Headlines - Monday January 30

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Our allies: Pakistan is trying the doctor who helped catch Osama bin Laden for treason.

 

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Callista must need a new Tiffany diamond-studded pressure gauge.

 

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Sarah Palin continues to be the dumbest person in national politics. Here's why Republicans should support Newt Gingrich (warning — link points to Brietbart's site):

"So, if for no other reason to rage against the machine vote for Newt, annoy a liberal."

No, see, Newt Gingrich has absolutely no chance of winning the general election. This delights and comforts liberals. We want Gingrich to win the nomination because he will crash and burn far worse than Goldwater, McCain or anyone else the modern Republican Party has elevated to prominence.

Also, supporting someone just because they annoy someone else? It's this kind of childish nonsense that's dooming the Republican Party to second-rate status.

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Oddly named head of the RNC Reince Priebus has compared President Carebear to the Italian cruise ship captain who took off in a lifeboat after his ship ran aground at Isola del Giglio killing 17 people:

"In a few months, this is all going to be ancient history, and we are going to talk about our own little Captain Schettino, which is President Obama who is abandoning the ship here in the United States and is more interested in campaigning than doing his job as president."

(Think Progress)

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If Boehner was a Democrat, he would be run out of office on a rail over this. "It is an ethics violation for elected officials to use their political office to perform official acts on behalf of special interests, and particularly when special interests are campaign donors. There is also a serious problem when a sitting congressional representative performs official acts for personal financial profit by promoting a project the representative has a financial stake in. The problem becomes egregious when the elected official lies about a project to profit himself and campaign donors and our current Speaker of the House has taken those issues a step farther. On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received a complaint from an environmental group with accusations that the proposed Keystone XL pipeline's owners (TransCanada) are in violation of SEC Rule 10b(5) - Employment of Manipulative and Deceptive Practices to bolster stock prices. ... The complaint sent to the SEC said TransCanada is using "false or misleading statements about the proposed Keystone XL pipeline" and that they "consistently used public statements and information it knows are false in a concerted effort to secure permitting approval of Keystone XL from the U.S. government." The complaint continues that the fallacious information misleads investors, U.S. and Canadian officials, the media, and the public "in order to bolster its balance sheets and share price," and who is the point-man pushing the Keystone XL pipeline with lies and misinformation? Speaker of the House John Boehner."

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Today, the National Park Service will crack down on "sleeping activity" at the two Occupy DC camps at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, which some say is an effective eviction. Park Service officials told protesters on Friday that they "may be subject to arrest and their property subject to seizure as evidence" if there are evident "camping violations" by noon today.

 

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We've been asking about this since David Petraeus was the Mayor of Mosul -- The money went missing on his watch. "The U.S. Defense Department cannot account for about $2 billion it was given to cover Iraq-related expenses and is not providing Iraq with a complete list of U.S.-funded reconstruction projects, according to two new government audits. ... The reports come from the office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. ... The Iraqi government in 2004 gave the Department of Defense access to about $3 billion to pay bills for certain contracts, and the department can only show what happened to about a third of that, the inspector general says in an audit published Friday. ... Although the Department of Defense (DoD) had "internal processes and controls" to track payments, the "bulk of the records are missing," the report says, adding that the department is searching for them. ... Other documents are missing as well, including monthly reports documenting expenses, the audit says. ... "From July 2004 through December 2007, DoD should have provided 42 monthly reports. However, it can locate only the first four reports.""

 

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Keeping a campaign promise, the Obama campaign is refunding money donated by federal lobbyists. "When we catch [a contribution] from a federal lobbyist that slips through the cracks, we immediately return the contribution," said a campaign spokesman. "Unlike our opponents, our campaign does not accept contributions from Washington lobbyists."

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Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White (R) will face seven felony voting fraud charges at a trial beginning this morning. White, who maintains his innocence, allegedly registered to vote at a home that was not his residence and served as a councilman in a district where he did not live.

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NEW YORK—We left you on Friday with some rather unsettling developments in the coming War Against the Machines, and we're afraid to report there's more bad news on that front today: the US military apparently left behind some drones during its "withdrawal" from Iraq last December—and the Iraqi people are not happy about this! (something something nobody could have predicted.) The State Department has contracted a "small fleet" of drones to serve as part of a security detail for the various American diplomats still remaining in Iraq. "The State Department drones," reports the Times, "carry no weapons and… are much smaller than armed drones, with wingspans as short as 18 inches, compared with 55 feet for the Predators." Catch that? "Much much smaller than armed drones"—as if this is supposed to comfort us! No, sorry, this is even more terrifying. Because, seriously, think about it: if those 55-foot Predators are basically like the Decepticons of the War Against the Machines, then these little foot-and-a-half long guys are like that one miniature Transformer jobber that turned himself into a boombox and hacked Air Force One. Well! Happy Monday, everyone: we all live in a Michael Bay movie now. READ MORE »

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SOUTH DAKOTA: House Votes To Include Bible Study In Public Schools

Tax payer money should not have to pay for this. That's what tax free churches are for.