The Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), the most important ethics reform for the House in a generation, appears to be safe from being disbanded for now. While Republican leadership has never liked the idea of the OCE, this was the right thing to do.

Of course, the OCE’s work will be for naught if the House Ethics Committee ignores its recommendations, which is exactly what happened last week in the per diem scandal.

In March 2010, Judicial Watch sent a letter to the OCE requesting a full investigation of members of Congress who illegally pocket leftover per diem travel funds. (House rules mandate all leftover per diem funds be returned.)

“In the least, there is evidence of a general misunderstanding among lawmakers that unused per diems may be converted for personal use. At worst, members may be illegally pocketing taxpayer funds,” Judicial Watch stated in its letter of complaint, while noting it is a federal criminal offense to convert public money for personal use.

The OCE did its job well — investigating the matter and recommending the House Ethics Committee pursue its own investigation. The OCE investigation focused on six Members of Congress: Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL); Rep. G.K. Butterfield ( D-NC); Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY); Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL); Rep. Solomon Ortiz (D-TX); and Rep. Joe Wilson, (R-SC). But that’s not going to happen.

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Tragedies like the mass shooting in Tuscon at a public event organized by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) are horrifying enough on their own, but they also have a way of bringing out the worst in reporters and politicians.

In fact, knee-jerk reactions often leave us with misconceptions and bad policies that stick around long after the healing has begun.

And so Reason.tv presents: 5 Rules for Coping with Tragedy

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While it is clear that Jared Loughner was less motivated by his leftish leaning ideology than he was by his mental illness, we think that Progressive Democrats are 100% correct when they call for action against factors leading to our toxic political climate.

We are therefore openly calling for public hearings to look into the actions of political agitators in this nation.

Democrats have made it clear that they want to investigate and restrict Fox News, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Andrew Breitbart, and others to be sure. In fact, there are so many conservatives to investigate, we need to come up with a strategy to tackle the work.

We propose that any investigation begin with events that led to criminal behavior, like say the WTO riots in Seattle. Or the RNC riots in St. Paul. Or the angry mob protests that have taken place at the home of Bank of America executives. Or the Kenneth Gladney beating. That should provide a good start.

When would the Progressive Democrats like to schedule these hearings?

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There was a cavalcade of Leftist – and media, please pardon the redundancy – politically opportunistic idiocy in response to this weekend’s horrendous Tucson, Arizona murders.  Which were committed unilaterally and without any assistance from anyone by the deranged Jared Loughner.

Never ones to let facts get in the way of a good beating, a great many Progressives grabbed onto the complete lack of any evidence to assign complicit blame for the homicides to Governor Sarah Palin, conservative talk radio, the TEA Party and anyone else right of center of whom they could think.

This is of course just another Left attempt to silence speech they find unhelpful to the advancement of Leftism.  Those who claim that speech with which they disagree leads to violence – aren’t at all comfortable with truly free speech.

The Marxist Media “reformers” at Free Press likewise rushed to not let this crisis go to waste.

I would like to specifically highlight the Twitter work of Free Press’s Campaign Director Tim Karr.  Who jumped on board the blame bandwagon – and the shark – with a series of Tweets aimed at taking advantage of the Arizona body count to advance Free Press’s media “reform” agenda.

Tweet link

An agenda which includes amongst many other terrible ideas the exponential expansion of the government funding of journalism – so as to improve it.  Which is always what happens when you increase the government’s role in something.

The gallant and classy Karr unleashed a flurry of Tweets that connected conservative “haters” to the murders committed by a man none of them had ever met.  And as if that weren’t sufficiently untethered from Reality, Karr also blamed the conservatives’ “media enablers.”  As if the endless reams of evidence of the Leftist media on this and all things just… didn’t exist.

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In the wake of the Arizona shootings, it has been disturbing to see many politicians, journalists, and even a sheriff exploit a national tragedy for political purposes. And, in so doing, many have set themselves up as mental health experts, explaining to the public that political debate and rhetoric caused a likely psychotic suspect, Jared Loughner, to kill and injure innocent people. This is especially alarming when we consider that those who are public servants might, instead, focus their efforts on the more important issue: why did such an unstable young man slip through the cracks?

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik told reporters that Loughner had targeted Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords since 2007, and that he had a troubled past, citing numerous serious problems the suspect had at Pima Community College.

Those who have known Loughner describe a litany of behavioral concerns.

These issues suggest that we need to determine how we can better identify young people and adolescents who may be at risk for psychological problems and violent behaviors.

In a free country like ours, people are allowed to be different and to act in unusual ways without the threat of arrest or institutionalization. Short of openly declaring an intention to harm oneself or someone else, there is very little mental health professionals or law enforcement personnel can do to force someone into mental health treatment. Yet, there are many other “checkpoints” along the way at which a young person with emotional and/or drug problems can be guided into much-needed treatment.

Below are some warning signs parents and other adults might look for in children and adolescents:

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From CBS News:

Nearly six in 10 Americans say the country’s heated political rhetoric is not to blame for the Tucson shooting rampage that left six dead and critically wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, according to a CBS News poll.

In the wake of the shooting, much focus has been put on the harsh tone of politics in Washington and around the country, particularly after a contentious midterm election. Rhetoric and imagery from both Republicans and Democrats have included gun-related metaphors, but the majority of the country isn’t connecting the shooting to politics.

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Today on Coffee and Markets we’re talking to Melissa Clouthier of LibertyPundits who shares her views on the political fallout from the Arizona shooting. We also discuss whether Congressional staff should be armed, and how the right should respond to the smears of old media.

We’re brought to you as always by Stephen Clouse and Associates. You can find our iTunes feed at CoffeeandMarkets.com. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

DC Examiner: Should Congressional Staff be Armed?
Marc Thiessen on the Outrage From the Left
Glenn Reynolds on the Politics of Blood Libel
Halperin: Pointing Out Smear Only Makes Things Worse
Poll: Americans Reject Democrat Spin on Rhetoric
Yousefzadeh: Short Memories Ignore Left’s Calls for Violence

No, I’m not kidding..I wish I were.

Hillary Clinton was speaking in front of an Arab audience in Abu Dhabi and was asked `why the 9/11 terror attacks, the work of a handful of men, had been allowed to color American views of a whole people.’

Her reply? After the usual fawning over America’s Muslims, she didn’t,of course say anything about the 9/11 attacks being done in the name of Islam, about the numerous attacks on America and Americans before or since 9/11, or the millions of Muslims America has spent blood and treasure to liberate.

No…her response was to compare the Arizona shooting to 9/11 and to blame both incidents on ‘extremism’!

“We have extremists in our country,” she said. “A wonderful and incredibly brave young woman congress member was just shot by extremists (RM: Note her use of the plural, extremists) in our country.

“We have the same kinds of problems, so rather than standing off of each other we should work to try and prevent the extremists wherever they are from being able to commit violence.”

Ladies and gentlemen, your Secretary of State….eagerly comparing a lone nut case to the very sane gentlemen who planned and carried out 9/11, as well as a number of other operations.

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Like a stiff, stuffed and somewhat corpulent Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, one can easily imagine Arizona sheriff Clarence Dupnik informing ABC producers that he thought he was ready for his close-up.

Objective observers looking in on this low-level political functionary, perhaps with dreams of greater things at the end of an otherwise pedestrian political career, might disagree.

“The kind of rhetoric that flows from people like Rush Limbaugh, in my judgment he is irresponsible, uses partial information, sometimes wrong information,” Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said today. “[Limbaugh] attacks people, angers them against government, angers them against elected officials and that kind of behavior in my opinion is not without consequences.”

With profane Constitutional ignorance, how dare anyone fuel anger, or resentment of big government, or, heaven forbid, an elected official, Dupnik, or perhaps that should read Dupe-nik, stands on end the Constitution and the same First Amendment recently read by tragic shooting victim and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on the floor of the House of Representatives. Giffords even posted the short video on her Facebook page.

A look at Dupnik’s official, public bought and paid for website reads more like someone auditioning for a TV talking head gig, or job in Washington, than it does a law enforcement official. But then, what responsible, professional law enforcement official would seize upon every media opportunity afforded him to discuss, in intimate detail, such a horrific crime still under investigation and obviously headed for the courts? The answer is none.

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Saturday morning, a hail of bullets took the lives of five Americans, including a federal judge and a nine year old girl.  19 others were injured, including Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.  For most, Saturday was a day of tragedy – a day of reflection.  Well, Saturday morning, at any rate.  By Saturday afternoon, the left-wing brain trust had shifted into high gear.  By Sunday, every tired, worn out, leftist mouthpiece, from Jane Fonda to MoveOn.org, had shuffled down from their lofty intellectual perches, determined to educate the masses.  Their hypothesis was obvious to anyone smart enough to comprehend it.   Clearly, the Arizona bloodbath was the end result of two years dominated by conservative vitriol, hatred, and “elevated rhetoric.”

It’s an assertion that left wing luminaries have made before, most memorably when New York City Mayor Bloomberg told Katie Couric that the Times Square bomber was probably a white male Tea Partier, likely disenchanted with Obamacare.  He was later forced to eat those words when the would-be terrorist turned out to be a Muslim extremist.  Still, he had exposed a truth: the left has been desperate for a situation that will allow them to hang a crazed killer around the neck of the Tea Party.   With Arizona gunman Jared Loughner, they seem to feel that their ship has finally come in.

In order to make Loughner work as their right-wing poster child, all they have to do is deny reality and ignore their own history.

First of all, the idea of Loughner as the consummate tea-partier is laughable.  The left has always described the Tea Party movement as a collection of under-educated, flag-waving weirdos who ineptly fetishize freedom, American exceptionalism, and the Constitution.  A quick look at the killer’s MySpace and YouTube pages reveals an image of a barely coherent madman, fascinated by flag burning, Mein Kampf, and the Communist Manifesto.  His classmates have described him as “anti-flag” and a “Left-wing Pothead.”  In fact, he was arrested in 2008 on misdemeanor drug charges. Somehow, because he made some vague, rambling statement about the gold standard, we’re supposed to ignore his previous arrest, turn a blind eye to the flag burning, forget about his love of fascist and communist literature, and accept the Loughner-as-conservative fallacy?

Well, yes, apparently we are.  If we don’t, the left will have trouble moving on to the next phase of their plan: controlling political speech in the media.

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The other night I watched a show called Dateline with “never seen before” footage of an interview between Jeffrey Dahmer and the reporter Stone Philips. For those of you too young to remember, Jeffrey Dahmer gained notoriety in the early 1990’s for being a particularly gruesome and repulsive homosexual serial killer. So, yes, curiosity got the better of me – I watched it. Although I admit, I couldn’t sit through the whole thing.

Stone Philips asked the obvious questions probing Dahmer’s father and mother as to why Jeffrey committed these horrific acts. He asked if there were any signs, indications, events in Jeffrey’s life that would give us a clue as to how this monster was created. Was Jeffrey molested as a child? Did the screaming in the doomed marriage cause this behavior? The parents came up empty. They didn’t see any signs; they didn’t know of any catastrophic events. Jeffrey wasn’t abnormal or deviant by anything they saw. And if they had seen something, they would have hoped they would have reacted appropriately.

Then Stone asked Jeffrey the same question. Why? What caused you to do these things? Candidly, Jeffrey simply answers that he was Godless.

Shocking isn’t it? Jeffrey explains that up until he was caught and put into prison he had been told that he was primordial ooze, a product of evolution. After being convicted, his father sent him some information explaining that God created the world and the people in it. At some point, Jeffrey realized that he had to answer to a higher being. He logically understood that primordial ooze doesn’t have to answer to anyone or anything; a created human being MUST answer to his Creator.

Good for Dahmer. Kudos for seeing the most basic answer to societies woes that are most “brilliant” scientists and educators refuse to see. Whether he really believed his words or not, he spoke truth.

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(Continued from yesterday)

Recap: Radical philanthropist George Soros gave $1 million to Media Matters for America, a well-funded slander shop that roots out “conservative misinformation.” It’s all part of his campaign to suppress conservative ideas that stand in the way of pushing America even farther to the left.

The left has been hyperventilating about Beck ever since he moved from CNN to Fox News in early 2009 and quickly became the Obama administration’s most vociferous high-profile critic. In particular, liberals could not abide Beck righteously fulminating against the shadowy Tides Foundation, a pass-through entity that allows wealthy individuals to give to radical causes anonymously.
Eric Boehlert, a so-called senior fellow at Media Matters, seized an opportunity when a deranged would-be shooter named Byron Williams jumped into the headlines last year. After a shootout with the California Highway Patrol, Williams said he had been on his way to shoot up the San Francisco offices of Tides in hopes of sparking a revolution. Williams was never actually much of a threat to Tides. When police pulled him over on a Sunday when the Tides offices were closed, the inept insurrectionist was drunk.

Media Matters argued that Beck had blood on his hands because Williams claimed Beck’s program was one of his favorite TV shows. Boehlert blogged that Beck “has routinely smeared the low-profile entity [i.e. Tides] for being staffed by ‘thugs’ and ‘bullies’ and involved in ‘the nasty of the nastiest,’ like indoctrinating schoolchildren and creating a ‘mass organization to seize power.’” Williams “wasn’t able to open fire inside the offices of the Tides Foundation, an organization ‘nobody knew’ about until Glenn Beck started targeting it.”

Aside from the rhetorical flourishes, Beck had provided a more or less accurate picture of the Tides Foundation, its sister groups, and many of its grant recipients.

As Trevor Loudon wrote in the October 2010 Foundation Watch, “The Tides Foundation and Tides Center are the radical left’s best kept secret. Together they provide tens of millions of dollars annually to some of the most extreme, destructive charities in America. Their money has gone to an assortment of questionable groups including ACORN, Media Matters for America, and the Center for Constitutional Rights.” (The Center was profiled in the September 2006 Organization Trends.)

According to David Horowitz’s online encyclopedia of the left, DiscoverTheNetworks.org, the Tides family of foundations has also funded the violent anarchist group known as the Ruckus Society, United for Peace and Justice (a group headed by pro-Castro activist Leslie Cagan), the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), three of whose executives have been indicted for terrorism-related activities, and the National Lawyers Guild.

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This is a face of evil. The mug shot of Jared Loughner.

On March 23, 2010 at 6:41pm, Sarah Palin’s infamous “cross-hairs” map was posted to her facebook page.  It instantly sparked controversy.  On March 26, 2010, at a rally for Senator John McCain, Palin clarified her intentions with the map and defended herself and other conservatives against charges of inciting violence during the period of heightened debate surrounding the Democrats’ overhaul of the health care system:

TRANSCRIPT:

And ya know, hearing the news reports lately, kinda this ginned up controversy about us, common sense conservatives, inciting violence because we happen to oppose some of the things in the Obama administration.

Interrupted from audience: “We do it with our vote!”

Amen, brother! That’s what you do it with, with your vote! You got it right. We know violence isn’t the answer. When we take up our arms, we’re talking about our vote. We’re talking about being involved in a contested primary like this, and picking the right candidate too–John McCain, we thank you for that.

But this B.S. coming from the lamestream media lately about this, about us inciting violence. Don’t let the conversation be diverted. Don’t’ let a distraction like that get you off track. Keep fighting hard for these candidates who are all about the common sense conservative solutions that we need. (more…)

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, November 3rd, as many of us were settling into our beds preparing to bask in pleasant dreams about the outcome of the General Election, Joe Straus, the Speaker of the Texas House, announced:

“I will continue to lead the Texas House in a fair and respectful way as Speaker, and at this early hour, I’m grateful to have 122 colleagues support me for Speaker, including 76 Republicans and 46 Democrats, and I look forward to visiting with more members in the coming days.”

For many of us newly christened political junkies, this just didn’t go down well with our morning coffee. After all, the voice of the people had only been expressed hours before. You may have asked yourself, “In this climate, how dare a politician take our support, the public’s support, for granted?” And there’s the rub – Straus did not believe that he needed our support. No speaker during the last three decades had needed the support of Texas voters. The pre-election Good ‘Ole Boy network had been at work behind the scenes. And, Speaker Straus thought that 2010/2011 would be business as usual.

In 2008 Judge Sam Sparks overturned the “speaker’s statute”. Until then it was illegal for advocacy groups to spend “anything of value” to influence the election of the speaker.

Because of the “speaker’s statute” the Speaker’s race had never been at the forefront of the average voters’ minds. It is possible that no previous Speaker of the Texas House ever pondered if individual Texans would be supportive, if they were given the opportunity to vote for them. It is likely that past Speakers knew that most Texan’s didn’t know the difference between the Texas House of Representatives and the U.S. House of Representatives, and until now, no Speaker ever lost sleep over voter’s preferences.

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In the 1990s, it seemed as if individual rights, deregulation, free trade, and sound currency were taking hold in Latin America, a region finally on the rise after decades of coups, repression, and violence.

But in the 21st century, left-wing strongmen have made a comeback: Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa. Other countries in the region are headed in the wrong direction. Authoritarianism has been on the rise in Argentina ever since the economy collapsed (yet again) in 2002. Mexico’s violent drug war is escalating. In Cuba, the transfer of power from one Castro brother to the other hasn’t helped the economy or stopped human rights abuses.

What went wrong?

Reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie sat down with Mary Anastasia O’Grady, a member of the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board and a Journal columnist specializing in Latin America, to talk about the outlook for the region – and how free trade and drug legalization would go a long way to solving Latin America’s problems.

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From Reuters:

The suspect in Saturday’s shooting rampage in which a U.S. congresswoman was critically wounded was unstable and had been known to make death threats in the past, the local sheriff said.

The FBI is investigating whether the man is the same person who posted a rambling Internet manifesto accusing the government of mind control and demanding a new currency.

Jared Lee Loughner, 22, of Tucson, was taken into custody moments after the shooting at a political meeting held by Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords in a supermarket parking lot. Six people died and Giffords had a critical head wound.

Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County, where the shooting happened, told reporters the suspect had a troubled past. “All I can tell you is that this person may have a mental issue,” Dupnik said.

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