Wayne La Pierre draws worst opener ever

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 3 Comments

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE-PGR7G1P0

That’s former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, delivering the opening remarks at today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence. As you may remember, Giffords was shot in 2011 by Jared Lee Loughner, whose list of complaints against her included her failure to completely answer his question, “What is government if words have no meaning?” at a 2007 campaign event. Something is wrong with Loughner’s brain. Thanks to that and his legally-purchased Glock 19, something is wrong with Giffrords’s brain now, too. After she struggled to speak on an issue that affects her and thousands of other Americans on a very personal level each year, Wayne La Pierre took the stand to disagree with her, because that is his job.

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Amgen, you so crazy influential on laws

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 3 Comments
Max Baucus (D–MT,) chairman of the Senate Finance Committee

Max Baucus (D–MT,) chairman of the Senate Finance Committee

Earlier this month, the Times reported that the last-minute fiscal cliff deal passed by the Senate included a provision that would delay Medicare price controls on certain drugs used in kidney dialysis, including Sensipar. Most senators did not know about the earmark, which was apparently added by aides just before the final vote and will cost the federal government $500 million. Sensipar is made by Amgen. In addition to being the world’s largest biotechnology corporation, Amgen is also a campaign contributor to Senate Finance Committee chairman Max Baucus (D–MT,) Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R–KY) and Finance Committee member Orrin Hatch (R–UT.) The company’s registered lobbyists included former chiefs of staff for both Baucus and McConnell.

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A thing I like in dance music

By Dan Brooks in Music 4 Comments
Notable party monsters A$AP Rocky and Skrillex

Notable party monsters A$AP Rocky and Skrillex

You don’t live alone for eight years and not develop an interest in dance music. That would be weird. Just as my downstairs neighbor’s life as a law student leaves him free to watch his favorite movie, Trains & Explosions, from 4pm to 1am every day, my life as a hermit allows me to listen to the Soulwax Shibuya remix of “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House.” Also there is dancing. Such behavior is healthy and normal, provided that I listen to the good kind of dance music and not Ke$ha or Technotronic or whatever.

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Friday links! Dignity of office edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links 1 Comment
Montana State House Representative Champ Edmunds (R–Missoula)

Montana State House Representative Champ Edmunds (R–Missoula)

Yeats said that poets were the invisible legislators of the world. It is not totally clear what he meant; he definitely preferred the poets, but it’s hard to know whether it was because they performed a more vital function than the visible legislators or simply because he didn’t have to look at them. There is also the old adage about seeing how sausage is made. Have you ever looked at a person who makes sausage, though? Way more gross, especially once you get to thinking about it. Today is Friday, and the men and women we have elected to represent us are repellent to us. Probably that’s because they are such irresponsible scoundrels—it couldn’t be because they are an accurate reflection of the people who voted for them. Won’t you seize on the most comforting answer with me?

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Behold Fox’s coverage of the testimony of our Secretary of State

By Dan Brooks in Contemporary Media 2 Comments
From "The Five" on Fox News channel yesterday

From “The Five” on Fox News channel yesterday

Yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before Congress regarding the attacks on the US consulate in Benghazi. Initially reported as the outcome of a spontaneous demonstration and later revealed to be a terrorist plot, the attacks have been a black eye for the State Department and a cause celebré for Republicans. Romney made much of them in the late days of the presidential campaign, and the Tea Party caucus has seized on them as evidence that the Obama administration is soft on terror. If you don’t think Benghazi has become a partisan issue, I advice you to consider Fox News’s coverage of Clinton’s testimony, captured in the screen shot above.

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