Politico.com:

Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, who resigned from Congress after misfiring a racy  photo over Twitter, spent more than $50,000 on polling in recent months,  according to New York City campaign finance filings.

The latest filing with the city’s Campaign Finance Board for Weiner’s  close-to-dormant mayoral campaign account shows he spent $54,000 on polling by  David Binder Research on March 5. He spent another $52,500 on the firm for  consulting work a day earlier, the filings show.

Weiner declined comment, and it’s unclear precisely what the polling was for.  The New York Post reported earlier this year on a polling survey being conducted  tossing Weiner’s name into the mix for city comptroller and for mayor.

Perhaps the former Rep. Weiner wants to run again for Congress.  The question becomes, will Anthony Weiner be forgiven for his rather obvious and large  indiscretions?   Should we expect our congressmen to not participate in sexting?  Is that too much to expect?

Will his little old ladies who made up excuses for him continue to support him?  If he wins the office he runs for, will he behavr himself?   What possesses a person to throw it all away on a naughty picture or two?

The House has concluded Legislative business for the week.   Speaker Boehner could not  muster the votes.  There is no deal.

Eric Cantor probably played vulture politics,  hoping to not get the votes, so he could take the speakership away from Boehner.  Can we all say weasel together?  I wish I could have seen the fighting.   There seems to be a lot of that these days.

So they can all go home and the rest of us will watch our investments circle the drain.

Thanks, MOfo’s.  Just what I wanted for Christmas.

How many people in Northern  Virginia will lose their jobs right after Christmas?  I already know of people who have been laid off from the defense industry.  How will that impact the rest of the nation?  We are in serious trouble.

Perhaps the American people should hold Congress’s paychecks until they finish their job.  They have abrogated their responsibilities.

No pictures intentionally.  This evil group gets no free advertising.

Huffingtonpost.com:

House of Hypocrisy

Congress manipulates Wall Street and passes legislation to prevent other branches of government from doing it.  Typical hypocritical Congress.  Both sides of the aisle are guilty of padding their own pockets by what appears to be the use of insider information.  From the Washington Post:

One-hundred-thirty members of Congress or their families have traded stocks collectively worth hundreds of millions of dollars in companies lobbying on bills that came before their committees, a practice that is permitted under current ethics rules, a Washington Post analysis has found.

The lawmakers bought and sold a total of between $85 million and $218 million in 323 companies registered to lobby on legislation that appeared before them, according to an examination of all 45,000 individual congressional stock transactions contained in computerized financial disclosure data from 2007 to 2010.

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Sometimes people have a representative but its in name only.  Perhaps this blog can get the attention of Rep. Connolly.  There is nothing like a little embarrassment to bring everyone front and center. 

Colonel Morris Davis, better known to all of us at Moonhowlings as Moe Davis, once again attempts to get hold of his Congressman for some assistance with his on-going problem–that problem being he was denied his first amendment rights by his government.   You don’t have to agree with Moe, but damn he does have a right to his opinion. 

Here is his correspondence, again, to his congressman, Gerry Connolly, who is pretending Moe does not exist. 

Dear Rep. Connolly,

 

I have tried several times over the past two years to contact you by email and regular mail to request your assistance.  To date, I have not received so much as a form letter reply.  [Although I did get an out-of-office email response once in Dec. 2009 from Mr. Fields.]  Copied below is an article published earlier today on CBSNews.com that explains why I have tried to contact you repeatedly the past two years.  As one of your constituents, I again ask for your assistance.

 

Best regards,

–

Morris D. “Moe” Davis

No free speech at Mr. Jefferson’s library

By

Peter Van Buren

Rep. Frank Wolf ripped into lobbyist Grover Norquist on the floor of the House today, stating that his no-taxes pledge has “paralyzed” Congress from doing what is necessary to tackle the deficit.

According to Politico.com:

“Simply put, I believe Mr. Norquist is connected with, or has profited from, a number of unsavory people and groups out of the mainstream,” Wolf said.

In an interview, Norquist dismissed Wolf’s remarks as a “hissy fit.”

“He gets in these silly attacks on me that are plagiarized from racist websites,” Norquist told POLITICO. “He’s got to know that this is garbage.”

Wolf, a 16-term congressman who sits on the powerful House Appropriations Committee, also accused Norquist of using his no-taxes pledge – signed by virtually every congressional Republican — as leverage to push causes that the lawmaker said “many Americans would find inappropriate.

Wolf, who has a long conservative voting record, has not signed Norquist’s pledge.

Wolf emphasized that he himself did not support tax increases – essentially the mission of Norquist’s organization, Americans for Tax Reform. But the no-taxes pledge, Wolf argued, was hamstringing Congress from being able to “realistically” pursue tax reform – which Wolf said was a critical component in taming the nation’s debt.

“Have we really reached a point where one person’s demand for ideological purity is paralyzing Congress to the point that even a discussion of tax reform is viewed as breaking a no-tax pledge?” Wolf asked.

“He gets in these silly attacks on me that are plagiarized from racist websites,” Norquist told POLITICO. “He’s got to know that this is garbage.”

Good for Frank Wolf.  He understands the meaning of compromise.   Its about time someone sent Norquist packing.

Nationaljournal.com had the following to say:

Norquist was dismissive of Wolf’s attack in an interview with National Journal. “He either doesn’t understand what the pledge is or he is not accurate in how he portrays it,” Norquist said. “He had a melt-down and a hissy fit and I hope he’ll sober up and get back to the issue of holding spending down, not raising taxes.”

No one is quite sure what set Rep. Wolf off and no other congressmen or women jumped in to back him up.

Emboldened by recent wins at the polls, House Republicans, led by Rep. Stearns of Florida has demanded 10 years worth of records from Planned Parenthood in order to shut them down. 

I thought McCarthyism was over.  Congress wastes more time getting involved in football, baseball, steroid use with atheletes and women’s reproduction.  They need to work on the economy and creating jobs.

From the Gerry Connolly website:

Release: Snakes on a Plane In Congress
Sep 14 2011
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has held 22 hearings attacking federal regulations, but not a single hearing on job creation, Congressman Gerry Connolly, a member of the committee, lamented today.

Connolly said Wednesday’s hearing bordered on theater of the absurd when the majority brought in a snake breeder who urged Congress to repeal regulations associated with the Lacey Act of 1900, a law that controls the importation of dangerous and invasive plant and animal species.

The majority’s witness, David Barker of the Association of Reptile Breeders, argued for the elimination of an Interior Department rule that would ban the transportation across state lines of giant Burmese pythons and eight other dangerous snakes. “These pythons are the same snakes that are breeding rapidly, overrunning the Everglades, eating every animal in sight including large alligators, and establishing a permanent habitat in South Florida, according to the National Park Service,” Connolly said.

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She said:

“The gentleman from Florida. who represents thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, as do I, is supportive of this plan that would increase costs for Medicare beneficiaries, unbelievable from a Member from South Florida,” Wasserman Schultz said, saying the legislation “slashes Medicaid and critical investments essential to winning the future in favor of protecting tax breaks for Big Oil, millionaires, and companies who ship American jobs overseas.”

He said:

From: Z112 West, Allen
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 04:48 PM
To: Wasserman Schultz, Debbie
Cc: McCarthy, Kevin; Blyth, Jonathan; Pelosi, Nancy; Cantor, Eric
Subject: Unprofessional and Inappropriate Sophomoric Behavior from Wasserman-Schultz

Look, Debbie, I understand that after I departed the House floor you directed your floor speech comments directly towards me. Let me make myself perfectly clear, you want a personal fight, I am happy to oblige. You are the most vile, unprofessional ,and despicable member of the US House of Representatives. If you have something to say to me, stop being a coward and say it to my face, otherwise, shut the heck up. Focus on your own congressional district!

I am bringing your actions today to our Majority Leader and Majority Whip and from this time forward, understand that I shall defend myself forthright against your heinous characterless behavior……which dates back to the disgusting protest you ordered at my campaign hqs, October 2010 in Deerfield Beach.

You have proven repeatedly that you are not a Lady, therefore, shall not be afforded due respect from me!

Steadfast and Loyal

Congressman Allen B West (R-FL

The she and he are Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, on the floor of the House and Allen West.  West seems to have gone way over the top.  He moved from a disagreement over policy to a very personal attack which included words like ‘vile,’ ‘unprofessional,’ and ‘despicable.’  It sounds to me like West is no gentleman. 

Further reading at Politico.com

One reason not to up the old tax rate on the more affluent might be sitting right under our noses.  Both the speaker of the house and his second in command are millionaires.  I don’t guess they will have much sympathy for the middle class.

According to the Washington Post:

House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Eric I. Cantor (R-Va.) , the GOP leaders who rode to power on the grassroots wave of tea-party activists, are multi-millionaires with financial investments in some of the nation’s largest corporations.

Boehner had minimum financial holdings of $2 million at the end of 2010, while his top deputy was worth at least $3.4 million, according to financial disclosure forms that were released Wednesday. Their true net worth is likely to be far greater because lawmakers are only required to reveal a broad range of their financial holdings and the value of their primary residences is not mandatory in the disclosures. And, as is the case with Cantor’s wife, Diana, spouses are required to reveal the stocks and other assets they hold at the end of the year, not their annual income from the jobs they hold.

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Jon Stewart used to hang out at Dewey Beach, Delaware with Anthony Weiner back in the day. He says NO WAY to that picture. In fact, he says there’s just a lot more Anthony than Weiner.

Anything advanced by Breitbart has to be suspect.   Let us not forget the man with a plan.  According  to  globalgrind.com:

Breitbart was the man responsible for taking Shirley Sharrod’s words out of context and labeling the federal worker a racist, costing the USDA official her job after he spliced and diced her words about helping a racist farmer out despite her past experiences with racism. Breitbart ran to Glenn Beck with doctored “evidence.” The rest, as they say, is history

Rep. Weinerhopefully will call in the FBI and get the entire matter resolved.  Guilty or innocent?  Hacked or perv?   Twittered or Weinered?  It sounds to me like Breitbart and company are up to the dirty tricks again. 

Full Story:  New York Times

Many currently in Congress ran on promises to tackle jobs and the budget.  Instead, they have taken on NPR and Planned Parenthood.  Many experienced Republicans have been frustrated by the newcomers who don’t seem to understand Washington protocol.  Republicans have ended up blocking Republicans. 

According to Washington Post  columnist Dana Milbank:

The lack of grown-up behavior is driving Americans to despair. In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, only 26 percent said that they were optimistic about the future when “thinking about our system of government and how well it works.” That’s less than half the level of optimism felt in 1974, during Watergate.

The Democrats are only showing themselves to be slightly more adult.  The party leaders opposed Dennis Kucinich’s bill to just dump Afghanistan at the end of the year and bring everyone home.   Many Democrats felt his plan was foolish and irresponsible and most voted against it.

Read more…

Indiana Congressman Mike Pence has declared a personal war on Planned Parenthood in hopes of ending abortion.  For the past three legislative sessions,  he has  targeted Planned Parenthood by introducing legislation that would deny Title X funds to any organization providing abortions.  According to Politico:

Rep. Pence remains the darling of social conservatives. Many supported him for the presidential race in 2012, despite the fact he has said he will not run. Pence has not ruled out the possibility of running for Indiana governor.

Alert!  Update: 

Minutes ago, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to bar Planned Parenthood from all federal funding for any purpose whatsoever. That means no funding to Planned Parenthood health centers for birth control, lifesaving cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other essential care.

Read more…

After 2 years of hounding Nancy Peloski and President Obama, the NY Times reports trouble in River City, at least as far as the House Republican majority goes:

Under pressure to make deeper spending cuts and blindsided by embarrassing floor defeats, House Republican leaders are quickly discovering the limits of control over their ideologically driven and independent-minded new majority.

For the second consecutive day, House Republicans on Wednesday lost a floor vote due to a mini-revolt, this time over a plan to demand a repayment from the United Nations. Earlier in the day, members of the party’s conservative bloc used a closed-door party meeting to push the leadership to go well beyond its plans to trim about $40 billion from domestic spending and foreign aid this year, demanding $100 billion or more

On Tuesday  the new Republican leadership was forced to pull a trade assistance bill off the floor and the Patriot Act failed to be extended.   When asked about all the bumps in the road, House Majority Leader John Boehner responded:

Speaker John A. Boehner conceded that the fledgling majority was encountering turbulence. “We have been in the majority four weeks,” Mr. Boehner said. “We are not going to be perfect every day.”

After all the criticism of the other guys, the Republican Majority needs to get it right.  What will the next ‘swing and a miss’ be?  These folks are finding out that the easy part of the job is to sit on the sidelines and criticize, ridicule, and bring down others.   Those who were called RINOs hopefully are sitting back laughing now, especially those who lost their seats because it looked soooo easy.

These guys get the same break from me that they offered the other guys.  I don’t recall President Obama getting 4 weeks before the criticism began.  I think that started on day 2. 

 Welcome to Washington.  Now get with the program!

Speaker John Boehner said there would be zero tolerance for scandals on his watch.  Guess he wasn’t kidding.  It only took 4 hours from discovery of a really stupid stunt on the part of  Rep. Chris Lee  (R-NY) until he resigned:

“It has been a tremendous honor to serve the people of Western New York. I regret the harm that my actions have caused my family, my staff and my constituents. I deeply and sincerely apologize to them all. I have made profound mistakes and I promise to work as hard as I can to seek their forgiveness.
“The challenges we face in Western New York and across the country are too serious for me to allow this distraction to continue, and so I am announcing that I have resigned my seat in Congress effective immediately.”

 

That’s pretty amazing. Most senatorial and congressional indiscretion takes months, sometimes years, to unearth. Of course, Lee was pretty stupid. He sent a picture of himself shirtless to some woman in an ISO on Craig’s List. Additionally, he lied about his age, his marital status and his job. 

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