Justice Clarence Thomas' wife launches tea party group

By GottaLaff

Guess whose "other half" is a tea tantrumer! Mrs. Clarence Thomas, aka Ginni! You read that correctly. She also happened to create Liberty Central Inc..

And what is Liberty Central, you ask? Why, that's a nonprofit lobbying group. Mrs. SCOTUS created it, and it has its very own website that will "organize activism around a set of conservative 'core principles,'" she said.

They're going to provide score cards for Congress members. They're also going to involve themselves in Election 2010, but Ginni wouldn't say how.

She said it would accept donations from various sources -- including corporations -- as allowed under campaign finance rules recently loosened by the Supreme Court.

As the Church Lady would say, "how conveeeeenient."

"I adore all the new citizen patriots who are rising up across this country," Thomas, who goes by Ginni, said on the panel at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "I have felt called to the front lines with you, with my fellow citizens, to preserve what made America great."

Aww, Mrs. SCOTUS doesn't just support the tea tantrumers, she "adores" them. How compassionately conservative of her.

Experts say Virginia Thomas' work doesn't violate ethical rules for judges. But Liberty Central could give rise to conflicts of interest for her husband, they said, as it tests the norms for judicial spouses.

Gee, ya think?

Under judicial rules, judges must curb political activity, but a spouse is free to engage. [...]

In a brief phone interview, she did not directly answer questions about whether she and her husband had discussed the effects her role might have on perceptions of his impartiality.

Avoidance is always the best policy when you don't want to address a controversy. Way to go, Thomaseseses!

Mrs. SCOTUS isn't as "impartial" as her hubby Mr. SCOTUS claims to be:

Virginia Thomas has long been a passionate voice for conservative views. She has worked for former Republican Rep. Dick Armey of Texas and for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank with strong ties to the GOP. [...]

Although Liberty Central is a nonpartisan group, its website shows an affinity for conservative principles. Her biography notes that Thomas is a fan of Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, author of "Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America."

"She is intrigued by Glenn Beck and listening carefully," the bio says.

I'm sure Judge Clarence sticks his fingers in his ears and sings Lalalalala! when Bellowing Beck pops on the ol' Tee Vee Machine.

But about that pesky impartiality:

But it would be up to Justice Thomas to decide whether to recuse himself. He could not be reached for comment.

As a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Liberty Central can raise unlimited amounts of corporate money and largely avoid disclosing its donors.

And of course, Mr. Impartial had nothing to do with that decision.

Because of a recent Supreme Court decision, Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, the group may also spend corporate money freely to advocate for or against candidates for office.

Justice Thomas was part of the 5-4 majority in that case.

Of course, I'm sure he had to excuse himself during the deliberation process. Glenn Beck was on, and the DVR was on the blink.

Research Firm Cited by GOP Is Owned by Health Insurer

By GottaLaff

Why, what have we here? This goes nicely with Paddy's video, in which Eric Cantor showed us how his tap dancing lessons paid off:

The political battle over health-care reform is waged largely with numbers, and few number-crunchers have shaped the debate as much as the Lewin Group, a consulting firm whose research has been widely cited by opponents of a public insurance option.

To Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House Republican whip, it is "the nonpartisan Lewin Group." To Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee, it is an "independent research firm." To Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the second-ranking Republican on the pivotal Finance Committee, it is "well known as one of the most nonpartisan groups in the country."

Generally left unsaid amid all the citations is that the Lewin Group is wholly owned by UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation's largest insurers.

More specifically, the Lewin Group is part of Ingenix, a UnitedHealth subsidiary that was accused by the New York attorney general and the American Medical Association, a physician's group, of helping insurers shift medical expenses to consumers by distributing skewed data. Ingenix supplied its parent company and other insurers with data that allegedly understated the "usual and customary" doctor fees that insurers use to determine how much they will reimburse consumers for out-of-network care.

Hmmm, that doesn't sound too kosher, now does it?

In January, UnitedHealth agreed to a $50 million settlement with the New York attorney general and a $350 million settlement with the AMA, covering conduct going back as far as 1994. [...]

Lewin Group Vice President John Sheils said his firm had nothing to do with the allegedly flawed Ingenix reimbursement data. Lewin has gone through "a terribly difficult adjustment" since it was bought by UnitedHealth in 2007, because the corporate ownership "does create the appearance of a conflict of interest."

Awww, poor wittle gwoup had twouble adjusting. Need a hug?

Lewin's clients include the government and private groups with a variety of perspectives, including the Commonwealth Fund and the Heritage Foundation. A February report contained information that could be used to argue for a single-payer system, the approach most threatening to private insurers, Sheils noted.

But not all of the firm's reports see the light of day. [...]

In testimony last month to a House committee, Lewin disclosed its affiliation with UnitedHealth and Ingenix in its written submission, but in his oral testimony he did not bring it up until asked, according to a transcript. [...]

Lewin produced one of the most widely cited statistics of the health care debate: That, under a particular version of a public option, the number of people with private, employer-sponsored coverage would decline by more than 100 million.

Opponents of the public option have invoked the finding as proof that offering a government-run health plan would not just create competition for private insurers -- it would deprive people of their existing employer-sponsored coverage and lead to a government takeover of the health care system.[...]

Since then, adjusting its analysis to reflect the latest version of legislation drafted by House Democrats, Lewin has estimated that 88.1 million workers would shift from private, employer-sponsored insurance to the proposed public plan.

The Congressional Budget Office came to a different conclusion, saying that enrollment in the House Democrats' proposed public plan would total about 11 million to 12 million people. [...]

Though the millions of people Lewin was describing would lose their current employer-sponsored coverage, they wouldn't be forced into a government-run health plan, Sheils said in an interview. Rather, they would be able to choose between the government plan and other private options.

"People would indeed lose what they have, but they might very well be better off," he said.

Bus. Ted.

H/t: Shoq

Summers Received Big Fees from TARP Recipients

By GottaLaff

In case you hadn't heard:

President Obama's chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, "received hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees last year from firms that have direct financial interests before the government or are intimately involved in the White House's bank relief programs," according to Huffington Post.

Among the biggest speaking fees: $67,500 from J.P. Morgan Chase, $45,000 from Citigroup, and $202,500 from Goldman Sachs.

"The speech payments will undoubtedly raise questions as to the impartiality of the economic advice Summers is providing to the president. Already viewed as too favorably disposed to Wall Street interests, the lavish payments for speeches will provide further fodder for those who think the administration has been forgiving in their approach to the banking industry."

Sunday talkers will have a field day.

Penn-sive Hillary: Mark Penn's firm resigns Pakistan account

By GottaLaff

Penn and Inc.:

Opposition researchers dredging up tough questions for Hillary Clinton's secretary of state confirmation hearings have just lost a key piece of ammunition: The global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, headed by her campaign strategist Mark Penn, has quietly ended a two-year relationship with the Pakistan People's Party, the ruling party of Pakistan.

The questions could have been awkward for Clinton both politically and substantively, since she will have to manage relationships both with the Pakistanis and their cross-border rivals in India.

Still, the details of the Pakistan contract provide a rare and revealing look at the techniques Penn's firm promised a foreign government to use to legally influence American public opinion and official policy.

Go here to see said details. Meanwhile, Penn there, done that:

Burson-Marsteller CEO Mark Penn sits atop a convoluted corporate and political organization, serving as the CEO of the global public relations firm Burson-Marsteller and also as president of the market research firm that bears his name, Penn, Schoen, Berland & Associates. Both entities are in turn owned by the WPP Group.

Burson-Marsteller's work appears to have ended well before last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. [...]

Clinton owes more than $5 million to Penn Schoen & Berland Associates for its work on behalf of her presidential campaign. After a series of controversies during the Democratic primary, Penn was ousted as the head of the Clinton team, although his firm continued to conduct business with the Clinton campaign.

Penn's market research company is no longer working for Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton. But the state of the personal relationship between Penn and Clinton is harder to pin down. It is not clear if they are still in contact. Still, in an interview early this month with The Independent in London, Penn made it clear that he still expects to get paid for his campaign work: "There is a debt remaining," he said. "And she has consistently said she is going to clear that up."

Penn and tell 'er? Your turn. Feel free to come up with much punnier puns in Comments. I've done enough damage.