Judge To Orly Taitz: Don’t Use Courts For Political Agenda

by Thomas Wellborn

Orly Taitz’s appeal of the $20,000 fine imposed by The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has been rejected.  The fine was imposed on Taitz for a long history of frivolous court filings in her “Birther” case against President Obama.

Judge Clay Land of the U.S. District Court in the Middle District Of Georgia:

When a lawyer files complaints and motions without a reasonable basis for believing that they are supported by existing law or a modification or extension of existing law, that lawyer abuses her privilege to practice law.  When a lawyer uses the courts as

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Approx 25% of Californians have NO Health Coverage

by Thomas Wellborn

In a jump of almost 2 million people from 2007 to 2009, 8.2 million Californians lack basic health coverage due to soaring costs and tough economic times, according to UCLA’s Center for Health Policy Research. Not included in this study were adults 65 and older, who are covered under federal Medicare insurance.

Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California:

“The shocking increase in people losing insurance spotlights the problem that . . . coverage may not be there for us when we need it. This adds more urgency to the debate over the pending health

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Michele Bachmann is Essentially Encouraging Civil Disobedience

by Thomas Wellborn

Michele Bachmann is at it again.  This time she’s calling on opponents of health care reform legislation to break the law by openly defying it.

“But mark my words, the American people aren’t gonna take this lying down,” Bachmann later said. “We aren’t gonna play their game, we’re not gonna pay their taxes. They want us to pay for this? Because we don’t have to. We don’t have to. We don’t have to follow a bill that isn’t law. That’s not the American way, and that’s not what we’re going to do.”

The message she is sending …

Internet Grew 20% More Hateful In 2009

A report by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Tolerance shows that terrorists and hate groups are turning to Facebook and Twitter in greater numbers, and that the Internet got 20% nastier last year.

The report, based on some 11,500 problematic Web sites, social networks , chat forums, twitter posts, other Internet postings, found that hate-filled language is increasingly filling social networks. In compiling it, researchers for the Wiesenthal center found such disturbing online content as video footage showing bomb-making instructions and hate games — including one about bombing Haitian earthquake victims.

The report found a 20% increase to 11,500 …

Scandal-Plagued Georgia Republican Too Conservative To Salute Flag

TPMMuckraker introduces us to gubernatorial hopeful Ray McBerry:

A far-right Republican candidate for governor of Georgia has issued what must be one of the most counter-productive — and flat-out hilarious — denials in the history of modern political campaigning.

On Saturday, Ray McBerry sent out a lengthy statement denying that he “attempted to have an affair” with his former campaign manager; had sexual relations with under-aged girls; stole custody of his son from the son’s mother (who, he noted, had tested positive for meth anyway); is no longer allowed to teach in the state; and is unpatriotic, just because he …

On Monday’s Radio Show…

Guest host Sam Greenfield fills in for Alan.…

Virginia Attorney General Says Proving Obama Born In Kenya “Not Beyond The Realm Of Possibility”

Blogger Not Larry Sabato has an audio of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli laying out how a case can be made to challenge President Obama’s citizenship, saying “it’s not beyond the realm of possibility.” (h/t Think Progress)

Q: Is that something you can do as Attorney General? Can you do that or something?

CUCCINELLI: Well only if there is a conflict where we are suing the federal government for a law they’ve passed. So it’s possible. ... Read more » Well, that’s a good question. Not one I’ve thought a lot about because it hasn’t been part of my campaign. …

Boehner Doing All He Can to KILL BILL

by Thomas Wellborn

Ohio Rep. John Boehner (R) admits that Republicans can’t stop this bill from passing on their own, so he’s determined to do everything in his power to make its passing impossible.  Democrats, who hold a majority in the House,  need 216 votes for passage, and Republicans are doing what they can to sway Democrats away from the vote.

Boehner:

I don’t have enough votes on my side of the aisle to stop the bill.

But I, along with a majority of the American people who are opposed to this, can stop this bill. And we’re going to do

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Ray Stevens Thinks We Won’t Get His Pro-Palin Message

Country artist Ray Stevens props up Sarah Palin and takes aim at liberal cablecasters, but someone who may be his PR person thinks some of us won’t get it, as evidenced by Stevens’s Wikipedia page.

This music video is about Sarah Palin and it takes the derogatory phrase caribou barbie and twists it around as a compliment. The video uses a Palin impersonator and through the help of sight-gags it takes aim at several high profile newscasters on cable television. The video also parodies Sarah Palin’s image and it’s possible that those who do not like Palin will perhaps …

Michele Bachmann Likens Obama To Chavez; Cites Tyranny; Calls Him “Post-American”

As Glenn Thrush at Politico notes, it’s been something like an hour since Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann questioned someone’s patriotism, so it was time to do it again, Saturday at a rally in St. Paul.

“Some have called President Obama the first post American president,” she said. “Certainly this health care bill would be our first post Modern legislation where words mean absolutely nothing.”

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“Passing the health care bill and moving it to the president’s desk in the same manner used by the last administration to pass tax breaks “sounds more like a Chavez tactic in Venezuela,” Michele Bachmann …

Justice John Paul Stevens Says He’ll Retire Within Three Years

In a New Yorker interview with Jeffrey Toobin, the most liberal member of the Supreme Court says that when he first was nominated to the court he viewed himself as a Republican.  He doesn’t say whether he still regards himself that way (h/t Think Progress)

Stevens is an unlikely liberal icon. When he was appointed, he told me recently, he thought of himself as a Republican and always had—“ever since my father voted for Coolidge and Harding.” He declined to say whether he still does.

While the country, and the court, has moved demonstrably to the right, Stevens’s own …