Those with something to hide apparently have a problem with that transparency, thus this latest push to “de-fang” the panel. This story should have legs, because we need more, not less, transparency in government. Unfortunately it’s not getting the coverage it should, which will assist in its swift, easy passage, leaving Americans none-the-wiser. And they wonder why we want to vote every incumbent running out this year.

Arizona has been swimming in illegal alien problems (about 10% of the total population in AZ vs. less than 4% nationwide)  for over a decade now, and every few years the state begs the federal government to intervene. Every time the federal government postures it will do something about the problem, the businesses and wealthy people who benefit from illegal wages donate another $1,000 or so to the right politician, and that politician (usually a gaggle of them) work to defeat the bill.

Looking at it honestly and unemotionally, I bet a state like Wisconsin could not stand financially solvent for long if 10% of its population did not pay taxes and yet used the services those taxes provide, and which could not be counted for any federal relief, as only legal citizens can be counted for those federal dollars. That’s one problem.

Here’s another. This story is from New York, but you can bet the same kind of thing is happening in AZ. In the New York case, a legal immigrant has been accused of exploiting illegal immigrants, paying them $1.70 an hour for janitorial work when the minimum wage is $7.25. The neat trick perpetrated by Pedro Espada Jr. is not unlike the case of Africans selling their own into slavery. It can’t all be the fault of racist white people (racist by dint of their skin color, and their supposed “privilege,” as if there were no poor white folks) if people are doing this to their own kind.

And, of course, that’s just what this bill is. It’s a different kind of war, a financial war on the American people; a way to enable the worst sort of gambling addicts, the kind that would sell his mother’s house out from under her for another go at Vegas. That’s Lloyd Blankfein for you. He and his cronies bet against their own people, the people who provide the freedoms they enjoy, who support this country with their blood, sweat, and tears. That’s un-American.

And neither party will do a thing about it; they will just keep gorging like the ticks they are, slipped in here and there among the scales of the giant vampire squid that is Goldman Sachs and the finance/banking industry. Both sides are playing kabuki. Republicans, the former heroes of Wall Street, are filibustering the toothless Democratic bill because it causes Wall Street to dump more bank into their coffers. The Democrats, the new heroes of Wall Street, have offered what amounts to a sweetheart deal to the financial sector, including a new authority to provide a hotline for bailouts. It does not regulate derivatives  or any of the other fishy practices that got us into this mess. Instead, our elected crooks want to adopt those practices by forcing a value added tax, which will, among other things, allow them to tax more of your food.

Don’t you see? They’re colluding with each other, just like Goldman Sachs colluded with John Paulson to dupe everybody. It’s maddening to see them arrange things just so and command their bullhorns, turning crowds of people into ignorant, partisan baffoons. In this kind of environment, it is impossible to know what is right and what is real, and that is just the point of it all. That’s also the point of our Chaos Party. Do something about it. Do something unexpected. Take a chance even if you think you’ll get fucked over. You will get fucked over if you do nothing or keep doing what you’re doing.

In this article he’s pushing the ridiculous assertion that Nancy Pelosi and half the Black Caucus were just realizing a progressive value by walking to work before going to vote on the Health Insurance Bailout Reform bill. Of course they weren’t trying to bait those evil, racist Tea Partiers. His argument culminates in this twist of logic:

I’m trying to wrap my head around the argument here. Democrats heard racist rhetoric from some in the Tea Party crowd. Rather than denounce the racism, conservatives prefer to argue that African-American lawmakers are liars.

In the next breath, those same conservatives insist that the racist slurs (that ostensibly didn’t exist) should be blamed on Democrats themselves for inciting the right-wing crowd.

Classic strawman. Build an argument that no one made and then argue with that. Base it on faith and erroneous assumptions. Add ice; shake; pour. Presto! The Odiot’s Easter-morning Bloody Mary is served!

The Republicans (stoopid as they are) never made the argument that Pelosi et al were inciting the so-called right-wing crowd. They never made an assertion at all. The right-blogosphere made the argument that Democrats attempted to do just that, and failed. And fail they did. So far not a single video or recording has been posted showing anyone was called the n-word or spat upon. This despite a $100,000 cash reward offered by another propagandist, Andrew Breitbart.

Furthermore, why should anyone take on faith someone’s accusation of a racial slur in this environment, given what we know. Nobody gets to make that charge and not back it up, or discuss it, which Rep. Cleaver is now refusing to do. To top it off, he’s lied about it. His comment during the refusal:

I never, I never reported anything, never a single thing in Washington, not one thing. People assume I went somewhere, never done press conference, never done an interview on it and I’m not going to do it.

His press release after the incident:

For many of the members of the CBC, like John Lewis and Emanuel Cleaver who worked in the civil rights movement, and for Mr. Frank who has struggled in the cause of equality, this is not the first time they have been spit on during turbulent times.

This afternoon, the Congressman was walking into the Capitol to vote, when one protester spat on him. The Congressman would like to thank the US Capitol Police officer who quickly escorted the others Members and him into the Capitol, and defused the tense situation with professionalism and care. After all the Members were safe, a full report was taken and the matter was handled by the US Capitol Police. The man who spat on the Congressman was arrested, but the Congressman has chosen not to press charges. He has left the matter with the Capitol Police.

This is not the first time the Congressman has been called the “n” word and certainly not the worst assault he has endured in his years fighting for equal rights for all Americans. That being said, he is disappointed that in the 21st century our national discourse has devolved to the point of name calling and spitting. He looks forward to taking a historic vote on health care reform legislation tomorrow, for the residents of the Fifth District of Missouri and for all Americans. He believes deeply that tomorrow’s vote is, in fact, a vote for equality and to secure health care as a right for all. Our nation has a history of struggling each time we expand rights. Today’s protests are no different, but the Congressman believes this is worth fighting for.

Turns out nobody was even arrested, as the press release clearly claims. Kabuki of the highest order. There is no more effective way to silence someone today (short of death) than to call them a racist. It makes all those people paying attention at the periphery, who may or may not induced to join the political process,  smell the stink of something odious, and they permanently tune it out. That, and it riles the leftist base like nothing else.

And so it has. Until the Right fought back. Now Democrats and their supporters are just wishing Republicans would concede the racist point of view of the Tea Party and apologize already. Which they promptly did. Back to Breitbart:

The press went straight to petrified Republican leaders like John Boehner and Michael Steele over the falsified “N-word” allegations, who dutifully offered apologies that they were not qualified to give. It was a set-up.

Once again it is the online media that is chasing this story and pushing it, this time the right-blogosphere. They won’t let this go, and why should they? They should defuse this ridiculous slur now, the same slur, coincidentally, used to dis-empower the PUMA group and other Hillary Clinton supporters in 2008.  Democrats and their supporters will continue to use this very effective tool if someone doesn’t show it for what it is.

Luckily, some Americans are paying attention to the concentrated attempt to dis-empower the grassroots movement known as the Tea Party. People are talking and the press is finally starting to realize the power the Tea Party represents, and its authenticity, despite the thus far rebuffed attempts of Republican operatives trying to court it. The frantic attempts by Democrats and their friends in the media and in the left-blogosphere are transparent to anyone who isn’t drinking the kool-aid. There are two major reasons why they’re scared: Democrats are losing women; The Tea Party is gaining them.

Addendum: I meant to include this link in the post, and forgot about it. It offers an explanation and map of the underground Congressional tunnels most lawmakers, including Pelosi, Cleaver, et al routinely use. There is a subway tunnel and a walking tunnel from the Congressional offices to the Congress, four tunnels total, counting the Senate side. This was pure theater.

An article like this is a plant, something arranged by power operatives in Washington who are outraged that Massa let out family secrets. I personally applaud him for doing so. We need more information like this. We need more people breaking the silence. That’s how we as a nation have dealt with, for example, the Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal. People stood up and told the truth. Keep telling the truth, Mr. Massa. What happened to you is what we call bullshit out here in the real world.

Now, back to using the information in this article to further a political agenda. It’s all about frames. This needs to be framed right. What I learned in this article includes:

1. The Congress has a gym! At taxpayers expense!
2. Rahm Emanual, who is no longer part of the congressional delegation, is still using the House Gym.
3. Workplace bullying is still running rampant in Congress, and it must be addressed.
4. Several quoted lawmakers want to keep the Gym and what happens in it from the public. They don’t have that right.

First of all, I want to know why we are paying for these folks have a place to work out. Last time I checked every single one of these people are paid enough to provide their own gym membership, or to purchase their own gym equipment. In these tough economic times, Congress must cut expenses. The gym is a great place to start. So is their health insurance. A smart grass-roots movement would target those outrageous expenses, in addition to a number of others. It is important to show how out of touch and entitled nearly every single member of congress is, regardless of party.

Second of all, you can bet Massa’s story is true. You can tell by the nervous or angry responses from several elected officials in the article. You can also tell by the fact that the people defending Rahm in the article are all unnamed sources speaking on condition of anonymity. Finally, you can tell because Massa has nothing to lose or gain by telling the story. When people have nothing left to lose, they either go bat-shit insane or they start telling the truth to anyone who will listen, which is then framed as going bat-shit insane.

What, then, is Rahm Emanual doing using the House gym now that he is no longer a House member? Someone should investigate this matter and use it to further the already existing movement to ruin him. He deserves it.

Thirdly, and lastly, this amounts to just more evidence of what this administration learned from the last one. This is hallmark Dick Cheney-esque/Karl Rove-ian, arm-twisting and incident-engineering to force something to happen that the American people don’t want, in this case a health insurance bail out. This is the neoconservative playbook being employed by the Democratic Party, in case you needed anymore evidence that the DP was every bit as corrupt as the Republican Party. Both parties have your security and well-being in their sights, and they are actively attacking you.

But hey, you’re right. It makes way more sense to attack fellow voters than to attack the people who are organized around wealth and power and who are already targeting you, working around the clock to make your life as insignificant and difficult as possible while they enrich themselves. Why end Congressional entitlements when you can just drink beer and make jokes with your friends about the Tea Party or the Coffee Party, or whatever the beverage of choice is this month?

I don’t know why everyone seems so outraged at how we’ve been pissed on by the Obama administration. Actually, it’s a long standing tradition. The same old crew of elites has always been pissing on the citizenry down here. They’ve just had different presidents holding their dicks for them. I wouldn’t worry too much about it “leading to electoral disaster?” Our electoral process IS a disaster. The electoral college is designed to thwart the popular vote. And regarding “If the Dems are going to rule like the Republicans anyway.” Neither party rules. Corporations do the ruling. Politicians conduct the public sing-along about democracy.

Thanks for the dose of truth with a nice wash-down of comic relief, Joe. You put it so coolly, I almost don’t mind the Congressional fiddling while Rome burns, even though I feel the lick of the flames.

John W. Smith has a pretty darn good post from Friday, too. My favorite paragraph:

The creation of the HC monster was and continues to be the grossest example of overt, in your face, political malfeasance in my life time, excepting possibly the run up to the Iraq invasion. It’s not excused by the “sausage making” legislative process either. Let’s take a two by four to the skull of that little meme right now. Sausage making in legislative bodies is not new and concerned citizens did not suddenly discover it via Twitter and Glenn Beck. We know what they are up to. Even when they are in their natural state of repose: Corporate whoredom. It’s just that bridges to nowhere and contracts for 300 dollar toilet seats, while aggravating, don’t scare the hell out of people. A bill that will affect every single soul in the republic being written by many who easily qualify as sociopaths is not “bringing home the bacon” to the good people of some lonely, gerrymandered Idaho congressional district. “This is how things work in D.C. and people are now just seeing it” is bullshit of the first order. People are “seeing” Chicago thuggery combined with political incompetence that makes Nero seem forward looking and wise. That’s what we’re seeing.

Yves Smith unravels the strange narrative of Rahm Emanuel making the rounds the last month. Key paragraph:

What decisions that Obama made are attacked in this narrative? Ones that were left leaning. The real subtext here is that the progressives are all wrong, that Obama’s efforts to deliver on campaign promises were all doomed to failure, so he should be given a free pass. The Rahm PR push is a Trojan horse that allows Team Obama to push messages that serve Obama’s need to distance himself from his “change you can believe in” campaign positioning, which is looking more and more like a baldfaced bait and switch.

Now he is contributing to political chaos, our #1 objective here at Chaos Party, and we applaud that effort. We lament the fact that not enough people know what’s going on with this situation, but we’re not surprised considering the effort that’s gone into misleading the general public. How can people stay aware if they can’t get accurate information? That’s a question for a whole ‘nuther blog post, though.

What the media complex on the left and right both are pushing is a false narrative, and the poor, lemming-esque voters on both sides are falling right off the cliff after the lede. That’s the danger of partisanship, especially bi-partisanship, but I digress. Bunning’s actions have been labeled on both the left and the right as a filibuster, but that is not what he is doing. What he is doing is objecting to Unanimous Consent, which is his right, and is, in this case, the right thing to do. Apparently, a few people are starting to pay attention.

Keep in mind that Democrats and Republicans alike could pass this bill, apparently with 99 votes, if they would only follow the regular rules and bring the bill to the floor. It’s not a matter of 1 guy holding up checks. It’s more like 99 folks holding up checks and lying about it and getting their friends to lie about it so everybody can bully this one guy into doing something he doesn’t have to do. This could all be fixed tomorrow if Harry Reid would bring this bill to the Senate floor and let the normal Senate process work. There’s your 1 guy. The Red State guy linked above has it right this time, and is on balance:

The truth is that while Senators must be judicious in demanding full, extended debate for every single measure, so should Senators not attempt to jam expensive, complex or otherwise controversial legislation quickly through the Senate via the process of asking for unanimous consent. Unfortunately, this has become commonplace – the regular way of things. And, the result of doing so is almost to invite objection.

Senator Bunning, like virtually every Congressional Republican does not have totally clean hands on spending. But he raises a very simple question here… How are we going to pay for this? It’s a good question, and he not only is within his rights to say he will not vote for it under the false pressure of a unanimous consent request – he is actually correct to do so, and more Senators of each Party should do the same.

Now ask yourself, especially if you’ve been trashing Bunning’s otherwise perfectly trashable character, how you would react if this happened to you at work or school? Maybe it’s already happened to you; it’s happened to me. I’ve been bullied, and that’s what this is. Bunning’s not even running for reelection because his party forced him out. So at the end of the day, how much power does he even have? Nevermind what Bunning has done that you disagree with–how do you like a bunch of powerful people ganging up on a fall guy who doesn’t deserve the blame this time?

The questions you should be asking yourself now are:

1. What exactly do I already know about this incident and Senate rules?
2. Where can I go to find out more information?
3. Who benefits if people accept this false narrative?
4. Did I allow myself to be persuaded by the massive media chorus? If so, why? And how can I avoid that in the future?

Those are the questions I’d be asking. More like critical than chaotic thinking, granted, but eh, tough shit.