about.

The troubling trend in Afghanistan

By Karl Reiner

Since 2002, the U.S. has spent $100 billion on nonmilitary aid in Afghanistan, a country considered by many analysts to be the most corrupt nation on earth. Despite the massive amount of aid, Afghan state institutions remain fragile and ineffectual, they do not provide good governance, deliver basic services or provide security. The country ranks near the bottom for GDP per capita income, life expectancy and electricity usage. Although more roads and schools have been built, the Taliban destroys around 100 schools per year. With a population of approximately 30 million, Afghanistan has an unemployment rate of 35%, it is the world's largest producer of opium.

Because Afghan government services are mostly imperceptible in the countryside, Afghanistan is becoming a defining study on how not to give aid. A sizeable part of the aid appears to have been wasted or siphoned off. Planning is said to be poor. The dangerous security situation makes contract oversight difficult allowing cunning contractors and their benefactors to take advantage of the chancy situation. Although the U.S. has spent an additional $51 billion to train the Afghan military since 2002, the local military and police forces are still having difficulty operating on their own. The literacy rate in the Afghan military is around 14%. This impediment makes it tough to perform tasks such as maintaining equipment, reading maps, providing logistics, communications, medical and intelligence support.

New York Times report debunks GOP's Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! conspiracy theory

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The New York Times today has the first of a six-part blockbuster report that blows away the GOP's Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! conspiracy theory and FAUX News talking points. Deadly Mix in Benghazi: False Allies and Crude Video.

Of course, Rupert Murdoch's GOPropganda mill over at FAUX News is already busy trying to spin away the Times report to the loyal "sheeple" of FAUX Nation. Fox News Immediately Attempts to Discredit NYT Benghazi Investigation. FAUX News is not a legitimate news organization, and never forget it.

Media Matters, which has done an exemplary job of debunking the GOP's Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! conspiracy theory and FAUX News talking points, reports NYTimes Investigation Brings Bad News For Benghazi Hoaxers:

A six-part series by New York Times reporter David Kirkpatrick destroyed several myths about the September 11, 2012, attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, myths often propagated by conservative media and their allies in Congress to politicize the attack against the Obama administration.

Senate war mongers want to get their war on with Iran

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

After all the blood and treasure this country has expended in America's longest war in Afghanistan, and the unnecessary and illegal war in Iraq, there is still a bipartisan coalition of U.S. senators who dream of the next war with Iran.

They won't fight this war of course; and neither will their children. They will send your sons and daughters to die in a war that will drag on at least as long, if not longer, than Afghanistan. And when the inevitable retaliatory terrorist attacks occur, well, that will just serve as a rallying cry for more war. Because there is big money to be made in war, damnit! These senate war mongers want to get their war on with Iran. The fact that this includes Democrats is enraging.

These senators are actively seeking to sabotage the current P5+1 negotiations currently under way with Iran. This is how the Washington Post reported it, Senators defy White House, threaten new Iran sanctions:

A bipartisan group of 26 senators introduced legislation Thursday that threatened new sanctions against Iran, dismissing warnings from the White House that such a move could scuttle efforts to peacefully resolve the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.

The bill, called the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013, drew a rebuke from the Obama administration and highlighted deep divisions among Senate Democrats on whether to heap new pressures on Tehran’s government while sensitive diplomacy is underway.

Hours after the bill’s introduction, a separate group of senior Democrats revealed in a letter that U.S. intelligence agencies had cautioned lawmakers in private briefings about the consequences of new sanctions. A Dec. 10 intelligence assessment had concluded that new punitive measures would “undermine the prospects for a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran,” according to the letter, signed by 10 Democrats.

'Tenther' Sen. Kelli Ward wants to 'nullify' the NSA

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The Neo-Confederate Birthers-Birchers-Secessionists of the Tea Party are gearing up for the next session of the Arizona Legislature with yet another state sovereignty and nullification of federal law measure.

These Neo-Confederate dead-enders just never give up their long discredited theories of interposition, nullification and secesssion in their never-ending insurrection against the federal government.

Sen. Kelli Ward (R-Lake Havasu City), who last session sponsored model legislation for the Firearms Freedom Act and Federal Gun Laws Nullification, this session plans to introduce model legislation to nullify the capabilities of the National Security Agency (NSA) in Arizona -- you know, the spy agency that keeps Americans safe from the Hezbollah Muslim terrorists and Chicoms these same paranoid teabaggers believe are invading the U.S. across the Mexican border.

The Arizona Capital Times (subscription required) reports Senator hopes to curtail NSA activities in Arizona:

Arizona may be the first state to consider legislation designed to hinder the National Security Agency’s ability to spy within its borders.

Sen. Kelli Ward, R-Lake Havasu City, announced Monday she’ll introduce legislation next session that would “nullify” the NSA’s capabilities in Arizona by encouraging state agencies, counties, municipalities and local law enforcement to refuse to cooperate with NSA operations.

Information collected by the NSA in Arizona without a warrant would be banned from use by law enforcement and deemed inadmissible in court, Ward said.

Agencies and companies would face penalties if they aid the NSA and state funding would be cut off in the case of agencies and municipalities.  Companies that, for example, provide water or electricity to NSA facilities in Arizona would be banned from contracting with the state at any level of government.

Ward said the 4^th Amendment Protection Act, model legislation pushed by constitutional-rights organization the Tenth Amendment Center, isn’t meant to punish local governments and state agencies, but is more of a disincentive to the NSA if it wants to conduct surveillance in Arizona.

I would dispute the "constitutional-rights organization" characterization of what this "Tenther" organization is about. It promotes state sovereignty ("states' rights"), interposition and nullifcation of federal laws, theories long discredited since the end of the Civil War and the adoption of the 14th Amendment. Not to mention the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution.

The looting of public employee pensions

Posted by AzBluMeanie:

Last week, a federal judge approved the Chapter 9 municipal bankruptcy for the city of Detroit. Detroit eligible for nation's largest municipal bankruptcy filing, federal judge rules. The target of this bankruptcy are the public employee pensions.

Initial reports are that the Detroit bankruptcy proposal would leave pensioners with 16 cents on the dollar. This is despite the fact that Michigan’s state constitution, like those of many other states (including Arizona), specifically protects the pension rights of public employees.

U.S. bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes set a crucial precedent on a municipality’s right to cut pension benefits through the Chapter 9 process. Detroit judge's pension ruling is no panacea for beleaguered cities:

“Municipal pension rights are contract rights, and…the impairment of such contract rights in a municipal bankruptcy case is a regular part of the process,” Rhodes concluded, according to a court-issued summary of his findings. “Because the State of Michigan authorized the filing of this case, municipal pension rights in Michigan can be impaired in this bankruptcy case, just like any other contract rights.” (Rhodes read his eligibility ruling from the bench; a written opinion is to follow.)

Mythbusters: No, 'illegal immigrants' are not voting in Arizona elections (but you already knew that)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In the reality-based community where facts matter, this is old news. But in the conservative media entertainment complex world of conspiracy theories, where Tea-Publicans routinely demonize Mexican immigrants and falsely claim that they are voting in elections to support voter I.D. requirements that have a disparate impact on the elderly, the poor, minorities and college students -- a form of voter suppression -- this is "new" news. The Arizona Republic today reports, Illegal immigrant vote-fraud cases rare in Arizona:

Arizona has spent enormous amounts of time and money waging war against voter fraud, citing the specter of illegal immigrants’ casting ballots.

State officials from Gov. Jan Brewer to Attorney General Tom Horne to Secretary of State Ken Bennett swear it’s a problem.

At an August news conference, Horne and Bennett cited voter-fraud concerns as justification for continuing a federal-court fight over state voter-ID requirements. And some Republican lawmakers have used the same argument to defend a package of controversial new election laws slated to go before voters in November 2014.

But when state officials are pushed for details, the numbers of actual cases and convictions vary and the descriptions of the alleged fraud become foggy or based on third-hand accounts.

An examination of voter-fraud cases in Maricopa County shows those involving illegal immigrants are nearly non-existent, and have been since before the changes to voter-ID requirements were enacted in 2004.

In response to an Arizona Republic records request, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office provided a list of 21 criminal cases since January 2005 in which the suspect was charged with a felony related to voter fraud. A search of court records found 13 other cases.

Of the 34 Maricopa County cases, two of the suspects were in the country illegally and 12 were not citizens but living in the U.S. legally, court records showed. One of the suspect’s legal-residency status was unclear from the records.

Once again, Barber and Sinema fail a gut check vote

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The recent media hysteria over "if you like your insurance plan, you can keep it" is all about ignoring sound public policy for "gotcha" political gamesmanship. That's all the Beltway media villagers and pundits care about. It's always a political game of meaningless polls and election speculation for these effin' idiots, they are too damned ignorant to comprehend complex public policy. The corporate media is complicit in the failure of effective government, and aids and abets those who seek to undermine government.

Let's be clear: the elimination of substandard health insurance policies that provide no real coverage and leave the insured vulnerable to medical costs in the event of a serious injury or illness that can leave them bankrupt is not a bug but a feature of the ACA. The policy was designed to eliminate these fraudulent insurance policies from predator insurers. The "grandfather" clause for these substandard policies gave these predator insurers until 2015 to sell their fraudulent product, but many of them used the ACA as a ready excuse to cancel these fraudulent policies now, blame it on "ObamaCare," and upsell their policy holders into more expensive policies without advising them that a less expensive policy may be available from that insurer, or available on the Marketplace insurance exchange. Predators do not inform their marks, or send them to their competitors.

All the media hysteria in favor of predatory insurers and the broken health care system status quo that existed prior to the ACA has created so much background noise that it encouraged Tea-Publicans to engage in further sabotage of the ACA, and made Democratic squishes go soft on sound public policy.

The GOP rigs the game

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A must-read article from Tim Dickenson at Rolling Stone, How Republicans Rig the Game:

Not only did Barack Obama win a second term in an electoral landslide in 2012, but he is also just the fourth president in a century to have won two elections with more than 50 percent of the popular vote. What's more, the party controls 55 seats in the Senate, and Democratic candidates for the House received well over a million more votes than their Republican counterparts in the election last year. And yet, John Boehner still wields the gavel in the House and Republican resistance remains a defining force in the Senate, frustrating Obama's ambitious agenda.

How is this possible? National Republicans have waged an unrelenting campaign to exploit every weakness and anachronism in our electoral system. Through a combination of hyperpartisan redistricting of the House, unprecedented obstructionism in the Senate and racist voter suppression in the states, today's GOP has locked in political power that it could never have secured on a level playing field.

Despite the fact that Republican Congressional candidates received nearly 1.4 million fewer votes than Democratic candidates last November, the Republicans lost only eight seats from their historic 2010 romp, allowing them to preserve a fat 33-seat edge in the House. Unscrupulous Republican gerrymandering following the 2010 census made the difference, according to a statistical analysis conducted by the Princeton Election Consortium. Under historically typical redistricting, House Republicans would now likely be clinging to a reedy five-seat majority. "There's the normal tug of war of American politics," says Sam Wang, founder of the consortium. "Trying to protect one congressman here, or unseat another one there." The Princeton model was built, he says, to detect "whether something got pulled off-kilter on top of that."

CBS News' non-apology apology for Benghazi!

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

CBS News correspondent Lara Logan has been accused of having a personal agenda in the past, and with the Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! conspiracy theory in particular. Kevin Drum explains in Reporter Lara Logan brings ominous news from Middle East:

As a journalist, I was queasy. Reporters should tell the story, not be the story. As an American, I was frightened.

Logan even called for retribution for the recent terrorist killings of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya, and three other officials. The event is a harbinger of our vulnerability, she said. Logan hopes that America will “exact revenge and let the world know that the United States will not be attacked on its own soil. That its ambassadors will not be murdered, and that the United States will not stand by and do nothing about it.”

In the “good old days,” reporters did not advocate, crusade or call for revenge.

On 60 Minutes on Sunday, Lara Logan apologized only for having presented an "eye-witness" in her now discredited report who was no eye-witness to Benghazi at all. She did not apologize for her lack of due diligence in vetting this supposed eye-witness, nor did she say a word about her own personal agenda that colored her judgment and led her to rely on this supposed witness because it told a narrative that fit her personal agenda.

It was a non-apology apology: "I was duped by a source." No taking personal responsibility for her own actions by Ms. Logan.

Cincinnati rejection of pension initiative foreshadows Arizona pension initiative fight in 2014

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Earlier this year I told you about the Virginia-based ballot initiative activist Paul Jacob, and his Liberty Initiative Fund that was behind the City of Tucson public employee pension initiative which failed to qualify for the ballot. As I told you, this right-wing organization was behind a Tea Party group called Cincinnati for Pension Reform, which did qualify this model pension initiative for the ballot in Cincinnati in November. Tucson and Cincinnati confront the same model pension initiative (Prop. 201).

So what happend with the Cincinnati pension initiative? It was overwhelmingly rejected by voters in a crushing defeat. Cincinnati Issue 4: Voters say loud no to pension reform:

Cincinnati voters overwhelmingly rejected Issue 4, a major overhaul of the city’s troubled pension system, in Tuesday’s election.

The vote was 78 percent against and 22 percent for.

Peter McLinden, Cincinnati-area Regional Director at AFSCME Ohio Council 8,  released this statement:

"Today's vote will be heard beyond Cincinnati and sends a message for those on the ideological extremes who think it is ok to impose their agenda on an entire city. Had this passed, outside money and political extremists would have cost Cincinnati taxpayers more money, with less services. ...  That said we all are dedicated to working together moving forward to fix the pension system in a way that is in the best interest of Cincinnati public employees and taxpayers."

The Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! conspiracy theory falls apart

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I have been following this story for the past couple of weeks, and today the Benghazi! Benghazi! Benghazi! conspiracy theory fell apart. CBS News, which has gone to hell in a handbasket ever since Scott Pelley took over the anchor desk, in my opinion, will have Lara Logan apologize on 60 Minutes for the sensationalist Benghazi report that had the conservative media entertainment complex all in a lather.

Steve Benen reports, CBS backs off unraveling Benghazi tale:

It’s been nearly two weeks since CBS’s “60 Minutes” aired a report that caused considerable excitement from Benghazi conspiracy theorists. Though much of the report, a full year in the making, covered familiar ground, the segment also highlighted an alleged witness to the attack, who said he scaled a 12-foot wall, beat an al Qaeda fighter with the butt of his rifle, and personally saw Ambassador Chris Stevens’ body.

The man’s name is Dylan Davies – he used a pseudonym on “60 Minutes” for no apparent reason – and he has a book coming out about his Benghazi experience, published by a CBS-owned company that releases far-right books from conservative personalities.

Almost immediately, Davies’ story started to unravel – he’d previously told his employers he was nowhere near the U.S. consulate during the attack. Making matters worse, Davies told the FBI the opposite of what he’d told “60 Minutes.” By earlier this week, the defense was that Davies lied before, but the public should neverthless believe his dramatic tale that makes him look like a hero.

The CBS reporters involved with the story continued to defend it anyway, brushing off broad criticism as politically motivated, and insisting that their segment was accurate. On last week’s edition of “60 Minutes,” the show featured feedback from viewers who cheered the segment, but made no mention of the burgeoning controversy.

That posture collapsed last night. The CBS program said about 12 hours ago that it had “learned of new information that undercuts the account” from their alleged witness. Soon after, “60 Minutes” pulled the segment from its website.

New Report: The GOP war on the working class

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Red State lawmakers have been systematically stripping away labor and wage standards, according to a new research report. Report: There’s a movement to unwind state wage and labor standards:

Rules have been enacted to prevent minimum wage hikes and mandated paid sick leave, while others have made it harder to recover unpaid wages or collect unemployment benefits.

“This is coordinated and national,” the report’s author, University of Oregon professor Gordon Lafer, said during a Thursday morning panel unveiling the report. It was produced for the Economic Policy Institute, which focused on the needs of low- and middle-income workers, and where Lafer is a research associate.

The paper explores a series of free-market policies pursued or enacted in 2011 and 2012. Four states limited the minimum wage or at least to whom it applied, another four made it easier for children to work and 16 imposed new limits on unemployment benefits.

Some states pursued legislation that would make it harder for employees to collect overtime or recover wages that hadn’t been paid. And others also passed or pursued laws that restricted the rights of local governments to set their own standards. In Florida, for example, an Orange County movement to require paid sick leave was quashed when the state passed a law prohibiting counties and cities from enacting such measures.

The report represents a shift from EPI’s typically wonky fare. It ascribes a narrative, supported by research, to a recent policy trend: wage and labor deregulation, driven by the agenda of a set of national pro-business groups.

“The most powerful corporate lobbies in the country are working across the country in every state legislature and on almost every dimension of the labor market to lower wages and benefits,” Lafer said on Thursday.

The crap I see on FAUX News

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I made the mistake yesterday of wondering what the GOPropaganda machine at FAUX News was up to lately, so I caught a segment of Greta Van Susteren interviewing some woman about a truckers "Ride for the Constitution" in Washington, D.C. this weekend.

I started paying attention when this woman said “We want the president of the United States removed from office. He is a threat to our national security. He is a threat to our way of life.” Wha? Greta let that inflammatory statement go without any questions, and stuck to the FAUX News script of promoting this event.

Don't call yourself a "journalist," Greta. You are a carnival barker.

Here is how the interview was reported. Ride spokesperson says main goal: Impeach Obama:

The trucker protest planned for this weekend, in addition to stating industry-related demands, is taking broad shots at President Obama and politicians in general.

Ride for the Constitution spokesperson Zeeda Andrews, interviewed Tuesday on Fox News’ “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren,” mentioned trucking “regulations” broadly in describing the convoy’s mission, but also pointed to the effort’s main purpose: “We want the president of the United States removed from office. He is a threat to our national security. He is a threat to our way of life.”

Sovereign Citizen Brenda Barton calls the president 'De Fuhrer'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I told you the media that doesn't report on the far-right extremist movements in Arizona needs to expose and report on these anti-government Birthers-Birchers-Secessionists who like to pretend they are super-patriots and "constituionalists." The 'sovereign citizen' editorial the Arizona Republic should write.

One of the worst examples of these far-right extremists in our state legislature is their bee-hived queen, Rep. Brenda Barton of Payson. This woman is scary crazy. And today, this Birther-Bircher-Secessionist teabagger thought it was appropriate to compare President Obama to Adolph Hitler because the federal parks are closed due to the Tea Party government shutdown in Washington D.C.

The Arizona Capitol Times (subscription required) reports State representative stands by her comparison of Obama to Hitler:

Republican Rep. Brenda Barton of Payson compared President Barack Obama to Adolph Hitler on her Facebook page today in a post urging county sheriffs to revoke authority from the National Parks Service “thugs” who are enforcing the federal shutdown on national parks lands.

“Someone is paying the National Park Service thugs overtime for their efforts to carry out the order of De Fuhrer… where are our Constitutional Sheriffs who can revoke the Park Service Rangers authority to arrest??? Do we have any Sheriffs with a pair?” she wrote.

The code words there are "constitutional sheriffs," a favorite far-right fantasy of the Sovereign Citizen movement.

Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio's Birther attorney and groupie, Larry Klayman, calls for a 'coup' against President Obama

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Crazy Uncle Joe Arpaio's Birther attorney and groupie, Larry Klayman, who represented Citizens to Protect Fair Election Results, the Birther front group that sued Respect Arizona, the committee that tried to recall Arpaio, Birthers of the World Unite: Larry Klayman to Represent Group Defending Joe Arpaio, is back in the news again.

Judicial Watch founder Larry Klayman, who has previously called for an armed revolution in his WorldNutDaily column, is again calling for a "coup" against President Obama. Conservative Attorney Larry Klayman Sets Date For Coup Against Obama:

The conservative attorney and birther who called for a coup against President Barack Obama earlier this month has scheduled what he's describing as a "day of reckoning." 

Larry Klayman wrote Monday in Renew America that he's established Nov. 19 as the date that Obama will be forced to answer for his "criminality" and "Muslim, socialist, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-white, pro-illegal immigrant, pro-radical gay and lesbian agenda."

Klayman said he hopes his supporters will "descend on Washington, D.C., en masse, and demand that [Obama] leave town and resign from office if he does not want to face prison time."

As he did earlier this month when he first floated his coup proposal, Klayman invoked the example of Egyptians toppling President Mohammed Morsi.

The 'sovereign citizen' editorial the Arizona Republic should write

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

There was an editorial opinion in the Arizona Republic today that harshes on a couple of yahoos recently arrested last month on U.S. 60 south of Wickenburg who called themselves "sovereign citizens." Our View: A word for 'sovereign citizens':

[They have] supercilious interpretations of the U.S. Constitution that supposedly permit citizens to declare themselves part of a “sovereign-citizen movement” that considers adherents beyond the reach of federal or state law, or any authority more distant than that of county sheriff.

* * *

The sovereign-citizen movement promotes a lot of what most of us call crime. Besides encouraging paper crimes such as creating bogus mortgages and liens, it also promotes hostility toward the police. Two “citizens” are on trial in Las Vegas on suspicion of conspiring to kidnap a policeman.

Sovereign citizens generally believe the minimalist government envisioned by the Founders has been replaced by an illegitimate government that holds no authority over them.

This is a conspiracy theory. It presumes that the choices of other citizens at the ballot box are meaningless and sovereigns alone are able to correctly interpret the Constitution.

That’s not politics. It’s narcissism.

Tucson and Cincinnati confront the same model pension initiative (Prop. 201)

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I mentioned in passing in Tucson City Council Election Preview that the Virginia-based ballot initiative activist Paul Jacob, and his Liberty Initiative Fund, according to his website, is supporting a group called Cincinnati for Pension Reform, which launched a petition drive hoping to gather the 7,443 voter signatures required to place a pension reform charter amendment on this November’s city ballot.

The Tea Party-backed amendment that would semi-privatize Cincinnati’s ailing pension system gathered enough signatures earn a place on the November ballot. German Lopez for the City Beat blog at the Cincinnati Enquirer on August 12 wrote, Pension Amendment Earns Spot on November Ballot:

City officials acknowledge the issues with the current pension system, but they claim the tea party-backed amendment would exacerbate cost problems and reduce payments to future city retirees.

“Under the guise of ‘reform,’ a well-financed out-of-state group is pushing an amendment that spells economic disaster for the future city retirees and the city’s budget,” Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls said in a statement. “Current and future retirees need an income they can live on. This amendment is a budget-buster for retirees and the city.”

City Council condemned the amendment in a resolution unanimously passed on Aug. 7.

The REAL IRS scandal finally goes to court

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Just in time for this Tea-Publican dog and pony show on Thursday:

Reps. Gosar, Salmon, Schweikert and Franks to Host Congressional Field Hearing

Thursday, August 22, 2013

CONGRESSIONAL FIELD HEARING – THE I.R.S. AND THE E.P.A. – BUREAUCRATS OUT OF CONTROL?

TIME:  3:30PM- 7:30PM (Doors will open at 2:00PM)
LOCATION: Mesa Arts Center
Virginia G. Piper Repertory Theater
1 E. Main Street
Mesa, AZ 85211

The Washington Post reports today that Congressman Chris Van Hollen will file a lawsuit today over the REAL IRS Scandal -- that any of these 501(c)(4) organizations engaged in politics ever received tax exempt status in the first place. Pay attention Doug MacEachern, you GOP agitprop hack. High-ranking Democrat to sue IRS over tax-exemption rules:

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, said Tuesday that he will serve as lead plaintiff in the case, which addresses one of the main concerns that surfaced with the recent IRS targeting controversy: differences between federal law and the IRS rules on eligibility for 501(c)(4) candidates.

Current law says the organizations must engage “exclusively” in social welfare activities, but IRS tax code requires only that they are “primarily engaged” in such purposes. That discrepancy has led to confusion for application processors, who have struggled to determine what constitutes political activity and how much should disqualify groups from tax-exemption, according to agency officials.

“I don’t think the IRS should be in the business of determining whether the primary purpose of an organization is political or educational,” Van Hollen said in an interview Tuesday. “The statute is very clear they should not be in that business.”

The Arizona Republic(an) beats the drum for the phony IRS 'scandal'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

I took the Arizona Republic's cog in the right-wing noise machine of GOPropaganda, Doug MacEachern, to task earlier this week for his post on the IRS "scandal." MacEachern: Hard to like big government.

MacEachern is shamelessly back at it again today with The IRS scandal: When a "scandal" is actually a scandal, playing his role in the GOPropaganda "IRS Scandal Week."

Democrats have realized it is time to stop criticizing IRS misdeeds that apparently didn't happen, and it's time to start mocking Republicans relentlessly for making baseless allegations with no foundation in reality. Steve Benen writes, Putting the nail in the phony-scandal coffin:

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released this video [below the fold], which is just a brutal takedown of Republican claims. This week, instead of doing real work, House GOP leaders are eager to hold "message" votes related to the IRS story, but as the video makes clear, there is no IRS story. Republicans raised specific questions, which have been answered. They raised specific allegations, which have been discredited.

About that Tea-Publican boycott (sabotage) of health insurance: practice what you preach

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Reuters reported last week that Tea-Publican economic terrorists and a phalanx of "Kochtopus" organizations are mobilizing a counter-offensive against "ObamaCare" including town hall meetings, protests and media promotions to dissuade uninsured Americans from obtaining health coverage through the health insurance exchanges. Republicans prepare for 'Obamacare' showdown, with eye to 2014 elections:

"The best way to get the juices of that right-wing electorate and activist group going is to attack Obamacare - make everything that happens look awful and voters will rebel against it," said Norman Ornstein, an expert on congressional politics at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

"It's a belief that if they highlight this, and sabotage it as much as they can, and if it's disruptive, that that will work for them in the mid-terms."

The White House and Department of Health and Human Services are well aware of their opponents' political maneuvers.

"There are folks out there who are actively working to make this law fail," Obama said in a speech on Wednesday, condemning the opponents' effort as "a politically motivated misinformation campaign."

Worst. Congress. Ever. stages 'IRS Scandal Week'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It's the last week of "work" for the "Worst. Congress. Ever." before they leave town for a month long recess of hating on "ObamaCare" and the federal guvmint back home, and you know what that means: it's IRS Scandal week for House Republicans!

The House of Representatives will vote on 10 bills this week all inspired by a single scandal: The Internal Revenue Service treatment of political groups seeking tax-exempt status.

House Republicans say their "Stop Government Abuse Week" will fight government waste and abuse. And it's timed to give Republicans an anti-Washington message just as they leave town for the August recess.

* * *

At the top of the list is a bill to partially repeal the 2009 health care law. The vote on the Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act is the 40th attempt by House Republicans to repeal, change or defund the health care law. Another bill would require congressional approval of all new government regulations -- a proposal critics say would handcuff the government's ability to enforce health and safety laws.

The effort is replete with messaging. The health care bill is H.R. 2009 -- the year Obamacare was first adopted. It has four explanatory clauses but a single effective provision, barring the secretary of the Treasury from enforcing any provision of the law.

Vast right-wing conspiracy plots a '30 front war' against America

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

"This is — the great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president." - Hillary Clinton, Matt Lauer interview on The Today Show, January 27, 1998

Hillary Clinton was right. There really was (and is) a vast right-wing conspiracy of think tanks, non-profits, right-wing media outlets and pundits funded by a few dozen conservative billionaires first suggested in a memo dated August 23, 1971 by Lewis Powell, then a corporate lawyer and member of the boards of 11 corporations, who went on to become a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. The Powell Memo (or the Powell Manifesto): Text and Analysis.

And of course, there is Roger Ailes, a media consultant to Richard Nixon's 1968 campaign that pursued the Southern strategy of appealing to racism against African-Americans and white grievance to create a racially polarized electorate.The 1970 plot by Ailes and other Nixon aides for "A Plan For Putting the GOP on TV News" was the beginning of FAUX News. Roger Ailes' Secret Nixon-Era Blueprint for Fox News - Gawker.

David Corn at Mother Jones has a lengthy exposé on the latest from the "vast right-wing conspiracy." Inside Groundswell: Read the Memos of the New Right-Wing Strategy Group Planning a "30 Front War":

Believing they are losing the messaging war with progressives, a group of prominent conservatives in Washington—including the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and journalists from Breitbart News and the Washington Examiner—has been meeting privately since early this year to concoct talking points, coordinate messaging, and hatch plans for "a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation," according to documents obtained by Mother Jones.

The face of voter suppression in Arizona

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Senator Michele Reagan (R-Scottsdale) wants to be Arizona's next Secretary of State. Her role models are Katherine Harris (R-Florida) (2000), Ken Blackwell (R-Ohio) (2004), and Scott Gessler (R-Colorado) (2012), Republican Secretaries of State with notorious records for voter suppression.

Sen. Reagan is the sponsor of the Voter Suppression Act, HB 2305, and she is damned proud of it. Last Friday, The Arizona Republic published a "My Turn" guest opinion by Sen. Reagan that can be boiled down to her shouting "voter fraud!" as the reason for her Voter Suppression Act. Reagan: 3 oft-forgotten election-bill facts.

This despite the fact that our current Secretary of State, Ken "Birther" Bennett, testified to a U.S. Senate panel in December last year that Arizona prosecuted a whopping fifteen cases of voter fraud in the last eighteen months. And none of these were cases of non-citizens voting, but rather "snowbirds" who voted in Arizona and in another state. 2.3 million ballots were cast in the 2012 election in Arizona. Ken Bennett's passion for voter fraud turns up fifteen cases.

A citizens referendum (or "citizens veto" in other states) has been filed by the Protect Your Right to Vote Committee to block Sen. Reagan's Voter Suppression Act. The Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the Democratic Party, the non-partisan League of Women Voters, organized labor, and a wide array of Latino and voting rights organizations are in the process of collecting enough signatures to be filed by September 12.

Investigation debunks FAUX News claim of voter fraud in South Carolina

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Seventeen months after FAUX News Fraudcasting became fixated on Republican claims that hundreds of dead voters had cast ballots in South Carolina, those allegations have now been completely debunked by an investigation by law enforcement that found no evidence of voter fraud. Medfia Matters reports, Another Fox Voter Fraud Story Dies:

Fox frequently pushes dubious allegations of widespread voter fraud that fall apart under scrutiny.

The South Carolina "dead voter" claim sprang from testimony from Kevin Schwedo, the director of the state's Department of Motor Vehicles, who said on January 11, 2012, that more than 950 residents were recorded as having cast a vote after their reported death date. Schwedo made clear that this could have been the result of data errors or voters dying after casting an absentee ballot, but the state's Republicans, led by Attorney General Alan Wilson, seized on the report as evidence of widespread voter fraud.

Wilson took his campaign to Fox News, where he received a platform for softball interviews from several anchors. The network used the "dead voter" story to promote South Carolina's voter ID law, which had been blocked by the Justice Department.

Again, these claims were always dubious - deceased voter fraud claims are often revealed as unfounded, the result of data errors or other explanations.

Indeed, on July 3 the public release of an investigation by the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) provided the answer we anticipated: No voter fraud was found, no charges filed.  As of noon E.T. on July 8, Fox had not reported on those findings.

The price for GOP nativism and racism: $30+ billion wasted dollars

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tea-Publicans love to rail against government spending, the federal deficit, and the national debt, and loudly proclaim that they are fiscally conservative. Bullshit.

Ronald Reagan quadrupled the national debt in eight years. George W. Bush doubled it again during his eight years, and left office with the economy cratered from the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.

These "deficit peacocks" like to preen that they are against wasteful government spending, except when they are not.

The latest example: the border security "surge" proposed by Tea-Publican Senators Bob Corker and John Hoeven to secure more votes in the U.S. Senate for the "Gang of Eight" comprehensive immigration bill. They propose to waste $30 billion dollars or more to buy off nativists and racists in the anti-immigrant wing of the GOP -- a dubious proposition -- hatred is priceless; it defines who they are, and is their only reason for living.

MSNBC host Chris Hayes did an impressive job laying out the particulars on his program All In on Thursday evening. Transcript Thursday, June 20:

in order to stabilize and further build support from their side of the
aisle, Republican Senators Bob Corker and John Hoeven struck a deal with
the gang of eight, a deal that suddenly makes comprehensive immigration
reform seem more possible, more likely to actually happen than it has in
weeks.

That is the progress. That`s progress. It`s excellent news. And it`s
also infuriating because of how they are luring Republicans into the fold.
Corker and Hoeven have an amendment where they are calling for a border,
quote, "surge."

Darrell 'Grand Theft Auto' Issa just got pantsed on his bogus IRS scandal

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, last week unveiled excerpts from interviews showing that a Cincinnati IRS manager flagged the first tea party group for extra scrutiny and that an Ohio agent created the initial search criteria for filtering other cases.

In a letter to committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Thursday, Cummings challenged Issa’s unilateral disclosures and asked him to account for every line of the interviews that he wants “withheld from the American people.” He requested a response by Monday. Otherwise, he would release the transcripts himself.

Darrell "Grand Theft Auto" Issa failed to respond. Big mistake. Elijah Cummings has always been a man of his word.

Today, Cummings released the transcripts. Darrell "Grand Theft Auto" Issa just got pantsed.  Breaking: Full House committee transcripts shed new light on genesis of IRS targeting:

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have just released a full transcript of testimony from a key witness in the investigation of IRS targeting of conservatives — and it appears to confirm that the initial targeting did originate with a low-level employee in the Cincinnati office.

It also shows a key witness and IRS screening manager – a self described conservative Republican — denying any communication with the White House or senior IRS officials about the targeting.

Rep. Elijah Cummings threatens to pants Rep. Darrell Issa by releasing transcripts of IRS agents

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

A week ago Sunday, Rep. Darrell "Grand Theft Auto" Issa referred to selectively edited transcripts of interviews with IRS employees in the Cincinnati office to insinuate that the "targeting" of Tea Party groups by the IRS was "ordered from Washington." CNN host shoots down Issa’s claim that IRS ‘rogue’ agents were ‘ordered from Washington’:

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) on Sunday was unable to produce evidence to back up his claim that so-called “rogue” agents at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) were “directly being ordered from Washington” to target tea party groups.

* * *

CNN host Candy Crowley pointed out that Issa’s committee had provided transcripts of an interview with one IRS agent who was asked if the practice of scrutinizing conservative groups had been ordered by Washington, and the agent replied, “I believe so.”

“It’s totally not definitive,” Crowley observed.

“Well, that one isn’t,” Issa admitted.

* * *

“This is a problem that was coordinated in all likelihood right out of Washington headquarters,” he insisted. “And we’re getting to proving it.”

“But as yet, you don’t have the direct link,” Crowley noted.

Issa has refused to make the full transcripts publicly available (and the Democrats on the committee have been precluded from release).

This past Sunday, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Elijah Cummings (D-MD), was Candy Crowley's guest. Cummings said that the so-called scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) targeting of tea party groups was "solved," but Committee Chairman Darrell Issa has refused to release the testimony of a "conservative Republican" IRS manager because it indicated that the White House was not involved. Cummings Calls Issa's IRS Bluff: 'I'll Release' Transcripts Clearing White House if He Doesn't:

Rep. Cummings explained to Crowley that he had "begged" Issa to release the full transcripts.

"He's the chairman of the committee, we're not in power," the Maryland Democrat pointed out. "If he does not release them, I will. Period."

"I'm willing to come on your show next week with the chairman, with the transcripts, if he agrees to do that," he added. "But if he doesn't, I'll release them by the end of the week."

'Scandal Mania 2013' has jumped the shark

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

You know that "Scandal Mania 2013" has jumped the shark when the grocery store rag The Globe is featuring the GOP's "Scandal Mania 2013" this week.

This is the same disreputable rag that regularly runs stories about "Woman pregnant with alien baby," "Elvis is still alive!," and various and other sundry made-up bullshit.

Which is pretty much how the conservative media entertainment complex cult operates as well, with disreputable "news" sites like The Drudge Report, The Daily Caller, World Net Daily, Breitbart, NewsBusters, Townhall, Hot Air, and on and on.

This is how the right-wing noise machine gins up conspiracy theories, and the mainsteam media all too often feels compelled to report on them because of the "noise" on the right, which is entirely manufactured expressly for this purpose. It is media manipulation, the art of propaganda.

The Doug MacEachern 'echo chamber'

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Based upon his frequent right-wing ravings that pass for opinion columns at the Arizona Republic, I imagine that Doug MacEachern must have a television set tuned to FAUX News with the sound turned down low so he can listen to the ministers of ignorance and hate on the radio, while he surfs the Internet trolling right-wing web sites for "news." MacEachern is simply an echo chamber for whatever the right-wing talking point of the day is.

Case in point, today's "column." MacEachern: IRS chief’s trips creepy:

In 2010 and 2011, then-commissioner of President Barack Obama’s Internal Revenue Service, Douglas Shulman, visited the White House 118 times. In and of itself, that is no “smoking gun” of a conspiracy to punish the president’s enemies prior to the election. They had the IRS’s obnoxious new powers invested through “Obamacare” to discuss. But the very fact of a supposedly independent agency like the IRS coordinating that tightly on anything with the political side is creepy.

And where did MacEachern get this factually incorrect conspiracy theory?

What did the IRS do wrong?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell continues his lonely crusade to convince the corporate mainstream media that the so-called IRS "scandal" is really no scandal at all, they were just doing their job as required by law.

In this segment of The Last Word on Tuesday night, O'Donnell had as his guests  Marcus Owens, former head of the IRS exempt organization division, and Julian Epstein, former counsel for the House Judiciary Committee. Transcript from Tuesday, May 28:

O`DONNELL: In the spotlight tonight, what did the IRS do wrong?

* * *

O`DONNELL: Joining me now are Marcus Owens, former head of the IRS
exempt organization division, and Julian Epstein, Democratic strategist,
former counsel for the House Judiciary Committee.

Mr. Owens, you have the job where all this action took place for
years, unperturbed, no investigations of anything. You have read the
inspector general`s report about what happened in your old what do you read
in the inspector general`s report? What do you think the IRS did wrong
here?

MARCUS OWENS, FMR. IRS DIRECTOR TAX DIVISION: Well, actually I
couldn`t find anything that suggested the IRS had acted inappropriately.
Acted perhaps ineffectively in a couple of places, but not inappropriately.

O`DONNELL: Well, I have to tell you, if you were on any other program
in America, you would have just shocked the audience. But I have been
saying that over a week now. I haven`t seen what they did wrong. They are
supposed to evaluate how much political activity a 501(c)(4) wants to
engage in. According to regulations of the IRS, it is specifically their
job to do that.

But do you think in the inspector general`s report that he kind of
just accepted this notion that there was something wrong with this basic
screening process that they have to engage in?

OWENS: Well, that is one of the fundamental concerns I have with the
report. It really doesn`t describe the process that has to take place with
the processing of applications for exemption. This whole idea of
targeting, that`s a pejorative term. In reality what happens is the IRS
opens the morning mail. And in the mail there will be a pile of
applications for exemption. Those applications have to be sorted. And the
most complex applications assigned to personnel with the most experience.

That`s simply the way complex legal work is handled. And that`s what
happened. And it was the sorting mechanism with the use of nomenclature,
rather than some other less flamboyant, I guess, or incendiary terminology,
was seized upon by the inspector general as somehow evidence of bad acts,
when in fact it was simply an effort to sort applications, those more
likely to trigger the need for careful evaluation of this concept of
political activity, which is a very difficult concept to wrestle with, as
the inspector general did suggest.

The IRS conspiracy theory begins to come undone

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It appears the worm has turned on the conservative media entertainment complex cult's IRS "scandal" conspiracy theory. Upon a deeper dive into the facts by responsible media over the hysteria and persecution complex scandal mongering of wingnuttia, a defense of the IRS is emerging.

The New York Times reported yesterday Groups Targeted by I.R.S. Tested Rules on Politics:

Representatives of [Tea Party] organizations have cried foul in recent weeks about their treatment by the I.R.S., saying they were among dozens of conservative groups unfairly targeted by the agency, harassed with inappropriate questionnaires and put off for months or years as the agency delayed decisions on their applications.

But a close examination of these groups and others reveals an array of election activities that tax experts and former I.R.S. officials said would provide a legitimate basis for flagging them for closer review.

“Money is not the only thing that matters,” said Donald B. Tobin, a former lawyer with the Justice Department’s tax division who is a law professor at Ohio State University. “While some of the I.R.S. questions may have been overbroad, you can look at some of these groups and understand why these questions were being asked.”

Will 1000 Tucsonans Really Show Up at Reid Park for the March on Monsanto today?

by Pamela Powers Hannley

Worldwide-- and here in Tucson-- hundreds of thousands of citizens have signed up to March Against Monsanto today, May 25. More than 1000 Tucsonans have RSVP'd for this event on Facebook. Will they show up? Who knows. If even 1/3 that many people come to Reid Park today, that's a big march by Tucson standards.  

Why are people pissed off at Monsanto? Read this...

On the eve of March against Monsanto Senate shoots down GMO labeling bill

Beltway Scandal Mongering 101

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Scandal Mongering 101

1. Facts don't matter -- just make up the facts (state your case as a "what if" proposition if necessary, or go to the FAUX News classic, "some people say . . .").

2. Logical consistency does not matter -- two diametrically opposed theories can be "true" at the same time. If one theory is not working for you, switch to the diametrically opposed theory.

3. When all else fails, throw shit against the wall and hope that something sticks.

Keep this in mind when reading Steve Benen's breakdown of the IRS "scandal" today. 'The opposite of a cover-up':

When it comes to the IRS controversy, I'm starting to get the impression that the goalposts have moved rather quickly.

The initial allegation raised by the right and other administration critics is that President Obama's White House, if not the president himself, may have been directly involved. As this story goes, Team Obama sent word to an IRS office in Cincinnati to apply extra scrutiny to conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

When every shred of evidence suggested this allegation is baseless, the charges shifted from "Obama did too much!" to "Obama did too little!"

For example, ABC's Jonathan Karl, who's had a rough go of it lately, said yesterday of the IRS's missteps: "How was this allowed to go on? ... There were public reports that this stuff was going on almost a year before the presidential election.... Is there any responsibility from the administration of saying, 'Hey, IRS, we don't treat groups differently based on politics [instead of waiting] for the report after the election to make a comment?'"

In other words, we've reached the point in the controversy at which critics are raising the opposite of their original charges. "Why did the White House intervene?" has become "Why didn't the White House intervene?"

The GOP wants to have it both ways on national security leaks to the media

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Let's set Mr. Peabody's WABAC time machine to a little less than a year ago, to June of 2012 when this was the GOP position on national security leaks to the media. Republicans demand (again) special investigator to investigate leaks - CNN:

A group of Republican senators continued to fire away Tuesday at the Obama administration for its failure to appoint a special counsel to investigate leaks of classified information.

Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, once again led the charge at a Capitol Hill news conference, criticizing Attorney General Eric Holder for his decision to appoint two Justice Department prosecutors to investigate the recent leaks to the media.

"To think that two people appointed prosecutors from Mr. Holder's office, overseen by Mr. Holder, is also offensive," McCain said. "We need a special counsel. We need someone who the American people can trust and we need to stop the leaks that are endangering the lives of those men and women who are serving our country."

Another GOP talking point destroyed by the facts

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

An essential element of the conservative media entertainment complex cult is advancing conspiracy theories in which conservatives are perpetually being persecuted for their whacky beliefs by the big bad government and "librul" media. This is what gives the cult its cohesion, and its sense of tribalism. Conservatives rely on the high priests of the conservative media entertainment complex to tell them what to think, resulting in epistemic closure and a feedback loop.

Too often the corporate "lamestream" media follows the lead of the the conservative media entertainment complex cult, and creates an echo chamber for their talking points.

One talking point that has been stated repeatedly about the IRS "scandal" is the claim that "only Tea Party and Patriot groups were 'targeted' by the IRS" for additional scrutiny of their 501(c)(4) applications for tax exempt status.

The problem with the fact-free world of FAUX News Fraudcasting and the conservative media entertainment complex cult is that this claim is factually false. The corporate "lamestream" media has an obligation to stop repeating this falsehood.

RAW Story reported on the congressional hearing into the IRS "scandal" this past Friday. Republican accidentally debunks GOP narrative at IRS hearing:

During a congressional hearing regarding the IRS on Friday, Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) inadvertently led the head of the IRS to contradict the notion that conservative nonprofits were singled out for scrutiny.

Why is this woman allowed on the Sunday morning bobblehead shows?

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Saint Ronnie Reagan's speechwriter and Special Assistant to the President, Peggy Noonan aka the "Nooner," the one who wrote those speeches for Ronnie about how "I didn''t know nuthin' bout no arms to Iran for hostages!", and "I didn't know nuthin' bout no Oliver North running an illegal war in Nicaragua out of the basement of the White House!," has been slipping from reality into dementia for quite sometime now, just like Saint Ronnie, but the "Nooner" has completely lost touch with reality this week.

As Hunter wrote at Daily Kos this week, Peggy Noonan takes a turn in the conspiracy theory funhouse:

Leave it to Peggy Noonan to chew the scenery on this one. She'd like you to know that the president is "not unconnected" to IRS mismanagement and the FBI fetching AP phone records because of leadership osmosis. She also is fairly certain that the IRS business is some sort of Orwellian scheme to oppress conservatives, which would be fine and all if that's what happened.

This is what the "Nooner" wrote in the the op-ed pages of Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal this week, This Is No Ordinary Scandal:

We are in the midst of the worst Washington scandal since Watergate. . .

'Benghazi!' faux scandal: Stick a fork in it, it's done

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Major Garrett, who used to work for FAUX News Fraudcasting for years, left the GOPropaganda machine to go to work for CBS News. Last night on CBS Evening News, Major Garrett put a definitive end to the conservative media entertainment complex cult's "Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!" faux scandal, with this report (transcript by) Josh Marshall: CBS Calls Out GOP For Doctoring Benghazi Emails:

MAJOR GARRETT: Scott, Republicans have claimed that the State Department under Hillary Clinton was trying to protect itself from criticism. The White House released the real e-mails late yesterday and here’s what we found when we compared them to the quotes that had been provided by Republicans. One e-mail was written by Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. On Friday, Republicans leaked what they said was a quote from Rhodes. “We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don’t want to undermine the FBI investigation.” But it turns out, in the actual e-mail Rhodes did not mention the State Department. It read “We need to resolve this in a way that respects all the relevant equities, particularly the investigation.” Republicans also provided what they said was a quote from an e-mail written by State Department Spokesman Victoria Nuland. The Republican version notes Nuland discussing: “The penultimate point is a paragraph talking about all the previous warnings provided by the Agency (CIA) about al-Qaeda’s presence and activities of al-Qaeda.” The actual e-mail from Nuland says: the “…penultimate point could be abused by Members to beat the State Department for not paying attention to Agency warnings…” The C.I.A. agreed with the concerns raised by the State Department and revised the talking points to make them less specific than the C.I.A.’s original version, eliminating references to al-Qaeda and affiliates and earlier security warnings. There is no evidence, Scott, the White House orchestrated these changes.

Video below the fold.

Funny story: the IRS 'scandal' was self-inflicted

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

It turns out that the conservative Tea Party and Patriot organizations who applied for 501(c)(4) tax exempt status did so because they were concerned that their activities violated the tax exempt status. They knew that their political activities skirted the legalities for a tax exempt status, so they sought the IRS "seal of approval" (the real IRS scandal).

You see, you do not have to apply for a 501(c)(4) tax exempt status. Steven Benen explains, How to apply (or not) for tax-exempt status:

Noam Scheiber raised an interesting point I hadn't seen elsewhere.

It turns out that the applications the conservative groups submitted to the IRS -- the ones the agency subsequently combed over, provoking nonstop howling -- were unnecessary. The IRS doesn't require so-called 501c4 organizations to apply for tax-exempt status. If anyone wants to start a social welfare group, they can just do it, then submit the corresponding tax return (form 990) at the end of the year. To be sure, the IRS certainly allows groups to apply for tax-exempt status if they want to make their status official. But the application is completely voluntary, making it a strange basis for an alleged witch hunt.

So why would so many Tea Party groups subject themselves to a lengthy and needless application process? Mostly it had to do with anxiety -- the fear that they could run afoul of the law once they started raising and spending money. "Our business experience was that we had to pay taxes once there was money coming through here," says Tom Zawistowski, the recent president of the Ohio Liberty Coalition, which tangled with the IRS over its tax status. "We felt we were under a microscope. ... We were on pins and needles at all times." In other words, the groups submitted their applications because they perceived themselves to be persecuted, not because they actually were. 

The real IRS scandal: David Cay Johnston explains

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Former New York Times reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay Johnston, a columnist for Tax Analysts, and who teaches tax and regulatory law at Syracuse University Law School, explains The other IRS scandal : Columbia Journalism Review:

The burgeoning “scandal” over how the IRS chose for review 75 applicants for tax-exempt status puts on full display an unfortunate tendency in journalism—to quote people accurately without explaining the underlying context. Yes, it is as wrong for IRS employees to select groups to scrutinize based on their names as it is for police to stop and frisk young people based on the color of their skin. Still, the facts here are not so black-and-white as with racial profiling.

There is a scandal in all of this—several, actually, and some are more significant than the one that is getting all the attention. As the story unfolds, here are some important points to keep in mind:

• Missing from much coverage is the relevant recent history—the role of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision and how it prompted a deluge of requests from new organizations seeking tax-exempt status under tax code Section 501(c)(4) as “social welfare” organizations—despite the fact that many of these are blatantly political operations.

When the evidence doesn't fit the narrative, the GOP just fabricates the evidence

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Well, well, well . . . the "nothingburger" of the conservative media entertainment complex's "Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!" faux scandal now has a real scandal, only this one involves a GOP operative "misrepresenting" the contents of an email to an all too gullible "lamestream" media wanting to out-FOX FOX News.

Jake Tapper, who used to work for ABC News but has moved to TeaNN (formerly CNN), has a scoop today on how his former employer got played by this GOP operative in its "exclusive" report last week. CNN exclusive: White House email contradicts Benghazi leaks:

CNN has obtained an e-mail sent by a top aide to President Barack Obama about White House reaction to the deadly attack last September 11 on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that apparently differs from how sources characterized it to two different media organizations.

The actual e-mail from then-Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes appears to show that whomever leaked it did so in a way that made it appear that the White House was primarily concerned with the State Department's desire to remove references and warnings about specific terrorist groups so as to not bring criticism to the department.

Rhodes, White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri, and White House press secretary Jay Carney, could not be reached for comment.

The real IRS scandal: the ease with which political organizations have been abusing the 501(c)(4) tax exempt status

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The latest "scandal" is that the IRS applied extra scrutiny to applications for 501(c)(4) tax exempt status from so-called Tea Party organizations.

Geez, an anti-government, anti-tax organization (the "Tea" is an acronym for Taxed Enough Already) applies for tax exempt status from the IRS -- the agency responsible for the collection of taxes -- I can't imagine why that would attract any extra scrutiny (sarcasm). By the way, the tax exempt status in effect is a tax subsidy from taxpayers, so not only are these Tea Party organizations anti-tax, but they want you to pay for their political activities. Deadbeats!

I have yet to see any reporting that this 501(c)(4) status was denied to any organization, only that they had to provide additional information about their organizations' political activities.

Of course, the conservative media entertainment complex cult has portrayed this as a case of conservatives being persecuted for their beliefs, playing the victimhood card that is the stock and trade of the conservative movement. They all see themselves as martyrs who are being persecuted by the "librul" media and the big, bad "guvmint." The corporate "lamestream" media is taking its cue from the conservative media entertainment complex cult and playing along with this persecution/victimhood meme.

Again, I have yet to see any reporting that this 501(c)(4) status was denied to any organization, only that they had to provide additional information about their organizations' political activities.

The real "scandal" here, the scandal the media has largely ignored for several years and is still not reporting, is the ease with which political organizations have been abusing the 501(c)(4) tax exempt status, and the lack of any IRS legal enforcement to prevent such abuses.

John McCain makes a complete ass of himself over 'Benghazi!' Part 2

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Oh dear lord, the new Three Stooges (John McCain, his puppet boy Little Lindsey Graham, and Kelly Ayotte as "Shemp") are back at it again today. It appears that the "Benghazi! Benghazi!! Benghazi!!!" faux scandal is really just about semantics, or diction. "You didn't say the magic words!"

Talking Points Memo reports, McCain, Graham And Ayotte Dismiss Obama’s ‘Generic’ Terror Reference:

Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) on Monday issued a statement dismissing President Barack Obama's insistence that he attributed the deadly attack in Benghazi, Libya to terrorism.

Speaking in the Rose Garden the day following the Sept. 11, 2012 attack that left four Americans dead in Benghazi, Obama made reference to "acts of terror" — a "generic reference," as the three Republican senators put it. McCain, Graham and Ayotte cited subsequent interviews that Obama gave in which he stopped short of describing the attack as terrorism. The three senators also called for the creation of a Joint Select Committee " to resolve these contradictions and answer the many other unanswered questions about this tragedy."

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) on Monday also pushed back Obama's characterization of the attack, arguing during an appearance on Fox News that "an act of terror is different than a terrorist attack."

Seriously, Dude? That's all you got?