Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

Shades Of “Mr Smith Goes To Washington”: Rep. Trey Gowdy Dresses Down IRS For Reckless Conference Spending

From Weasel Zippers who says

This is from a few days ago, but really deserves not to be missed. What we need are clones of Trey Gowdy, who exudes “Mr Smith Goes To Washington” when, perhaps, we are most in need of it.

He notes it is not a question of “training”, but a question of character.

I totally agree.  Heartfelt.  Honest.   Real.   Gowdy (R-SC) should be interviewed on news shows to remind us how tawdry the "slick ones" are by comparison.

 

PEGGY NOONAN - "THIS IS NO ORDINARY SCANDAL"

Echoing my own sensibilities concerning the scandals rocking the Obama Administration, Noonan published today a MUST-READ column.  She subtitles her article, "Political abuse of the IRS threatens the basic integrity of our government."  Right!

How serious is it that the mess be cleaned up?  Noonan correctly says:

Everyone involved in this abuse of power should pay a price, because if they don't, the politicization of the IRS will continue—forever.  If it is not stopped now, it will never stop. And if it isn't stopped, no one will ever respect or have even minimal faith in the revenue-gathering arm of the U.S. government again.  . . .  This is not about the usual partisan slugfest. This is about the integrity of our system of government and our ability to trust, which is to say our ability to function. [my emphases]

It's that serious.   Read the whole piece here.

LET THE LIGHT SHINE ON THE LAWLESS, ABUSIVE, INTIMIDATING OBAMA ADMINISTRATION

My thoughts:  

Anybody paying attention to the practices (scandals) and behavior (cover-ups) of the Obama administration should be outraged to apoplectic proportions.  The Obama Administration with its disregard for law, its intrusiveness, and its intimidating tactics, has subjected citizens of the United States to the brink of dictatorial tyranny.  Can liberty-loving people survive this Administration?  Only, I think, if Congress rises up and successfully asserts its authority over an out-of-control, power-mad, lawless Presidency and bureaucracy.  The dormant, sleepy, "see-no-evil" press needs to move beyond a brief moment of indignation and adopt a sustained will to uncover truth (yes, there is such a thing as "truth" despite postmodern philosophical idiocies) and keep the searchlight shining brightly until people are either thrown out of office or thrown into jail (or both, as the case might be).  The future of the Republic depends on just such a massive rooting out of the rottenness that pervades this administration and continues to threaten our liberty.

- G.K. Chesterton - “Sound historians know that most tyrannies have been possible because men moved too late.  It is often essential to resist a tyranny before it exists.”

- In addition (update), can we please stop the Obama administration's aggressive, growing hostility towards Christians in the military? 

JAMES O'KEEFE STRIKES AGAIN: PROVES VOTER FRAUD OCCURS WITHOUT VOTER ID

Here's the story: (HT: Drudge)

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has declared that there is no proof that in-person voter fraud is a problem. He's about to see proof that even he can't deny.

In a new video (below) provided to Breitbart.com, James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas demonstrates why Holder should stop attacking voter ID laws--by walking into Holder’s voting precinct and showing the world that anyone can obtain Eric Holder’s primary ballot. Literally. [more...]

 

Response from Eric Holder's Department of Justice? "Evidence of Voter Fraud 'Manufactured'  

Me:  It wasn't so much "manufactured" as "revealed" and thereby made perfectly obvious for everyone to see.  The Department of Justice has no interest in justice, nor has it a concern that voter fraud be eliminated.  It sees itself as a tool of the Democrat party with the responsibility to insure Democrat candidates win.  What does this mean?  It means corruption at the highest levels of government, and the breeding of cynicism.

John Fund comments on the O'Keefe expose: "Why We Need Voter-ID Now"

There is something surreal about the voter-ID issue. As James O’Keefe demonstrates, it is comically easy to commit voter fraud in person, and, unless someone confesses, it’s very difficult to ever detect. . . 

Other than hypotheticals, there are very few cases of legitimate voters who were unable to have their vote counted because they lacked ID. People who show up without photo ID at the polls are allowed to cast a provisional ballot that is counted after proof of identity is offered.

“From voter fraud to election chicanery of all kinds, America teeters on the edge of scandal every November,” says Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia and author of a comprehensive survey of voter fraud called “Dirty Little Secrets.” The fact that so many people want to thwart legitimate and prudent efforts to improve ballot integrity has become a scandal in its own right. Attorney General Holder is unlikely to agree with that, but after what happened at his polling place last Tuesday, he should at least understand that voter fraud itself is a scandal worth investigating.

SENATORS DEFEND THE OBAMA CONTRACEPTIVE MANDATE WITH OUTRAGEOUS LIES

I hope you viewed yesterday's post which discusses Obama's mandate that forces religious institutions to provide free birth control, abortion drugs, and sterilizations.  Senate speeches today defending the Obama mandate hit a new low in outright, outrageous, unbelievable lies.   Senator Schumer, for one, makes used car dealers look angelic by comparison.  The Family Research Council's report is titled, "Senate Assumes Lie-Ability for Schumer."

It's a good thing there wasn't a polygraph test during yesterday's Senate debate. If liberals like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had been wired up, the machine would have short-circuited on the chamber floor. While Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) tried to bring back the status quo on conscience rights, the Left amped up its attack with one piece of fiction after another. "Mr. President, if this amendment passes," Sen. Schumer claimed, "it would ban contraception coverage for women in America." Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) took a medieval approach. "The Republicans want to take us... to the Dark Ages again... when women were property that you could easily control." Even Planned Parenthood weighed in with its own whopper. Under this amendment, "your boss" will decide "which prescriptions you can get filled."

One by one, the far Left littered the Senate floor with lies about Blunt's amendment. Thursday's distortions were so epic that the Washington Post spent three pages exposing the untruths. "Schumer's over-the-top rhetoric," editors said, "ooze hyperbole and alarmist language." The newspaper gave him three Pinocchios for "significant factual error." The Post repeated twice, "The Blunt amendment said nothing about prohibiting birth control, so women could purchase it in the future on their own or with the help of supplemental insurance, as they often do to this day." Contraception has never been "free" before. Does that mean women went without it? Of course not. The Post had equally harsh words for the Senator from New Jersey. "Lautenberg's comments are particularly exaggerative..." If letting religious groups opt out of health benefits for moral reasons takes America back to the "Dark Ages," Josh Hicks says, "then this particular anti-women attitude persisted right up until today, since the rule in question hasn't taken effect."

THE MORAL DEGRADATION OF THE AMERICAN LEFT

John Walsh describes Anthony Weiner as "The Face of the Modern Left":

In his combination of unctuousness, mendacity, mock-reasonableness, petulance, bullying, hypocrisy, overweening arrogance, brazen aggression, self-pity, victimhood, and bogus moral preening, it’s hard to beat Congressman Anthony Weiner. He’s the perfect face of the modern American Left in all its glorious pathology; why anyone takes these people seriously is utterly beyond me. . .  (my emphases)

Here he is with ABC’s Jonathan Karl, doing what lefties do best: lie, equivocate, lecture, browbeat, and implicitly threaten, even when they’re caught red-handed: 

 Me:  The chutzpah exhibited on the video (with text) linked above takes one's breath away.  Go see it!

Walsh again:

As I said back on Election Night 2008:  ”This is an unlovely party filled with unlovely people, as America’s about to find out once the Obama pixie dust wears off.”

Me:  Extraordinary and repulsive is the fact that Democrats, caught in shameful situations, don't resign!  Jim Loft over at Gateway Pundit [a daily must read] expects Weiner to follow the standard Democrat precedent.   Loft writes:

Weiner may have bared all, but he will likely survive the disgusting scandal. After all, he’s a democrat.
And, Democrats don’t resign– Ever.

Whether they’re impeached in office for perjury or caught sleeping with drunk underage pages…
Democrats don’t resign.

KKK-Murder-Slandering Troops-Prostitution rings- In scandal after scandal…
Democrats don’t resign.

Did you hear about the guy busted with $90,000 in his freezer?… Yeah, he stayed in office.
Democrats don’t resign.

Drunken manslaughter?

Senator Kennedy’s car is dragged by a wrecker out of Poucha Pond. (Ytedk)

** Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) answered an ad placed in a Washington, D.C. homosexual paper, the Washington Blade, by Stephen Gobie, a male prostitute. Gobie became Barney Frank’s live-in sexual companion, and was soon running a male prostitution ring from Barney Frank’s condo. Last year Frank was chairing the Financial Services Committee.

** Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA) has sex with underage male House page. Studds turns his back on the House when he is censured. He continued to serve in House for six more terms.

** Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plagued by scandals: Abramoff Scandal, Sons who are lobbyists, boxing tickets and other perks, land deal that made him $1 million, etc.- Serves as democratic Senate Majority Leader.

** Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-IL) was indicted for sexual assault and criminal sexual abuse for engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old campaign volunteer that began during the 1992 campaign. Despite the charges, he continued his campaign and was re-elected that November. Reynolds initially denied the charges, which he claimed were racially motivated. He was convicted on 12 counts of sexual assault, obstruction of justice and solicitation of child pornography.

** Hillary Clinton (D-NY) Her husband is impeached and involved in a record number of scandals and convictions during his term in office. She herself takes money from FBI fugitive. Today she is Secretary of State.

** Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) kills girl . Leaves her in pond to drown. Until his death he was the second longest serving member (next to the former kleagle) in the Senate.

** Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) former Ku Klux Klan Kleagle (recruiter). Democrat Byrd was the longest serving member in the US Senate.

** Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt)- in a 1985 television appearance Leahy disclosed classified information that one of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s telephone conversations had been intercepted. The information that Leahy revealed had been used in the operation to capture the Arab terrorists who had hijacked the Achille Lauro cruise ship and killed American citizens, and the Union-Tribune claimed that Leahy’s indiscretion may have cost the life of at least one of the Egyptian operatives involved in that operation. Because of his several leaks he was forced to step down from his seat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. Today he is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

** Democratic Iowan Senator Tom Harkin (and John Kerry D-MA) traveled to Managua, Nicaragua to assure Fidel Castro’s proxy Daniel Ortega that Senate Democrats were working overtime to thwart President Reagan’s efforts to bring Democracy to the region. Today he is head of Senate agriculture committee.

Are we starting to see the pattern???
Democrats don’t resign.

THE LATEST "SOCIAL CONSERVATIVE REVIEW: THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO PRO-FAMILY NEWS" - NOVEMBER 19, 2010

  These compilations of articles from a variety of sources by the Family Research Council continue to offer interested people a gold mine.  A new edition appears every two weeks.  Readers will find in each a wealth of information not readily found elsewhere. For previous reviews I've posted, click here.

 Here is a brief sampling from the current edition:

• "The Best Sex of Your Life," Peter Sprigg, Family Research Council

• "Nordic Neighbors Differ on Key Human Rights Issue," Home School Legal Defense Association

In northern Europe, two nordic countries strongly differ in their response to homeschooling. Finland provides a warm reception to parents who chose to educate their children at home, while neighboring Sweden continues down an increasingly dangerous path of ostracizing and persecuting families who seek to exercise their right to homeschool.

• "Saturday People, Sunday People," Lela Gilbert, The Weekly Standard

The “Saturday People” are, of course, Jews, today nearly gone from Muslim lands. Now the Sunday people”—Christians— are in the crosshairs, and they, too, are fleeing at an alarming rate. Both religions are unwelcome in many Muslim-majority lands for reasons of Islamist ideology—the declaration of jihad, or holy war, against infidels.

• "U.S. Scientists Commit Most Research Fraud: Study," Jenifer Goodwin, HealthDay

A new study finds that nearly 800 research papers were retracted by medical journals for serious errors or faked data over the past decade, many of them authored by U.S. researchers.

Click the "Continue reading..." line below for the complete list of articles.

SITTING IN AN AUTO REPAIR SHOP WATCHING THE TV SHOW "THE VIEW"

I was pleased to clip an auto dealer's 1/2 price coupon for an oil change.  I knew the dealership would try to sell me "needed repairs," but that was okay.  The oil change price was great, and I wasn't under any further obligation.  As I sat with several others in the waiting room we were assaulted by -- you guessed it -- a television set (how does one escape?) turned on first to "Dr. Oz," and then to "The View."  I had a book with me, and actually managed to read a few pages, but at the same time overheard some of the "stuff" taking place on TV.   The potty-mouthed "View" stunned me.  Questions rose in my mind:  "Do people watch this stuff?  Doesn't the pollution disgust them?"  The subject matter and language reminded me of a Bible verse:  "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth."  (Ephesians 4:29)  I had never thought much about that verse until today.  Now I think I understand a little better what the Apostle Paul was getting at.

The full verse reads: "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."  (ESV)  What a beautiful verse!

BILL CLINTON DENOUNCES "VAST LEFT-WING COVER-UP"

Well, not exactly.  In order to help out President Obama and the Left because of the exposure of ACORN's
unbelievable corruption, Clinton resurrected the tired and empty accusation of a "vast right-wing conspiracy."  So once again we have a "shoot the messenger" strategy employed by Clinton, Podesta, and the Left.  Will it work?   The media so far has shown little interest in investigating ACORN, but a lot of interest in investigating the intrepid reporters, Giles and O'Keefe.  Andrew Breitbart analyzes the predictable "protective" behavior of the devoted left-wing media (once known as "mainstream"), and doubts it will work a second time.  ACORN has been exposed as corrupt, and it would seem a little hard to deflect attention from that fact long term.  We'll see.

MICHELLE MALKIN'S NEW BOOK - "CULTURE OF CORRUPTION"

- Update 7/29/09:  Click here for Matt Lauer's Today Show interview with Michelle.  In it Michelle pointedly refers to Michelle Obama's history of cronyism, much to the dismay of Lauer!  Also see her latest column, "Bully boys: A brief history of White House thuggery."

(Original Post) - Before I get to Malkin's book, are you aware of yet another expose of Obama's hypocrisy?  In a 2004 interview Obama accused the Bush administration of ramming through bills without sufficient time for reading and deliberation. Obama would never do that!!!  Click here.

- The full title of Michelle Malkin's book is Culture of Coruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies. Sean Hannity's video interview with Michelle can be found here.    (Update:  Now #1 at Amazon.)   From the blurb:

* Why the Obama White House has more power-hungry, unaccountable "czars" than any other administration
* How Team Obama's first one hundred days of appointments became a litany of embarrassments as would-be appointee after would-be appointee was exposed as a tax cheat or had to withdraw for other reasons
* How Obama's old ACORN and union cronies have squandered millions of taxpayer dollars and dues money to enrich themselves and expand their power
* How Obama's Wall Street money men and corporate lobbyists are ruining the economy and helping their friends.  In Culture of Corruption, Michelle Malkin lays bare the Obama administration's seamy underside that the liberal media would rather keep hidden.

Michelle writes powerfully and skillfully.  Excerpt here.

Note also Michelle's post: "Unscrupulous borrowers: Democrats Dodd & Conrad knew about VIP treatment."

Global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)

Transparency International is in the business of ranking global corruption.  "The CPI ranks 180 countries by their perceived levels of corruption, as determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys."

I find this very interesting indeed.   Denmark ranks at the top, Somalia at the bottom, with the US tied with Belgium and Japan at #18.  Here's the CTI table of nations  and their rankings.  I haven't studied the methodology and so have no opinion.