Rep. Weiner: Clarence Thomas Should Bow Out of Health Cases

[sabrina 1]

This is the story the media is choosing not to cover as it devotes hours of precious time to the latest Breitbart attempt to take down yet another good public servant.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KAtv0HgTBNY/TdScQ7VdVkI/AAAAAAAAB70/VMRQCPd9D6Y/s1600/Clarence+Thomas+2.jpg

Weiner: Clarence Thomas Should Bow Out of Health Cases

The Honorable Justice Clarence Thomas
United States Supreme Court Building
1 First Street Northeast
Washington D.C., DC 20543

Dear Justice Thomas:

As an Associate Justice, you are entrusted with the responsibility to exercise the highest degree of discretion and impartiality when deciding a case. As Members of Congress, we were surprised by recent revelations of your financial ties to leading organizations dedicated to lobbying against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. We write today to respectfully ask that you maintain the integrity of this court and recuse yourself from any deliberations on the constitutionality of this act.

The appearance of a conflict of interest merits recusal under federal law. From what we have already seen, the line between your impartiality and you and your wife's financial stake in the overturn of healthcare reform is blurred. Your spouse is advertising herself as a lobbyist who has “experience and connections” and appeals to clients who want a particular decision - they want to overturn health care reform. Moreover, your failure to disclose Ginny Thomas’s receipt of $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, a prominent opponent of healthcare reform, between 2003 and 2007 has raised great concern.

This is not the first case where your impartiality was in question. As Common Cause points out, you “participated in secretive political strategy sessions, perhaps while the case was pending, with corporate leaders whose political aims were advanced by the <5-4> decision” on the Citizens United case. Your spouse also received an undisclosed salary paid for by undisclosed donors as CEO of Liberty Central, a 501(c)(4) organization that stood to benefit from the decision and played an active role in the 2010 elections.

Given these facts, there is a strong conflict between the Thomas household’s financial gain through your spouse’s activities and your role as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. We urge you to recuse yourself from this case. If the US Supreme Court's decision is to be viewed as legitimate by the American people, this is the only correct path.

We appreciate your thoughtful consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
ANTHONY D. WEINER

Emphasis mine. This is a very, very serious issue. A SC Justice has immense power over issues that are important to this country.

CNN's Dana Bash, a reporter who I have rarely seen challenge aggressively those she interviews on issues such as this, yesterday demonstrated amazing aggressiveness in her questioning of Rep. Weiner regarding an issue that will have zero impact by comparison, on the future of this country.

Even if one member of Congress is himself impacted by the stunt, it in no way compares to the implications for the future of this country that the SC's decision on the issue of HC reform.

Back when Breitbart/O'Keefe and Giles went after ACORN, many of us attempted to explain why it was so important for Democrats to stand up to these deceptive, and now criminal in the case of O'Keefe, and well-funded, far-right political operatives. But, those efforts were in vain.

The US MSM is a disgrace, as if we did not know that already. I would like to see Dana Bash question Justice Thomas about this egregious conflict of interest as she did Rep. Weiner about what is a totally minor issue, unless of course she too has an agenda.

Thomas should not only recuse himself from the HC decision, he should step down from the SC inho.

The sad fact is, that Breitbart et al have already accomplished their goal, as the number of posts on the Twitter story demonstrate, and the lack of interest in the issue Rep. Weiner brought to the public's attention.

And every time another mention of the 'controversy' is made, Breitbart et al get exactly what they wanted.

How many people remember that the ACORN 'story' was totally exposed as nothing but a smear campaign against some very decent people? That fact is not important. People remember the initial media coverage and few will ever know the facts, because for some reason, the MSM appears to be part of these smear campaigns perpetrated by Breitbart et el. And that in itself is a story someone needs to start investigating. Who is funding Breitbart? And why is the media afraid to expose them?

[abelenkpe]

1. K & R

Bummer I can only recommend this once....

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Hell yes, K&R.

Troll traffic seems to be kinda heavy around here. (Neg recs)

[Name removed]

4. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Uncle Joe]

3. This should set a record for recommendations.

Thanks for the thread, sabrina.:thumbsup:

[sabrina 1]

5. You're welcome Uncle Joe, but actually it appears to be

getting plenty of unrecs. Breitbart fans it seems.

[RainDog]

6. k&r - n/t

[GKirk]

7. Dumb me...

...the story is about Weiner but I was thinking Boehner and it made me wonder why you were happy with something he did.

I guess it's easy to mix up Boehners and Weiners. :)

[sabrina 1]

23. Bayner! You have to pronounce it 'Baynor'!

He doesn't like 'boner'! And YOU have a dirty mind!

:rofl:

[MikeMc]

83. I always pronounced the Koch bros name incorrectly. NT

[Gold Metal Flake]

8. Yes, this is the "why".

Pity too many Americans are fools for what the "liberal media" tells them is important.

[hifiguy]

9. K&R

Thomas has no proper place in any court in this country, save being in the dock for corruption and incompetence.

:kick:

[PufPuf23]

10. Best Wiener thread at DU. Thomas is the story and blatantly corrupt.

Thanks Sabrina. You are a great poster at DU.

[sabrina 1]

15. What I couldn't find, maybe someone else can,

was a response from Thomas to the Congressman's letter. Nor could I find anything about the CNN crew that found the twitter story so compelling, chasing down Thomas to ask him a single question about Weiner's allegations.

Dana Bash, eg, is it that she is not interested in Thomas' reaction to allegations that are certainly far more damning than a tweet NOT sent by a Congressman and NOT received by the person it was supposedly sent to?

Thank you for your kind words, I love your posts also :-)

[lonestarnot]

11. He should be thrown from the bench!

[russspeakeasy]

69. that would be "hi tech throwing".

[Ikonoklast]

12. And this is why Rep. Weiner is being attacked.

They get the word out to the attack dogs to start a smear and lie campaign ASAP every time they get called on their crimes.

[sabrina 1]

13. Yes, I believe it is.

But someone is behind Breitbart et al. They have access to the media that no one else appears to have considering how dumb and stupid and now we know, completely not credible they are.

I think it is time for someone who has the ability and the money to find out who is using this smear machine before they, with the help of the media, destroy any more decent people.

I would be willing to donate to a fund to hire investigators to look into who is behind these lunatics and why the media gives every vile stunt they pull, so much attention. Because it's clear the media is not going to do it and even when they are caught red-handed, as in the case of O'Keefe, committing crimes, they get off with a slap on the wrist. They are helping to destroy this country and no one seems to be able to stop them.

Thomas is a disgrace. But I have heard nothing about this story on the MSM.

[Mimosa]

25. Exactly!

O'Keefe was totally discredited when he attempted to bug Mary Landrieu's office in NOLA.

[The Wizard]

26. My guess is

CNN uses Fox as a cover because of the blatant propaganda. Methinks CNN is on the Koch gravy train. Presstitutes.

[sabrina 1]

30. I think you may be right. They have consistently given cover

to Breitbart knowing what a disreputable character he is. The way this story has been covered is a disgrace.

A well-known smear merchant attempts to destroy a resepcted U.S. congressman and CNN joins in the witchunt.

I think you hit the nail on the head. They are on the same payroll as Breitbart et al.

[StarsInHerHair]

91. a group like Anonymous or Anonmiss is about all we have, or bloggers

the media is gone, just infotainment when it isn't propaganda.

[TheBigotBasher]

14. Absolutely right.

K&R

[PA Democrat]

16. Happy to give this a K & R.

[DirkGently]

17. He should step down, actually. His wife's business IS selling her access / influence.

[sabrina 1]

19. Has the media hounded her about this the way they are

hounding Rep. Weiner though? I admit, I haven't done a search on it, but I didn't have to search to find out about their pursuit of Weiner so I'm assuming it was not a very big story for them.

[DirkGently]

20. There's a reason Dems keep getting Breitbarted. It works. Who cares about corruption of the Supreme

Court, when Wolf Blitzer has has important questions to ask regarding alleged underpants?

[sabrina 1]

21. Also more important to Wolf was protecting his

colleague from being called an 'asshole' by Weiner. He was very upset and assured the viewing audience that his colleague was a 'good guy' who didn't deserve to be called names. But it's okay with him if a US Congressman, also a good guy, is smeared by one of the nastiest, smarmiest, dumbest political operatives in this country. There was no outrage from Wolf about the lies, aside from the tweet itself, that Weiner is involved with 'young girls'.

He was nearly in tears though over his colleague being called what he is. Because we have actual evidence of that.

[lonestarnot]

18. Pig should be thrown out!

[sulphurdunn]

22. This is getting covered

so feverishly because it has all the makings of a SEX SCANDAL!!!! You can pollute the world, trade in slaves, commit mass murder, work children to death, steal trillions of dollars, steal people's homes, their jobs, starve them and let them die for lack of medical care and that's OK so long as no one gets a picture of your hard-on while you do it. It's called conservative values, and the people who have them own the country and the press outright.

[DirkGently]

24. Step 1: Underpants. Step 3: Profit!

[trueblue2007]

27. CAN CONGRESS "MAKE" THOMAS RECUSE HIMSELF

can congress tell thomas to SHUT HIS YAP or can the other justices make him get off the case??

[underpants]

28. The first I heard of this was Wiener on RW radio -whoops gave him the big megaphone

too funny.

Had to look it up when I got home. DU never fails.

[aquart]

29. And this is the reason for smearing Weiner.

A porn addiction can't be cured by a Supreme Court appointment. I wonder how much of that stuff he has in his office and on his pc at home.

[Glimmer of Hope]

31. The real story.

[Cleita]

32. Maybe that's the reason they are trying to

bring him down with this kind of BS. I find the MSM coverage to be in propaganda lockstep in the way they are covering this.

[sabrina 1]

33. I think this is the reason. Have they even covered this story?

Anderson Cooper wants to know if we would be upset if they covered a Conservative the same way on his Twitter acct. I answered him, and everyone should. I told him that the source of the 'story' made it a non-story and added 'Shame on CNN'. He needs to hear from a lot more people. CNN SHOULD be ashamed of themselves.

[slipslidingaway]

34. knr nt

[Denzil_DC]

35. K&R n/t

[Firebrand Gary]

36. K&R

Hello, Media? Are you there? Or are you just obedient?

[suffragette]

37. Thanks for putting this all together

So, do I have this correct?

Friday: Weiner calls for Thomas to recuse himself.
Saturday: Breitbart "reports" about tweet and photo

Sunday - present: Most media ignore (I would say pointedly ignore) Thomas conflict of interest , but go after Weiner like a pack of rabid dogs.

I agree with you: Who is funding Breitbart (and O'Keefe, for that matter) and why is the media not investigating that?

[sabrina 1]

38. I think you got it about right. I'm not sure if it was Friday

when he called Thomas, but it was very recently.

I think they, Breitbart et al, are being funded by someone pretty powerful, like the Tea-baggers and that the media already knows who they are.

Otherwise it is hard to explain how time and time again, they appear to 'fall' for every, stupid, inane, Breitbart 'scoop' even though time and time again, his 'work' has been debunked.

Edited to say, the letter was written back in Feb. I think, but Thomas admitted the financial entanglements last week, it seems. So, yes, they needed something to distract the media with, or get their cooperation on.

[Festivito]

39. We trade in eloquent Thurgood Marshall for doofus-of-a-lifetime Clarence Thomas.

No wonder we're in such trouble as a country.

[MikeMc]

44. 'There's no difference between a white snake and a black snake' -- Thurgood Marshall

That was his response to the prospect of a Clarence Thomas nomination to fill the Supreme Court seat that he was vacating.

[Festivito]

47. ...if both bite. Thurgood: well red and black, Thomas: red and yellow, kill a fellow.

Yellow as a guy who hides what can be read about him, and dumps it so it might be hidden -- 'cause he's yella.

[MikeMc]

55. Red and black, you'll never go back (q mark inoperative). NT

[defendandprotect]

71. I watched on C-span as Thurgood Marshall said that in a press interview ....

When they were asking him whether Poppy Bush would consider his seat a "black"

seat he was obviously anticipating something like the nasty trick of Clarence

Thomas being appointed --

"It's not the color of a snake that is important. What's important is

whether or not it bites."



:)


Poppy Bush made sure that not only does this snake bite but that he'll be with us

a long time doing the rw's dirty work -- !!

[MikeMc]

78. Mark C Miller covered Clarence Thomas's appointment and repug 'projectivity'

in "Fooled Again", pp. 61 - 70. Joe Conason's "Big Lies" covered it, pp 128 - 130. Al Franken also, in "...Lying Liars..." or "The Truth".

Prof. Miller made a point of discussing the repug tactic of being guilty (of any given generic felony, or moral outrage, or treason, etc.), then while the repug politician is guilty, they spend a lot of mass-media air-time loudly screaming accusations of guilt (of the same felony, outrage, crime) at their Dem opponents.

Hence, Thomas is guilty, of pubic hair in Anita's Coke, of discussing 'Long Dong Silver' with her, of screwing the American public with his conflicts of interest in the health care debate. Then, some Rove-Koch-Scaife repug outfit will attack Weiner, for a 'pecker related' scandal -- right after Weiner tells Thomas to stop screwing America.

[defendandprotect]

85. Love this -- thanks for the laugh ....

Hence, Thomas is guilty, of pubic hair in Anita's Coke, of discussing 'Long Dong Silver' with her, of screwing the American public with his conflicts of interest in the health care debate. Then, some Rove-Koch-Scaife repug outfit will attack Weiner, for a 'pecker related' scandal -- right after Weiner tells Thomas to stop screwing America.



EXACTLY -- !!

:nuke:

:)

[SpiralHawk]

40. Corporate media (R) propaganda is a grave threat to American democracy

...no longer serving the people...

[MikeMc]

41. Dem Now! 5 - 17 - 11:

Two University of Missouri Labor Studies Professors, Judy Ancel and Don Giljum, were vindicated after a right-wing smear campaign almost cost them their jobs, in April of 2011. Breitbart's Biggov.com posted edited footage of a televised course the two professors were conducting.

"But it turned out the video was edited in a way to distort their words -- similar to recent video campaigns against ACORN, Planned Parenthood, NPR, and former FDA official, Shirley Sherrod" -- DemocracyNow!, 5-17-11

Professor Giljum didn't have his resignation letter to the University taken up, but he was forced to resign as Business Manager of the St. Louis local of the International Union of Operating Engineers. (My dad was Local #66, IUOE, Pittsburgh. They run all the heavy equipment on construction sites, cranes, backhoes, steam-shovels, etc.)

That nazi Breitbart is a one-trick pony. But most internet sources are missing an important part of the action here. Rick Berman. In the earliest coverage of sheisskopf breitbart, the reality-based internet community was talking about Berman and Breitbart. RottenACORN, and UnionFactCheck were Berman sites and initiatives. Then Berman went down the memory-hole, and we're left with Breitbart.

They're both working for the same repuglinazis. But Berman's involvement is evanescent. We're missing a big piece of the picture if we only target the swinish Breitbart, and forget Berman.

Nice post, s 1.

[suffragette]

50. Great point about Berman. Likely working for & funded by

the same people.

And it looks like Berman should have the IRS breathing down his neck and investigating him.

http://www.prwatch.org/node/9175
http://www.bermanexposed.org/facts?phpMyAdmin=5adf472113c89c5b3fbfa290dbe803a7&phpMyAdmin=e00846c9856b61d2d33049b0d695795f
http://www.bermanexposed.org/

Also, looks like Sarah Longwell is strongly connected to Berman, Breitbart, and O'Keefe.

[sabrina 1]

53. Wow, he's got so many 'front orgs.' to attack

Unions, Animal Rights people etc. These facts need to be known to the public so when they see these anti human rights people on TV and in ads, they can at least question the sources.

Berman runs at least 23 industry-funded front groups and projects, such as the Center for Union Facts and holds 24 "positions" in those organizations.

Each year, Berman, using his front groups to spread misinformation, spends millions of dollars distracting the public with misleading ads.

As a result of his largesse, in 2006, Richard Berman used $2,000,000 in cash to buy this $3.3 million house.

Our whole system is destroyed. When scum like Breitbart and this individual have so much money to misinform the public, especially around elections, they are directly influencing who gets elected in this country. They ARE like cockroaches, working in the dark against workers and against this country's best interests.

The media must be part of it. If they were not, this is definitely a story that the public would absolutely want to see covered.

Berman admits that CCF is "financed by the food and restaurant industries" and that some of those who fund CCF are also clients of his lobbying firm. However, he "has always declined to name the specific companies that support Consumer Freedom. He said in an interview that there were roughly 100 companies, including some that control very large brands, but that identifying them would serve no purpose." Berman said the organization collected about $2.7 million in contributions in 2003.

It is NOT his decision to make whether 'identifying them would serve no purpose'. Who are these people and where do they get the arrogance that makes them think they know what is best for over 300 million people?

[MikeMc]

58. These repug are grisly and underground, s1

Always on the attack. Who they are hitting is Blacks, Women, Unions, Academics, Gays, Religious Minorities. Their attacks present all real Americans with a perfect template, for a rainbow coalition of Democrats. Time to attack instead of react. No violence, just Rainbow Coalition supportive action alliances. Angela Davis says.

[suffragette]

63. Yep, and they're all connected

be sure to go to the link in my response to MikeMC.

[MikeMc]

56. Thanks for Longwell. Seems to be a CIA nazi type, like Berman, Britebart, Rove NT

[suffragette]

62. Searching on Longwell led me to an article full of the linkage

Much too extensive linkage to post just a few paragraphs here. In her quotes, Longwell looked to be trying to do damage control after O'Keefe was caught at Landrieu's office. Very interesting that she worked for the Collegiate Network which identified and funded O'Keefe and many more college conservative "journalist" trainees. Much, much, much more there.

This is a must read:


http://washingtonindependent.com/75580/campus-right-unbowed-by-okeefe-scandal


Thanks for posting about the Berman connection. Very illuminating, indeed.

[MikeMc]

66. RE: Wash Inde link:

This is the stuff, the rare ole stuff. Thanks suffragette.

You people SHOULD be allowed to vote.

[MikeMc]

67. Longwell and Kenyon College reminds me of Mark C. Miller and the "Longest Line" in the '04 election

s.

NT

[suffragette]

68. Interesting point

http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_joan_bru_071217_ohio_2004_3a_the_longe.htm

[MikeMc]

79. I wrote the Maddow Show, once.

She always does a fantastic job, and her show can't cover everything. But right before Acorn got de-funded, she was covering Berman (you posted her Berman video on a link up-stream). I asked her to cover Sproul and Associates. That is the repug outfit that was actually guilty of crimes that the repugs were accusing Acorn of committing. Repug 'projectivity' strikes again.

In the Pittsburgh area, Nathan Sproul and Associates operated extensively before the '04 election. The National repug party's 8th largest '04 Pres. campaign expenditure was Sproul.

Sproul came into town and passed around petitions before the election, for auto insurance reform, to help battered women, to legalize medical marijuana. Sproul posed as several other groups, like Voters' Outreach of America, America Coming Together, America Votes, and Acorn. His fake groups took the petition info and re-registered the signers. Registered them as Repugs, and in different polling precincts. This created hours-long voting lines among the students, and many people wound up casting provisional ballots that were later invalidated -- cause they were actually registered elsewhere, though they never cast the vote in those other precincts. (There goes the Longwell \ Kenyon College issue, from next door in Ohio.)

So my request to Maddow's show was that they go on the attack, instead of defending Acorn. A show that just covered 'Acorn vs. Sproul'. The Dems need to be nimble, and attack on these issues, instead of reactively defending. We have all the facts on our side. They have mass-media balderdash.

Thanks for all the info, suffragette.

[suffragette]

87. Looks like Sproul changed name to Lincoln Strategy Group

and are using same tactics in other states.
Good info gathering and attempt to get this out on your part.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lincoln_Strategy_Group

More here on linkage for them:
http://motherjones.com/environment/2009/12/dirty-dozen-climate-change-denial-02-american-coalition-clean-coal


Absolutely agree about being proactive rather than reactive.

[MikeMc]

92. Thanks for sw and mj links.

The name change to Lincoln Strategy reminds me of Arthur Anderson changing to Accenture, after Enron. I appreciate the info, and discussion, s.

[suffragette]

94. And TIA's graphic shift and Blackwater's now everchanging

name, including XE and numerous subdivisions with separate names.

[MikeMc]

96. You mean my icon is out of date? How embarassing.

I blame the DU signature icons function for the lack of update-capability.

Besides, I heard that whole program ended years ago, when the lame-stream hounded the kindly old Poindexter out of office.

Eric Prince is a true credit to all Michigan Aryans, 'cause of how he ran off to live with the Arabs, to beat pending indictments.

Also, didn't Cheney's outfit change names and run off? KBR isn't Halliburton, and they moved next door to Prince in Dubai or UAE. I forget if we cut off the taxpayer contracts to their fine companies.



" close parentheses added to last line.]

[suffragette]

97. That reminded me to check on Erik Prince. Looks like he has private army in UAE now

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/18/jeremy_scahill_on_blackwater_founder_erik
The United Arab Emirates has confirmed hiring a company headed by Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of the military firm Blackwater. According to the New York Times, the UAE secretly signed a $529 million contract with Prince’s new company, Reflex Responses, to put together an 800-member battalion of foreign mercenaries. The troops could be deployed if foreign guest workers stage revolts in labor camps, or if the UAE regime were challenged by pro-democracy protests like those sweeping the Arab world. Prince has one rule about the new force: no Muslims. We speak to investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill and Samer Muscati of Human Rights Watch.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/15/world/middleeast/15prince.html

The United Arab Emirates — an autocracy with the sheen of a progressive, modern state — are closely allied with the United States, and American officials indicated that the battalion program had some support in Washington.

“The gulf countries, and the U.A.E. in particular, don’t have a lot of military experience. It would make sense if they looked outside their borders for help,” said one Obama administration official who knew of the operation. “They might want to show that they are not to be messed with.”

Still, it is not clear whether the project has the United States’ official blessing. Legal experts and government officials said some of those involved with the battalion might be breaking federal laws that prohibit American citizens from training foreign troops if they did not secure a license from the State Department.

Mark C. Toner, a spokesman for the department, would not confirm whether Mr. Prince’s company had obtained such a license, but he said the department was investigating to see if the training effort was in violation of American laws. Mr. Toner pointed out that Blackwater (which renamed itself Xe Services ) paid $42 million in fines last year for training foreign troops in Jordan and other countries over the years.

Yikes!

[MikeMc]

98. Hessians! Don't worry.

Palin's teabag brigade will ride, shooting and ringing bells, to inform us if Prince's forces are trying to infringe on our inrefudiatable 2nd amendment remedies.

[suffragette]

100. LOL

I like you.

[MikeMc]

104. I think, as long as we aren't facing

Xe security forces, like happened to N.O. Katrina refugees

or facing a pack of rabid gun-&-bell wielding Palin-backing bikers

or facing detention in Halliburton-contracted internment facilities

at least we can pummel them with the vicious mocking that they deserve.

Thank you for LOL. I like you too.

[MikeMc]

117. I swear. We're on the same team suffragette.

Come on back.

[sabrina 1]

99. Wow! Just Wow! This administration supporting Blackwater

I know they will find a way to continue to get funding. But where is Congress on this??

Yikes! Is right. Thank you again for some excellent research. I follow Jeremy Scahill for updates on what Blackwater is up to but missed all of this, other than I knew they were in the UAE. Is this our new home away from home for war criminals??

[suffragette]

101. There and Dubai

Lots of info in this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8563433

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8563433#8572831


And:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=433609&mesg_id=433972



http://upload.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1032614



The second you blink, they morph more. Reminds me of the Doctor Who episode: Blink
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=doctor+who+blink&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

[MikeMc]

106. Alexei Sayle did a Doc Who skit on Thatcher

His Marg Thatcher press release said:

'We must not look on the Daleks, in terms of the human misery and enslavement they cause, but rather as a wonderful opportunity for the micro-electronics and defense industries' (Loose paraphrase, but that's the gist.)

I read the threads, thanks.

The constant name change 're-branding' of these guilty repug outfits reminds me of Homer Simpson, when Marge told him to complain to the phone company about the area code change they hit him with. "But which one? There's so many of them, and they keep changing their names!" Then he dissolves into weeping and wailing.

Scary stuff from Blink. I never did like stone angels.

[suffragette]

107. I'm fine with stone angels

Don't trust Blackwater/XE/newnamehere at all though.

And never trust anything coming from Breitbart & Company.

[MikeMc]

108. Breit is on the boards, again, I see. But not re: the Breitbart Syphilis Epidemic.

He's as shifty, craven, and sweaty as Nixon. So non-endearing. And maybe he WAS lying the last 5000 times he talked. But that doesn't excuse us from giving his latest syphilitic rantings the fair hearing they deserve.

RE XE, I'm down on Prince, Schmidt, Ashcroft, Krongard, Negroponte, and the rest of the gang. But I have to disagree with this stone angels stance you're taking.

[MikeMc]

137. I'm still peeved about your 'stone angels are good' stance.

[MikeMc]

105. You're right, it's a sorry state of affairs

Amy's DemNow! coverage of Jeremy's work is where I go. I didn't know that Jeremy had his own site. I have his Blackwater book all dog-eared and marked up, with stars and ! points. Great reporting, like Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, or Max Blumenthal's Repug Gomorrah.

I'm sure that Speaker Boehner's people will provide the same top-level oversight that we got from Speaker Hastert's people. Rep. Issa is a subpoena-ing whiz. Oh, wait, he's too busy to investigate Blackwater or Halliburton KBR right now. He has too many other irons in the fire.

[sabrina 1]

109. I follow him on Twitter

where he often posts links to what he is working on. I'm not sure if he has his own blog but he does post on a blog sometimes. I cannot remember the name of it right now.

Amy is always good to watch. She is a professional. Not many of them around

[MikeMc]

111. Got it. I have no cell, but always like to hear what JS is saying. NT

[MikeMc]

115. I have a couple of Amy books ready to type in, as well as

Naomi, Max, and Jeremy.

I love hard copy, but maybe I'm just feeling bitterly betrayed by Trend Micro, Dell, Microsoft, and Verizon.

[suffragette]

112. In the meantime, vets from Blackwater and Able Danger

have formed a "private spy" company called Jellyfish:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/blackwater-datamining-vets-want-to-save-big-business/

Veterans from the most infamous private security firm on Earth and one of the military’s most controversial datamining operations are teaming up to provide the Fortune 500 with their own private spies.

Take one part Blackwater, and another part Able Danger, the military data-mining op that claimed to have identified members of al-Qaida living in the United States before 9/11. Put ‘em together, and you’ve got a new company called Jellyfish.

Jellyfish is about corporate-information dominance. It swears it’s leaving all the spy-world baggage behind. No guns, no governments digging through private records of its citizens.

“Our organization is not going to be controversial,” pledges Keith Mahoney, the Jellyfish CEO, a former Navy officer and senior executive with Blackwater’s intelligence arm, Total Intelligence Solutions. Try not to make a joke about corporate mercenaries.



Ok, now you really, really, really have to read "He, She and It" by Marge Piercy.

Really....really :)

[MikeMc]

114. Check.

I always get Piercy and Atwood confused. Please excuse my ignorance.

[suffragette]

118. Actually, you'd need to be aware of them both to confuse them

That's not ignorance, that's knowledge :)
No need for excuses there.

But if you haven't yet read "He, She and It" you should give it a go. So much in there that is pertinent now.

[MikeMc]

120. I've been aware of the bad guys, since Handmaid's Tale,

and I already hated those guys,as a non-pec-tweeting guy. Have read Ursula K. LeGuin, and Andre Norton, and Mad L'Engle.

I have always been fascinated by the lack of capabilities of my favorite guy authors. They mostly can't make a realistic woman character, from what {I imagine} is a woman point of view. Sociologically speaking, I'm paying attention. I could go on, discussing fave male and female authors who are backing Dem thought... But without feed-back, I can't possibly justify almost 50 % of the human race, coz I don't know exactly where you're coming from, besides the Syphilitic-Breitbart vs. Weiner kerfluffle.

Give some credit to James Caan, for the "Lathe of Heaven" role.

I am informed, by thinking of my mom, and I read the posted excerpt on 'He, She, and It'. I know where they're headed, and you and I are stopping them from getting there, right now. If you want to hear a well-read Soc. Major's take on the best guy author version of a woman character, I would be pleased to reply. Or let's just pummel Clarence Thomas into the ground, using only Naomi Klein as a source.

[MikeMc]

142. By the way, I'd suggest looking at my original citation

regarding the swinish and syphilitic Rick Berman. Unionfactcheck. The 'center for union facts' term threw me, because I had already saved info on ufc. 'Cuf' is a front, 'Ufc' is the original bad-guy. By bad guy, I mean Citi-United, Koch-Scaife-Rove sponsored anti-union guys, who use Breitbart and Berman and Longwell as fronts.

[defendandprotect]

75. Still don't understand why O'Keefe isn't in jail ... however ....

one of the scariest things I've ever seen was the young lady who did

personnel stuff for W administration -- in the DOJ !!!

Not only weeding out liberals, but seeking very, very right wingers.

Obviously, these on campus orgs help to ID them -- encourage them.

[suffragette]

88. I don't understand why O'Keefe isn't in jail either.

And I am disgusted with news orgs calling what he does pranks and thus minimizing them rather than calling them what they are - criminal acts.

Agree with all you said.

And the campus orgs also ID people who go on to be journalists at papers such as US News & World Report, which is cited in the link I posted for hiring them.

[MikeMc]

93. Yeah. Goodling comes from Pat Robertson's Regents Law School

Marshall's TPM has a lot on it:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/goodling.php
Federalist Society christian Dominion types.

Tom Tomorrow, 6 - 9 - 07:


We still have some of these creeps in career staffer positions. I love how bush's swine attorney generals refused to resign, when the new Admin came into office. Heads the repugs win, tails we lose.

[sabrina 1]

102. That's an excellent find, lots of information on their tactics.

They may say they are not bothered by O'Keefe's trials and tribs and law-breaking, but imo, they should be. He and Breitbart can be thanked for bringing attention to their subversive attacks on this country's democratic process.

They cannot win by simply being right on the issues, or telling the truth, so they have to build up a vast dirty tricks organization to try to do so, and even with that, they still can't control everything as they would like to. So, exposing them is vitally important imho, as their main goal is to prevent any kind of progress in this country away from its racist, far-right past.

[defendandprotect]

73. It's the old Prescott Bush/Harriman/Dulles front-company game....

where they used front companies to raise money for Hitler from

elites all over the world -- including royals.

They cashed in dollars at the time for the GOLD and shipped it to Hitler --

These were the same people who fought to end the post WWI restrictions on

the arming of Germany!!

[suffragette]

74. Yes, front companies to mask involvement

Great point.

[sabrina 1]

51. Thank you for that information.

I had never heard of Berman. You are correct that Breitbart is just a paid lackey, although he does thoroughly enjoy his work.

'We're missing a big piece of the picture if we only target the swinish Breitbart, and forget Berman'.

Since the media appears to have no interest in uncovering what the 'reality-based' community was able to do, maybe it's time to start an online investigation of these thugs. I know Breitbart bristles whenever he's asked about funding. That alone is a clue to the fact that the funders wish to remain anonymous.

Lift the rock and let the cockroaches be exposed. Imo, this is a far bigger story than anything their stunts might appear to be.

I missed the Judy Ancel and John Giljum case. Thank you for that information.

[MikeMc]

54. Cause Amy is great and yet we all jump to Rhandi and Rachel...NT

On edit. Randi Rh, not Rhandi.

[defendandprotect]

76. I've been trying harder ....

to catch Amy G in evenings --

[MikeMc]

82. I love her transcripts, just can't spend 50 min. She's better than Rather

or any national news head anchor.

Easier to go to Rachel and get 10 min segments. "I want my two-minute microwave popcorn in one minute!" is the operating principle here, I think.

[defendandprotect]

84. I'm also a TEXT reader - agree completely !!

But this is somewhere around dinner time -- and while I don't pay 100% of

attention to it, it's working for about a half hour --

Tonight she had Seymour Hersh on for a while -- then I lost track of it.

Was annoyed that I couldn't listen cause she had people on talking about Haiti -- !!

Looks like, for you and me, TV is finished?

PUT 'EM ALL IN THE CLOSET, I SAY!!!


My sister actually managed to do this -- barred TV in her home!!

sigh!

[defendandprotect]

72. Didn't know any of that --

only thing I know of any of this is what I read at DU --

but we can't lose sight of the fact that as the rw has gained ground --

it fears even more losing it -- and the "dirty tricks" are getting dirtier all the time.

[Recursion]

42. Two unfortunate issues about recusal

1) The decision is made entirely by the Justice, and there's no appeal or remediation

2) There's only an appearance of conflict if someone might reasonably conclude that the meetings changed Thomas's mind. I don't think anybody thinks that. Since his decision was a foregone conclusion, he's not being unduly influenced.

[DirkGently]

45. If he or his wife profit by his decision, it's an actual conflict of interest, regardless of motive

You can't waive or explain away an actual conflict of interest.

[Recursion]

46. Him, yes. His wife, no.

Shocking as it may sound, judges hear cases involving parties their spouses and other close family members have financial dealings with all the time. If that were not so, the DC circuit court could basically never hear any cases.

[DirkGently]

48. Sure. But her basing a business around Citizens United, if that's what occurred? Bit much.

Edit:

But I don't even think that's the worst of it. I think they are in business, TOGETHER, selling the idea that she has inside track for rightwingers to the S.C. She's a one-woman Tea Party lobbying firm, and the appearance is, she's being paid for her perceived "access" to the Court.

[Uncle Joe]

49. I disagree, whether we believe that Thomas' mind is already made up or not isn't the point, as a

Supreme Court Justice, he's supposedly in the ultimate position of impartiality and that alone should raise the bar for his behavior in regards to conflict of interest.

Judges should be held to a higher standard, particularly the highest ranking judges in the land.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_of_interest

A conflict of interest can only exist if a person or testimony is entrusted with some impartiality; a modicum of trust is necessary to create it. The presence of a conflict of interest is independent from the execution of impropriety. Therefore, a conflict of interest can be discovered and voluntarily defused before any corruption occurs

[Luciferous]

43. K&R

[defendandprotect]

52. Congratulations to Weiner -- Thomas is an important rw tool -- !!

Just as an aside -- Clarence Thomas should have also recused himself from

the Ralston Purina case -- One of his major supporters, Sen. John Danforth, had

financial interest in that one --

The Case Judge Thomas ... Ralston Purina? Clarence Thomas's first job out of law school was as an assistant to John Danforth ... against Ralston. Senator Danforth's ...
www.nytimes.com/1991/08/30/opinion/l-the-case-judge... - Cached
John C. Danforth - SourceWatch

... John C Danforth, a Republican senator from ... Danforth is an ordained Episcopal minister, an heir to the Ralston-Purina pet food ... of Clarence Thomas," Danforth ...
www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_C._Danforth - Cached



In the Book "Strange Justice" re the Clarence Thomas hearings --

Sen. John Danforth is revealed as having told Thomas that ... "even if he was guilty" that

Danforth would support him!

No wonder!

[sabrina 1]

59. Thanks for this.

See suffragette's post #53. She has linked to the Crew site eg, which gives a list of Berman's 'front orgs' which are used to protect several industries, basically against workers and American citizens in general. I wonder if Ralston Purina is among those Corps. They wont' name their backers, (Berman, Breitbart et al) but some have been uncovered.

Thomas is a blight on the SC. I would like to know though, why this is not the big story on the media this week since Thomas basically has acknowledged his financial connections now.

[MikeMc]

64. D & P and s 1...+ 100. 2 of my DU faves. NT

On edit, that is 's 1', not 's I' ... Sorry for the misleading 'NT' header.

[sabrina 1]

77. Aw, that is really sweet. You're one of my favs also.

And definitely D & P! :-)

[MikeMc]

80. I only know suffragette from this discussion, but I'm already a fan. NT

[sabrina 1]

81. I've been a suffragette fan for a while!

She is an amazing researcher as you can see just from this thread. All this information from her and from you should be in its own OP imho.

And if we had a real media, they would all over this story.

[suffragette]

90. Back at you, sabrina

Always appreciate your thoughtful, well-written and capably researched posts.

[suffragette]

89. Oh, thanks

Very much appreciating your posts as well.
And Sabrina and D&F are longtime favs of mine as well.

[MikeMc]

86. Thanks for the Sourcewatch. Thomas definitely is a 'tool'.

I haven't read Strange Justice, but Miller's book "Fooled Again" excerpted it, and gave a few excerpts of Danforth's book ("Resurrection") on the Thomas nomination:

"The nominee's own body was another 'theater of that war.' Late that night, Ginni Thomas woke to find her husband writhing on the floor beside their bed. It was 'like something was inside of him, physically, like there was this battle going on inside of him,' she told Danforth later. 'What it felt like is that Clarence still had some sin in his life and he had to get that out in order to ... blah blah blah ... Holy Spirit ... blah blah blah ... vestige of sin ... blah blah blah ... furnace and God ... blah blah blah ... vestige of sin.' ('Blah' ellipses mine, not Miller's)"

After his epic battle, he said about his testimony on the Hill affair: "I have given up on the truth. The truth is not helping me here." And his buddy Danforth said let's put this guilty liar on the Court.

Looks like the wrong side won that war over Thomas's body. But that doesn't bother the 'christian' right, as your Danforth quote shows.

Which brings us back to Weiner gate. Isn't it funny that the repugs and 'Christians' can never win an argument or advance their policies with anything other than a lie. You'd figure they would be able to use the truth at least once, sometime, to get their way. I mean, it's staggering, from a statistical probability point of view, that they are unable to mix one actual truth in with their blizzard of 'little white lies' told in the service of the repug christian 'greater good'.

[MikeMc]

123. Come on d & p, Get down here. NT

[Deep13]

57. Hence the attempted character assassination.

Nothing discredits someone in provincial minds faster than some sexual indiscretion.

[sabrina 1]

65. Yes, and it's getting old. Not to mention, if all they could find

was a Calvin Klein-like ad photo on Rep. Weiner, he is pretty much safe from their intended aims to bring him down.

[MikeMc]

70. Aformentioned photo looked like Markey Mark's Times Sq mug-shot,to me, but I wasn't looking 'hard'

at it. Nice Stewart rebuttal to this issue.

I remember Stewart's verbatim quotes of Weiner's rants, when they had a timeshare by the Atlantic Ocean: 'The gentleman will pay for the Skippy. The gentleman is correct in paying for the Skippy... &tc, &tc."

[tweeternik]

60. Not exactly sure why ...

but clarence disgusts me. :puke:

[Deep13]

61. He's an angry, mean-spirited, misogynistic old man. nt

[MaeScott]

95. Can't rec can kick. Hell yes, recuse or impeach. nt

[hansberrym]

103. The REmancipation Proclamation

The Remancipation Proclamation:

Economic Decision-Making Is an Activity Subject to Congress’s Commerce Clause Power!

[Rex]

110. M$M = bad for America.

Just that simple. Fucking scumbags.

[MikeMc]

113. I'm on the case with Common Cause tomorrow, s 1

This is all so simple, and so many good Dems are all bound up in conniptions about it.

Heads Repugs win, tails we lose.

This whole Weiner Breitbart blackmail thing is designed to make Weiner's stand 'obscene'. That stand is for Health Care, 9-11 first responder health care, and Medicare (read it as Health Care) -- and against Thomas and Citizens United and Rove \ Koch \ Breitbart et al .

Weiner's position is now 'obscene'. Boy, is my face red, as a Democratic stalwart.

I wish we had d & p, you, Suffragette, and maybe Spiral hawk back down here on the issue.

You called it in the OP. This is where the action is. I'd like to see some good Dems back here on the front. My computer has been down all day, sick. No q mark, back slash, drop and drag, copy-paste, etc. .

So Heads\Tails:
Heads - Scott Brown's GQ photos, Tails - Weiner's Marky Mark shot.

Heads - 'Shared prosperity' for BP and hedge fund managers, Tails - 'Shared sacrifice' for every other American, in Ryan's tea bag repug economic plan.

Heads - Breitbart's 'freedom of the press', Tails - 'Religious Values'.

Et cetera. Et cetera. Simple, simple, simple, and I call triple bull-shit on the repugs.

In Pittsburgh, all the powers that be, from PFAW, Common Cause, AFL-CIO, Delta Foundation, etc., are going to picket a share holders' meeting of Target Corp., 6231 Penn Ave, at high noon. This is our side's tactics -- not mine, but I'm along for the ride. The Rainbow Coalition Dems want to say that we oppose Ryan, Walker, Paul, Koch, Rove, Thomas, the syphilitic Breitbart gang, and the rest of the bad guys. I just gave the D triple C an extra 10 bucks, from an old Weiner e-mail request. It's the best I can do.

[fascisthunter]

119. makes sense but too many mush heads

are falling for the moral outrage.

[MikeMc]

121. Love the tag and peace sign symbol, but I always had you pegged for a guy.

Isn't there someone on this site that can make me feel that I am not the only guy Democrat Please tweet me a pic of your pec.

Jagging around, f. h.. Thanks for the response.

Pgh. Anti-Nazi action 6 \ 8. I will do my part.

[fascisthunter]

124. lol.... thanks Mike

I'll do my part too

[MikeMc]

122. I always thought positively about you fh,

from all posts that I saw you make. Please forgive. If you're with the women Dems here, I'm with you.

[fascisthunter]

125. I'm a feminist... I believe in a women's right to choose

I believe in leveling the playing field for everybody. Thank you for your kind words!

[MikeMc]

131. check. check. + 1, fh. nt

[sabrina 1]

127. Wish we could all be there too, Mike

I'm in Ca right now. I think the people's side, that's us, need more than we have right now to fight back against Corporate America.

I think you are right about how Weiner is being targeted. And why. But, maybe the people don't have the small minds we are thought to have. Polls in NY are showing he is still popular.

I guess this pre-pubescent 'weeny' stuff gets old after a while. We are grown-ups after all. But in the small, under-developed minds of the far right and others, I guess they are not all that familiar with the human anatomy, at least in RL so, they are 'shocked' and assume the rest of us will be also. NYers are pretty much un-phased by photos of naked people! I think if he sticks it out, he'll survive.

:-)

[Name removed]

128. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sabrina 1]

129. I don't blame her for being upset. Schools, which should

be havens for children, are they turning into war zones? I never heard of anything like that before.

Are you in in Dakota? Glad they got to do their dance, can't see how that would be bad for the environment.

Sounds like your busy. And yes, the Wisconsin state of mind needs to spread around the country. They brought back the labor movement.

Not sure what Pgh is though.

[Name removed]

130. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MikeMc]

132. By the way, I used to live in S.D.(San Diego), CA, and S. Cruz. Niece is in town

now from UC Berkeley. I'm glad there's some action while she's here, or I'd feel embarrassed. Labor has to make a show.

[MikeMc]

133. RE post 130: Tell me what I say?

Verboten info to s 1:

Pgh, PA = Pittsburgh, PA

There are some moderators around here who tell Mad to shut up, and they are lame.

[MikeMc]

134. & I guess Russell Means' people are dancing at Wind Cave, SD (South Dakota) Nt.....

[MikeMc]

135. & Pgh (I mean Pittsburgh) anti-nazis rocked it, vs the repugs, on Friday 6/10 NT....

[MikeMc]

136. & I'll out argue pipi on Weiner anytime, (though no fan of 'grrls') Nt

[MikeMc]

116. Dropped to 6 in Gen. Discussion ... 6:24 EST (Jeopardy music playing in background) NT

[MikeMc]

126. I have some more crazy thoughts on the relative obscenity levels

of Weiner and Breitbart\Thomas. But I'll spare the thinking Democrats. No choir member wants to be preached to, really. They all just want to sing....

On edit: I wonder where the action REALLY is, on DU.

[MikeMc]

138. It sure isn't here

[MikeMc]

139. I wish Clarence Thomas would bow out of all health care cases

It would be the honorable move to make. But he IS a repug, tried and true....

[Hotler]

140. kicking! n/t

[MikeMc]

141. I wish Clarence Thomas would bow out of all health care cases, like

s1 and Rep. Weiner requested.

Sigh.

[Octafish]

143. Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours

Gee. Just when the Clarence Thomas conflict-of-BFEE-interests story was starting to get some legs, BAM!

It's like they got a little bird listening in on every porn star's private conversations and stuff and then reporting to Karl the NAZI Rove.