Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!
 
A couple of good natured 'Mom' blog posts to celebrate the day...

Mother Cat Adopts Ducklings

Looking for Hookers with My Mother In Amsterdam

A Little Chicken Humor...

From Rambling Web Chicken Rehab, the story of caring for a sick chicken some 60 years ago...

One day, as they completed their ride back down the hill they noticed one chicken lagged behind the others. Upon further examination the chicken appeared sick. He informed his grandmother that there was a chicken under-the-weather. She came out to see, and agreed the poor chicken wasn't well. So they scooped up the bird and brought it inside to take care of it. They all took turns carrying the chicken around the house. Periodically the gave the chicken a few drops of brandy from an eyedropper so that it would feel better while recuperating. If they needed to put her down, they would lean the inebriated bird up against the wall where she'd stay until they were able to come back and pick him up again.

Read the entire Chicken Rehab story at Rambling Web

IRS Scandal Just Starting to Unravel

Evidence is building that the IRS scandal regarding discrimination against conservative groups goes much farther that initial reports. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is indicating that this scandal indicates a broader pattern infringing on first amendment rights.

From CNBC: McConnell: IRS Scandal Is Just the Beginning

McConnell said the limitations on free speech extended beyond the IRS, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.

"The Department of Health and Human Services, during the Obamacare debate, issued a directive to the health insurance companies telling them they could not say to their policy holders what their objections were to Obamacare," he said.

McConnell demanded more answers on the role of the White House in the IRS scandal, saying the Obama administration cannot be trusted to be forthcoming on its details.

"The truth always comes out and it will come out," he said. "We know enough already to know this was outrageous behavior."

From the Daily Caller: McConnell: IRS actions part of ‘pattern’ of administration acting as ‘speech police’

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the Internal Revenue Service’s extra scrutiny of conservative groups is not an isolated incident, but rather part of a “pattern” of this administration acting as the “speech police.”

In a phone interview with The Daily Caller, McConnell pointed to past actions by various agencies – including Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius telling healthcare insurers that they could not disclose their feelings on the then-pending Affordable Care Act to their insures – and said that the IRS’s actions simply fell into that same mold.

Other reports indicate that the IRS not only discriminated against conservative groups, but also passed along confidential information to their political rivals.

From the Daily Caller: IRS sent confidential info on conservatives to liberal nonprofit ProPublica

“The same IRS office that deliberately targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year,” according to the ProPublica report.

“In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications or documentation for 31 groups. Nine of those applications had not yet been approved — meaning they were not supposed to be made public. (We made six of those public, after redacting their financial information, deeming that they were newsworthy.),” according to ProPublica.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/14/irs-sent-confidential-info-on-conservatives-to-liberal-nonprofit-propublica/#ixzz2TUK0Hfkr

From the Washington Post: IRS released confidential info on conservative groups to ProPublica

ProPublica on Monday reported that the same IRS division that targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny during the 2012 election cycle provided the investigative-reporting organization with confidential applications for tax-exempt status. ProPublica on Monday reported that the same IRS division that targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny during the 2012 election cycle provided the investigative-reporting organization with confidential applications for tax-exempt status.

That revelation contradicts previous statements from the agency and may represent a violation of federal guidelines. Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS sector that reviews tax-exemption applications, told a congressional oversight committee in April 2012 that IRS code prohibited the agency from providing information about groups that had not yet been approved. That revelation contradicts previous statements from the agency and may represent a violation of federal guidelines. Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS sector that reviews tax-exemption applications, told a congressional oversight committee in April 2012 that IRS code prohibited the agency from providing information about groups that had not yet been approved.

Gabriel Gomez Running for Senate in Massachusetts

Scott Brown having won a special election in Massachusetts showed that it's not impossible for a Republican to win a Senate seat in Mass. even if it is unlikely.  So this special election, finding someone to fill Senator (now Secratary) Kerry's vacated Senate seat, the race pairs off Republican Gabriel Gomez against Democrat Ed Markey. 

Since the Boston bombings the Senate race has understandably taken a back seat in the local media.  Oddly enough Gabriel Gomez was actually near the finish line of the marathon when the bombs went off.  He talks about this, as well as his background with Greta Van Sustren:
Gabriel Gomez: A New Kind of Republican

Also his own web site provides additional information on this relative newcomer to Massachusetts politics:
Gabriel Gomez for Senate

Interesting Stories Available Online

Three Students Charged in Connection with the Boston Marathon Bombings

The FBI Video of the Boston Marathon Bombers

Great Quotes from Margaret Thatcher

US Rethinking Arming Syrian Rebels

In several states, Medicaid expansion remains in limbo as time runs short

Some Pages of Interest...

Well this is awkward... This blog is still being retooled, but here are some pages that may be of interest...

Heritage Blog - Internet Sales Tax: Your Online Shopping Could Cost More

The Washington Times - A reckless Internet sales tax

Rambling Web

Rambling Web on Twitter

Broad Side of the Barn

Love for Boston...

From Rambling Web, Boston Love

Coming Out of Hibernation...

There are some changes coming for the Local Republicans Blog, but until that time here are some non-political posts that may be of interest...

Photographs of Bennington Vermont

Witty Will Rogers Quotes

Nature Photographer Russell Graves - Texas Parks and Wildlife

Nature Photographer Wyman Meinzer - Insight Into Photographing the Land and Sky 

The last two links feature videos from Texas Parks and Recreation giving insight into the work of two impressive nature photographers.  Beautiful examples of their work are included. 

Republican Issa on SOPA's Defeat

Mashable's interview 5 Questions For Rep. Darrell Issa, SOPA Opponent and ‘Internet Defender’ provides an interesting look, not only at what stopped the SOPA legislation, but also how Washington deals with technology. Essentially they're behind the times, and for the few legislators who do have a grasp on current (or emerging) technologies political party is of little consequence.

When the technology community rallied together in opposition of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), Rep. Issa was at the front lines of Congress fighting to kill the bill. And as a former electronics company CEO, he’s one of the few Congressman who seem to “get it” when it comes to technology (Fun fact: Rep. Issa lent his voice to the alarm system for the ultra-sleek Dodge Viper).

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The debate around SOPA and other technology bills doesn’t divide neatly along party lines. Do you think technology issues are, in a way, bipartisan?

“Intellectual property and how we deal with that is always bipartisan … Sen. Wyden (D-Ore.) was particularly helpful in this entire debate, he brought his own version [of an intellectual property bill] to the Senate floor. [Rep. Jared] Polis [D-Colo.] was great to have as somebody else who knew the Internet and what it could do.”

You put the draft version of the OPEN Act online for the public to read and comment upon. Do you think that kind of transparency is the future of politics and technology?

“I do believe it is the future. Congress has to be willing to fund it. The Madison project had to be done at an external site because that kind of interactive exchange isn’t allowed under the House’s firewall rule, so we went to an outside storage facility.

“We don’t like to call the people who make the rules in the House and the Senate “Luddites,” but they’re pretty close. They’re very ultra-conservative on what (new technologies) they’re willing to adopt. Congress only went to Outlook Web a year ago — and it was still only a belt-and-suspenders type of access … our whole infrastructure is built around not getting hacked rather than getting access.

“The technology systems in the House are quite archaic, and if you’re dealing with members that have been around for a long time, it’s harder to adopt new platforms than if you’re in the private sector and more comfortable with new platforms. A big part of the House’s bandwidth is actually used for an off-site redundancy, which duplicates every one of our sites for Outlook and all of our servers. We use so much bandwidth for that, I’m still fighting to get (Voice over IP) telephones installed in the House.”

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Republicans are Counting Delegates on Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday is here. There is sure to be plenty of delegate counting tonight. The New York Times has put together a sharp and handy delegate counter that visually shows where the race and the candidates are when it comes to delegates. It is certainly worth taking a look at particularly for those who like a visual approach to the math involved in the candidates getting to that 'magic number.'

NYT Delegate Counter

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