Yelling At The TV

Nikki Haley's White Supremacist Reelection Committee Member

Fri, 24 May 2013 12:10:00 -0400

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has announced her reelection steering committee. Among those on the Committee is Roan Garcia-Quintana, a member of the Council of Conservative Citizens and the neo-confederate organization, the League of the South.

Garcia-Quintana was interviewed by James Edwards on the Political Cesspool radio program on October 23, 2010. Below are some “highlights,” followed by the full interview.

Garcia-Quintana renames the NAACP:

Garcia-Quintana calls the Obama coalition “ultra-semite communists:”

Garcia-Quintana talks about the “War of Northern Aggression:”

Full Interview:

Rep. Issa sent a letter to the IRS re: questionnaires in March 2012

Wed, 22 May 2013 13:49:00 -0400

The letter accused the IRS of a lack of “balance” in their scrutiny of organizations applying for exempt status, using media sources to back up this claim. On page 3, the letter lists several questions from the questionnaire as examples of IRS “overreach.” These questions are virtually identical to those on a questionnaire sent to Progress Texas, a progressive organization.

Issa Letter to IRS Re Questionnaires

IRS Questionnaire Sent to Progress Texas

Crickett Rifle Catalog has a Warning...on the Beanie Baby

Mon, 06 May 2013 12:49:28 -0400

Crickett Rifles, makers of the “My First Rifle” line of childrens’ firearms, is worried about their customers’ safety. This is understandable. They even put a warning on the most dangerous item that they sell…the Beanie Baby on the last page.

Crickett Rifle Catalog

April 24, 2013 - Hal Rogers, Chairman of the House...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:48:01 -0400

April 24, 2013 - Hal Rogers, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee claims that the FAA never mentioned having to furlough air traffic controllers before it happened.

This mirrors the claim made by another Kentucky Republican in the Senate the day before.

Perhaps they should pay better attention.

From the Statement of FAA Administrator Michael Huerta to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Subcommittee on Aviation:

The sequester is looming, and massive budget cuts are set to go into effect just two days from now.

I want to make a clear distinction about how sequestration differs from previous government shutdowns that have been caused by failure to pass a budget, or by the temporary lapse in our authorization in July 2011.

First, almost all of our FAA accounts would be affected. Therefore, this would affect almost all of our employees.

We are looking at all options to reduce costs. We’re looking at a hiring freeze, and at cutting contracts and travel and other items not related to day-to-day operations. But, to reach the large figure we need to cut, we have little choice but to make up the rest through furloughing employees. This is not something that we take lightly.

Unlike a government shutdown, under the sequester, almost all of our employees would be affected, even what we would traditionally call “essential personnel.” The vast majority of our employees, including “essential workers” would have to be furloughed.

Under sequestration our flexibility is very limited because we must cut proportionately from all affected accounts. We can’t move money around and we have limited flexibility to choose what it is that we’re able to cut.

Now a very large portion of the DOT’s budget is exempt from the sequester. What this means is that the FAA will take more than 60 percent of the sequester cuts for all of the DOT, even though our agency makes up only about 20 percent of the department’s budget. Now, within the FAA, the airport grant program also is exempt from the sequester. So this again limits the choices we have on where to cut the money.

Finally, we have a very short time frame to make the bulk of these massive cuts—about six months. And that means the cuts would need to be deeper to have the same effect as if we could spread them out.

Having spent over a year at school in Kentucky, and having known many Kentuckians in my life, I can safely assert that this attention deficit afflicion is not common to all the people of the state. So what’s wrong with these two?

April 23, 2013 - Mitch McConnell accuses the Obama...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:55:22 -0400

April 23, 2013 - Mitch McConnell accuses the Obama administration of “hiding the ball” from the “traveling public” on FAA furloughs.

He claims that the FAA Administrator didn’t mention the furloughs in his testimony before Senate Committees last week.

From the Statement of FAA Administrator Michael Huerta to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, April 16, 2013:

I want to emphasize that as we undergo the difficult process of implementing the deep cuts required by the sequester, we refuse to sacrifice safety—even if this means less efficient operations.

In addition to contract towers, large facilities will also be affected. To reach the figure we need to cut from our payroll—which is our largest operating cost—we have to furlough 47,000 of our employees for up to 11 days between now and September.

The furloughs will reduce controller work hours at all airports with towers, but also at radar facilities across the country. Again, safety is our number one concern. We will only allow the amount of air traffic that we can handle safely to take off and land. This means travelers should expect delays. Today we are meeting with air carriers to go over specific operational impacts related to the furloughs facility by facility.

From the Statement of FAA Administrator Michael Huerta to the Senate Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, April 18, 2013:

The cuts required by the sequester have forced us to slash contract expenses and furlough 47,000 of our employees. With employees working fewer hours, we will have less efficient air traffic operations and less time for safety inspectors to certify new aircraft for the market.

Is Mitch McConnell spending so much time trying to score political points that he isn’t paying attention to what is actually being said in these hearings, or is he lying to the American people by accusing the Obama administration of “hiding the ball?”

That seems like a fair question.

March 7, 2013 - While expressing his opposition to the Assault...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:37:00 -0400

March 7, 2013 - While expressing his opposition to the Assault Weapons Ban, Senator John Cornyn says that mental illness is the common element in all of the recent shooting rampages. He says he wants to keep weapons out of the hands of the mentally ill.

On June 4, 2008, Senator Cornyn released this statement:

As more and more of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are being diagnosed with mental health conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, many others are not reporting their symptoms because of stigmas or worries about the impact such a diagnosis will have on their military careers. As a result, many of our men and women in uniform are not receiving the vital care they need to overcome these conditions.

If Senator Cornyn is really worried about weapons in the hands of the mentally ill, and says that many veterans may have mental illnesses that aren’t reported, why would he offer an amendment to the Assault Weapons Ban to exempt veterans?

Which is more likely, that Cornyn doesn’t believe that many veterans have unreported mental illnesses or that he doesn’t mind allowing the mentally ill to have weapons?

March 14, 2013 - Senator Ted Cruz, in the Senate Judiciary...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:25:00 -0400

March 14, 2013 - Senator Ted Cruz, in the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on a bill to ban assault weapons, talks about his familiarity with the District of Columbia v. Heller Supreme Court case.

He argues that a ban on assault weapons would be unconstitutional under the Heller decision. Interestingly, during the Heller case he argued exactly the opposite.

The first paragraph of the amici brief filed by Ted Cruz:

Amici, the State of Texas and 30 other States, have an interest in this case because of its potential impact on their citizens’ constitutional rights. The individual right to keep and bear arms is protected by the United States Constitution and the constitutions of forty-four States. (1) Given the significance of this fundamental right, the States have a substantial interest in ensuring that the Second Amendment is accorded its proper scope.

The footnote:

(1) Amici States have attached an Appendix outlining the relevant state constitutional and statutory provisions concerning firearms.

The Appendix is mentioned again on page 36:

It bears emphasis that amici States likewise have a strong interest in maintaining the many state laws prohibiting felons in possession, restricting machine guns and sawed-off shotguns, and the like. See Appendix.

But all 31 amici States agree that striking down the District of Columbia’s categorical ban on all operative firearms would pose no threat to these reasonable regulations.

The Appendix of Ted Cruz’s brief, previously referenced as a list of examples of States protecting the second amendment, and again as “reasonable regulations” includes these listings:

CONN. GEN. STAT. §§ 53-202(b), (c) (assault weapons); 53a-211 (sawed-off shotguns and rifles)

MASS. GEN. LAWS ch. 140, § 131M (assault weapons)

N.Y. PENAL LAW § 265.02 (machine guns, “assault weapons”)

Now Ted Cruz claims that his own examples of States’ “reasonable regulations” that protect the 2nd Amendment during the Heller case would be unconstitutional because of the Heller case.

Would that argument hold up in court?

Fact-checking the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 11:09:00 -0500

During oral arguments in Shelby County v. Holder, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, made some assertions about voting statistics in Massachusetts vs. Mississippi.

From the transcript:

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Just to get the - do you know which State has the worst ratio of white voter turnout to African American voter turnout?

GENERAL VERRILLI: I do not.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Massachusetts. Do you know what has the best, where African American turnout actually exceeds white turnout? Mississippi.

GENERAL VERRILLI: Yes, Mr. Chief Justice. But Congress recognized that expressly in the findings when it reauthorized the act in 2006. It said that the first generation problems had been largely dealt with, but there persisted significant -

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Which State has the greatest disparity in registration between white and African American?

GENERAL VERRILLI: I do not know that.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Massachusetts. Third is Mississippi, where again the African American registration rate is higher than the white registration rate.

The impact of these assertions is greatly increased by the unexpectedness of “liberal” Massachusetts being the worst and “conservative” Mississippi being 1st in turnout and 3rd in registration, both big liberal issues.

According to the latest data from the US Census Bureau, neither of the assertions is true.

White and Black Voter Turnout November 2010 by jecarter4

As the table above shows, the White to Black turnout ratio in Massachusetts, while not in a good position, is not last, as Chief Justice Roberts asserted. And Mississippi is not even close to 1st; it’s 8th.

White and Black Registration November 2010 by jecarter4

Chief Justice Roberts’ second assertion, that Massachusetts has the worst disparity in voter registration between White and Black and that Mississippi is 3rd, is also incorrect, as is shown in the table above. Washington is at the bottom and Mississippi is 7th.

Interesting side note: Massachusetts does end up last in the disparity of registration between White and Black if the percentages are calculated using total residents over 18 instead of US citizens over 18. I don’t think anyone would argue for calculating voter registration percentages using persons ineligible to vote.

Of course the Chief Justice’s assertions would not have had the same impact if he had used Washington and Illinois instead of Massachusetts and Mississippi, but they would have had the imprimatur of truth.

The Chief Justice is even more inaccurate using turnout data from 2008.

February 26, 2013 - On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, GA Congressman...

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 12:08:04 -0500

February 26, 2013 - On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, GA Congressman Jack Kingston urged the Senate to take up the sequester bill that the House passed in December…even though it no longer exists.

Jack Kingston has been in Congress since 1993, he should understand the basics of lawmaking by now, shouldn’t he?

For instance: When a new Congress begins, bills from the last Congress don’t carry over.

There is no longer a bill for the Senate to “take up.” Asking the Senate to “take up” a nonexistent bill is idiotic. Pass something in this Congress, then complain about the Senate.

Rep. Tom Price thinks the sequester is necessary to “get...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:53:04 -0500

Rep. Tom Price thinks the sequester is necessary to “get this economy rolling again.”

According to information from the White House, If sequestration were to take effect, some examples of the impacts on Georgia this year alone are:

Teachers and Schools: Georgia will lose approximately $28.6 million in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 390 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 54,000 fewer students would be served and approximately 80 fewer schools would receive funding.
Education for Children with Disabilities: In addition, Georgia will lose approximately $17.5 million in funds for about 210 teachers, aides, and staff who help children with disabilities.
Work-Study Jobs: Around 2,490 fewer low income students in Georgia would receive aid to help them finance the costs of college and around 890 fewer students will get work-study jobs that help them pay for college.
Head Start: Head Start and Early Head Start services would be eliminated for approximately 1,700 children in Georgia, reducing access to critical early education.
Protections for Clean Air and Clean Water: Georgia would lose about $3.5 million in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality, as well as prevent pollution from pesticides and hazardous waste. In addition, Georgia could lose another $979,000 in grants for fish and wildlife protection.
Military Readiness: In Georgia, approximately 37,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $190.1 million in total.
Army: Base operation funding would be cut by about $233 million in Georgia.
Air Force: Funding for Air Force operations in Georgia would be cut by about $5 million.
Law Enforcement and Public Safety Funds for Crime Prevention and Prosecution: Georgia will lose about $427,000 in Justice Assistance Grants that support law enforcement, prosecution and courts, crime prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, and crime victim and witness initiatives.
Job Search Assistance to Help those in Georgia find Employment and Training: Georgia will lose about $873,000 in funding for job search assistance, referral, and placement, meaning around 33,160 fewer people will get the help and skills they need to find employment.
Child Care: Up to 1,100 disadvantaged and vulnerable children could lose access to child care, which is also essential for working parents to hold down a job.
Vaccines for Children: In Georgia around 4,180 fewer children will receive vaccines for diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough, influenza, and Hepatitis B due to reduced funding for vaccinations of about $286,000.
Public Health: Georgia will lose approximately $925,000 in funds to help upgrade its ability to respond to public health threats including infectious diseases, natural disasters, and biological, chemical, nuclear, and radiological events. In addition, Georgia will lose about $2.5 in grants to help prevent and treat substance abuse, resulting in around 2400 fewer admissions to substance abuse programs. And Georgia health departments will lose about $571,000 resulting in around 14,300 fewer HIV tests.
STOP Violence Against Women Program: Georgia could lose up to $208,000 in funds that provide services to victims of domestic violence, resulting in up to 800 fewer victims being served.
Nutrition Assistance for Seniors: Georgia would lose approximately $1.3 million in funds that provide meals for seniors.

Which of the these will be good for Georgia’s economy?

Ask Tom Price.

DC Office: 202-225-4501
District Office: 770-998-0049
Contact by email

Fact check of Steve Stockman's State of the Union fact checking

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 22:51:08 -0500

February 10, 2013 - On Fox News Sunday, John McCain said that...

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:30:43 -0500

February 10, 2013 - On Fox News Sunday, John McCain said that Obama is losing the war in Iraq.

The last combat troops left Iraq on December 18, 2011.

So, according to Senator McCain, not being at war is losing… That actually explains a lot.

February 8, 2013 - During Primetime Lawmakers on GPB, former...

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 08:46:26 -0500

February 8, 2013 - During Primetime Lawmakers on GPB, former Congressman Buddy Darden and Political Analyst Bill Crane of CSI Crane discussed the recent proposal to fix part of Nathan Deal’s HOPE legislation. Bill Crane, claiming to remember why the HOPE Scholarship was proposed, recites the popular HOPE creation myth, saying it was to keep the “best and brightest” students in GA.

Bill Crane’s memory is exactly wrong.

Here is Governor Zell Miller proposing HOPE in 1992:

Notice that while Bill Crane says that making it easier for students to go to school was not the purpose of HOPE, the first thing that Governor Miller says is that it will help students who would “otherwise find it difficult to go to college.”

The Governor’s entire speech on HOPE is about expanding access to colleges and technical schools and getting more students to graduate. He never even mentions “brain drain” or the “best and brightest.”

If Bill Crane was “there at the beginning” as he claims, was he paying attention at all? Apparently not.

February 5, 2013 - House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, in a...

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 08:27:37 -0500

February 5, 2013 - House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, said that colleges should provide students with a list of job opportunities and earnings potential for each major.

Cantor is assuming, I guess, that this will help students make better choices for their future.

It’s too bad George Washington University didn’t do that before Cantor decided to major in political science, which ranks #53 in salary potential. If they had, we might not have to deal with him now.

On July 29, 2007, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia delivered...

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 14:37:00 -0500

On July 29, 2007, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court in DC v. Heller, the 2nd Amendment case. Justice Scalia makes clear that the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms is not an unlimited right. The 2nd Amendment is “not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”

Audio of the full opinion

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) has low standards for "responsible" gun retail businesses

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 11:28:00 -0500

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) has low standards for "responsible" gun retail businesses:

January 10, 2013 - Congressman Phil Gingrey, at the Smyrna Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce breakfast, praised Jay Wallace, owner of Adventure Outdoors, as “the epitome of responsibility” in a gun business.

Audio from the Marietta Daily Journal via Evan McMorris-Santoro of TPM. Click here for audio of Gingrey’s full statement on gun control.

According to court records from a 2006 lawsuit filed by the City of New York

Defendant Adventure Outdoors, Inc. sells or sold handguns at its storefront establishment in Smyrna, Georgia. During the period from March 1994 through October 2001, at least 21 guns sold by Adventure Outdoors were recovered in New York City, both in the hands of individuals with no lawful right to possess a gun and in connection with a variety of violent crimes. In the period 1996 through 2000, a total of 254 guns sold by Adventure Outdoors were recovered in connection with crimes, nationwide. Guns sold by Adventure Outdoors have been recovered in the City in as few as 113 days after sale by Adventure Outdoors in Georgia.

Guns sold by the Defendants are recovered from prohibited persons in New York City in numbers that far exceed recoveries for other comparably-situated retail gun dealers. Guns sold by the Defendants are recovered in the hands of prohibited persons in disproportionate numbers because each Defendant sells handguns in a manner that either intentionally violates federal law or is contrary to stated industry practice or otherwise and therefore negligent. Specifically, upon information and belief, Defendants intentionally or negligently sell handguns to prohibited persons through “strawman” purchases, in which an individual legally able to buy a handgun purchases the gun from a licensed gun dealer, intending to transfer it immediately to a prohibited person.

Defendants know or should know that the handguns they sell in strawman purchases are transferred rapidly to prohibited persons. Defendants know or should know that they could readily reduce the number of guns transferred to prohibited persons by refusing to engage in straw sales. Yet, upon information and belief, Defendants have failed, and still fail, to take the steps necessary to avoid selling handguns in straw sales.

ATF has established that a very small percentage of retail gun dealers – about 1% – are responsible for approximately 57% of the illegally-possessed guns nationwide. The Defendants are among this small group of gun dealers who arm illegal gun possessors. As such, the Defendants cause, contribute to and maintain a public nuisance within the City of New York.

The complaint goes on to describe a particular incident involving Adventure Outdoors

On or about April 8, 2006, a male and a female investigator retained by the City of New York entered Adventure Outdoors’ Smyrna, Georgia store and engaged in a simulated straw purchase that displayed all of the observable, in-store characteristics of the straw purchases described above, without any subsequent transfer of the gun by the “straw purchaser.” Only the male investigator interacted with an Adventure Outdoors salesperson in discussing and selecting a Glock 9mm handgun to purchase. Once the male investigator had the gun and indicated a desire to purchase it, the female investigator, who had not been a part of the discussion, was summoned to the counter to make the purchase.

The female investigator filled out the paperwork. When the male investigator attempted to pay for the gun, the salesperson said that the male investigator needed to initial the form because he was paying for the gun. The male investigator initialed the form, the salesperson performed the background check, and the transaction was completed.

Other gun dealers in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, unequivocally identified the virtually identical scenario, at times staged by the same investigators, as an attempted straw purchase. Some of those dealers refused to go through with the sales, even informing the investigators that these sales would be illegal.

On November 7, 2011, a “Special Master” was assigned to monitor Adventure Outdoors for three years to make sure that they no longer participate in straw sales.

Adventure Outdoors is one of the 1% of retail gun businesses that provide 57% of the illegally possessed guns. If Congressman Gingrey thinks that this epitomizes a responsible gun business does he think the other 99% are too strict?

Another part of this complaint that was particularly interesting:

The ATF is in possession of additional evidence demonstrating that guns sold by the Defendants were recovered both in the hands of individuals with no lawful right to possess a gun and in connection with a variety of violent crimes in New York City between November 2001 and May 2006. ATF has taken the position that recent legislation forbids it from providing this information to the City for the purposes of this lawsuit.

Hmm.

January 7, 2013 - On PBS News Hour, Ted Cruz tells Judy Woodruff...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:04:26 -0500

January 7, 2013 - On PBS News Hour, Ted Cruz tells Judy Woodruff that proposed gun control legislation is unconstitutional. He has also made this charge on several other shows.

It’s not unconstitutional and he knows it. He’s lying.

In District of Columbia v. Heller, Scalia’s opinion clearly states that an assault weapons ban would be constitutional:

It may be objected that if weapons that are most useful in military service—M-16 rifles and the like—may be banned, then the Second Amendment right is completely detached from the prefatory clause. But as we have said, the conception of the militia at the time of the Second Amendment’s ratification was the body of all citizens capable of military service, who would bring the sorts of lawful weapons that they possessed at home to militia duty. It may well be true today that a militia, to be as effective as militias in the 18th century, would require sophisticated arms that are highly unusual in society at large. Indeed, it may be true that no amount of small arms could be useful against modern-day bombers and tanks. But the fact that modern developments have limited the degree of fit between the prefatory clause and the protected right cannot change our interpretation of the right.

You might think it would be possible that Ted Cruz didn’t know about the opinion in D.C. v Heller.

It is not possible.

Ted Cruz was the Council of Record for an Amicus Brief filed in the Heller case by Texas and other states.

In this brief Cruz argues:

Amici States likewise have a strong interest in maintaining the many state laws prohibiting felons in possession, restricting machine guns and sawed-off shotguns, and the like.

It continues:

striking down the District of Columbia’s categorical ban on all operative firearms would pose no threat to these reasonable regulations.

Ted Cruz also refers to these limitations on the type of firearms that citizens can possess as “reasonable regulations” during an interview with Melissa Block on NPR’s All Things Considered, March 14, 2008.

Obviously Ted Cruz has a deep understanding of the issues in this case. He has previously argued, in court, that bans on “assault weapons” are “reasonable regulations.”

When Ted Cruz calls these restrictions unconstitutional now, he is lying, and he is doing it intentionally.

July 11, 2007 - Senator Lindsey Graham expresses his...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:38:04 -0500

July 11, 2007 - Senator Lindsey Graham expresses his “deepest respect” and admiration for Senator Chuck Hagel. He hopes that Hagel “continues in public service for a very long time” because of his knowledge and wisdom.

Senator Graham is the most vocal opponent of President Obama’s nomination of Chuck Hagel to be Secretary of Defense.

December 31, 2012 - Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) goes to the floor...

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 15:03:12 -0500

December 31, 2012 - Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) goes to the floor of the Senate to respond to President Obama’s remarks to middle class Americans.

He says he thinks Obama’s remarks may have cost the President votes. “Not my vote,” Corker says, “I’m not that way.” He obviously thinks some members of his party are “that way.”

Corker goes on to say that if revenues are going to be used to offset the sequester cuts, “count me out!”

December 17, 2012 - An article by George Zornick of The Nation...

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:50:45 -0500

December 17, 2012 - An article by George Zornick of The Nation brought to my attention the fact that Walmart had pulled the Bushmaster rifle from its website. An earlier article by Zornick tabulated the mass shootings for the year.