When 'Fact Checking' fails

'PolitiFact's 'Lie of the Year'

'Lie of the Year 2011: Readers' poll results'

'By Angie Drobnic Holan'
'Published on Tuesday, December 20th, 2011 at 12:03 a.m.'

'We received 9,214 votes in our readers' poll. Here are the results:'

'The economic stimulus created "zero jobs." -- The National Republican Senatorial Committee and other Republicans 24% '

'Abortion services are "well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does."- Sen.  Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.   17%'

'"Republicans voted to end Medicare." -- The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and other Democrats 16% '
From : http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2011/dec/20/lie-year-2011-readers-poll-results/

So the biggest lie was the 'Economic stimulus created 'zero jobs' @ 24% BUT PolitiFact instead decided to tout that 'Republicans voted to end Medicare' @ 16% as the 'Lie Of The Year : 2011'

From Steve Benen at Washington Monthly :

' In 2009, the Lie of the Year was a Republican lie. In 2010, the Lie of the Year was a different Republican lie. In 2011, a majority of the Lie of the Year nominees came from Republicans, and the top two vote-getters in its reader surveys were both Republican lies'.

'If PolitiFact had chosen another GOP falsehood for this year’s “award,” the website would have been condemned by the right for being partisan. So, coincidentally or not, PolitiFact avoided the conservative pushback by picking a Democratic argument'.
From : http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_12/stuffing_the_ballot_box_didnt034214.php

Priorities in the House of Representativess

The House tabeled the legislation to extend the 'payroll tax holiday' but DID find time and money to do this yesterday.........

'Suspensions: The House agreed to suspend the rules and agree to the following measure:
Provide for the placement of a statue or bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the United States Capitol: H. Res. 497, to provide for the placement of a statue or bust of Sir Winston Churchill in the United States Capitol'.
'Pages H9940-43'
From : http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/B?r112:@FIELD(FLD003+d)+@FIELD(DDATE+20111219)

Having that bust of Winston Churchill in the Capitol is SO much more importamt then - well people.

And in the ROTFLMAO Department.....

In a pre-taped interview that aired last night on Fox Business Network’s “Follow The Money,” Eric Bolling mentioned to Sarah Palin that people constantly tell him they wish she was running for President.

“Any chance we can see you making a play, even after Iowa or New Hampshire?” Bolling asked. “There’s still plenty of time, Governor.”

“You know, it’s not too late for folks to jump in,” Palin replied. “And I don’t know, you know, it — who knows what will happen in the future?”
From : http://www.mediaite.com/online/sarah-palin-tells-fox-business-network-that-its-not-too-late-to-jump-into-the-gop-race/

The other 'March Maddness'

'The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it would devote three days in late March to hearing arguments in challenges to the 2010 health care overhaul law. A decision in the case is expected by the end of June'.

'On March 26, the court will hear arguments on the threshold issues of whether a federal law called the Anti-Injunction Act makes challenges to the mandate premature until 2015'.

'The court put aside two hours on March 27 for arguments on the central issue in the case, whether Congress exceeded its constitutional authority in requiring people to buy insurance or pay a penalty. The provision is often called the individual mandate; the announcement called it the minimum coverage provision'.

'The court will hear arguments on two issues on March 28. First, it will consider for 90 minutes whether the provision may be severed from the balance of the statute. That is what the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit held when it struck down the provision'.

'The court will also hear an hour of argument on March 28 on whether Congress was entitled to expand the scope of Medicaid'.
From : http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/supreme-court-to-hear-health-care-case-in-late-march/

From the 'They Never Give Up' Department....

'According to Dustin Baker of the blog Georgia Politico, a suit has been filed with the office of Georgia’s Secretary of State Brian Kemp challenging Barack Obama’s legitimacy to appear as a presidential candidate on the ballot in the November 2012 elections'.

'Georgia State Representative J. Mark Hatfield (R-Waycross) will plead the case before the Office of State Administrative Hearings on behalf of Mr. Kevin R. Powell of Duluth, Georgia, who filed the suit on the grounds that “Obama does not satisfy the ‘natural born Citizen’ requirement of Article II, Section I, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution. Obama’s father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a native of Kenya and a British subject who never became a United States citizen'.”

'Presumably the lawsuit does not address the question of the nationality of President Obama’s mother, whose status as a U.S. citizen would confer citizenship upon her son, no matter the nationality of his father'.
'The challenge, which Georgia Politico reports is styled “Kevin Richard Powell v. Barack Obama,” was submitted to Secretary Kemp’s office on November 28, and has been referred to the State Office of Administrative Hearings for further action'.

'Baker added, “In related economic news, no new businesses want to move to Georgia because they feel the workforce, as represented through the people they elect, are absolutely crazy and believe conspiracy theories'.”
From : http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/12/17/georgia-birther-suit-attempts-to-remove-obama-from-2012-ballot/

ROTFFLMFAO!!!!!

'If Americans find all of this ridiculous'

'they should have been a little more careful before the 2010 midterms'.

'Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) noted Saturday, “This is probably a done deal in the House; it should be.”

'The pieces were in place. Senate leads from both parties agreed to a temporary compromise that looked pretty sensible: Dems would get a two-month extension of the payroll tax break and a clean extension of unemployment benefits, while GOP lawmakers would get an expedited decision on the Keystone XL pipeline. It was quickly approved with overwhelming, bipartisan support, 89 to 10'.

'None other than House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) seemed relieved, calling the bipartisan compromise a “good deal” and a “victory'.”

'But Boehner then took this victory to his caucus, and as we’ve seen many times before, the Speaker quickly realized his job is to take, not give, orders from his right-wing members'.

'Indeed, the House will likely take up the Senate deal later today, simply to prove it can’t pass the lower chamber. In the bigger picture, it’s pretty amazing: House Republicans are going to kill a bipartisan compromise on a middle-class tax cut, which just passed the Senate 89 to 10, the week before Christmas'.
'It’s worth emphasizing that the GOP’s new demands are coming into focus. Last week, Republicans wanted an expedited decision on Keystone. They got it. This week, Republicans are arguing that the payroll tax break, if it’s extended at all, should be extended for a year, not for two months'.
From : http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_12/when_a_done_deal_unravels034184.php

Hey. You're the one who wanted to be Speaker.

No Labels - 12 Ways To Make Congress Work

'No Labels' is yet another of the more or less populus movements out there and like the rest, has little to no chance of making policy - but - at least someone is trying something.

On their site, they've listed 12 Ways. I've picked 6 that I RAVE about!

#1 - 'No Budget, No Pay'
'The Problem'
'The most basic responsibility Congress has is deciding how much money the government takes in and how much it spends. But Congress has passed its spending bills on time only four times since 1952. In the last 14 years, annual spending bills have been submitted an average of four months late'.

#2 - 'Up or Down Vote on Presidential Appointments'
'The Problem'
'When our Founders gave the Senate "Advise and Consent" power over presidential appointments, they hoped it would encourage the president to appoint qualified people and avoid conflicts of interest'.
'Today, it's the senators themselves who seem to have conflicts of interest, with key presidential appointments routinely held up for trivial reasons or to serve the narrow interests of a single senator. In one notorious case from 2010, a senator held up over 70 presidential nominees at once to secure more federal spending for his state'.

#3 - 'Fix the Filibuster'
'The Problem'
'The filibuster has been used for good and for ill, but for most of the Senate's history, it was rare, and it required members to stand up for hours on end to make their case. Neither is true anymore'.
'In the first 50 years of the filibuster, it was used only 35 times. In the last two years alone, it was used over 100. And senators don't even have to show up on the floor to explain themselves – just signaling their intent to filibuster effectively stalls legislation'.

#4 - 'Make Members Come to Work'
'The Problem'
'Members of Congress routinely fly home to their districts on Thursday nights to meet with constituents or attend fundraisers, and they often don't return until the following Tuesday'.
'Former Democratic Senate leader Tom Daschle said that, "When we scheduled votes, the only day where we could be absolutely certain we had all one hundred senators there was Wednesday afternoon'."

#5 - 'Question Time for the President'
'The Problem'
'In January 2010, President Obama attended a House Republican retreat to publicly debate the merits of the president's proposed healthcare law. For a few hours at least, the American public got to see our leaders engage and truly debate with one another'.
'We haven't seen anything like it since. Today the president and members of Congress can more often be found talking past one another through the media. The issues facing our country are too important to be decided by a war of partisan talking points. Let's get the ideas on the table, debate them and let the American people decide'.

#6 - 'No Pledge but the Oath of Office'
'The Problem'
'One of the biggest barriers to solving problems in Congress is that many members literally sign away their ability to do it. A case in point: 238 House members have signed a pledge to never raise taxes. Another 110 members have signed a pledge to never cut any Social Security benefits. That's 80% of Congress refusing to even consider compromise on two of the biggest issues driving America's long-term budget deficits. Is it any wonder Congress can't balance our books'?
From : http://nolabels.org/