Rep. Mark Kirk’s (R-Il.) false claim that he was named the Navy Intelligence Officer of the Year in the late 1990′s was made at a committee hearing before the YouTube era began, but the long arm of C-SPAN can reach back and bring it up as if it happened yesterday.

What is striking about Rep. Kirk’s assertion in the video is that it appears scripted and thought out, which belies Kirk’s recent defense that the false claim on his website — that was only removed last week after a Washington Post investigation — regarding the award was little more than an administrative oversight.

At the very beginning of Kirk’s testimony, he makes the claim, which he has since confessed is false: "I’ve been in office just one year. Before that I was a Navy Reserve Intelligence Officer–was the Navy’s Intelligence Officer of the Year in 1998," Kirk said in a March 2002 House committee hearing.

In today’s politics, such transgressions seem to gain currency only when there is video evidence that can be played and replayed. Indeed, George Allen may be the Republican Senator from Virginia today if he had not been captured on video referring to a young man in the audience at a campaign event as "Makaka."

Kirk has been combative in his defense of his past statement, citing a 1999 "Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal" that he was awarded. The medal, however, is not the highest award that can be bestowed on an intelligence officer and is not given only to one officer.

Kirk, a Republican, is running a tight race against Democrat Alexi Giannoulias for an Illinois Senate seat.

Kirk also cited the fact that his unit was given the United States Navy Vice Admiral Rufus L. Taylor Intelligence Award. In an email to supporters, Kirk claimed that it was his work that led to the unit receiving the award.

CONTINUED

Footage Of Illinois Senate Candidate Mark Kirk Making False Military Claim Surfaces (VIDEO)

Rep. Burgess and the Fort Worth City Council were briefed on issues related to gas drilling in North Texas by TCEQ, and given inaccurate test results of air quality.  When TCEQ realized they had given bad information, they didn’t attempt to contact anyone they had previously briefed.  Here is an excerpt from a Fort Worth Star Telegram article:

Burgess said he was recently briefed by the TCEQ on air quality issues related to gas drilling and found it disturbing that he hadn’t been presented with all the data.

"I relied on the information I was given, as did many others in North Texas," Burgess said in a statement. "I find it personally offensive to find out that what I have been told may not be the full story on the air quality issues in the area that affect millions of North Texans. There are a lot of questions that TCEQ needs to answer, and the public is right to demand accountability."

The TCEQ conducted air tests in Fort Worth in December and told city officials at a public meeting in January that the air was safe. State officials later discovered that the tests had been done with equipment that wasn’t sensitive enough to measure lower levels of some compounds that could be harmful under long-term exposure. Samples were retested.

After three showed higher levels of an airborne toxic compound, the agency took new samples at those sites but didn’t tell the city or the public.

This past week, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made steps to take over issuing operating permits for refineries and other heavy industries from Perry’s TCEQ.  Perry said it was a "big government" move, part of the Obama administration’s "concerted effort to transfer power away from the states to the federal government."

Not surprisingly, this is just spin from Perry— the EPA has been criticizing Perry’s TCEQ since when Bush was in office, and this is a long- running dispute over the lax oversight that Perry’s TCEQ has been providing, which results in more pollution here in Texas.  Read this article from the Fort Worth Star Tribune about called, "Texas governor should watch what he says about EPA."  Here is an excerpt:

But the governor is wrong to blame the EPA’s action on President Barack Obama. Documents available on the TCEQ website show the EPA objected to the Texas permit process at least as long ago as 2006, under the administration of President George W. Bush. Those objections have been the subject of continuing meetings and often strongly worded correspondence between EPA and TCEQ officials ever since.

Perry wants to distract Texans by criticizing the Obama administration, but the truth is that his record of failure stretches back into the Bush administration.  These new revelations that Perry’s TCEQ has been hiding bad data from local leaders should alarm everyone.

TCEQ is just another Perry-controlled agency that is under fire for incompetence and mismanagement. An audit of the Texas Department of Transportation that was released this week showed  the agency should significantly alter its leadership structure, calling it a "singular deeply entrenched culture."

Charles Kuffner (http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=28538) gave a good briefing on the importance of this issue:

From my perspective, how many more examples do you need of Rick Perry’s failure as Governor? The single biggest power the Governor has, one Perry has used to put an indelible stamp on the state, is the power of appointment. His people have been running TxDOT for nearly a decade now. Whatever problems it has, they’re his responsibility. Whatever needs to be done to fix it that hasn’t been done, that’s his responsibility, too. And as long as TxDOT is his responsibility, nothing is going to change no matter what a bunch of consultants put in a report. The problems start at the top.

How Conservatives Made the Case for Increased Regulations

According to a new CBS News poll 70 percent of Americans disapprove of how BP has handled the oil gush, compared with 45 percent who disapprove of how Obama has handled it. This could change in the days or weeks ahead if the spill continues to worsen and the White House looks and acts powerless.

The poll also points out a danger for Obama: Only 35 percent approve of his words and deeds so far during the crisis. He seems too willing to defer to BP executives, even as Bad Petroleum Ltd. tries to shift blame to Transocean Ltd., the rig operator, which is trying to put blame on Halliburton, which made the cement casings.

But it’s not just the oil gush. Most Americans continue to be livid at Wall Street executives and traders — for which they blame an economic crisis that’s cost many their jobs, savings, and homes — a crisis that’s still costing taxpayers a bundle even as the bankers are back to collecting huge compensation packages. Yet the President continues to consult and socialize with many of them. Inexplicably, the White House won’t go along with proposals by several Democratic senators to cap the size of the biggest banks (the only way to ensure they’ll never be too big to fail and their political power is contained), to resurrect the Glass-Steagall Act (except in its weaker "Volcker rule" form), or to force the biggest banks to do their derivative trading without the artificial support of tax-payer insured commercial deposits.

Most people are also furious that executives at Massey Energy failed to use mandated safety equipment and procedures that might have saved the lives of 29 miners. Where were the regulators? What does the Administration plan to do to the company or its executives?

Most Americans upset that the top guns at Anthem, WellPoint, and other health insurers are still hiking insurance rates. Why are these health insurers still immune from the antitrust laws? How can the Administration not blow the whistle on their current attempts blunt regulations that would cap their premiums?

Many are angry that the executives of credit card companies still charging outlandish rates on overcharges that are still hard to compute. What happened to the new rules that were supposed to stop this?

Most Americans who know about it are bothered that the managers of hedge funds and private-equity funds (the 25 richest of whom took $1 billion each last year) are taxed at only 15 percent because of a loophole in the tax laws that the Senate continues to protect.

You get my drift.

CONTINUED

Robert Reich: How Conservatives Made the Case for Increased Regulations

The non-scandal of the Obama administration offer of a non-paying high level job to prevent a divisive senate race is neither unprecedented or unethical. The mainstream media is again being puppeteered by the GOP talking points to give this the semblance of a Whitehouse scandal. Here is proof positive that even the Republicans Messiah Ronald Reagan did it.

MICHAEL R. BLOOD | 05/27/10 11:25 AM

PAHRUMP, Nev. — Sharron Angle wants to wipe out Social Security, shutter the Education Department and return to the days almost a century ago when the federal income tax was unconstitutional.

A tea party conservative testing the limits of anti-government sentiment, she’s also the Republican on the rise in an unpredictable race to pick an opponent for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a top Democrat in Washington who’s in trouble at home.

What’s more, she is evidently the Republican whom Reid would like most to run against. Witness a costly television campaign financed by the majority leader’s backers to erode the support of the shaky Republican front-runner, Sue Lowden.

"I am the tea party," said Angle, a 60-year-old former Nevada lawmaker.

With early voting under way for the June 8 primary, Angle has nearly erased Lowden’s double-digit lead in recent polls, thanks in part to endorsements from the Tea Party Express and other conservative groups, including the anti-tax Club for Growth. Lowden, a former state senator, has stumbled after she suggested people might barter for health care using chickens and she faced financial questions about the use of a leased bus.

Club for Growth began airing an ad statewide Wednesday that calls Angle a fiscal conservative and common-sense fighter and argues that Lowden supports huge spending increases and that she backed Reid.

The three top Republicans in the 12-candidate field – Angle, Lowden, 58, and Danny Tarkanian, 48 – have in earlier surveys polled better than Reid, a four-term senator taking the heat for the state’s 13.7 percent unemployment rate, soaring home foreclosures and bankruptcy rates.

Angle is among hundreds of candidates nationwide testing how far voters want to go in 2010 to remake the federal government.

"A tsunami of conservatism is coming in waves across our country," she says. "My message is what the people want."

Sharron Angle, Nevada Senate Candidate: ‘I Am The Tea Party’

Back when the economic recovery package (i.e. “the stimulus”) was being debated, a handful of Republican governors garnered headlines by rejecting various portions of the funding. One of the loudest critics of the legislation was Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX).

At the time, Perry said rejecting the money “was pretty simple for us. … We can take care of ourselves.” “I am so concerned about the belief that has gained a foothold in our national consciousness that the best and only way to solve our nation’s problems is to drown them with taxpayer dollars,” Perry also said, adding that, with regard to the stimulus, Texas should “look a gift horse in the mouth.”

The Texas state legislature eventually pushed Perry to accept the money, but even in his official acceptance letter, Perry wrote that “I believe there are better ways to reinvigorate our economy and believe [the bill] will burden future generations with unprecedented levels of debt.” However, as the Wall Street Journal noted this morning, the stimulus is the reason that Texas currently has a balanced budget:

[T]he economic downturn is catching up with Texas. Sales-tax revenue started falling in February 2009 compared with the previous year, and only started to recover a bit in April of this year. Although Mr. Perry has railed against the federal economic-stimulus program, billions of dollars from that initiative helped Texas legislators balance the current budget.

Texas faces an $18 billion shortfall in its next two-year budget, which amounts to 20 percent of the total. And Perry’s refusal to consider tax increases is setting the state up for draconian cuts. “There is no way that they will be able to come up with $18 billion in cuts,” said Eva DeLuna Castro, a senior budget analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities. “They would have to shut down our prison system.”

Perry is not the only governor to rail against the stimulus while relying on it to balance his budget. Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) called the stimulus “incoherent” and “largely wasted,” but still used it to fix one-third of his state’s budget hole.

According to the latest report from the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus not only helped states stave off budget cuts, but also raised GDP by between 1.7 and 4 percentage points, lowered the unemployment rate by 1.5 percentage points, and created up to 2.8 million jobs. This is 250,000 to 500,000 more jobs than projected. CBO estimates that the stimulus will be responsible for up to 3.7 million jobs by September

Think Progress » Stimulus-Critic Rick Perry Only Able To Balance His State’s Budget Because Of Stimulus

 

First Posted: 05-26-10 12:51 PM   |   Updated: 05-26-10 12:51 PM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) insisted this week that his fellow Kentuckian, Republican Senate Candidate Rand Paul, needs to take a hiatus from the press circuit.

In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, John King asked McConnell if he had "convinced [Paul] not to show up on ‘Meet The Press’ this past Sunday, to go dark for a little bit."

McConnell responded that he would advise that Paul spend more time talking to Kentucky voters and less to the national media.

"He’s said quite enough for the time being in terms of national press coverage," McConnell said.

Last week, Paul garnered widespread criticism for his comments on the Civil Rights Act and the Gulf oil spill.

But despite McConnell’s recommendation that Rand Paul may have spoken imprudently last week, the minority leader remained optimistic about Paul’s chances in November.

"Well look, according to the polls that came out after the primary he has a 25 point lead going in to the general election," McConnell pointed out. "He’s in a very good position to put this Senate race in Kentucky in Republican hands."

Mitch McConnell On Rand Paul: ‘He’s Said Quite Enough’ To The National Media

Big Texas Deficit Puts Governor in Tight Spot

Perry Wants Cuts Alone to Close Gap, But Critics Say Solution is Shortsighted

By ANA CAMPOY

DALLAS—A Texas-size hole in the Lone Star state’s budget is putting pressure on Gov. Rick Perry, who is running for re-election this year as a model fiscal conservative.

Mr. Perry, a Republican in office for a decade, is touting his tax-cutting prowess and tight-fisted spending record as proof that he remains the right man for the job. He has maintained a wide lead in polls.

 

But as the state’s budget shortfall widens—to as much as $18 billion, or about 20% of the next two-year budget, according to the state legislature’s latest analysis released earlier this month—critics are complaining that Mr. Perry’s policies have left the state with little room to reduce spending.

"There is no way that they will be able to come up with $18 billion in cuts," said Eva DeLuna Castro, a senior budget analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a nonprofit that advocates for low-income Texans. "They would have to shut down our prison system."

Conservatives say that while cutting enough to balance the budget will be hard, it can be done, and that the governor is the right man to do it. "He has worked hard to encourage the legislature to keep spending within the revenue available," said Talmadge Heflin, director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank that backs limited government.

Most states have addressed or still face gaps in their budgets totaling $196 billion for fiscal year 2010, while tax revenue declined in the final quarter of 2009 in 39 of the states for which data is available. View interactive

The governor’s cost-cutting zeal is being questioned after the Associated Press reported he had spent some $600,000 of taxpayer dollars over the past couple of years to rent and maintain a luxurious home while the official governor’s mansion was repaired after a fire.

The state’s Democratic Party responded to the report with a YouTube video that flashes images of the governor’s rental home—complete with wood paneling, a chandelier and a heated pool—and plays the theme music from the television show "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous."

"While Texas families tighten their belts…why should we pay for Perry’s extravagant rental mansion?" is the video’s closing line.

A spokeswoman for the governor said that he, too, is cutting back, slashing his office budget by 10.8% and asking the agencies that fund his living quarters to reduce spending by 5%.

CONTINUED

Budget Woes Cloud Texas Governor’s Re-Election – WSJ.com

Democrats must  vociferously push the unlimited liability of the oil companies who damage our businesses, environment, and health. Otherwise there is no incentive for them to drill safely as they know their liability upfront for their negligence and cost it into maximal project exposure. This of course leaves the average American with total extent of the oil companies’ negligence costs less their limited liability. Republicans are attempting to block the bill and Democrats must let them pay by winning the PR battle.

 

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) is set to introduce on Tuesday afternoon a bill that would fully eliminate any cap on the amount of economic damages that oil companies would have to pay for spills they’ve caused.

The New Jersey Democrat is revising an earlier version of legislation he introduced which would have raised the cap from $75 million dollars in liability to $10 billion. Now, the cap will be effectively unlimited, an aide said.

The revised legislation, which ups the ante a bit in the oil-spill debate, will get its first floor hearing on Tuesday afternoon as Senate Democratic leadership is expected to call for unanimous consent. In all likelihood, a Republican senator will object (they have objected twice already to Menendez’s $10 billion cap) forcing Democrats into another course of action. It should be noted, as well, that the Obama White House has refused so far to endorse an actual dollar figure for where they’d like a liability cap to be, though they have expressed support for raising it.

That said, the New Jersey Democrat is hoping that by making liability unlimited he can effectively remove the GOP talking point that the $10 billion cap was an arbitrary number. He’s also hoping to ride the growing wave of anger at BP for its oversight of the spill in the Gulf.

UPDATE: Senator James Inhofe (R-Okl.) blocked a unanimous consent agreement on Menendez’s proposal Tuesday afternoon — citing, among other things, the prohibitive effects it would have on smaller oil companies hoping to drill in the Gulf.

Expect Democrats to continue pushing the legislation going forward, though there is some question as to whether it will be introduced as an amendment to a larger bill and whether leadership will stick with an unlimited cap.

Exclusive: Menendez Introducing Unlimited Cap On BP Damages

This is a must see. Unless we educate ourselves this will continue.