SCANDAL! SCANDAL! Scandal? Republicans, again, using the throw the spaghetti on the wall and see if something sticks.

This week, it seems that the most important news in this country is the Obama administration's evil and illegal scandals and cover ups! OH...MY...GOD...teabaggers and republicons are worse than high school gossip and soap operas...white trash soap operas....so, I will try to muddle through this slimy stinky pile of crap that the right have been falling on their fainting couches over.

First: Benghazi. I haven't understood this yet...it seems that the republicons were mortified that 4 embassy staff, including an ambassador were killed and President Obama did absolutely NOTHING, but wait...no, its not about the men dying, its because Obama tried to cover it up and downplay the terrorist act during the election...but wait, President Obama called it an "act of terror" the day after the attack...so its because he didn't use the term, "terrorism"...huh? Confused yet?

This basically began as a campaign to slam Susan Rice so she would not be able to accept the Secretary of State position. Ms. Rice did make the talking head circles after the attack with prepared statements from the CIA which did downplay it being a terrorist attack, but the reasoning behind it was they hadn't investigated it enough to be sure it was a terrorist attack. But you can't go on TV and say, "we haven't had the time to investigate the reasons for the attack" cuz then the talking points would be "OBAMA'S NOT INVESTIGATING QUICK ENOUGH, BENGHAZI'S ON THE BACK BURNER"...or something worse. But then it was Hillary's fault, she hid from the patriotic teabaggers by giving herself a concussion, but even with a concussion, she made more sense than Rand Paul. So, we have Boehner complaining about emails he didn't see because when the White House invited him to see the emails, he refused...and then we have a star witness in Mr. Hicks...who isn't so much of a witness after all, then we have the "EMAIL Scandal"  which ends up only being a scandal because Faux News and the Daily Standard made up what was in the emails and now we have all of the emails and no "there" there, in fact the White House wasn't even involved...but WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

So, onto the next spaghetti plate...er...scandal: the IRS auditing right wing tax shelters...oh, sorry, non-profits. First, that's what I thought was one of IRS's responsibilities--to audit/approve non-profit applications. Well, silly me..BUTBUTBUT the IRS did a much larger investigation in right wing applications! That's wrong! Really? Let's remember that since 2010, there has been a major upswing in batshit crazy right wing groups(with the Citizen's United decision) and that many of them have no problem bragging, in print or on TV about how much they've raised for political purposes rather than social welfare. So again, more hearings, more spells on the fainting couch, more turtle hysterics, only to discover that this, again, doesn't lead to the White House. It was handled poorly(although didn't effect any of the high rollers in the non-profit campaign financing shills such as Crossroads or Americans for Prosperity), shouldn't have been done that way, but with no White House demands...OK, so that's done....
And there goes the plate of salad! The DOJ subpoenas phone records of AP reporters!!!! What happened to the Fourth Estate?!?!??! Freedom of the Press???? Freedom of Speech!!!! It died with the Patriot Act. Now, to be technical, there was no wrongdoing. The DOJ followed the letter of the law and did it under the guise of "national security" and received the records for phone numbers, there are no recorded conversations, just phone records--and there had been a bill, called the Shield Law, which would have stopped this, but the republicons voted it down...and now they blame Obama? Well of course! And, still this only goes to the Dept. of Justice, not the White House. Too bad, you lose again teabaggers...
OK so now goes the dessert(I'd never throw the dessert) splaying across the wall...today, the newest scandal? President Obama had a Military escort hold his umbrella!!!!! NO President has ever done that in the past!!! Except for Reagan, BushI, BushII....oops, you the cons lose again.
There very real wrongdoings, in my opinion, with the Obama Administration, one of which is the treatment of whistle blowers, the cons won't bring this up because its something cons approve.
So, after all of the screaming, fainting, crying, and yelling, Congress has just wasted their time and our money...and actual problems? Nope, not even touched.

Let's Review the week of April 14, 2013

The week of April 14, 2013 left me feeling like I'm under the influence of a 3 day bender of tequila and Fritos...and I hate Fritos.
OK, Sunday was boring,
So, from  Monday on  gave us the Boston Marathon bombing, congressional hypocrisy, Texas fertilizer plant explosion, blizzards in WY, CO, MN, tornadoes in OK and people in my neck of the woods building arks, by Thursday, the Boston bombers got jealous and started killing people again, including the older brother.
So, on Monday, April 15, lovingly known as Tax Day throughout the United States and Patriot's Day in Massachusetts, the Boston Marathon Bombing occurs. I think its safe to say that it knocked many of us to the core and we learned that a little boy was killed, along with his sister losing a leg and mom receiving some type of brain injury...all because they, as a family, watched dad run in the marathon. By the time it was over, 3 people were killed and over 200 injured and during the hunt for the 2 brothers, many citizen's rights were trampled upon. My opinion? I understand why the police trampled, but I hope that this is a very rare case, both the bombing and the trampling of rights. The good news? By the end of the week, one brother was in custody and the other was in the morgue. Lindsay Graham screamed about immigrants, then fell back on the fainting couch, Peter King did the same...and all forgot about the other immigrant, Carlos Arrendondo, the gentleman in the cowboy hat. The one that lost one son in Iraq and his other committed suicide due to his brother's death? You know, the one who assisted the marathoner, tended to his injuries, grabbed him and his dis-attached  legs and got him very quickly to medical staff? Yes, that immigrant. By the way, due to his quick interaction, not only the man survive, but the injured marathoner ID'd the bombers which helped police catch them that much quicker.
At the same time, 2 letters tainted with ricin were received by the mail facility addressed to one Mississippi senator and President Obama. First they pick up an Elvis Impersonator(Kevin Curtis) who swears he didn't do it, but has an idea who did and the other guy(James Everett Dutschke) was just setting him up...and that's the actual story! Yes, America it's finally happened...we ARE the reality show.
But there were many other stories that didn't get the publicity that they should have, First, again in my opinion, was the overturn of the Stock Act by Congress almost a year after it was signed into law as I wrote about here. This law updated the Congressional Ethics act of 1978, banning congressional members being able to enrich themselves on insider trading -- just like the rest of us. Well, Congress overturned it, saying it was a matter of National Security that they be able to get rich on something the rest of us would be put in jail...just ask Martha Stewart.
Then there was the West Texas fertilizer explosion. This explosion killed 15 people and injured over 200. It also decimated the town around the plant, including 75 homes and 80 apartments, one nursing home and damage to the school(luckily, the school wasn't in session when the explosion happened).  Now,  within 2 days, the 2 brothers had been named and we all knew what they looked like. It took over a week to find out much about who owned the Fertilizer plant. See, its a private company and I guess in Texas, they don't even keep records on who owns what! Yes, that was snarkey.
Mr. Donald Adair, owner of the West Fertilizer Co., Adair Grains, Inc. did finally come out and make a statement, but has not, as far as I can find, given any reasons on why he had so much of the ammonium nitrate at the facility, 270 tons of the stuff, 1350 times the amount that they were supposed to legally have one site. Then the word comes out that there hadn't been an OSHA inspection in almost 30 years! But, then considering there are only 2200 OSHA inspectors nationwide(and millions of sites to inspect). This is what happens when republicons keep cutting OSHA's budget, which is down to about $568 Million. Yes, their "small government" can be defined by the people that are killed by it. Oh, and the kicker? This asshole only has $1 million of insurance on the friggin' plant...so, any guesses on who's gonna be paying for this disaster? Or should the rest of the nation treat the Texas disaster the same way Texas congressmen treated Hurricane Sandy?
This was the real tragedy and crime of the week of April 14. not the Boston bombing. That was 2 psychopaths who've been caught. The explosion is the true terrorism--the annihilation of  the American Middle Class and a Democratic government. Because when government does not protect the people, only the big bidness, we are now living in a plutocracy. Mr. Adair needs to be in prison for the murder of those victims and the millions of dollars of property damage he chose to allow due to his negligence and abuse. Plain and simple.