skinnydipping, mark II, and another political juxtaposition
Perhaps my first interest in the skinnydipping WTF from the other day was that I simply didn't see the big deal, but there was indeed a lot more WTF about the FBI investigating. BUH?
Well, there's a reason the FBI was investigating that trip, and I'm starting to figure it's GOPfolk trying to make a big deal of Yoder's quick swim:
As it turns out, the FBI investigation is more about the undeclared subsequent trip to Cyprus by another congressguy who was on the Galilee trip, paid for by a company whose president was later arrested on fed corruption charges.
http://ontd-political.livejournal.com/9943872.html has several different links, starting with TPM:The FBI is indeed interested in a trip that House Republicans made to Israel last summer. But it’s not because Kansas Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder took his pants off and jumped into the Sea of Galilee after a night of drinking.
Law enforcement sources - noting that skinny-dipping usually doesn’t fall under the FBI’s purview - pointed TPM to a New York Times story about a trip to Cyprus that Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) made following his August venture to Israel alongside several colleagues.
I saw something going around on FB about Romney & Vietnam, and went to Snopes, and, no, not accurate.
But I just noticed something: Compare these two lists and look at 1) the number of things going around and 2) what percentage are false vs true.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/romney/romney.asp
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/obama.asp
(oh, and one of the 'mixed' ones on the Romney side is in fact true in terms of all the unpaid work Romney's done - the false is the misreporting of Obama's %age given to charity.)
I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I kinda am. I'm now curious about the other politicians, but I've got a bunch to do today, especially if I want to somehow get home in time to nap before dinner and Dark Knight. (Smithsonian IMAXen are still showing Dark Knight, btw.)Edit: and one more somewhat related thing: Ten things you can do to save Democracy - has a whole lot of fact checking and follow-the-money links.1) Turn off, throw out and tune out all campaign ads;
2) Review official party platform and candidate positions on their websites and fact-check their claims;
3) Demand policy details from all candidates on issues that matter to you (If they're incumbents ask them about their votes on specific bills. If they're challengers, ask them how they would have voted and why on specific bills.);
4) Follow the money for all candidates;
5) Demand reporters do their jobs and seek facts, not talking points;
6) Diversify your news sources, watch less TV & read more (Use at least 1 publicly funded news source, 1 conservative, 1 liberal, 1 financial news.);
Well, there's a reason the FBI was investigating that trip, and I'm starting to figure it's GOPfolk trying to make a big deal of Yoder's quick swim:
As it turns out, the FBI investigation is more about the undeclared subsequent trip to Cyprus by another congressguy who was on the Galilee trip, paid for by a company whose president was later arrested on fed corruption charges.
http://ontd-political.livejournal.com/9943872.html has several different links, starting with TPM:The FBI is indeed interested in a trip that House Republicans made to Israel last summer. But it’s not because Kansas Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder took his pants off and jumped into the Sea of Galilee after a night of drinking.
Law enforcement sources - noting that skinny-dipping usually doesn’t fall under the FBI’s purview - pointed TPM to a New York Times story about a trip to Cyprus that Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) made following his August venture to Israel alongside several colleagues.
I saw something going around on FB about Romney & Vietnam, and went to Snopes, and, no, not accurate.
But I just noticed something: Compare these two lists and look at 1) the number of things going around and 2) what percentage are false vs true.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/romney/romney.asp
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/obama.asp
(oh, and one of the 'mixed' ones on the Romney side is in fact true in terms of all the unpaid work Romney's done - the false is the misreporting of Obama's %age given to charity.)
I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but I kinda am. I'm now curious about the other politicians, but I've got a bunch to do today, especially if I want to somehow get home in time to nap before dinner and Dark Knight. (Smithsonian IMAXen are still showing Dark Knight, btw.)Edit: and one more somewhat related thing: Ten things you can do to save Democracy - has a whole lot of fact checking and follow-the-money links.1) Turn off, throw out and tune out all campaign ads;
2) Review official party platform and candidate positions on their websites and fact-check their claims;
3) Demand policy details from all candidates on issues that matter to you (If they're incumbents ask them about their votes on specific bills. If they're challengers, ask them how they would have voted and why on specific bills.);
4) Follow the money for all candidates;
5) Demand reporters do their jobs and seek facts, not talking points;
6) Diversify your news sources, watch less TV & read more (Use at least 1 publicly funded news source, 1 conservative, 1 liberal, 1 financial news.);