Kangaroo business.

"WASHINGTON -- Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) backtracked on Sunday from an earlier description of the select committee he is leading to investigate the 2012 attack in Benghazi as "a trial."


"No sir," Gowdy said, when "Fox News Sunday" asked if he sees himself as a prosecutor and the Obama administration as the defense. "For 16 years I spoke in trial metaphors, and perhaps I need to get out of that habit. What I simply meant is, when you ask me how long something is going to last, I need to know how cooperative the other side is going to be. So to the extent that I gave any indication to anyone that I view someone as the defense, what I meant by that is, if you can tell me how cooperative the other side is going to be, I can give you a better idea of how long something is going to last."


Riiight.




Trey Gowdy said exactly what he was thinking, but now he realizes that his true intentions were reveled he is backpedalling like a typical weasel politician.




Mr. Gowdy is a former prosecutor, and he certainly knows that the purpose of the select committee is to investigate and not prosecute, but sometimes it's hard to keep your true intentions in check.




The other political party is split on whether to participate in this investigation, with some saying they should put members on the committee and others saying that they should not.




I am in the latter camp. Why lend legitimacy to this charade and partisan witch- hunt which is about 11 years too late? Besides, we have had 13 hearings and over 25,000.00 documents submitted on this issue and the gun is still firing blanks. There is no smoke to be found anywhere. Democrats are calling it a "kangaroo court". I would submit to you that this is an insult to kangaroos.




Undaunted by the facts, though, the republicans will push on. This past Friday Mr. Tan Man appointed seven republicans to sit on the committee. The other political party is still holding out because all of their demands have not been met.




"Mr. Boehner sent a response to Ms. Pelosi on Friday afternoon saying that Mr. Gowdy would “endeavor” to consult with the minority when “practicable,” but the speaker would make no promises that Mr. Gowdy would not, for instance, issue unilateral subpoenas without consulting the Democrats on the committee or exclude Democratic staff members from witness interviews, according to both Democratic and Republican leadership aides.


That left Democrats unsatisfied. Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee, called Mr. Boehner’s response 'a slap in the face.' Ms. Pelosi, in another letter to Mr. Boehner on Friday afternoon, called the Republicans’ counteroffer 'fundamentally unfair.”'




Of course it is Ms. Pelosi; it's called politics.

American theocracy, and turning death into good politics.

Man these Supremes are getting scarier every day. I know that this latest 5-4 ruling upholding prayer at a government meeting is limited, but my goodness, have these people ever heard of the Establishment Clause?


In order to justify this clear violation of the Constitution, the justices relied on something called the "history of legislative prayers". They said that the town of Greece, New York can open their meetings with prayers as long as they don't "coerce" others to do the same, and as long as they don't "advance" a particular religion. Yeah, good luck with that.


"When the citizens of this country approach their government, they do so only as Americans, not as members of one faith or another," Kagan said. "And that means that even in a partly legislative body, they should not confront government-sponsored worship that divides them along religious lines."


Folks, this is why it is important to vote. Presidents select the Justices who sit on the Supreme Court. Right now the Supremes could use a makeover.


Moving on.


Another day another republican using a slave or Nazi reference to refer to a government program.


This gem comes from a GOP state senator from the great state of Tennessee.


"Democrats bragging about the number of mandatory sign ups for Obamacare is like Germans bragging about the number of manditory [sic] sign ups for “train rides” for Jews in the 40s." [Source]


Huh?


So signing up to get health care is like going off to get gassed in an oven.


Lord have mercy these people are nuts!


Finally, the GOP's politicizing the deaths of Americans in Libya continues.


They have now convened a select committee to look into the B word. Trey Gowdy will lead this particular political charade and side show. I guess it is better to have him than the car thief. He is a former death row prosecutor, I hope, for his sake, this will not lead to his own political execution.   


Still, I have to give it to Mr. Tan Man; this is good politics. Anything to energize the base. But he has to be careful. The base was already energized, and the republicans were already going to win big this coming mid-term. So why risk it by overplaying your hand and turning normal Americans against your cause?


"Americans learned this week that the Obama administration is so intent on obstructing the truth about Benghazi that it is even willing to defy subpoenas issued by the standing committees of the people's House," Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement. "These revelations compel the House to take every possible action to ensure the American people have the truth about the terrorist attack on our consulate that killed four of our countrymen."


"Obstructing the truth"? I think this investigation already gave us the truth.
But hey, never let a few dead bodies go to waste.


"For Boehner, a select committee raises the profile of one of the Republicans' main points of attack against Obama ahead of November's elections, which could swing the Senate to GOP control. Benghazi is a rallying cry for the conservative GOP base and will be critical for fundraising and getting voters to the polls in typically low-turnout midterm contests."


Just be careful what you wish for.


Pic from Specific-Gravity.BlogSpot.com

The sequel.

I am not a big fan of movie sequels, give me the original every time. With a few exceptions, (the Bourne franchise comes to mind) the sequel never quite lives up to the original. Big Momma’s House 2? Beverly Hills Cop 11?The Hangover Part 11? Please!

So anyway, now we have “Fast and Furious” playing out in Washington, and if you haven’t been paying attention, you might not realize that this too is a sequel. Yes, let’s call this one 2 Fast 2 furious.

The original came under our friend W, and, as is the case with most originals, I am guessing that it was better than the sequel as well.

"One after the other, Republicans on the panel waved the bloody shirt. “Here’s the proof!” hollered Rep. Trey Gowdy (S.C.), claiming he had evidence that President Obama knew about a botched federal program that contributed to Terry’s death. Gowdy’s proof: that Obama cited executive privilege in denying the committee all the documents it sought. “If he’s not part of it, then he’s got no business asserting executive privilege,” Gowdy concluded.

Terry’s death is indeed a scandal, part of the “Fast and Furious” operation in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lost track of 2,000 guns it was planning to trace on their way to Mexican drug cartels; two of those firearms were found near Terry’s body. After that, the Justice Department shut down the program (which followed similar “gun-walking” operations during the George W. Bush administration), fired or reassigned several people who ran the program out of ATF’s Phoenix office, requested an inspector-general investigation and handed over about 7,600 pages of records to Issa’s committee." [Source]

Wait, what was that Mr.Milbank? We have actually seen this movie before? Yes, I thought it looked familiar.

I wonder why this one is such a hit with republicans and the original was such a dud? Hmmmm, I am guessing that they didn't like the first director.

"Republicans didn’t have much on Holder — it’s one of those perennial disputes about how much the executive branch needs to divulge to the legislature — so they did what sensible people usually do when they have an honest disagreement: They accused the attorney general of being an accessory to murder."

Or, maybe they just like a more dramatic script.