False Claims By GOP Propagandists Michele Bachmann, Lucianne Goldberg And Others in the U.S. Incite Anti-American Violence in Egypt

"It's just politics, a day at the office, for Republican propagandists like Michele Bachmann and Lucianne Goldberg, but the ridiculous lies they are spinning — especially their tale that Pres. Obama is a secret Muslim who directed the U.S. government to rig the election in Egypt — are having serious consequences on the ground:

The efforts of far-right loons to convince people that President Obama is a secret Muslim is finally working. But who would have guessed that secular Egyptians, scared of actual Muslim operatives, would be the easiest to convince?

Over the weekend, activists activists who threw tomatoes at Hillary Clinton's motorcade in Alexandria while taunting "Monica! Monica!" made headlines around the world. But it turns out that the tomato-tossers and 1990s political history enthusiasts have also been following the right-wing attempts to paint President Obama as a "secret Muslim." In the U.S. the conspiracy theory hasn't spread much further than the web, talk radio, and the occasional protest sign, but it has adherents in Egypt who think Obama is spurring on the rise of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, despite his past support of dictator Hosni Mubarak."

rest at http://www.pensitoreview.com/2012/07/18/false-claims-republicans-michele-bachmann-lucianne-goldberg-in-the-u-s-incite-anti-american-violence-in-egypt/

@foxnews Cavuto: U.S. should drill more in response to historic heat wave

"Fox Business host Neil Cavuto on Tuesday used the nation's historic heat wave as excuse to call for more drilling for carbon-based fuels like oil and natural gas.

"There's nothing like a heat wave to burn my energy butt," the Fox Business host ranted during his Tuesday show. "This country is roasting. It's screaming for energy, and we're still blocking so much energy. We got no drilling, right? Just spending more green on green that invariably comes up red."

"To be all in on energy, you have to consider all forms of energy, and I'm with the [Obama] administration on that," he continued. "What fries me is I don't think the administration really is in on that. [They're] talking a very good game about expanding fossil fuels but stopping them at every pipeline pass and favoring untested fuels."

rest at http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/18/cavuto-u-s-should-drill-more-in-response-to-historic-heat-wave/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Consumer Agency Orders Capital One Credit Card Company To Refund $140 Million To Customers Due To Deceptive Practices

from  http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/18/539391/consumer-agency-capital-one-fine/ 

The first public enforcement action handed down by the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will result in $140 million in consumer refunds from credit card company Capital One, the agency announced in a release Tuesday. Capital One will pay $140 million in refunds to two million customers and an additional $25 million fine to the CFPB, the release said. During its investigation, the agency found that Capital One used deceptive marketing tactics, misleading customers about costs and benefits of products and also about eligibility for those products. "We are putting companies on notice that these deceptive practices are against the law and will not be tolerated," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in the release.

TSA continues to harass passengers with medical conditions

 the TSA, despite its claims in public and on its website, routinely harasses passengers who have medical conditions and/or who are carrying prescription medicines.

In yet another story, a woman was traveling with her husband and children this week and had called ahead to both the airlines and the TSA to double-check the regulations governing travel with liquid medication, syringes, and the cooler in which they must be stored. She was told no problem.

But when she got to the checkpoint, surprise, surprise, there was a problem. As she had been instructed by the TSA over the phone before she left, she told the screeners at the checkpoint what she was carrying and requested that the medication not go through the x-ray machine. They told her to send it through.

rest at http://tsanewsblog.com/3826/news/tsa-continues-to-harass-passengers-with-medical-conditions/

.@RepJoeWalsh Rep. Joe Walsh: All Tammy Duckworth Does Is Talk About Her Service#p2 #tcot

Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) backed off his claim that his opponent, Tammy Duckworth, a double amputee who lost both her legs in Iraq when insurgents hit her helicopter with an RPG, is not a "true hero," in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer yesterday. Walsh continued his attacks on Duckworth, complaining that "all she does is talk about her service." Veterans "don't throw [their service] in your face," said Walsh. Watch the interview:

rest at http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/07/05/511193/rep-joe-walsh-all-tammy-duckworth-does-is-talk-about-her-service/

.@gop House Republicans Reject Food Stamp Compromise In Favor Of Reform They Admit Is ‘Out Of Date’

House Republicans have spent the years since the Great Recession clamoring for "reform" of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps, cutting funding from the program in budget after budget. But now that a top House Republican has drafted a deal that would make the program's basic requirements even more stringent than Texas — a state with notoriously strict eligibility standards — conservative Republicans are balking at the deal in favor of a requirement even they admit is "out of date."

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK), in an effort to push food stamp reform that would have a fighting chance in the Senate, made sizable changes to SNAP in the House version of the farm bill. Lucas' draft reins in state eligibility requirements by ending what is known as "categorical eligibility" for all non-cash-assistance food programs. The Lucas version of the bill would save billions but kick nearly two million people out of the program, following the footsteps of Republican efforts over the last two years. But that isn't enough for his fellow Republicans, who want to make deeper, "symbolic" cuts that have no chance of passing the Senate, Politico reports:

Yet for all this, according to persons familiar with the negotiations, Lucas ran into a buzz saw at recent member meetings with committee Republicans. His compromise was rejected in favor of the symbolism of ending categorical eligibility outright — without risking any adjustments.

The upshot is that the committee's draft bill will go back to the prior House position of ending cat-el in all cases but cash assistance. This will save $11.5 billion but could drive at least 1.8 million people off the rolls and has twice been rejected by the Senate. [...]

The biggest impact of ending categorical eligibility is the reinstatement of the $2,000 asset test requiring families to spend down their savings before qualifying for help.

rest at 

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/05/511172/house-republicans-food-stamp-deal/

Romney's "Rich Man" Problem Just Got Worse #p2 #tcot

For the Fourth of July, the Obama campaign released a new Web video, highlighting a recent Vanity Fair look at Mitt Romney's tax shelters and offshore accounts. It's brutal:

The key line: "I've never heard of a president having an overseas bank account." This is a Web video, so it has limited circulation, but these interviews—and others, I'm sure—will certainly make it into swing-state and other general-election advertising. Moreover, they will play well with the Obama campaign's attempt to hinder Mitt Romney by defining him as an out-of-touch plutocrat.

rest at http://prospect.org/article/romneys-rich-man-problem-just-got-worse

Look, up in the Sky! It's a Tax! It's a Penalty! It's a Stupid Argument over Semantics! #p2 #tcot

Since not much campaign news happens over the July Fourth holiday, Mitt Romney took the opportunity tochange his campaign's tune on whether the penalty in the Affordable Care Act for those who can afford health insurance but refuse to get it is a "tax."

To review, the Supreme Court said that the government has the authority under its taxing power to penalize those who refuse to get insurance, leading Republicans to cry, "Tax! Tax! Tax!" with all of their usual policy nuance and rhetorical subtlety. The only problem this poses for Romney is that calling it a tax means that Romney imposed a tax with his health-care plan in Massachusetts, which means admitting that Romney sinned against the tax gods. First his spokesman came out and said that no, it's really just a penalty, but then Romney came out and said, well, if the Supreme Court said it's a tax, then it's a tax, but it wasn't a tax when I did it, because the Supreme Court didn't call it that.

What does all this arguing over semantics tell us? It tells us that the press and public are both complicit in creating the hurricane of stupidity into which all presidential campaigns devolve.

As for the press, they could treat this as the inconsequential semantic quibble it is. The fact is it doesn't matter whether you call it a "tax," a "penalty," a "freedom fee," or a "Lenin levy." It's the same thing. For the record,according to the Urban Institute, only 2 percent of Americans will be subject to the tax/penalty. The whole idea is that most of them will be motivated by the tax/penalty to get health insurance, so the whole idea of the tax/penalty is that almost no one will end up paying it.

But the press has treated the question of what Mitt Romney will call the fee as though it matters. Because of some weird nostalgia, I get the dead-tree editions of both The New York Times and The Washington Post, and when I went outside into the 150-degree heat to get my papers this morning (note to self: get time machine, go back and convince George Washington to put the nation's capital in someplace cold and rainy like Seattle), I found that both front pages had stories about this virtually meaningless issue.

rest at http://prospect.org/article/look-sky-its-tax-its-penalty-its-stupid-argument-over-semantics

.@RepJoeWalsh Today In "Rep. Joe Walsh Says Stupid Things:" Double Amputee Veteran Duckworth Talks Too Much About Her Military Service #p2 #tcot

Illinois Eighth District Rep. Joe Walsh set off another round of verbal fireworks around the Independence Day Holiday when he suggested his Democratic opponent Tammy Duckworth campaigns too much on her military service.

Walsh was recorded at yet another town hall meeting getting a good taste of his foot when he comparedDuckworth's mentions of her military service to Arizona Sen. John McCain's during his 2008 presidential campaign.

Understand something about John McCain. His political advisers, day after day, had to take him and almost throw him against a wall and hit him against the head and say, "Senator, you have to let people know you served! You have to talk about what you did!" He didn't want to do it, wouldn't do it. Day after day they had to convince him. Finally, he talked a little bit about it, but it was very uncomfortable for him. That's what's so noble about our heroes. Now I'm running against a woman who, my God, that's all she talks about. Our true heroes, it's the last thing in the world they talk about. That's why we're so indebted and in awe of what they've done.

rest at http://chicagoist.com/2012/07/05/today_in_joe_walsh_says_stupid_thin_1.php

Obama campaign: Tax vs. penalty argument shows Romney can't take a position and stick with it #p2 #tcot

David Axelrod on Twitter yesterday, talking about Mitt Romney's latest flip-flop over whether the individual mandate is a tax or a penalty administered through the tax code:

Mitt: Fed freerider penalty is "tax," identical MA law is not.
If he were in WH, parsley would be official veg: Twister, national pasttime.
— @davidaxelrod via Twitter for iPhone

And Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter to Chuck Todd on MSNBC:

The difference the Obama administration and Mitt Romney is that we've been consistent. This is a penalty administered through the tax code.

In other words, the issue here doesn't really have anything to do with the substantive merits of Obamacare: it's that while President Obama has consistently said one thing, Mitt Romney has been twisting in the wind.

More from Cutter:

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what we're calling this. We've been consistent about what it is. ... Contrast that with Mitt Romney. ... Mitt Romney could call it a tax, he could call it a penalty. We don't particularly care. We just hope he chooses one and sticks to it.

And why is that important?

Look at what's happened over the past five days. His spokesperson calls it a penalty. A couple of days later, the right wing of his party rises up and criticizes him. He's suddenly calling it a tax. So that's what this debate is all about: whether Mitt Romney can take a principled position and stick with it. That's the question.

As David Axelrod put it this morning:

If Tea Party and Cong Rs can pull Mitt's chain, and get him to do a 180 on the mandate he championed, imagine what they'd do with him in WH!
— @davidaxelrod via Twitter for iPhone

So it's clear that the Obama campaign doesn't see this debate as being about health care policy (which is good because the tax vs. penalty debate has nothing to do with the benefits of Obamacare). Instead, they see it as yet another indictment of Mitt Romney's lack of backbone because while they've been consistent about how they view it, Romney has been shifting all over the place. And it's not just that he's been shifting all over the place, it's that Romney's doing it for obviously political reasons, not the least of which is his need to satisfy his party's right-wing base.

rest at http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/05/1106406/-Obama-campaign-Tax-vs-penalty-argument-shows-Romney-can-t-take-a-position-and-stick-with-it?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailykos%2Findex+%28Daily+Kos%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

GOP Obamacare Lies: The Affordable Care Is Not the ‘Largest Tax Increase in the History of the World’ – Not Hardly #p2 #tcot @gop

The silver lining in the Supreme Court's upholding of the Affordable Care Act for Republicans was the court's ruling that the fine to be paid by people who can afford it but choose not to buy insurance was a "tax" not a "penalty."

Their spokesman, Rush Limbaugh, rushed to the airwaves to declare, "What we now have is the biggest tax increase in the history of the world."

And what we have there is a big, fat lie:

But when you compare the projected revenue effect of the individual mandate to the actual revenue effects of other, actually large tax increases, the claim becomes laughable.

We used the Treasury Department's four-year data on the revenue effects of large tax increases signed by Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton; along with CBO projections of the revenue effect of the mandate adjusted for its GDP projections during the mandate's first four years.

The mandate is tiny by comparison.

And, from Kevin Drum:

This is so stupid it hurts…

rest at 

http://www.pensitoreview.com/2012/07/05/gop-obamacare-lies-the-affordable-care-is-not-the-largest-tax-increase-in-the-history-of-the-world-not-hardly/

Over 750,000 Pennsylvanians Could Be Disenfranchised By Voter ID Law

Instances of voter fraud may be rarer than lightning strikes, but in Pennsylvania more than 758,000 voters may be disenfranchised this election season because lawmakers insist on solving the "problem" of voter fraud. Pennslyvania's new voter ID law, which will take effect for the first time this November, may prevent 758,939 otherwise eligible voters, who do not currently have an acceptable ID, from voting.

A comparison, carried out by state officials, of registered voters and PennDOT ID databases show that only 91 percent of Pennsylvania's 8.2 million voters have an acceptable voter ID. In Philadelphia, where voters will be hardest hit by the new law, 18 percent of voters lack proper ID. State officials had previously estimated that 99 percent of voters had acceptable IDs:

"What's truly scary about this report is that it makes my case," Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner said. "About 10 percent of otherwise eligible Pennsylvanians are disenfranchised by the Voter ID law. That's not an acceptable number of people to tell that they can't vote." Disenfranchised groups, Wagner said, include older residents, students and the poor.

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing to overturn the law, and Allegheny County Democrats said in June they would file a Commonwealth Court challenge.

rest at 

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/07/05/511205/over-750000-pennsylvanians-could-be-disenfranchised-by-voter-id-law/

Sen. McConnell: The GOP Would Allow Insurers to Discriminate Against Those With Pre-Existing Conditions #p2 #tcot

The Soul of the Republican Party (photo: Gage Skidmore / flickr)

For me, this is the number one reason why the GOP should not be in power. Mitch McConnell has signaled that the best solution to the health care crisis is for those of us with pre-existing medical conditions is to be bankrupted by medical bills…or just die.

The senior senator from Kentucky, who himself enjoys government-subsidized insurance as a federal employee, told the National Review on Tuesday that the party would do little to help the 129 million people who could be denied insurance because they suffer from a pre-existing condition should the law be repealed. "I'm not convinced that issue needs to be addressed at the federal level," he said, before praising Republican governors for refusing to implement a provision of the law that expands health coverage to lower-income residents through the Medicaid program.

During the interview, McConnell also confirmed that he planned to repeal Obamacare's main provisions — like the individual mandate — through reconciliation, a process that allows the Senate can pass budget-related bills with a majority vote:

MCCONNELL: Repeal of Obamacare will be the first item up in the Senate if I am majority leader. If we have a president who will sign the bill, we will do everything we can to get it off the books, and we'll be looking for every angle that could be pursued. There has been a lot of talk about reconciliation. The Chief Justice said this is a tax, and we take him at his word, so that certainly makes this eligible for reconciliation. But that may not be the only avenue that we pursue.

rest at http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2012/07/05/sen-mcconnell-the-gop-would-allow-insurers-to-discriminate-against-those-with-pre-existing-conditions/

Libor scandal grows, implicates other banks, British government - no depths to which Goldman will not sink to insult their customers while screwing them #p2 #tcot

The Libor scandal is huge, much larger than previous scandals, as it  is at the central of the financial system, involves multiple big banks and apparently at least one government too.

Local governments got screwed due to Libor manipulation

Greg Smith wrote that at Goldman Sachs, the gullible bureaucrats on the other side of these deals were called "muppets."

There really seem to be no depths to which Goldman will not sink to insult their customers while screwing them. Our investment banks are parasites, taking much, giving nothing in return.

Ex rogue trader says Barclays traders should go to prison and that the supposed big fine is just the cost of doing business. Plus, many more banks were involved too including here in the States, no doubt.

Americablog has a useful explanation about what Libor is.

Simply put, Libor is an interest rate based on self-reported interest rates from big banks. Zillions of other rates and deal are pegged to Libor, including mortgages. So, if you can rig Libor, many other rates, swaps, and derivatives can be gamed too.

Whitehall implicated in Libor scandal. Emphasis added

On July 3, in preparation for Mr. Diamond's July 4 appearance before Parliament, Barclays released documents on its website that implicate the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority (FSA), and even Whitehall in the scandal.

It is almost impossible to overstate the seriousness of these events or the potential they have to destabilize the financial system.

rest at 

http://polizeros.com/2012/07/05/libor-scandal-grows-implicates-other-banks-british-government/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PoliticsInTheZeros+%28Politics+in+the+Zeros%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Rep Joe Walsh's facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/RepJoeWalsh ; he believes military vets that lose limbs are not heroes @RepJoeWalsh

http://newspoodle.posterous.com/rep-joe-walsh-double-amputee-tammy-duckworth

Click here to view this media

Tea party-favorite Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL) may not have ever volunteered for military service, but he says he can spot a "true hero" and the double amputee running for his seat isn't one.

Think Progress captured video on Sunday of Walsh telling supporters that Tammy Duckworth wasn't a hero because "all she talks about" is losing both her legs when the helicopter she was piloting was shot down in Iraq in 2004.

"Understand something about John McCain," the congressman explained. "His political advisers, day after day, had to take him and almost throw him against a wall and hit him against the head and say, 'Senator, you have to let people know you served! You have to talk about what you did!' He didn't want to do it, wouldn't do it."

"That's what's so noble about our heroes," Walsh continued. "Now I'm running against a woman who, my God, that's all she talks about. Our true heroes, it's the last thing in the world they talk about. That's why we're so indebted and in awe of what they've done."

Duckworth, who served as a helicopter pilot with the Illinois Army Guard's 1st Battalion, 106th Aviation, was awarded the Purple Heart in December 2004.

"This is not so bad," she said of her injuries later that year. "I'm just glad it was me and not one of my guys out there."

rest at http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/rep-joe-walsh-double-amputee-tammy-duckworth