American Politics 101

[deja vu]

WASHINGTON - New York Democratic Rep. Eric Massa, facing a harassment complaint by a male staffer, said Friday that he is stepping down from his seat with "a profound sense of failure."

"I am guilty," Massa told his House and campaign staff in a conference call Friday, according to a participant. Later in the day, Massa released a statement saying that after learning he had a recurrence of cancer, he learned he was the subject of an ethics complaint by a male staffer who felt "uncomfortable" during an exchange with Massa. The exchange reportedly had sexual overtones.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35730201/ns ... _politics/


Not surprised he tried to deny it, but I am surprised he decided to drop the innocent routine and admit to it so soon.

[Smitty]

The latest screw-ball happening, that totally battles the mind. Seems at the Whitehouse two guards we thinking this gentlemen was reaching for his Pass only to pull out a small h/gun & from 5 yds away was able to slightely wound them with their protective vests & such. The natural thing to do was to draw their side-arms & at the same distance to being constantly trained, they shot him, where he died at the hospital.

So in your mind what was he expecting to gain from this work of stupidity? After all several people have been at the White House while Obama was with many guest including the Prime Minister of India. Obviously SECURITY has been strendthed up even more from that incident of guests, not even knowen entering where he & others were.

From what I have heard this most recent attacker did not leave a reason why he was next to committing suicide in the above or spoke about this often to friends or those that knew him.

Now the chap that flew the single engine airplane into the Income Tax peoples building put out his wailing pages of his reason of possibly why.

[deja vu]

(FoxNews)Sarah Palin is expected to head to Knoxville, Tenn.next month to testify in U.S. District Court against a University of Tennessee student who allegedly hacked the former Alaska governor's personal Yahoo! e-mail account. David C. Kernall, whose father is Democratic state Rep. Michael Kernell of Memphis, admits he correctly answered personal security questions to gain access to the account in September 2008 after Palin was named Arizona Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate. If Kernall's attorney, Wade Davies, has his way, Palin has to show up at the April 20 court date to show details about the account, including who had access to it.

Before that, on March 24, a pre-trial hearing will determine whether Davies has a legitimate argument against the magistrate's authority to issue search warrants for Internet companies outside Tennessee. According to The Knoxville News Sentinel, Davies is trying to keep out as evidence information gleaned from Yahoo! and other Internet providers. On Wednesday, the magistrate, Clifford Shirley, allowed Davies to pursue his challenge despite the looming trial date. Federal prosecutors say the records request being sought by Davies of Palin's account is merely a "fishing expedition," the Sentinel reported. Kernall is charged with identity theft, wire fraud, computer fraud, and obstruction of justice


******************


I agree it's a fishing expedition and should not be allowed. What is in the emails has nothing to do with the fact the kid did hack her account. He already admitted he committed the crime so why is the Judge allowing the challenge?

[deja vu]

A GOP lawmaker says that the White House committed a "crime" if it offered Democratic Rep. Joe Sestak a federal job in exchange for dropping his primary challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa.

"That would be a crime to offer anybody a federal job," Rep. Darrell Issa, the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Fox News on Friday. For example, the California Republican said it would be a crime if he offered a staff job to anyone to help him win an election.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03 ... tak-crime/



More stonewalling from Obama, the same old song and dance. Isn't change great?

[123duyusee]

A favor here and there keeps politics going. But of course it is not through their own pocket money.

[CielOnTap]

Now four months after that dinner crashing party, there is some discussion of the former social director's perspective on what had happened at the party. The former staffer, a friend of the First Couple, found that there was not enough support from within the White House for all of her work. That party ruined her position at work--one incident.

Obama Social Secretary Ran Into Sharp Elbows

By PETER BAKER
Published: March 11, 2010
WASHINGTON — Long before the State Dinner party crashers and the tension with her White House colleagues and the strain in her relationship with the first lady, Desirée Rogers began to understand she was in trouble when David Axelrod summoned her to his office last spring to scold her.

Ms. Rogers had appeared in another glossy magazine, posing in a White House garden in a borrowed $3,495 silk pleated dress and $110,000 diamond earrings. But if the image was jarring in a time of recession, Mr. Axelrod was as bothered by the words and her discussion of “the Obama brand” and her role in promoting it, according to people informed about the conversation.

“The president is a person, not a product,” he was said to tell her. “We shouldn’t be referring to him as a brand.”

The confrontation that day between Ms. Rogers, the White House social secretary, and Mr. Axelrod, the senior adviser to President Obama, put at odds two longtime Chicago friends of the first family. And it foreshadowed a deeper, wrenching conflict that would eventually cost Ms. Rogers her job and tear at the fabric of the close-knit inner circle around Mr. Obama.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/12/us/politics/12rogers.html

[deja vu]

Washington (CNN) -- Now that the House has passed the Senate's health care reform bill and a package meant to reconcile differences between the House and Senate bills, the next step is for members of the Senate to sign off on those changes.

That won't be as easy as it sounds. Senate Republicans have indicated they will use any and all legislative tactics in order to slow -- even stop -- the reconciliation bill from passing. President Obama is expected to sign the health care bill Tuesday at the earliest. Only then can the Senate begin dealing with the reconciliation package.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/22/ ... tml?hpt=T1


I don't know why Obama and other Democrats are celebrating. This is far from over and I would be shocked if the Insurance and Drug companies remain silent.

[CielOnTap]

"Vote for Your Health!" (Curious to see the Swiss Red Cross symbol on President Obama's shirt; the symbol is protected, so why not use the American Medical Association serpent and whatever logo instead?)

Comments in the background: "Too expensive!"; "Jobs"; "No!"; "Not that"; "Socialist"; "No thanks"; "Sold"; "Debt, debt, debt"; "Red."

[deja vu]

A Frenchman who police say hacked Twitter accounts belonging to US President Barack Obama and celebrities could face jail.

The unemployed 25-year-old was arrested on Tuesday after an operation lasting several months, conducted by French police with agents from the FBI. The 25-year-old is said to have hacked into the micro-blogging website, by simply guessing users' passwords.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8586269.stm



This is absolutely priceless. Didn't the Secret Service say his account would be unhackable? That they went overboard to protect his account?

[deja vu]

WASHINGTON — The anonymous caller to Democratic Congresswoman Louise Slaughter's office left no doubt about his intentions. With debate raging in the U.S. Congress over the passage of landmark health-care legislation, he threatened "snipers" would kill the children of lawmakers who voted yes.

The messages to Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak were even more graphic. Stupak, a pro-life congressman who voted for the health-care bill over the objections of anti-abortion activists, was called a "***** and a baby-killer," a "baby-murdering scumbag" and warned he would die "either by the hand of man or by the hand of God."


http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Deat ... story.html


Fear mongering in all of its ugliness. This whole debate has gone overboard, common sense has disappeared and been replaced with threats of violence.