If you have nothing to hide, what’s with the pants? Oregon’s senior senator Ron Wyden has spent years trying to make Americans aware of the secret surveillance law being written by a secret court made up of judges all appointed by one man — Chief Justice John Roberts. Wyden along his colleague Mark Udall attempted to get Congress to make […]

Sunlight extinguished

A couple of weeks ago on Tax Day, April 15th, Congress passed a bill that gutted the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, a law passed just last year to stop insider trading by government employees and elected officials. Later that day, President Obama signed it into law. The justification for the removal of disclosure provisions in the STOCK Act is that putting the financial information of congressional aides and executive branch staffers would endanger national security.

Details after the jump.

Garment-rending about a Cat Food Commission just ran headlong into the Obama Reality

Despite the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the lefty concern trolls who are convinced that President Obama is going to feed your grandma a steady diet of cat food once she retires, the Obama administration today unequivocally ruled out raising the eligibility age for receiving Medicare.

I realize that this won’t quell the yammering from the left about how this President, a man with absolutely no history whatsoever of doing things to harm our country’s most vulnerable populations, is going to sell seniors down the river to cut the deficit. But I thought it would be worth, you know, getting the actual facts out there.

Details after the jump.

Big Oil subsidies are, simply put, indefensible

Conservatives who are dead set against making any investments in new technologies that can help propel our country and its economy forward are famous for using the argument that this is “picking winners and losers”. The irony is that, in order to even be considered for federal government subsidies, new technologies — like renewable energy projects, for example — must have already proven themselves as winners that are simply in need of a kickstart to make them affordable and profitable.

With negotiations over the upcoming sequester — automatic, across the board budget cuts — ready to dominate the headlines, both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Obama administration are suggesting that it’s time to end one the most glaring examples “picking winners” that we have in this country today: $4 billion in subsidies to Big Oil companies.

More after the jump.

This right here? THIS IS THE COOLEST THING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAS EVER DONE YESIMSHOUTING

On November 14th, a petition was submitted to the White House on their We the People website that said this:

“Those who sign here petition the United States government to secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016.

By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.”

The White House policy is to respond to petitions that 25,000 signatures within 30 days. This one has over 34,000 signatures so the White House responded. Their response can be read HERE but, it’s so epic and awesome, I’m reproducing it here on the blog (after the jump.)

John Boehner: between a tea bag and a hard place

John Boehner has been negotiating all week with President Obama and his staff to resolve the “fiscal speedbump” issue. President Obama took a step toward Speaker Boehner in the negotiations by allowing the Bush tax cuts to remain in place for incomes over $400,000/year (up from $250,000), making some cuts to entitlements to be named later and agreeing to a different way to calculate Social Security cost of living increases that would lower how much our seniors get in their monthly allocation by a smidgen — the so-called “chained CPI”.

In return, Boehner offered to extend the debt ceiling for two years and allow the Bush tax cuts to expire for income over $400,000.

This was, however, a bridge to far for his tea party leadership team, according to Ezra Klein at the Washington Post. So, he offered what he’s calling “Plan B” and the response from the White House was a resounding “screw you”.

Check it all out after the jump.

At least we know who they work for now — they’ve made that clear

House Republicans have released a counter-proposal to President Obama’s budget plan to avoid plunging us off the fiscal cliff speed bump. Unsurprisingly, it raises tax revenue but doesn’t allow the Bush tax cuts to expire. In fact, according to analysis by the Washington Post, it appears to lower taxes for the top tax bracket.

Details and more GOPocrisy and insanity after the jump.

Pay no attention to the lobbyist behind the curtain

As LOLGOP pointed out this morning, there are Republicans who handily won re-election in their gerrymandered districts who do not fear the fiscal cliff. They can serve their two-percenter masters without fear that plunging our country into another recession will hurt their political careers in any way. But President Obama has a couple of things going for him. The first is that most Americans WILL blame the Republicans for “going there” if we do, indeed, go off the mythical cliff. Then there’s the fact that he won the election largely because he promised the super-wealthy would no longer be allowed to avoid paying their fair share in taxes.

Democrats are beginning to show some real spine in this debate. Politico reports today that many of them are ready to use their success on November 6th to restore some sanity to our budget.

Details after the jump.

Letting ideology trump protecting our most vulnerable citizens

Michigan’s Tea Party Republicans are doing everything in their power to block the formation of a state-run health insurance exchange. These state exchanges are mandated by the Affordable Care Act and, if they are not formed, the federal government will do it for them, taking away the state’s ability to control their own destiny. As I wrote last summer, this self-defeating behavior is harmful to Michigan’s most vulnerable citizens.

Details after the jump.

We can’t wait…

President Obama is smart enough to know that we can dramatically lower our dependence on foreign fossil fuels through energy efficiency and conservation. Yesterday, he signed an Executive Order intended to further that process by accelerating investments in industrial energy efficiency.

“Today, we are taking another step to strengthen American manufacturing by boosting energy efficiency for businesses across the nation,” said President Obama. “This action will cut costs, increase efficiency, and help our businesses create strong, middle class jobs. We’ll continue to do everything we can to put more people back to work and build an economy that lasts.”

Click through for details.

Mitt Romney is a liar.

Mitt Romney is a blatant liar and he is running for president of the United States.

Let’s look at that again: Mitt Romney is a blatant liar and he is running for president of the United States.

What was once just “flip-flopping” has now become full on, in public, repeated without shame or any concern that anyone will care, lying about President Obama. I’m not talking about the standard fair bending of the truth that we have come to expect from nearly ANY political campaign. I’m talking about make-shit-up, completely fabricated and provably so LYING.

His recent egregiously blatant examples and more after the jump.