Click here to view this media The above video shows what an egomaniac Tom Delay is. Remember this golden oldie back in 2005? Delay: Conservatives saw the savag…savagery of 9/11 in the effects and oh..in, in, the at–attacks and prepared for war. Liberals saw the savageerry on 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapeutic understanding for our attackers. That’s not slander, that’s the truth. The courts have spoken and Tom Delay is going to jail. All Hail Turkey Day. We’ve just received some extra gravy to go with our mash potatoes. He’s one of the biggest slime balls to ever serve in Congress and who helped create K Street politics. Chris Matthews will be devastated. A major hat tip to Heather for getting the story on C&L’s Breaking News widget so fast. The media was always so quick to defend him. What will they say now? Former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay — once one of the most powerful and feared Republicans in Congress — was convicted Wednesday on charges he illegally funneled corporate money to Texas candidates in 2002. Jurors deliberated for 19 hours before returning guilty verdicts against DeLay on charges of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He faces up to life in prison on the money laundering charge. After the verdicts were read, DeLay hugged his daughter, Danielle, and his wife, Christine. There was no immediate comment from him or his attorneys. Prosecutors said DeLay, who once held the No. 2 job in the House of Representatives and whose heavy-handed style earned him the nickname “the Hammer,” used his political action committee to illegally channel $190,000 in corporate donations into 2002 Texas legislative races through a money swap. — Prosecutors claim the money helped Republicans take control of the Texas House. That enabled the GOP majority to push through a Delay-engineered congressional redistricting plan that sent more Texas Republicans to Congress in 2004 — and strengthened DeLay’s political power. C&L’s archives are filled with Delay material. I bet he wishes he could go on unemployment insurance right now instead of facing a long prison sentence. “You know,” Delay said, “there is an argument to be made that these extensions, the unemployment benefits keeps people from going and finding jobs. In fact there are some studies that have been done that show people stay on unemployment compensation and they don’t look for a job until two or three weeks before they know the benefits are going to run out. Host Candy Crowley: Congressman, that’s a hard sell, isn’t it? Delay: it’s the truth.
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The holiday special for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was a big helping of guilty-as-charged Wednesday, as the former Republican lawmaker found himself on the wrong side of the Texas legal system in a money laundering case stemming from a sketchy campaign finance maneuver he and a couple of accomplices pulled in 2002.
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By Deanne Stillman Once upon a time, a cowboy saved my life. I think of him in certain moments, at the sight of red rocks, for instance, or the hint of a desert storm. Now, the time has come to tell his story. Related Entries November 22, 2010 WikiLeaks Promises Biggest-Ever Leak November 22, 2010 Power and the Tiny Acts of Rebellion
Continue reading …Joe Scarborough Says TSA Screening Controversy ‘Most Ginned-Up Story of the Year,’ But Recants Position When Guests Disagree
November 24, 2010 No Comment
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough blasted protesters and opponents of the new TSA screening procedures on Wednesday's “Morning Joe,” only to recant his position on the show's next hour when he realized two panel members criticized the new checks. “I was saying this was a made-up debate – this is a real debate, I guess,” Scarborough admitted on the second hour of his show. While Scarborough and co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Willie Geist, as well as MSNBC political analyst Harold Ford, sympathized with TSA workers and defended the new checks, two guests opposed the new search methods. Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan and New York Magazine columnist John Heilemann criticized the TSA procedures. Early in the first hour of the show, Scarborough ranted against the “opt-out” protestors who would be forgoing the body scanners at airports Wednesday to be subjected to pat-down checks, deliberately frustrating and slowing down the process on one of the busiest travel days of the year. Scarborough has recently promoted civil discourse on his show with the mantra “Keep Calm and Carry On,” but let loose at the protesters Wednesday.
Continue reading …Sex columnist Dan Savage, creator of the “It Gets Better” campaign to help gay youth through tough transitions, is pretty patient with CNN’s Kyra Phillips as he discusses the still very real threat of hate speech and hate crimes targeting … (continued) Related Entries November 22, 2010 WikiLeaks Promises Biggest-Ever Leak November 22, 2010 Power and the Tiny Acts of Rebellion
Continue reading …Three Cheers for Kamala Harris! She wins CA’s Attorney General. Repudiation of Karl Rove’s cash
November 24, 2010 No Comment
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP Photo More good election news fro California. We elected a great Attorney General and kicked to the curb a far right extremist who was Karl Rove’s major dude. More than three weeks after he declared victory in the race for state attorney general, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley conceded defeat Wednesday as he trailed by more than 50,000 votes in one of the closest statewide races in California history. The decision means that San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris will assume the post of California’s top law enforcement official, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the statewide offices. Uncertainty had swirled around the election result since shortly after the votes began to be counted on Nov. 2. Cooley claimed victory on election night, only to discover the next morning that he was behind. As county registrars scrambled to count more than 2 million ballots left uncounted after election day, the lead bounced back and forth, but Harris has held an advantage for more than a week. She should be outstanding. enlarge Credit: Crooksandliars Karl Rove and another one of his shady groups tried to buy Cooley the election, but ultimately failed in their quest. The race for California’s Attorney General is getting dirty. Unusual national interest is suddenly coming to California’s election from a group in Alexandria, VA called The Republican State Leadership Committee, a group cofounded by Karl Rove. This committee just put 1.1 million to fund attack ads against Harris now showing in Los Angeles. To put the size of this last-minute effort in context, consider that Harris has spent about $3 million for her entire campaign – which she raised within the legal limit of $6,500 per donation, with the identity of each contributor a matter of public record. The Daily beast wrote an i nteresting profile on Kamala . She’s not a DLC/Third Way ConservaDem. But maybe the most interesting woman to watch is Kamala Devi Harris, the district attorney for San Francisco, whose Democratic primary win puts her on course to become the first African-American and Asian-American woman elected attorney general in California. Born to one of the first black economics professors at Stanford University and an Indian physician at a time when interracial marriage was still illegal in parts of America, she has already made history. Now, Harris’ challenge is to break through one of the last glass ceilings in California .
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California’s rejection of the Republican tidal wave is complete . After three weeks of counting, San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris has emerged the victor in the state’s attorney general race. She is the first woman to have the job, and her ascension, along with former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown and current San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, gives the state government a decidedly Bay Area flavor. Can SoCal get a little love, please? Billionaire Republican Meg Whitman failed to take over the governor’s mansion and former HP CEO Carly Fiorina couldn’t dislodge Sen. Barbara Boxer from office. Therefore in major contests Californians just said no to the GOP, who, as you might have heard, did pretty well everywhere else. Harris was running against Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley, who, though he ran as a Republican, considers himself a nonpartisan and was endorsed as such by the L.A. Times, lest we get too carried away.
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Click here to view this media According to the Minnesota Star Tribune , this dumbass has now had his leadership post taken away by the state GOP. Via Pat Kessler, WCCO-TV : ST. PAUL (WCCO) — A Minnesota lawmaker is trying to explain why he showed up at a Planned Parenthood with a loaded gun. He says he just happened to pick that parking lot. Surveillance cameras at the Planned Parenthood in St. Paul spotted Representative Tom Hackbarth of Cedar, Minn., parking his pickup and getting out with a .38 Smith and Wesson on his right hip. Hackbarth, who is a new chairman of the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee, told WCCO-TV by telephone he had “no clue” he’d parked next to a security-conscious abortion facility. Hackbarth has been suspended from any current and pending leadership roles within the House GOP Caucus, according to a released statement from the Minnesota House of Representatives. The statement goes on to say his suspension will remain in effect until the issue is fully resolved. The Republican representative said a romance that started online put him in the wrong place. “I have a permit to carry legally. I carry my gun all the time. I have never had an incident and everything is perfectly legal and above board,” said Hackbarth. Cameras caught him walking away down a dark alley. “We have to air our dirty laundry? My wife and I are going through a divorce we are separated. We’ve been separated for about a year and a half now,” said Hackbarth. Hackbarth was apparently on the hunt for his girlfriend whom he’d recently met online. “She gave me some line of baloney, and I thought, ‘well, she’s fibbing to me.’ You could tell, and I thought, ‘well, I’m going to check it out.’ and I went there to see if she was around and her vehicle was not there. And I was just checking on her,” he said. The police report says he may have been jealous about another man, which is something Hackbarth denies. Police say Hackbarth exhibited the behavior of a stalker: angry, looking for a woman, with a fully loaded gun. They stopped his truck, handcuffed him and took his weapon that night, but he was never charged with a crime. He picked up his gun Tuesday.
Continue reading …CBS’ Smith Conducts Soft Interview of TSA Chief, Begs Him to ‘De-mythify’ Controversies of Screenings
November 24, 2010 No Comment
Labeling the uproar over new TSA screening procedures as a “tempest-in-a-teapot,” Harry Smith avoided pressing TSA chief John Pistole on CBS' “Early Show” Wednesday about the controversies of the new methods. Rather, Smith deferred to asking Pistole to explain the process further and “de-mythify” false rumors. “There are so many myths about this, not the least of which is 'Well you know, the TSA guy, he's standing there, he can see your – you know what',” Smith told Pistole Wednesday on CBS' “The Early Show.” Smith asked Pistole to “De-mythify this process a moment” and clarify that “somebody is in another room looking at this stuff. They never see your face.” “That is misinformation,” Pistole responded to the “myths” Smith referred to.
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