POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

Hannity Jumps On the “Obama Falling Apart” Bandwagon

You know, it might be true, but I'd much rather that people gave me something specific I could go on. I think that's what sets the AJ Strata analysis of the Ulsterman insider interviews apart from the general run.

At one point in one of the more recent interviews, Ulsterman admits that his source was right about a couple of the White House defections he anticipated, and asked him whether he could pony up another name of someone likely to leave soon. Mysterious Insider named Gibbs. That's ponying up.

All that Hannity says is, I know these Democrats who are freaking, they're reliable sources, this is the general picture of what they're saying. It's all stuff that we've heard before. If Hannity's going to pile on, and if his sources are as good as he thinks they are, maybe he could ante up. Because otherwise it's just "me, too."

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Don’t F#@& With My Captain and Coke!

I get that they're probably hitting pre-packaged alcoholic energy drinks, but how much longer before they tell bars they can't sell me a Captain and Coke?

Adam Wells

Living life at 84 mph and 7000 feet. All I ask is that you don't block traffic, act like a professional, and don't act all surprised when your actions have consequences. Oh, and don't complain about the refs; trust me, they don't care if your team wins or not.

TSA To Undertake Punitive Investigation of Dissenter

In case you haven't followed the story, John Tyner was set to depart San Diego's Lindbergh Field to fly to South Dakota to do some hunting with his father-in-law. Prior to leaving, he went to the TSA's website to find out whether there were body scanners in use. There was no notice of body scanners at the site.

While in line for his security check, he noticed that there was indeed a body scanner in operation. He notified TSA that he wanted to opt out of the scanner, and further, that if they touched his junk he was going to press sexual assault charges. The agent on duty called a supervisor, and after taking information on a form, specifically told Tyner that he was free to leave. Tyner was escorted to the American Airlines counter, where he was able to get his ticket refunded, but when he was about to leave the airport, he was detained again, apparently by the top TSA supervisor to the airport.

He was then told that despite what he had been told by the TSA screener and supervisor, once you have gotten to the screening point, you no longer have the right to refuse to co-operate. They again asked him for his name, which he'd already given them when they filled out the form. He was told that he could be subject to a civil fine of $10,000 if he left the airport without submitting to their body search, because for all they knew he might be carrying a bomb. The agents who had given him bad advice weren't going to be subject to any kind of punishment. The supervisor said that all the information was available at the TSA website. Tyner noted that there was nothing about a backscatter scanner at Lindbergh on the web. The supervisor said he wasn't a web guy.

Now, apparently, they're going to make good on their threat, despite their own culpability in the situation. As far as I know, there aren't any signs stating that once you cross this point, you are legally obligated to suffer any kind of search the TSA sees fit. It's simply amazing that the TSA believes that citizens are to be held to a higher standard of knowledge of procedures and the law than their own employees, but that's really par for the course.

Despite remarks of TSA agents that the junk-touching patdown procedures are meant to serve as a deterrent to those who would refuse to go through the scanners, the TSA spokesperson in this case specifically denies that that is so. Moreover, the TSA is looking to unionize its cadre of professional gropers, ensuring that their unimpeachable standards will remain unimpeached forever.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Another DoJ Scandal, plus Charlie Rangel

The leaked report accusing Chris Christie of having exceeded his expense limits in 23 trips in the period 2007 to 2009 by a total of about $2000 turns out to have been written by an ethically challenged DoJ employee with a history of rabid partisanship. The question is why Maura Lee is still employed in the Department.

Among the transgressions Lee stands accused of are breaking into a conservative Christian's Department email account, messaging other liberal members of the Department urging them to leak information to the Washington Post, sharing illegally acquired personal information about other employees with co-workers, and urging others in the Civil Rights Division, where she worked before being reassigned, not to pursue cases so that Bush wouldn't have any prosecutions in that area to his credit. That's pretty amazing. This woman should have been out on her ear for the email thing, alone.

The DC's piece notes that, strangely enough, a report on DoJ employees exceeding their own travel expense budgets by tens of thousands of dollars hasn't been leaked.

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FAIL:

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While we're on the subject of ethics, Charlie Rangel delivered some bluster at his long-delayed ethics hearing yesterday, claimed he hadn't had time to work up a defense, said that he wasn't able to afford the legal fees, and refused to attend the hearing. With or without Charlie, the hearings have already descended into farce:

With Mr. Rangel absent, R. Blake Chisam, the panel's chief counsel, laid out the particulars of the indictment. Several times, he replayed video clips of Mr. Rangel acknowledging missteps or reporting failures in past speeches. Mr. Chisam said Mr. Rangel has not challenged any of the evidence in the record, and the panel had enough evidence before them to vote immediately.

"The facts here are the facts. The omissions are the omissions. The inaccuracies are the inaccuracies," he said. "The case is ripe for decision."

But under questioning from Rep. G.K. Butterfield, North Carolina Democrat, Mr. Chisam said the record did not directly prove that Mr. Rangel tried to profit personally from the purported infractions.

"I see no evidence of corruption. It's hard to answer the question of personal financial benefit ...," Mr. Chisam said. " I believe that the congressman, quite frankly, was overzealous in many of the things that he did, and at least sloppy in his personal finances."

So, it looks like the line is going to be that although Rangel violated a variety of House rules to his benefit, none of those violations amounts to a "personal financial benefit," so he can't be convicted of corruption. The range of punishments available to the eight-member panel runs from reprimand, which is what Joe Wilson got for his (true) "You lie!" outburst, to expulsion.

The panel opted to discuss the 13 charges against Rangel behind closed doors.

For some reason, Tom DeLay has decided to comment on the situation, saying that he thinks that the Congressman is being treated unfairly:

"In the case of Rangel, I think it's unfair it's taken two years to come to this and right before an election," he told reporters on a conference call.

That's some pretty contorted logic, there, Tom, considering that his constituents really don't care.

The last such ethics trial was in 2002, involving James Traficant.

Treacher: "I declare Charlie Rangel not guilty by reason of hilarity."

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Ireland Refuses Taking the Soup

How much silver are they offering for our memory?

Many an American Catholic of Irish extract is well-familiar with the expression "taking the soup". It was, after all, the very policies of the interloping Anglos which caused the famines which plagued Ireland, resulting in the starvation of millions of Papist sub-human gorillas. No doubt there were some citizens of the British Empire who were touched by the suffering of the human women and children starving on the Emerald Isle. And I do not wish to denigrate those of them that had nothing but love in the hearts as they scrambled to do what they could to save the wretched Irish. Yet, many are the cases where food - soup - was offered to the lowly sub-humans with conditions attached. Conditions of the gravest order - here... eat... sustain another day on our bread... but before you do, forsake Eternal Bread... forsake the Catholic Church, that most superstitious institution... and then you may have your daily ration of rotten bone broth.

It was under these conditions that Irish were forced to choose to a man: those who accepted were aptly termed Soup-Takers. Bought and paid for. Slaves of the Empire.

Now, the EU has created another crisis in Ireland. And again there are those who offer the Irish soup.

I, for one, hope the Irish (Green) refuse the Soup. Because the price to make it through the day is far too high. Will the Irish resist being enslaved by foreign interlopers as the litany of her "willful" heroes would suggest? This bastard great-grandson of Ireland prays she will. Better to be martyred than beholden.

"I would not want to lecture the Irish government on that," he said. "I want to believe they will decide to do what is most appropriate for Ireland and the euro. I want to believe they have the vision to take the right decision [Soup]."

- Fernando Finn O'Teixeira dos McSantos, Portuguese Finance Minister

God Bless the Irish. God Bless Ireland. God Bless those impossible, bull-headed true bloods. F*ck the EU and their soup.

Enoch_Root

AKA. Bobby Donn Brubaker (the most popular man in Mesa, AZ), the Umbrella of Terror, Jack Ketch.

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To Tookie and all the other people who crunched the numbers about Tom

Look, I'm sorry for the shit you've gotten for your honest appraisal, and my frustration's not really with you. I do want to say, though, that I am very frustrated with the general attitude.

Let's say, for example, that because the GOP national doesn't want to invest in Tom Bennett because of his voting record, or because they don't believe that he's a strong candidate, or whatever, they bail on him. What do we do? Well, given Obama's rejection and subsequent "present" vote on Born Alive legislation, and Rahm's brother's involvement with 'death panel' legislation, you go to the Christians, the anti-abortionists, the elderly who aren't deeply in the pockets of the AARP, and the administrators of the Catholic hospitals, and you say, "Hey, this is wrong."

You go to the police and the fire departments, and you say, "Realistically, you are never going to see these pensions, unless they undergo radical restructuring."

I'm sorry that I've been so brusque with the messengers, but this is not the time to say, "We can't." If Tom loses, he loses. At least we tried.

But why would we have to try to use paid people to get the signatures? Let's say that the pro-life, elder, and other people publicized the signature campaign. The usual model is to send those people out collecting signatures. Instead, you post 20 people around the city for a certain period to collect the signatures of people directed to those locations by their congregations or other affiliations.

I don't care whether it can't be done. Just do it.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Frustration Regarding Tom’s Candidacy

Reality checking.:

I was informed Dan reached out to the Quincy Tea Party about this run . I also did the numbers crunching for that donor . The hill to climb is 12,500 signatures which in any dealings I have with Chicago Board of Elections , one needs to pad that initial number with at minimum double the legal amount .

This was going to be a costly project with a small window and a limited % of success . I ran the numbers and the variables and gave the findings to the donor .

Personally Tom is an outstanding guy , problem is a last min run at Mayor of Chicago is not easy. This will take 50 - 100 paid staff in the field collecting signatures with a War room team making sure on spread sheets these are registered voters .

Just getting on the ballot is a large hill , what are the plans post that ?

Well frankly there were not many .

These are factors that were compiled for the donor . This was not personal vs Tom , nor did Flynn have much to do with it . This was a cost feasibility study . Anyone in business runs one of these for any major capital expenditure .

This was really a time + $ decision , and not a personal one at Tom

Now today I find myself TRASHED in email chains and every where else . This was a basic #'s crunch .

Dear Sirs,

I don't give a rat's ass what you do or don't do. That's entirely up to you. I will say, though, that it seems to me that you ought to pursue the mayorship of Chicago.

I'm really sorry that it's caused you to be trashed in email chains; that must be horrible. I am sorry that you've had to pay so much simply in order to express your position.

F*ck off,
Dan Collins

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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