An Arkansas judge has admitted that he posted a series of anonymous online comments that critics say are racist, sexist and otherwise inappropriate, including one in which he revealed alleged details of confidential proceedings involving actress Charlize Theron's adoption of her son.

Circuit Judge Mike Maggio acknowledged Wednesday that he posted the comments on a Louisiana State University fan message board, Tiger Droppings, under the pseudonym "geauxjudge." He also ended his campaign for a seat on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

Guy sounds like a real piece of work.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) fired up the audience Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference with an anecdote about what he called the heartlessness of giving out free school lunches -- but it turns out that "moving" story never really happened.

Ryan used a story about a young boy choosing a lovingly made brown bag lunch over a free school meal, relayed to him by Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Secretary Eloise Anderson, to illustrate that Democrats offer Americans a "full stomach and an empty soul."
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H found Anderson told the story at a 2013 congressional hearing that Ryan chaired, and claimed she had spoken to the boy herself. Kessler notes the story closely paralleled an exchange from a book called "An Invisible Thread," in which an executive offers to either give a young, homeless panhandler money to eat for the week or else make lunch for him each day. The boy insists on having his lunch made for him in a brown-paper bag, because that means "somebody cares" about him.

A spokesman for Anderson told Kessler that the secretary "misspoke" and was actually describing a television interview she had seen with Maurice Mazcyk, the boy described in the book. Kessler further noted that school lunch is not brought up in the book, which means Anderson inserted the program into the anecdote. TPM

We are deeply saddened to report the passing of Bart on the morning of March 5, 2014. He died peacefully due to his flu, pneumonia and his Leukemia.

They arrived in January of 2011, unfamiliar with the ways of Washington, and promising never to adapt. The Republican freshman of the 112th Congress had helped take back the House, riding a Tea Party-infused, throw-the-bums-out wave of conservative disgust with career politicians.

But after three years in office and an election season looming, a number of GOP Congressmen find themselves facing scrappy challengers who say that they are now the ones with a serious case of Potomac Fever.

SNIP

The current crop of GOP primary challengers are a different group from those of 2010. For one thing, they don't all call themselves members of the Tea Party, cognizant of both that group's low popularity and the fact that in some cases their opponent remains close to many local tea party groups. And in some cases, these primary challengers are hitting their Republican opponents from the center, as is the case in Michigan where businessman Brian Ellis is running against libertarian-leaning Congressman Justin Amash on the grounds that he is not sufficiently friendly to the district's business interests.

But still, across the country, there are a new crop of candidates running against members of Congress who have only been in office a term and a half, but are, these challengers say, not keeping to the values they proclaimed on the campaign trails a mere few years ago.

Keep it coming.  The Tea Party movement will not be the threat it was in 2010 or even 2012.

The trifecta of disappointing returns for conservatives isn't coincidental. In previous years, insurgent conservative candidates like Christine O'Donnell weren't taken seriously in the GOP primary, with the problematic parts of their record hidden away until a general election.

But with incumbents now keenly aware of the danger they face in a primary, those same tea-party-aligned hopefuls are finding themselves under more scrutiny than ever. And oftentimes they're not holding up well.

"Inevitably, in a statewide race, any issues in any candidate's background would come to the forefront," said Brian Walsh, a former NRSC communications director. "And we're seeing incumbents who aren't taking anything for granted."

Even the National Review recognizes that the Tea Party is imploding.  (Some of the comments are amusing - basically calling the author out as part of a conspiracy with Establishment Republicans and the liberal media).

The earlier witness testimony about sounds of cricket bats vs gunshots remains conflicting.

I only ask that you read the article with an open mind.  The question you should ask yourself is why has the warming been so much less then the scientists predicted?  

The articles does a good job listing all the explanations but one observation becomes obvious.  Pro warming scientists have already made up their mind.   They do not have a good understanding of how our climate really works but can coddle together an explanation of why there's been a pause.

Enjoy your weekends, y'all. I need to meditate and kick the phuck out of a few demons that come back to "visit" now and then. Such is life. Peace.

Everyone that doesn't follow your dogma gets ridiculed and called names, while you ignore anything that doesn't fit your politics. Disgusting.

Politics has poisoned scientific discussion for this very reason, the vetting process is does this fit the political party line.

What is the solution currently on the table? Total nonsense, where the industrialized nations pay the corrupt leaders of the non industrialized countries to keep their people poor.

CPACer Panel On Women's Issues Panel

"We cannot have any stupid comments this year. No stupid comments," conservative author Kate Obenshain said Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "Please think before you make pithy, obnoxious comments."
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"White men stay behind, let the women talk about this issue. We love white men. We love all the white men," Obenshain said before adding that it's important for women to talk about those issues.