Thursday morning links

From the Hill via Lucianne.com

Senate ethics panel takes new look at Countrywide loans
By Susan Crabtree
The Senate Ethics Committee is re-examining the participation of senators and staffers in a controversial VIP mortgage-lending program at Countrywide Financial Corp, according to a source familiar with the panel’s activities.
The Ethics Committee in recent days has begun to look into new information about Senate involvement in the Countrywide loan program, the source said.
In mid-July Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) agreed to assist the ethics panel after learning that senators or Senate staff received at least 30 Countrywide loans that offered sweetheart deals of special treatment.
Just a snippet, read the rest.

From CNSnews

Homosexual Activist Serves as Acting Head of HHS Agency for Children and Families
By Jane McGrath
Conservative groups are expressing concern that David Hansell, an openly homosexual man and former AIDS activist, is currently serving as the acting head – the assistant secretary – of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Hansell is the former director of legal services and deputy director for government and public affairs at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, a homosexual activist group that has lobbied the federal government on HIV/AIDS.
“It is very troubling that someone with his background has such a high position in this particular agency,” Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council (FRC), told CNSNews.com. More here.

From the LA Times blog Top of the Ticket, via Lucianne.com

George W. Bush makes surprise visit to U.S. troops
Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, made a surprise visit to U.S. troops this afternoon.

They showed up at the USO in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. There they mingled with the returning soldiers, thanked them, chatted and posed for photos as proof of the unexpected encounter for folks back home.
The USO just posted an assortment of the photos on its Facebook page, which quickly drew a growing list of appreciative comments. Read the article here.


From American Thinker Blog
Doing well by doing the bidding of the left
Thomas Lifson
American Thinker has long harbored suspicion about ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative journalism outfit that distributes its work to newspaper gratis. The organization has found a hearty welcome in the precincts of the leftist mainstream of American jnournalism, even sharing a Pulitzer Prize with the New York Times in 2010.
ProPublica was funded by large donations from Herbert and Marion Sandler, close associates in philanthropy to George Soros and Peter Lewis, and other progressive moneybags. One of ProPublica's foci has been investigation of the downsides of domestic energy production, especially shale gas, with which America is abundantly endowed. The organization proclaims itself a "public interest" organization, and produces some non-political journalism as well as material that serves an agenda.
Go here to read the rest and see those six figure salaries.

We are in the age of the bread and circus Roman routine

Only it is in our White House.  This is from Gateway Pundit:

Conga-Lines… Bare-Chested Beer Pong… Super Soaker Fights… The Good Times Keep Rolling Along For Obama White House Officials

Posted by Jim Hoft

Back in January 2009, Barack Obama told Americans that,

“Everyone must sacrifice… Everyone must have some skin in the game.”

Well… Everyone but Barack and Michelle Obama. See here for the videos

Guests gather for the entertainment segment of a state dinner in honor of President of Mexico Felipe Calderon inside a party tent on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, May 19, 2010. (Reuters)

In 2009 the Obamas spent over $10 million of taxpayer money on drunken White House parties.

And, it doesn’t look like things are going to slow down anytime soon.

The New York Post reported, via Free Republic.

Last week’s jobs report tanked the stock market; the president took weeks to assert control of the oil spill that threatens doom on the Gulf Coast — but at the White House the Gatsby-like parties roll on as if happy days were here again.

Just yesterday, President Obama held another fun-filled White House event, a picnic for Congress members, complete with hot dogs, cold beverages and a fire pit.

All told, during the last seven weeks of spewing oil and rampant unemployment, he has frolicked and danced through three major White House music parties.

* The black-tie tent bash on the White House South Lawn after the state dinner for Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón, which featured singer Beyoncé.

* The Paul McCartney hootenanny — a night of tributes to the former Beatle, which featured the president himself scooting onto the dance floor to join the Jonas Brothers in the long “la-la-la” closing refrain of “Hey Jude.” (Plus, of course, McCartney serenading the first lady with “Michelle.”)

* The Ford Theater event — in which the president, taking a break from “kicking ass” on the oil spill, kicked back and relaxed to the song stylings of one-time “American Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson, among other B-listers.

It was one thing when the president launched his White House days with a round of Martini Wednesdays, Stevie Wonder concerts, conga-line dancing and Super Bowl parties. That was before the gushing oil and before the employment picture defied the Obama hope-and-change cures.

Now it’s different. Now the president’s fascination with fun and parties in the midst of crisis has not only reinforced a feeling he’s out of touch, but has migrated down the chain of command.

Last weekend, Vice President Joe Biden and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel held a “super soaker” squirt-gun party at the veep’s residence. Everybody ran around giggling and shooting squirt guns at each other. Members of the press covering Biden joined in, to their shame.

And last Sunday, presidential spokesman Tommy Vietor and Obama speechwriter extraordinaire Jon Favreau, both 29 years old, were spotted at a Georgetown bar, stripped to the waist, playing a game of beer pong with a gang of bare-chested buddies. (This game involves throwing a ping-pong ball into cups of beer — loser drinks beer, winner drinks beer, everybody drinks beer.

If any heads roll under the bus how much do you want to bet it will be the last mentioned, the least powerful Vietor and Favreau? The original article in the New York Post was by John Gibson.

Democratic Scandals from CBS News

A very good compilation of the scandals.  I guess it just couldn't be ignored any longer. I don't think it will make much difference as The Christian Science Monitor has an article claiming the resignation of Rep. Eric Massa will make it easier to pass the healthcare bill. Their premise is that he voted "no."  I'm not sure I understand their argument on that one.
I'm posting the whole article from CBS.

Democrats Swamped in Ethics Scandals

Resignation of New York Congressman After Harassment Allegations Ends Bad Week for Washington's Majority Party

By Nancy Cordes

Democratic Rep. Eric Massa, from western New York, acknowledged Friday he acted inappropriately with a male staffer and said he's leaving with "a profound sense of failure."

Massa's resignation caps a bad week for Democrats, a week dominated by ethics investigations, reports CBS News Correspondent Nancy Cordes.

In New York, the papers were filled with scandalous stories about not one but three prominent Democrats.

There was the governor, David Paterson, accused of interfering in a domestic violence investigation.

"I am ending my campaign for governor of the state of New York," Paterson said Feb. 26.

There was veteran Rep. Charles Rangel, forced to give up his Ways and Means Committee chairmanship over ethics lapses.

"Now he's trying to blame it on his staff," said one New Yorker. "That's no excuse."

Now there's Massa's resignation amid harassment allegations.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who famously promised to drain the ethics swamp in Congress, didn't seem to want to wade into the Massa situation Thursday.

"You know what?" she told reporters. "This is rumor city. Every single day there are rumors. I have a job to do."

Democrats were hoping to make hay of recent Republican lapses come November, but the growing number of Democrats caught up in controversy is muddying that message.

There's John Edwards with his paternity problems, and at least four House Democrats - Jesse Jackson Jr. of Illinois, Alan Mollohan of West Virginia and California's Laura Richardson and Maxine Waters - facing ethics investigations.

"I think when a party comes in saying they are cleaning up corruption and they're going to run the House differently than the last party, I think you really have to have your feet held to the fire," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Democrats won back the House four years ago partly by highlighting GOP scandals. Now they run the risk of having the tables turned on them.

Those are a lot of scandals to sweep under the rug.

A Moral Delimma? Not in my mind.

Jonathan Tubin in Commentary Magazine has a article concerning a PBS American Experience program.
 The Most Unethical Act: Losing a War

Tonight, PBS’s American Experience series will broadcast a new documentary titled The Bombing of Germany, about the strategic-bombing campaign carried out against the Nazis by American forces in World War II. Coming from the liberal-leaning PBS and in an era where denunciations of American military actions — even in the “good war” against Nazi Germany — have become commonplace, it would have been no surprise if this film was yet another revisionist attempt to decry Allied tactics as immoral....

....It is telling that the documentary treats the achievement of air superiority over Normandy before the D-Day landings in France as the Allied Air Forces' greatest achievement.....

The most devastating line of the film is its last, in which historian Conrad C. Crane, director of the U.S. Army Military History Institute, confronts the moral dilemma of killing civilians in a righteous war against an immoral opponent. While the question of the deaths of civilians is one we must ponder, Conrad insists, “The most unethical act for the Allies in World War II would have been allowing themselves to lose.”

This is a concept that applies not only to the war against Hitler but also to the one that America is currently fighting against Islamo-fascists. 

Read it all, it is very interesting, especially for us who are old enough to remember WWII and all it entailed.

Ron Burris is Guilty of Something, But That's Ok...

Dear Congress -- in case you're still wondering why your approval ratings are so incredibly low, this is just another example of why: you're a bunch of criminals who refuse to police each other. You refuse to convict each other, to weed out the bad people. So guess what, you're all a gang of criminals.

And this letter from the Senate ethics committee says so. Read it. He lied, he decieved and he basically conspired with then-Governor Blagojevich to buy Obama's Senate seat. This letter basically says he's guilty but they aren't going to charge him with bribery. Too bad, because that's what happened. Corruption. This letter (which is signed by Barbara Boxer and the other committee memebers) says that's what happened.

But he gets away with it. Thanks Senator Boxer, et al. Great precedent you're setting.

http://ethics.senate.gov/downloads/pdffiles/burris_112009.pdf

GOP Congressman Questions AARP Endorsement

We discussed this at the meeting of the Rockport 912 Texans for Freedom last night. This is an article from CNS News. It seems to me there was a conflict of interest when they stumped for the Medicare prescription plan and also on this healthcare bill.

AARP, the American Association of Retired Persons, which endorsed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) version of the health-care reform bill Thursday, is drawing fire from a member of Congress who questions the motives of the nation’s largest senior citizens’ lobbying group.

Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) told CNSNews.com that it is possible AARP could benefit financially from the passage of the bill, which includes $500 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicare Advantage. According to Reichert, if the cuts to the programs result in reduced benefits, more seniors will have to purchase “Medigap” coverage, highly regulated private insurance that fills in holes in Medicare coverage.

Read it all here.

Why the Justice Dept. Dropped the Voter Intimidation Charges

From Instapundit a link to Jonathan Turley on the dropping of the charges against the New Black Panther Party on voter intimidation.

Earmarks-Ethics?

As those of you who have read this from the beginning (July 16, 2009) know, I don't get a newspaper at my home, we are in a very remote spot. I get my news online from the Houston Chronicle, Washington Post, many other newspapers online, Luciane.com and the many blogs I read daily. Here is another very good article, this one from Carol D. Leonnig, a Washington Post staff writer.
Earmarks of Committee Members Probing Murtha Questioned

Members of the House ethics committee, who are now investigating a pattern of lawmakers steering federal funds to generous defense contractors, are all set to have their pet military projects funded by the same committee whose activities they are probing. (italics by ed.)
The 10 committee members together would get 29 earmarks -- or $59 million in federal funding for projects they requested in their districts or states -- under a proposed House military spending bill up for a vote today or tomorrow.
The details were approved last week by the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, whose practice of steering earmarks to a well-connected lobby firm close to the chairman, Rep. John P.
Murtha, is the subject of the ethics committee's investigation. Ethics
committee chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) would receive $9.5 million in three earmarks under Murtha's bill. That includes $4 million to clean up contamination at the former Almaden, Calif., Air Force Station, $2 million for "printed and conformal electronics" research, and $3.5 million to help Stanford University aeronautical
research into the use of parafin-based rocket fuel.
Last month, Lofgren's committee announced it was investigating the ties between members of Congress and PMA Group, a lobby firm run by one of Murtha's close friends. It did not name the members, but Murtha and fellow Defense Appropriation members Reps. Peter
Visclosky (D-Ind.) and Jim Moran (D-Va.) have longtime ties to PMA and have orchestrated hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks to PMA clients in recent years. The PMA Group closed after being raided by the FBI late last year, and Visclosky's congressional records were subpoenaed in May by a grand jury investigating defense contracts.

As I always say, read the whole thing.