World News Korner

Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal:

The Affordable Care Act, President Barack Barack Obama’s signature health law, is already boosting household income and spending.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that consumer spending rose a better-than-expected 0.4% and personal incomes climbed 0.3% in January. The new health-care law accounted for a big chunk of the increase on both fronts.

On the incomes side, the law’s expanded coverage boosted Medicaid benefits by an estimated $19.2 billion, according to Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. The ACA also offered several refundable tax credits, including health insurance premium subsidies, which added up to $14.7 billion.

Taken together, the Obamacare provisions are responsible for about three-quarters of January’s overall rise in Americans’ incomes.

Look, more news you won't be able to see on Fox News.

This is the kind of information that absolutely HAS to disseminated far and wide.

The GOP is still counting on running against the Affordable Care Act in 2014, the more data like this that gets out there the harder that will prove to be.

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Courtesy of TPM:

State Sen. Wendy Davis (D) and Attorney General Greg Abbott (R) won their respective nominations in the Texas gubernatorial race on Tuesday.

The primaries were called for Davis and Abbott about an hour after polls closed.

Davis is the first female Democratic nominee to be nominated for governor of Texas since Ann Richards.

"And now it's time, it's time for each of us to work as hard as we can and to fight for the very future of this great state, thank you so much for your help," Davis said in her victory speech. "I'm looking forward to working with you on this journey. God bless you all, and God bless Texas."

There is really nothing surprising about this outcome however I decided to write this post because the other day I watched a commentator on MSNBC, Chris Cillizza, say that he did not see a victory for Wendy Davis moving forward.

His claim is that the slight inconsistencies in her personal story, that the Right Wing blew WAY out of proportion would undermine her campaign and that the best hope for Texas to go blue was in the future.

This infuriated me to no end.

Look I don't expect every pundit on MSNBC to be a cheerleader for Davis, or ANY Democratic candidate for that matter, but to unfairly handicap the race as un-winnable against an opponent who thought it was a good campaign decision to have Ted Nugent show up on stage with him is ridiculous.

Especially after others have pointed out that the biography snafu will unlikely have a much of an effect on the election outcome.

But look ultimately it is up to the fine folks of Texas to get motivated and prove people like Chris Cillizza and Fox News wrong.

I swear if I were there on election day I would be offering rides to the polls for those who could not get there on their own. But I'm not, so it is up to those who are to make this the biggest midterm turnout for Democrats in American history.

And not just in Texas, we need to get our people motivated and mobilized ALL over the country.

We do that and we will greatly improve our chances of making some serious and very necessary improvements in our government, and set the stage for a much better future.

And just to help build a fire under folks, remember who is shaking her fake water filled pom poms for the other side:

It was a great night for conservatives in Texas last night – despite what the D.C. media would have you believe. Voters wisely selected many Tea Party candidates across the board. Congratulations to Greg Abbott, we’ll work hard to make sure he is the next Governor of Alaska’s little sister state. We were proud to support Katrina Pierson as well – a bold conservative woman who has overcome bigger challenges in life than election results. Katrina has a bright future ahead, and we know she will continue her fight for conservative values – after all, you don't need a title to make a difference. We need more bold women like Katrina in the GOP. 2014 is just underway, and together we’ll continue to give a leg up to grassroots conservatives, despite the odds, who embrace inspiration, ingenuity, and integrity. We’re just getting started!

That's right the Queen of Mean is already starting her victory lap, so let's do everything we can to trip her up, shall we?

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Courtesy of Mediaite:

During a hearing of the House Oversight Committee into allegations that the Internal Revenue Service scrutinized conservative groups’ tax-exempt status filings unduly, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) exploded at Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). Cummings charged that the way in which the proceedings were being conducted were “Un-American.” In apparent protest, Issa then walked out of the committee hearing.

While making a statement before the committee, Issa stood up and asked Cummings to yield.

“If you will sit down and allow me to ask a question,” Cummings insisted. “I am a member of a Congress of the United States of America.”

“I am tired of this,” he continued. “You cannot just have a one-sided investigation. There is absolutely something wrong with that, and it is absolutely un-American.”

“We had a hearing. It was adjourned,” Issa replied. “I gave you an opportunity to ask your questions. You had no questions.”

“I do have questions,” Elijah replied. “Chairman, what are you hiding?”

At this stage, Issa walked out of the hearing

"He's taking the fifth Elijah." I LOVED that!

I had the opportunity to see a longer clip from MSNBC this morning, and what Mediaite and this shorter clip leave out is that Issa adjourned the hearing right as Rep. Cummings started to make his statement, and then cut his mic.

I mean no wonder Cummings was pissed, but what angered him just as much was the fact that this whole hearing was a waste of time as the attorney for Lois Lerner stated that she would not be testifying today.

Update: Now Issa is claiming that Cummings slandered him:

“He was talking into a mic in an adjourned meeting,” Issa said. “The fact is Mr. Cummings came to make a point of his objections to the process we have been going through. He was actually slandering me at the moment that the mics did go off by claiming that this had not been a real investigation.”

Ahh, somebody got hims feelings hurted.

Update 2: Here is the longer version of Issa's tantrum courtesy of MSNBC.

(By the way I just noticed that Lois Lerner sat and listened to Elijah Cummings entire statement about the Republican IRS witch hunt even though Issa had dismissed her. For some reason that really tickled me.)

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Courtesy of Media Matters:

The right-wing's Benghazi scandal-mongering entered the realm of self-parody after Fox News let Sen. Lindsey Graham blame the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the Obama administration's handling of the 2012 attacks in Libya -- the latest attempt in a series of conservative alchemy experiments trying to turn tragedy into political gold.

On March 4, Sen. Graham (R-SC) tweeted that the crisis in Ukraine "started with Benghazi," blaming the Obama administration's response to the attacks for 'inviting' aggression from Russia.

Graham made the same accusation on March 3 during Fox News' On The Record with Greta Van Susteren. At Van Susteren's prompting, Graham claimed that the Russian aggression in Ukraine "in many ways started with Benghazi, when our consulate was overrun and our first ambassador was killed in thirty-something years in the line of duty ... You're sending absolutely the wrong signal to our foes."

Okay it's official, Sarah Palin is no longer the craziest voice on the conservative side of the aisle.

And this guy is currently serving in the Senate!

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Courtesy of the Washington Times:

Opening a door to hedge his political bets, Sen. Rand Paul has asked the leader of the Kentucky Senate for legislation to ensure that Mr. Paul can run both for the White House and for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2016, The Washington Times has learned.

“Yes, I am working on clarifying an ambiguous state law that Rand Paul believes is unconstitutional if it is interpreted to bar running for re-election to the Senate and for president at the same time,” Kentucky Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer told The Times on Monday.

“The purpose of the bill will be to make clear that Rand Paul or anyone in a similar situation in Kentucky can run for both offices in the same year,” Mr. Thayer explained.

If things go Mr. Paul’s way, he could win the GOP presidential nomination, then run in the fall 2016 general election for the presidency and to retain his U.S. Senate seat. If he wins the presidency and the Senate re-election bid, he would relinquish his Senate seat.

Okay my first take away from this was that clearly Rand Paul was not somebody who would let a few silly laws stand in the way of his political aspirations.

And secondly I think it is now obvious that Paul is DEFINITELY running for the GOP nomination is 2016. I am pretty sure Ted Cruz is going to throw his hat in, and there is talk about Bobby Jindal and possibly Marco Rubio as well.

Well so much for fewer clowns in the clown car this time around.

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Anybody who tells a sweet child like this that they were born into sin, is an ignorant POS.

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I know this is supposed to be joke, but you know it does make a certain kind of sense.

And that would also explain why Fundamentalists are always so bent out of shape about Sci-fi programs, video games, Harry Potter, and Dungeons and Dragons.

All of them attract their own rabid following of nerds and that threatens the uber-Christians who don't appreciate the competition.

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