National, Regional and Local News

[Kirkus]

The last I saw about Jackson, Jr. was that he's suffering from a "mood disorder". That's how it was reported on MSNBC this afternoon.

[Kirkus]

A wonderful essay about Rachel Maddow's journalism style and inner-conflicts from Rolling Stone.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics...t-war-20120627

Thanks for that, munchin.

[craighickman]

Let's say, just for the sake of this post, that it's true: Jesse Jackson, Jr. attempted suicide recently.

That's tragic, all politics aside.

If it's true that he attempted suicide recently, then his constituents will have to wait for him to speak of his situation. If they can't wait, then they can vote him out of office.

Anybody running for that seat?

[Kirkus]

Let's say, just for the sake of this post, that it's true: Jesse Jackson, Jr. attempted suicide recently.

That's tragic, all politics aside.

If it's true that he attempted suicide recently, then his constituents will have to wait for him to speak of his situation. If they can't wait, then they can vote him out of office.

Anybody running for that seat?

This.

[Moose]

(Where is the popcorn munching smilie when you need it? FYI, Carroll is a married, hard core conservative woman of color, who opposes same sex marriage and other gay rights issues)

Ex Carroll aide alleges misconduct
Written by GARY FINEOUT
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- An ongoing criminal case against a former top aide to Florida Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll is transforming into a swirl of allegations about improper relationships, widespread illegal taping and other incidents inside Carroll's office.

The allegations, which Carroll denies, were included in a court filing made late last week by the attorney representing Carletha Cole, who was arrested last October on charges that she gave an illegally taped conversation with another Carroll aide to a newspaper reporter.
Cole's attorneys made the filing in response to prosecutors' attempts to seal some evidence in the case.

In the filing, Cole contends that she witnessed Carroll and a top aide, Beatriz Ramos, in a "compromising position" inside Carroll's office, that Carroll's chief of staff secretly recorded conversations routinely at the direction of those working for Gov. Rick Scott, and that the trash can at Cole's desk might have been deliberately set ablaze following an argument between her and Ramos.

Cole also said Ramos was living at Carroll's home and at one point she was ordered by Ramos to find adjoining hotel rooms for Carroll and Ramos when they traveled. Cole said that she was "scolded" by an agent with Carroll's security team when she placed Ramos next door to Carroll when the lieutenant governor and her husband traveled last summer to Puerto Rico. The agent told her to not do it again, Cole says, although he did not explain why.

DENIES THE ALLEGATIONS

Carroll, a former Navy officer who is also a mother of three, says the allegations are all lies.

"That's totally false and absurd," said Carroll, a former Republican legislator who was chosen by Scott as his running mate in 2010.

Carroll said the allegations are an attempt by Cole and her attorney to get the criminal charges against Cole dropped. Cole is charged with a third-degree felony and could get up to five years in prison.

"They are trying to pull at straws," Carroll said. "All this stuff you mentioned doesn't excuse what happened."

Ramos, whose title is special assistant to the lieutenant governor, did not return a phone call to her office.

Stephen Webster, the Tallahassee attorney representing Cole, stood by the allegations included in the filing: "That's the truth. It is what it is."

Webster said Cole is a grandmother and minister who had never been in previous legal trouble. He said the filing was made to show that Carroll, Ramos and Carroll's chief of staff, John Konkus, have reasons to make Cole look bad because they could be witnesses at Cole's trial.

"It's a desperate prosecution that is politically motivated," he said.

Webster works for the law firm of Steven Andrews, who has clashed with Scott in the past. He filed a lawsuit during the 2010 campaign attempting to obtain a video deposition Scott had given in a case against a chain of health clinics he helped start.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation that resulted in Cole's arrest began last September after the agency received a complaint that a secret audio recording had been made in Carroll's office. The agency reported its findings to prosecutor Willie Meggs, the state attorney for the Tallahassee area.

It is against Florida law to record someone without consent, but there have been legal questions about recordings made in public buildings.

SECRET RECORDINGS

The Florida Times-Union obtained a copy of the conversation between Konkus, Carroll's chief of staff, and Cole, a senior program analyst who also acted as a spokeswoman for Carroll.

The Times-Union placed the recording on its website. Konkus can be heard saying that the governor's then- chief of staff, Steve MacNamara, is afraid of Carroll. Konkus also complained that Scott "is not leading." Konkus worked for U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Ocala, before joining the Scott administration in May.

In her court filing, Cole states that she went to Carroll's office door, which was closed. She says she walked in and found Carroll and Ramos "in what can only be described as a compromising position." Carroll denies this ever happened.

Cole was fired about the time the investigation began after publicly speaking out about infighting in Carroll's office.

A sworn statement by an FDLE agent says that investigators looked into Cole's emails and cellphone records and discovered that she had sent the recording to the Times-Union reporter.

Konkus, who said the recording was made without his permission, told investigators it was made sometime between June and August 2011. He said he was working with Cole on Carroll's website.

But Cole's attorney maintains in his filing with the court that recording went on all the time in the lieutenant governor's office and that Scott's communications teams instructed staff members to "covertly" record conversations in the office, especially with members of the press for accuracy.

They also maintain that Konkus joked about having a "smart pen" that could record conversations without anyone knowing about it.

When reached by email, Konkus said he could not comment on the case and directed questions to Scott's press office.

Brian Burgess, a spokesman for Scott, called the allegations about widespread taping and the rest of Cole's assertions "outrageous."

"The woman is facing a third-degree felony charge," Burgess said. "Her allegations should be considered in that light."

COURT CASE

Webster made the court filing after Meggs' office filed a motion to keep confidential two documents that the defense wanted to use: A one-page report summarizing a polygraph test given to Cole where she talked about Carroll and Ramos and an FDLE report regarding the trash can fire in Carroll's office.

The prosecutor on the case would not comment about the motion. But the official filing states that the documents should be kept confidential in order to protect a "compelling government interest" and to avoid harming third parties. The state's motion also contends the documents were irrelevant but could pose a threat to Cole receiving a fair trial because they would generate media interest.

A judge held a hearing last Friday where he ruled that the polygraph report would be kept confidential but the FDLE report would remain public. That report details a March 17 incident where Ramos threw a cigar into Cole's trashcan. The cigar started a fire that was put out by another employee.

Ramos told an FDLE investigator that she had taken a couple of puffs on the cigar at a St. Patrick Day party, put it out and wrapped it up in a paper towel and returned with it to her office at the Florida Capitol.

She then put it in Cole's trashcan. The FDLE investigator concluded it was an accident, but Cole's attorney questioned the account, noting that both a cigar and a match were found in the trash can after the fire.


http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?op...452&Itemid=331

[Ti-Amie]

Billionaire Nick Hanauer's comments at TED earlier this year.

That’s why I can say with confidence that rich people don’t create jobs, nor do businesses, large or small. What does lead to more employment is a “circle of life” like feedback loop between customers and businesses. And only consumers can set in motion this virtuous cycle of increasing demand and hiring. In this sense, an ordinary middle-class consumer is far more of a job creator than a capitalist like me.
(...)
Anyone who’s ever run a business knows that hiring more people is a capitalist’s course of last resort, something we do only when increasing customer demand requires it. In this sense, calling ourselves job creators isn’t just inaccurate, it’s disingenuous.
(...)
[O]ur current policies are … upside down. When you have a tax system in which most of the exemptions and the lowest rates benefit the richest, all in the name of job creation, all that happens is that the rich get richer.

Since 1980, the share of income for the richest Americans has more than tripled while effective tax rates have declined by close to 50%.

If it were true that lower tax rates and more wealth for the wealthy would lead to more job creation, then today we would be drowning in jobs. And yet unemployment and under-employment is at record highs.

Read more: http://business.time.com/2012/05/18/...#ixzz20qEexVcZ

[shtexas]

The John McCain I used to respect has re-surfaced:


John McCain defends Huma Abedin against Michele Bachmann
By Phoebe Connelly, Yahoo! News | The Ticket


John McCain took to the Senate floor today to discuss Huma Abedin--known variously for her work at the State Department under Hillary Clinton and for her marriage to sexting ex-congressman Anthony Weiner. Is McCain perhaps a People magazine subscriber, using his time in the chamber to congratulate Abedin on the charming family photo unveiled by the mag today?

Alas, no. McCain was defending Abedin against recent accusations made by Rep. Michele Bachmann that Abedin's security clearance should be questioned due to alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. "I understand how painful and injurious it is when a person's character, reputation, and patriotism are attacked without concern for fact or fairness," McCain said according to prepared remarks. "It is for that reason that I rise today to speak in defense of Huma Abedin."

Huffington Post's Jason Linkins unpacks the story: Bachmann recently started an inquiry as to whether Congress has been infiltrated by members of the Muslim group. After fellow Rep. Keith Ellison raised questions about her sourcing, Bachmann replied with 16 pages of evidence, leading with accusations about Abedin's family ties.

Back to McCain:

Ultimately, what is at stake in this matter is larger even than the reputation of one person. This is about who we are as a nation, and who we still aspire to be. What makes America exceptional among the countries of the world is that we are bound together as citizens not by blood or class, not by sect or ethnicity, but by a set of enduring, universal, and equal rights that are the foundation of our constitution, our laws, our citizenry, and our identity. When anyone, not least a member of Congress, launches specious and degrading attacks against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are and ignorance of what they stand for, it defames the spirit of our nation, and we all grow poorer because of it.

In an appearance this morning on Current TV, Rep. Keith Ellison said of Bachmann's inquiry, "This is all about waving a red bloody flag and trying to get people to be hysterical and afraid and gin up the hate machine."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/j...173234184.html

[Ti-Amie]

Totally agree shtexas.

[dryrunguy]

The John McCain I used to respect has re-surfaced:

Every now and then, I think he accidentally gets one of the placebo pills.

[skatingfan]

It's too bad that this McCain didn't show up in 2008 - this McCain wouldn't get nominated but could have won.

Is Michelle Bachmann auditioning for the 'Senator McCarthy' of the Muslim witchhunt that some on the radical right seem determined to start?

[Moose]

Bachman's former campaign manager, Ed Rollins, also brought down the hammer on her yesterday, and specifically invoked MCCarthyism while condemning her letter.

[owendonovan]

Yet, Minnesotans keep electing her.

[dryrunguy]

Yet, Minnesotans keep electing her.

You have to remember that her district is one of the two (or maybe it's next to one or both of the two districts) where gay kids have been killing themselves left and right in recent years.

[James7]

Yet another mass shooting. What is with all of the crazies recently?

[Ti-Amie]

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney saved himself hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes in 2010 by transferring stock in two companies from his personal account to a nonprofit entity he set up. The stock maneuver included $172,397 in shares of Sensata Technologies, a company now under fire for a high-profile effort to offshore central Illinois jobs to China.

Sensata produces sensors, switches and various mechanical controls. The Attleboro, Mass.-based company is owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney founded, and it already does most of its work in overseas plants. A remaining factory in Freeport, Ill., garnered national attention when remaining workers began pleading with Romney to exercise his influence over Bain Capital to save their jobs.

Romney had received the Sensata stock as part of a Bain payout; he listed no cost for it on his tax return. By transferring that stock to his nonprofit Tyler Charitable Foundation, he avoided roughly $25,000 in capital gains taxes he would have owed. He also shaved an additional $50,000 off his tax bill by deducting the charitable contribution from his income.

(...)

Romney no longer runs Bain Capital, but his tax returns show he is a significant Sensata shareholder who stands to profit from any lower labor costs that result from offshoring. Bain declined to comment for this story.

In 2010, Romney also transferred about $1.3 million worth of stock in Domino's Pizza to his nonprofit, which shaved about $600,000 off his tax bill. He reported paying nothing for the pizza shares, having acquired them as part of Bain's takeover of the company.

"Governor Romney donates a substantial amount of money every year to charity. He receives the same charitable deduction for his private giving as does any other American," said Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Romney.

Romney's Tyler Charitable Foundation has assets of roughly $10 million, of which it is only required to spend 5 percent per year to maintain its tax-preferred status. According to the foundation's Internal Revenue Service filings, it has distributed on average 7.8 percent annually over the past few years. That figure would be much lower, however, if it weren't for a single $1.8 million donation made to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2008. That year, the Mormon church was engaged in an all-hands-on-deck battle to pass a California ballot proposition banning same-sex marriage. (It passed, but a federal appeals court later ruled the ban unconstitutional.)

Rebecca Wilkins, an attorney with Citizens for Tax Justice, said such nonprofits are a convenient way for the wealthy to earn tax breaks today for donations that might not be doled out for years. "Wealthy taxpayers can front-load their deductions and get huge taxpayers subsidies," she said in an email. "For example, someone who wanted to give $1 million to his church every year could give $10 million to his private foundation and let the foundation give it to the church over the next decade or so. In the meantime, he gets the $10 million deduction in the current year -- saving millions of dollars in income taxes while keeping control of the money through the foundation's trustee."

Gaulrapp, the Freeport mayor, said that Bain brought Chinese workers to town last summer so that the American employees could train their successors. "It's pretty insulting," said Gaulrapp, a Democrat serving in the nonpartisan mayoral job. "It's like being asked to dig your own grave."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...tml?ref=topbar