“On the campaign trail, Texas Gov. Rick Perry decries the invasive and profligate ways of big government. Yet in Texas he oversaw the creation of a massive, federally funded intelligence database that hoovers up everything from drivers’ license information to victims’ statements to bogus leads that may be falsely incriminating. The system, known as the Texas Data Exchange (TDEx), has drawn the concern of civil liberties advocates, not least because of Perry’s aggressive efforts to consolidate control of this sweeping intelligence vault within his own office.

In late 2005, Perry began directing his homeland security office to set up the database. Lawmakers and privacy advocates soon grew anxious over a host of problems plaguing the system. Early versions kept no record of what a particular user did when he was in the system, says Rebecca Bernhardt, the former policy director of ACLU Texas, who was part of a team pursuing reform of TDEx. “You don’t want anybody…to have unsupervised ability to go into TDEx, change names, take things out, put fake things in, and not have an audit trail of who made those changes,” she explains.”

Rick Perry’s Intelligence Overreach | Mother Jones

“Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December.

“I won’t place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids unless we structurally reform the way this town spends money!” Walsh says directly into the camera in his viral video lecturing Obama on the need to get the nation’s finances in order.”

Rep. Joe Walsh: I Can’t Complain But Sometimes I Still Do - The New Republic

Cementing The Double Standard, Rachel Maddow

You know, today, Greece had its credit rating dropped to the lowest in the world.  So, Greece could be about to default, which could mean another international financial crisis.

Today, Germany recognized the rebels in Libya as the legitimate government of Libya.

Today, King Abdullah was pelted with bottles and rocks in southern Jordan, as everyone wonders if the “Arab Spring” will bloom in his country, too.

Today, we learned that a U.S. navy destroyer stalked a ship thought to be carrying missile parts towards Burma, stalked it for days before it turned back and went back to North Korea.

Today, the Missouri River breached two levees in Iowa and Missouri, prompting evacuations of a whole with bunch of farm towns.

Today, one of President Obama‘s major economic advisers, Larry Summers, said the economy needs more stimulus spending.

Today, President Obama himself talked about dozens of jobs creation ideas from his jobs council.  He warned about how—essentially, how whack it is that the only feasible ideas now are ones that don‘t have to go through Congress.

And there‘s a presidential candidates debate.

And LeBron James just proved the existence of karma.

And the al Qaeda guy who planned the Kenya and Tanzania embassy bombings got killed.

And the FBI‘s taking new search and seizure powers.

And photos of Gabby Giffords.

And the New York state legislature moves on gay marriage.

And, and, and—there is a lot going on.  There is a lot going on.

It may be a sleepy June Monday, but there is a ton going on.

And did you hear there were absolutely no new developments in the Anthony Weiner sex scandal today?  OMG!  OMG!

The latest argument from Democrats why Congressman Anthony Weiner must resign is he is a distraction from other much more important stuff that Democrats would rather be talking about, which would make sense if Democrats were only now being deprived of the great news coverage they are used to because they‘re always so disciplined about their message.

If Anthony Weiner resigning would help Democrats keep their message focused on Republicans trying to kill Medicare.

If Anthony Weiner resigning would get the Democrats to come up with a political message on repealing the Bush tax cuts for zillionaires, which the polls say is more popular than free beer.

If Anthony Weiner resigning would restore honor to Congress, (sarcastic cough) Mr. Vitter.

Or if Anthony Weiner resigning would do anything else to substantively improve—substantively improve Congress or the Democratic Party‘s politics, then every partisan liberal in the country probably would want Anthony Weiner to resign—or at least they should.

If Anthony Weiner would do anything to improve the seriousness of news coverage in our great nation, or its evenhandedness, everyone in the country would want Anthony Weiner to resign, or at least they should.  But Anthony Weiner resigning would not do any of those things.  Anthony Weiner does not have a magic wand, and the pun is partially intended.

So, while David Vitter gets to stay in the United States Senate as the hooker guy from the family values party, what is it about Democrats that has them now lining up to call on Anthony Weiner to resign, to cement that double standard?

Watch

High-res This full page ad ran in the Washington Post on Sunday Oct 14th 1998 during the super charged Bill Clinton impeachment saga… GOP congressman Bob Livingston, who was in line to become the next Speaker of the House was forced to resign… The guy busy impeaching Bill Clinton, had been unfaithful to his own wife. It was blatant, humiliating hypocrisy. - Rachel Maddow (Watch)The man who replaced Bob Livingston? Now, Sen. David Vitter. You can’t make this stuff up.

This full page ad ran in the Washington Post on Sunday Oct 14th 1998 during the super charged Bill Clinton impeachment saga… GOP congressman Bob Livingston, who was in line to become the next Speaker of the House was forced to resign… The guy busy impeaching Bill Clinton, had been unfaithful to his own wife. It was blatant, humiliating hypocrisy. - Rachel Maddow (Watch)

The man who replaced Bob Livingston? Now, Sen. David Vitter. You can’t make this stuff up.

  • MSN

“You know, does any serious person, anybody who claims to be a serious person, still credit this argument? Have we not gotten away from the notion that all African Americans are responsible for what any African American does? This is a standard not applied to any other group in this society except, perhaps, Muslims. Are white people, random white people, called to account for what the cast of the Jersey Shore does? Are white people saying, ‘Well, their kids can get over-tan, drink too much, and act ridiculous because of the cast of Jersey Shore?’

In what other area in life is she taking direction from black comics on HBO? So, the notion that they are dictating the culture and that they set the cultural terms, for particularly a conservative is so ridiculous that it is striking to me that a person making that argument is not laughed out of the room.”

Michel Martin (NPR) on Dr. Laura’s point that some African American (“comics on HBO”) use the n-word, so why can’t a white person? 

(CNN’s Reliable Sources)

“I would ask the president to show decency in this process by eliminating one member of [his] inner circle, “The Obama Administration’s Chief of Staff scolded [liberal critics] calling them, ‘F—-ing retarded,’ according to several participants, as reported in the Wall Street Journal. Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the “N-word” or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities - and the people who love them - is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking.” - Sarah Palin Fast forward to last night, when Palin had a change of heart. “Dr.Laura:don’t retreat…reload! (Steps aside bc her 1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence”isn’t American,not fair”),” Palin wrote in an inscrutable Tweet. - tpm

“I would ask the president to show decency in this process by eliminating one member of [his] inner circle, “The Obama Administration’s Chief of Staff scolded [liberal critics] calling them, ‘F—-ing retarded,’ according to several participants, as reported in the Wall Street Journal. Just as we’d be appalled if any public figure of Rahm’s stature ever used the “N-word” or other such inappropriate language, Rahm’s slur on all God’s children with cognitive and developmental disabilities - and the people who love them - is unacceptable, and it’s heartbreaking.” - Sarah Palin

Fast forward to last night, when Palin had a change of heart.

“Dr.Laura:don’t retreat…reload! (Steps aside bc her 1st Amend.rights ceased 2exist thx 2activists trying 2silence”isn’t American,not fair”),” Palin wrote in an inscrutable Tweet.

- tpm