Attorney General Eric Holder castigated an Idaho congressman while testifying before the House Oversight Committee Thursday, accusing him of committing one of the “worst things I think I’ve ever seen in Congress.” Holder was on Capitol Hill to testify in an ongoing congressional probe into the failed Operation Fast and Furious, in which weapons sold to Mexican drug cartels were not tracked, resulting in the deaths of hundreds, including a U.S. Border Patrol agent. According to National Review Online , Holder was responding to a “grandstanding presentation” by Republican Congressman Raul Labrador that “cobbled together testimony from Holder going back ten years to establish a ‘pattern’ of Holder saying, in effect, ‘I don’t know’ in testimony.” “There’s a whole bunch of things that I could say about what you just did, maybe this is the way you do things in Idaho or wherever you’re from,” Holder said. “But understand something — I’m proud of the work that I’ve done as attorney general of the United States, and looked at fairly, I think that I’ve done a pretty good job.” He continued, “Have I been perfect? No. Have I made mistakes? Yes. Do I treat the members of this committee with respect? I always hope that I do. And what you have just done is if nothing else, disrespectful. And if you don’t like me that’s one thing. You should respect the fact that I hold an office that is deserving of respect.” “And you know, maybe you’re new to this committee, I don’t know, I don’t know how long you’ve been here. But my hope would be that we can get beyond that kind of interaction, that kind of treatment of a witness whether it’s me or somebody else because I think what you just did was fundamentally unfair, just not right,” Holder said.
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Holder Berates Rep. During Hearing: ‘Maybe This Is the Way You Do Things in Idaho or Wherever You’re From’
It’s been a positive week for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as he appears to have turned the tides since his crushing South Carolina primary loss to Newt Gingrich, now surging to the top of polls in Florida before the state’s Republican primary today. While Florida polls show Romney defeating the visibly furious Gingrich and the other remaining Republican candidates, several other polls show that the bruising last few weeks may have hurt the former Massachusetts governor on a broader scale of the electorate. A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday shows that 40 percent of those surveyed find Romney’s work in the private sector unfavorable, 35 percent favorable, 25 percent had no opinion. Greg Sargent of the Post notes that the polling team also says “that among non-college whites — a key swing consistency that is one of the main targets of the battle over Romney’s corporate past and taxes — 35 percent view his Bain work favorably, versus 38 percent who view it unfavorably. Among moderates, the numbers are 32-39.” A separate WashingtonPost-Pew Research Center poll released Monday shows that 39 percent of registered voters see Romney connecting at least “fairly well” with the problems of average Americans, as oppose to 55 percent for President Obama. In yet another poll, this time conducted by NBC/WSJ last week , Romney’s negatives appeared to be spiking 20 points among independent voters over the last two months. While the former Massachusetts governor may be happy with a recent USA/Today Gallup poll having Romney neck and neck with Obama in swing states , and a key win in Florida tonight is likely to put him back in the drivers seat for the Republican nomination, the Romney campaign should be less celebratory than they were following the New Hampshire primary victory. If he were to become the nominee, Romney’s campaign has their work ahead of them to repair their candidate’s public image following what has been an extremely arduous primary race.
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While Romney looks to win the bloody battle of FL, polls say he may be losing a broader war
This an amazing post at Watt’s Up With That, ” Legal exemplars cited in Michael Mann’s UVA email case “: The selected emails include graphic descriptions of the contempt a small circle of largely taxpayer-funded alarmists held for anyone who followed scientific principles and ended up disagreeing with them. For example, in the fifteenth Petitioners’ Exemplar (PE-15), Mann encourages a boycott of one climate journal and a direct appeal to his friends on the editorial board to have one of the journal’s editors fired for accepting papers that were carefully peer-reviewed and recommended for publication on the basis that the papers dispute Mann’s own work. In PE-38, he states that another well respected journal is “being run by the baddies,” calling them “shills for industry.” In PE-39 Mann calls U.S. Congressmen concerned about how he spent taxpayer money “thugs”. PE-18, 20 & 27 illustrate the typical fashion with which Mann used a UVa email account to accuse co-authors and other respected scientists of incompetence, berating them in emails copied to colleagues living throughout the world. UVA claims this is somehow exempt from VFOIA as scientific research. In PE-22, Mann alludes to his “dirty laundry” which cannot come out, requesting his correspondent to not pass the email or the data attached to it to anyone else (UVa has claimed no attachments to any emails were preserved on their system). In this email, Mann admits he has failed to follow the most basic tenet of science, to keep a record of exactly what he did in his research, and thus himself could not reproduce his own results. PE-24 & 25 characterize the efforts of this small group of academics to hide what they are doing and to avoid their work being held up to inspection under the Freedom of Information Act. In PE-26, Mann goes so far as to ask a federal employee — impossibly, as he send it to an email account subject to the federal FOIA — to “treat this email as confidential” though all the email does is complain about a Wall Street Journal author’s efforts to report the science impeaching Mann’s early work. PE-26, like many other emails UVA wishes to keep secret, is subject to release under the federal FOIA. Continue reading . PREVIOUSLY : ” Evidence Does Not Support Catastrophic Man-Made Global Warming .”
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Michael Mann’s Emails
AP
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Report: Ron Paul Signed Off on Incendiary Material in Newsletters
Actor Mark Wahlberg likely surprised viewers when he appeared on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” last Friday to discuss a variety of issues — his faith, the importance of family, his work in the community and more. Wahlberg, who spent time in jail as a teenager, has overcome many barriers — poverty and crime, among others. In fact, he calls his time behind bars after assaulting two individuals a wake-up call that led him to take positive steps to improve his life. Below, watch Wahlberg address his jail time on Anderson Cooper’s daytime show late last month: video platform video management video solutions video player In his interview with Morgan, the actor, a Roman Catholic, was more than open about his faith, as he claimed that it was the single more important element in his life that has led to restoration. “My faith has really allowed me to overcome a lot of things — and hard work. You know, nothing comes easy…especially when you’ve got your back against the wall and you’ve got a lot going against you,” he told Morgan. “But I wanted to prove to people through my actions — not my words — that I was going to change and that I was going to make a positive impact on the community that I come from,” Wahlberg continued, as he delved into the activities he participates in to help those in need. ”I could not forget about where I came from and find myself in this position without helping and giving back.” Morgan then asked him about his participation in church. Considering that he’s a busy and successful actor, Wahlberg’s answer was surprising. “If I don’t go to mass necessarily every day…I definitely go to church every day,” he said. “That’s how I start my day. I like to get in there for about 15 or 20 minutes — say my prayers.” Clearly curious by this response, Morgan asked, “What does it bring you?” Wahlberg explained that church provides an opportunity for him to focus his day, while expressing his gratitude. Additionally, it allows him to clear his head so that he can focus upon his actions as well as the elements in his life that he needs to avoid. Prayer, too, is extremely important to the entertainer. “I pray to be a good servant to God, a father, a husband, a son, a friend, a brother and uncle, a good neighbor, a good leader to those who look up to me and a good follower to those that are serving God and doing the right thing,” he said. Watch this portion of his interview, below: (H/T: Greg Hengler at Townhall )
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I ‘Go to Church Every Day’: Actor Mark Wahlberg Credits Faith for Turning His Life Around
Recall what the president once said: “I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” Well, here’s some Greek exceptionalism for you, at London’s Daily Mail , ” Children ‘dumped in streets by Greek parents who can’t afford to look after them any more’ .” Hundreds of children have been abandoned in the crisis of economic austerity. I would rather work my fingers to the bone before abandoning my kids somewhere, and I think most people I’ve ever met would do the same. HAT TIP : ” Larwyn’s Linx, Everything Is At Stake, All Right . Added : It could happen here, or it could happen again, I should say. Thinking further, I found this about the Great Depression: The Depression had a powerful impact on family life. It forced couples to delay marriage and drove the birthrate below the replacement level for the first time in American history. The divorce rate fell, for the simple reason that many couples could not afford to maintain separate households or pay legal fees. But rates of desertion soared. By 1940, 1.5 million married women were living apart from their husbands. More than 200,000 vagrant children wandered the country as a result of the breakup of their families. I would die before I abandoned my own family. And dumping children is un-American if you ask me. And I believe it’s people who’ve been coddled their entire lives, and who sponge off others and the state, who’d be the first to dump their kids on the side of the road. In other words, progressives. And if it comes it will be the result of the Obama administration’s profligacy and recklessness . He’s driving this country into the ditch. All the more reason to get rid of these people in November.
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Greek Exceptionalism: Parents Dump Children They Can ‘No Longer Afford’
At New York Times , ” Group’s Ads Rip at Gingrich as Romney Stands Clear “: DES MOINES — The attacks began three weeks ago and have not let up since: Television ad after television ad slamming Newt Gingrich for having “more baggage than the airlines,” for being fined by Congress for ethics violations, for his position on illegal immigration, even for admitting that he has made mistakes on the campaign trail. Democrats and Republicans alike have singled out the $2.8 million-and-counting air deluge as the biggest factor in Mr. Gingrich’s precipitous drop in polls of Iowa voters and Mitt Romney’s corresponding rise, reshaping the critical first contest of the Republican primary season to Mr. Romney’s benefit. The ads, which continue to blanket Iowa days before the caucuses here, were created and paid for by people with deep knowledge of the Romney campaign’s strategic thinking, close relationships with Mr. Romney’s most generous donors, and even research on what television viewers like and dislike most about Mr. Romney himself. Yet neither Mr. Romney nor his staff has had to lift a finger or spend a dollar to make it happen. In a stark illustration of how last year’s landmark Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance has created powerful new channels for outside money to influence elections, the negative onslaught is the work of a group called Restore Our Future. The most prominent of the “super PACs,” which can accept unlimited donations for purposes of supporting or attacking candidates, it operates independently of the Romney campaign but under the direction of former Romney aides who do not need to be told what the candidate needs. Romney seems to really have the momentum. Ron Paul’s still up in Iowa, but he won’t go far after that. It’s quite the opposite for Romney, of course. New Hampshire’s voting January 10th and by that time some of the other candidates could be quitting the race.
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Restore Our Future Attack Ads Harm Gingrich in Iowa
A police chief accused of stealing $714 from a former stripper’s wallet after a car chase is now facing a federal lawsuit that alleges he “violated her constitutional rights.” The ex-stripper, Justina Cardoso, 21, filed suit on Dec. 22 claiming Col. John Whiting, 57, violated the rights protecting her from illegal searches and granting her due process. The 21-year-old Cardoso, who lives in Pawtucket, R.I. and performed at the Satin Doll strip club in Providence, is seeking $250,000 in damages from Whiting. Justina Cardoso (Source: National Confidential) What’s the story behind this? Whiting was driving to work in an unmarked police SUV on Aug. 28 when he tried to pass Cardoso’s Ford Explorer. It was raining and driving conditions were poor. Maybe it was because he “aggressively” passed her Explorer, which had slowed down to get around a fallen tree, that one of its 3 passengers decided to throw “an object at his vehicle,” the three-decade veteran of law enforcement told police. As anyone who has ever had a rational thought knows, throwing something — anything! — at another car (whether it’s a marked squad car or not) is a terrible idea. Whiting turned on his emergency lights and tried to get the Explorer to pull over. Cardoso’s vehicle took off and the officer pursued. Why in the world didn’t the Explorer just pull over? Well, perhaps it was because Cardoso “had just spent the night with a man who paid $600 for her company at a Comfort Inn” and that on her way home she had picked up two men, one of whom was driving the Explorer, according to the New York Times . Or maybe it was because Cardoso had an outstanding warrant related to a “drug-fueled extortion plot that can only be described as idiotic, and another pending charge for the illegal possession of controlled substances allegedly found in her Coach purse,” according to the Times. So how did the chase end? The green 1999 Ford Explorer veered onto a dead-end street, ran out of road and smashed into a parked pickup truck. All three passengers in the Explorer immediately fled the scene leaving Whiting alone with the Explorer and a Coach pocketbook stuffed full of cash. This is where Whiting made his mistake. Cardoso’s lawsuit claims Whiting illegally went through her SUV after the crash and took money from the Coach wallet she had left behind. There was a total of $714 dollars which police say she earned at the Satin Doll and from the man who paid her for “her company.” Whiting later admitted to a Pawtucket officer that he stole money from a pocketbook “loaded with cash” that he found inside the SUV, investigators wrote in an affidavit. The Pawtucket officer said Whiting gave him the money and told him to spend it in Las Vegas and not discuss it. Whiting, has been suspended without pay from his job as North Providence police chief since he turned himself in to state police in September. He was charged with one count of larceny over $500 and two counts of obstruction of justice. He pleaded not guilty earlier this month to charges that he stole money and then tried to cover it up. His next court date is Feb. 16. Col. John Whiting (Source: turnto10.com/NBC10) “He spent 29 years in the Pawtucket Police Department, where he was respected if not universally liked, earned a law degree, and won praise for his work in a case against a corrupt, politically connected police officer,” writes the Times . “Finally, in 2008, he landed a prestigious police chief job, in North Providence.” But now his long and proud career has been permanently tarnished for allegedly stealing a measly $714 and trying to cover it up; adding insult to injury, he’s also being sued for a quarter of a million dollars by an ex-stripper whose privacy he allegedly “violated.” So what about Cardoso? After the car chase, she was arrested on a warrant for an unrelated criminal matter. She pleaded no contest last month to three charges in an extortion and blackmail case and to one count of marijuana possession. Cardoso, who the New York Times describes as a “runaway” and as being involved in the kinds of incidents that create first-name relationships with the police, was given a five-year suspended sentence in the blackmail case and a year of probation in the drug case. Defense attorney John Grasso has said she avoided jail time by getting treated for drug abuse. He also said she is pursuing a GED. Grasso added that Cardoso stopped working at the Satin Doll after Whiting’s arrest and was unable to find new work as a stripper. Her stolen earnings and SUV were returned, but Cardoso could not afford to keep the vehicle, Grasso has said. Ah, there it is. Perhaps her decision to sue the police chief was influenced more by the fact that she can’t pay her bills and she has a rap sheet a mile long than by feeling he ” violated her privacy .” The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Ex-Stripper Sues Police Chief for ‘Violating her Constitutional Rights’
(The Blaze/AP) ESPN college football analyst Craig James, who starred as a tailback at Southern Methodist University and with the New England Patriots in the 1980s, announced Monday he was running for the U.S. Senate as a Republican from Texas, a GOP fundraiser said. James, who appears on the cable network’s weekly game broadcasts, has been flirting with entering politics for more than year. Republican fundraiser and close friend Roy Bailey told The Associated Press on Monday that James informed him he was running for the 2012 Senate seat and was in the process of dropping off his official candidate papers in Austin. “I think it’s great for Texas. Anytime you have someone with Craig’s street smarts and business sense and willingness to serve the public, it’s a great thing,” said Bailey, who added that he would help raise money for James. Messages left for James were not immediately returned. Though James’ name recognition could be an advantage in the race, it also could hurt him. James is a polarizing figure who was embroiled in Texas Tech University’s 2009 decision to fire popular football coach Mike Leach over allegations the coach mistreated James’ son, a Red Raiders player, after he sustained a concussion. He also was a member of the record-setting SMU football team in the early 1980s when the program entered a series of scandals that ultimately forced the NCAA to shut it down. His late entry into the Senate race puts him a in a primary field already crowded with well-known and wealthy candidates who are vying for the seat vacated by retiring Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, former Dallas mayor Tom Leppert and former Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz have spent months raising money and collecting endorsements from prominent Republicans. The deadline to enter the race is Feb. 1. James, 50, who lives in Celina north of Dallas, has been a board member of the influential conservative think tank the Texas Policy Foundation in Austin and recently founded Texans for a Better America to promote conservative policies. He is likely banking on name recognition from his work for ESPN and his ties to big-time college football to overcome his late start. But that name recognition could prove to be a double-edged sword. Texas Tech fired Leach, who had the most wins in school history, after James complained to school administrators that Leach mistreated his son, Adam James, by twice ordering him to stand for hours confined in a dark place after he got a concussion. Leach denies mistreating the younger James and has said Craig James had called coaches trying to get his son more playing time. Leach also said he suspects an $800,000 bonus he was due on Dec. 31, 2009, was the reason he was fired. Leach sued the university and named Craig James as a defendant. The case is pending before the Texas Supreme Court. Leach also has sued ESPN Inc. and a Dallas public relations firm, accusing them of libel and slander after he was fired. From 1979-1982, James was a star player at SMU and was part of the record-setting “Pony Express” backfield with Eric Dickerson. Though the Mustangs won Southwest Conference championships in 1981 and 1982, the team was also embroiled in several NCAA investigations. In 1987, the NCAA hit SMU with the so-called “death penalty” for repeated infractions, shutting down the program for a year after finding SMU had continued to pay players after promising in 1985 it would stop. SMU also chose not to play in 1988 because the NCAA would have limited the Mustangs to only seven games, none at home. The scandal is generally considered among the worst in college sports history. The sanctions leveled by the NCAA decimated the Mustangs program and SMU remains the only school to be given the “death penalty.” James was never directly implicated in the NCAA transgressions and he has consistently denied any involvement. But James also has had a close relationship with Dallas real estate developer Sherwood Blount, one of the key boosters involved in the pay-for-play scandal. Blount, who reportedly insisted SMU had a “payroll to meet” even after the school promised the payments would stop, was James’ agent when he played in the NFL. In his book “Gameday,” James wrote: “I’m not going to sit here and tell you I never received a nickel during my playing days. But I can say with certainty that no benefits were ever extended to me from anyone associated with the SMU administration.” After college, James was drafted by the Washington Federals in the USFL and signed with the Patriots before the 1985 season. He retired from football in 1989. As a businessman, James has been involved in ventures providing video content for the Internet as well as real estate holdings and development, according to the Texans for a Better America website.
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ESPN Analyst Craig James Announces He Will Run as a Republican for Texas U.S. Senate Seat
