AZ Congerssman Considering Lawsuit To Clarify Obama’s Citizenship

Glenn Thrush at Politico picks up on the Mohave Daily News story of a town hall meeting conducted by Arizona Congressman Trent Franks.

Oh, yeah, and Franks apparently didn’t object when an audience member suggested Obama “denounced” the U.S. as a Christian nation during an overseas trip, which never happened.

Franks had his share of birthers in the audience.

One woman said a newspaper announcement of his birth in Hawaii was not sufficient. Another asked how he could have a passport without a birth certificate.

Franks said there was not enough evidence that Obama is not an …

NY Post: Bernie Madoff Dying Of Cancer – UPDATED With Conflicting Report

The New York Post reports that the swindler who is serving a 150 year sentence had little to lose by confessing to the worlds biggest Ponzi scheme.  He’s telling fellow inmates he doesn’t have long to live.

“He’s been taking about 20 pills a day for his cancer,” said one inmate.

“He talks about it all the time. He’s not doing very well.”

There’s been much speculation as to why Madoff took the entire fall for the scheme — and rumors of his suffering from pancreatic cancer surfaced many months before he arrived at the Butner, NC, complex …

Obama Further Distances Himself From Bush With Interrogation Unit

The White House is establishing something called the “High Value Detainee Interrogation Group” to create a new process of interrogating terrorism suspects. This is seen as a way to distance itself from the policies of BushCo, coming under increasing fire with the imminent release of a CIA report on past abuses.

The new group and new directives to rely soley on the Army Field Manual when interrogating prisoners is an attempt by the administration to separate itself from allegation that the Bush administration tortured some prisoners. While the practice of waterboarding – simulated drowning – already has been …

Lack Of Competition Among Private Health Insurers

And that’s the problem a public plan would alleviate.

Several studies show that in lots of places, one or two companies dominate the market. Critics say monopolistic conditions drive up premiums paid by employers and individuals.

For Democrats, the answer is a public plan that would compete with private insurers. Republicans see that as a government power grab.

Even some Republicans get it.

“There is a serious problem with the lack of competition among insurers,” said Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the highest-cost states. “The impact on the consumer is significant.”

Wellpoint Inc. accounted …

Is This What Passes For Conservative Humor?

El Rushbo does a “Barney Frank is gay” joke, saying he “lives around Uranus.”  Hahahahaha. So funny! So, it’s not the woman comparing Obama to Hitler and health care reform to a Nazi policy who’s at fault here, it’s Barney Frank (who, guess what, is gay gay gay!)

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Newsweek: CIA Conducted Mock Executions, Then Destroyed The Tapes

Newsweek is reporting that a CIA report about to be released reveals that mock executions took place, conducted by CIA investagors, who then destroyed evidence that it ever happened. (Pictured is a photo from Abu Ghraib taken in 2003.)

…the report describes how one detainee, suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, was threatened with a gun and a power drill during the course of CIA interrogation…Nashiri’s interrogators brandished the gun in an effort to convince him that he was going to be shot. Interrogators also turned on a power drill and held it near him. “The purpose was to …

Jon Voight Has Jumped The Shark

The conservative Hollywood actor asks, “Is President Obama creating a civil war in our own country?“

“We are witnessing a slow, steady takeover of our true freedoms. We are becoming a socialist nation, and whoever can’t see this is probably hoping it isn’t true. If we permit Mr. Obama to take over all our industries, if we permit him to raise our taxes to support unconstitutional causes, then we will be in default. This great America will become a paralyzed nation.”

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Libertarian Vacation: Somalia

This is where you can live, vacation, and just be.  No government to get in your way.

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Rep. Virginia Foxx: Health Care Reform Is A Distraction

Congresswoman Virginia Foxx of North Carolina believes that diddling around with health care reform is distracting us from taking care of our national security. (h/t Think Progress).  Foxx has said there are no Americans without health care in America.

“There are no Americans who don’t have healthcare. Everybody in this country has access to healthcare,” she says. “We do have about 7.5 million Americans who want to purchase health insurance who can not afford it,” she says, urging Congress to adopt a new plan for healthcare reform that wouldn’t “destroy what is good about healthcare in this country” and …

Mexico Decrminalizes Casual Drug Use

Mexico has decriminalized small-scale drug possession, so casual users can’t be extorted by the police and those who want and need it can get treatment instead of prosecution.

“This is not legalization, this is regulating the issue and giving citizens greater legal certainty,” said Bernardo Espino del Castillo of the attorney general’s office.

The new law sets out maximum “personal use” amounts for drugs, also including LSD and methamphetamine. People detained with those quantities no longer face criminal prosecution.

... Read more »

Anyone caught with drug amounts under the new personal-use limit will be encouraged to seek …

Ridge On Record As Disagreeing With BushCo On Raising Threat Levels In 2005

Bush administration officials are predictably blasting Tom Ridge for revelations in his new book that he was pressured to raise terror alerts as a 2004 election ploy.  Former Press Secretary Scott McClellan says Ridge had better be able to back his claims.  But McClellan also says:

“There is no question exploiting the war on terror was viewed by the political strategists as integral to branding the president as a strong and decisive leader who will keep America safe.”

Ridge said in 2005, at the time he resigned, that he often disagreed with the administration on the need to …