The news observation thread

I saw on Nightline last night that O.J. Simpson thinks he should be released from jail, and that Angelina Jolie was getting a double-mastectomy. You know, the much more important stuff National News corps. should be following.

Joe Gearin wrote:

bravenrace wrote: In reply to JoeyM: This is not floundering. This is an off-topic on the off-topic section, and the subject matter is something that should be considered an outrage by any American, regardless of their political leanings. If politicians and government employees are treated as being above the law, then it affects everyone.

Congress does not have to adhere to the laws the rest of us do. They are "above" the law as the law is currently written. ( written by them by the way) Just look into Congressional insider trading---- what they do legally would put the rest of us in jail----- just ask Martha Stewart. Yes, they abolished insider trading.......then snuck it back in while no one was looking! We are being led by criminals.

Quoted for truthiness.

bludroptop wrote: Remember the story of the boy who cried "wolf"? Muslim, socialist, Kenyan-born, blah, blah, blah. Tell enough lies and no one will believe the truth from you any longer. I have no idea if the White House will be implicated but I'm pretty confident the truth will come out at some point - it always does. That said, the omparisons to Nixon are just so deliciously bat-crazy that I can't stop laughing, so thanks for that much.

That is what I meant by the "borderline retarded" comment. They tried outright lies so ridiculous as to be comical to discredit the oval office. Now, when they have a clear case of illegal behavior... why aren't they crucifying Mr Miller? I figured they would have run outright lies of a link to the White House up the flag pole. I'm not saying there was one. People often act alone, illegally, completely un-coerced, in opposition to their own best interests for the good of some other people who never know about the things these "fans" do on their behalf. Obviously. But... I thought someone would be making a bigger fuss what with having made such a big stink about this exact sort of thing 40 years ago tomorrow.

bludroptop wrote: Remember the story of the boy who cried "wolf"? Muslim, socialist, Kenyan-born, blah, blah, blah. Tell enough lies and no one will believe the truth from you any longer. I have no idea if the White House will be implicated but I'm pretty confident the truth will come out at some point - it always does. That said, the omparisons to Nixon are just so deliciously bat-crazy that I can't stop laughing, so thanks for that much.

The comparison of concerned taxpayers who might be on some sort of hit-list to "birthers" is a bit of a stretch. Don't you think? Nixon used the IRS to punish his "enemies." It would appear as though the same thing is going on today. Relevant, don't you think? I don't think anyone in this thread has used the word "Muslim" or "Socialist" but you.

I thought this was a great quote from Bill Maher- "The IRS targeted people who want to abolish the IRS? Shocking, like getting pulled over more after YOU put on the berkeley the Police bumper sticker."

I think Steve Miller had his own agenda and now he is paying for it.

Just because you hate the IRS gives them reason to come after you?!?! Brilliant logic...

poopshovel wrote: The comparison of concerned taxpayers who might be on some sort of hit-list to "birthers" is a bit of a stretch. Don't you think? Nixon used the IRS to punish his "enemies." It would appear as though the same thing is going on today. Relevant, don't you think? I don't think anyone in this thread has used the word "Muslim" or "Socialist" but you.

You clearly seem to be missing his point. He is referring to certain "voices" that are constantly yelling accusations and hyperbole that may times have little basis.

The association with Watergate is a bit off the mark. Nixon was not impeached for using the IRS, he was impeached for being involved with a crime for political gain and very clearly trying to use power and influence to stop the legal investigation. This situation is no where near that level:

"smoking gun" tape: After explaining how the money from CRP was traced to the burglars, Haldeman explained to Nixon the coverup plan: "the way to handle this now is for us to have Walters [CIA] call Pat Gray [FBI] and just say, 'Stay the hell out of this …this is ah, business here we don't want you to go any further on it.'" President Nixon approved the plan, and after he is given more information about the involvement of his campaign in the break-in, he tells Haldeman: "All right, fine, I understand it all. We won't second-guess Mitchell and the rest." Returning to the use of the CIA to obstruct the FBI, he instructs Haldeman: "You call them in. Good. Good deal. Play it tough. That's the way they play it and that's the way we are going to play it."

aircooled wrote: Nixon was not impeached for using the IRS, he was impeached for being involved with a crime for political gain and very clearly trying to use power and influence to stop the legal investigation.

The two articles I listed in the OP were directly from articles 1 & 2 of section 2 (Abuse of Power) from the Articles of Impeachment. So... he was actually. Not that alone - but that, yes, in addition to abetting a cover up.

Here is the whole list, scroll or search down to Articles of Impeachment: http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/impeachments/nixon.htm

One thing to remember:

Politics has changed over the decades. It used to be about being the best person for the job... now it is being "not as bad that guy". So, everything is about making the "otherside" look evil. EVERYTHING has to be taken with a grain of salt... yet MOST people take the things that "their team" says at face value, and everything from the "other team" as lies. And the news stations have latched on to that. They report the worst, even to the point of running with obvious falsities, because it gets people to watch. It gets the people on their side to watch in agreement, and the other to watch in outrage... but ALL are outraged: home team is outraged that the other guys are getting away stuff, and away team is outraged that people are saying that.

Outrage sells.

SCARR wrote: Outrage sells.

We're doing it wrong. We must be. Everybody's outraged, but not in a way that make much difference.

SCARR wrote: Outrage sells.

Ding ding ding ding!

SCARR wrote: One thing to remember: Politics has changed over the decades. It used to be about being the best person for the job... now it is being "not as bad that guy". So, everything is about making the "otherside" look evil. EVERYTHING has to be taken with a grain of salt... yet MOST people take the things that "their team" says at face value, and everything from the "other team" as lies. And the news stations have latched on to that. They report the worst, even to the point of running with obvious falsities, because it gets people to watch. It gets the people on their side to watch in agreement, and the other to watch in outrage... but ALL are outraged: home team is outraged that the other guys are getting away stuff, and away team is outraged that people are saying that. Outrage sells.

QFT!

In other news Venezuela is running out of toilet paper

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/16/venezuela-toilet-paper-shortage-50m

Ya know Nixon didn't even use the IRS to go after anybody.. He just talked about it... (among other things)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kp9BJxFHDYI

Doesn't quite look like Watergate to me. At least not yet.

At this point, the Bengahzi thing seems to mostly being covering up plain old incompetence instead of covering up actual crimes. It's playing politics here - not that they shouldn't play politics with it. "Do a few heads need to roll over this?" is a valid question.

The IRS thing isn't good. Several people need to be punished for it. But at this point, it's not clear Obama had anything personally to do with it.

The AP thing? Again, not sure how far up that goes. It's one I'd have to wait and see. I have to say that ticking off the AP when the media had been more or less ignoring the other trouble brewing wasn't a smart move.

While this doesn't approach Watergrate because it was (probably) limited one government agency, it does shed light on our government's integrity and thoughts on free opinion. Unannounced by the liberal media, the head of the IRS was actually set to resign in June anyway (before any of this happened) so his resignation and Obama's call for him to resign means little.

Any been made to explain how the Koch bros tax info was 'leaked' during the campaign.

Yeah. He didnt know nuttin.

If people can buy that. I think I need to explore a career in bridge sales

Mmadness wrote: While this doesn't approach Watergrate because it was (probably) limited one government agency, it does shed light on our government's integrity and thoughts on free opinion. Unannounced by the liberal media, the head of the IRS was actually set to resign in June anyway (before any of this happened) so his resignation and Obama's call for him to resign means little.

EPA should have their own scandal being reported on shortly.

Ain't nothing new. The IRS stuck a flashlight up Martin Luther King's butt and John Lennon's too, those are two of the more famous lefty types to have that happen. There's also the fact that the only way Al Capone was finally shut down was for tax evasion.

So this has all happened before, the IRS has been used as a weapon before and will be again.

I wish I still had the RNC fundraiser letter I got a few years ago which finally cementd all this for me, it was outrageous and had a lot to do with me shedding my moderate Republican clothing. And before anybody makes a peep, damn right the Democrats do it too. There is no place in American politics for the moderate any more even though survey after survey show the vast majority of this country is moderate.

Both sides are guilty and the media is complicit up to their eyeballs because, as noted, 'outrage sells'.

MLK was a republican. Check into your history about who put the IRS on him.

Ya know Hillary worked on the democrats side in Watergate. Fired at end by her boss for unethical behavior

Boogie man in closet is not amused.

rebelgtp wrote: In other news Venezuela is running out of toilet paper http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/16/venezuela-toilet-paper-shortage-50m

Sorry about that. We had to buy up all the toilet paper because of the volume of excrement our political pundits produce.