Tea Party donor sues Tea Party Convention organizer

By GottaLaff

A man who was naive enough to loan the National Tea Party money for WordSalad McHandScribble's appearance at The Big Convention wants half a million dollars from Judson Phillips. Why?

Because Judson the Quitter backed out of a partnership deal and talked trash about him.

Ooops:

Bill Hemrick, a wealthy conservative and founder of the Upper Deck baseball trading card company, filed the suit against Tea Party Nation leader Judson Phillips in Williamson County, Tenn., Fox News reported. [...]

Hemrick had loaned the group $50,000 toward the $100,000 speaking fee for former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, Fox said.

Yes, Judson the Quitter quit paying him back (he claims he now has). That was compounded by saying Hemrick was neither trustworthy nor reputable. This from the guy who stiffed Hemrick.

Everything WordSalad touches turns to sewage.

And sadly, that concludes today's episode of Rushpublics, er, Tea Tantrumers, Eating Their Own.

More details here.

Iraqis want Blackwater deal voided

By GottaLaff

The other day, I posted about Blackwater cutting a deal with Iraqis, a deal that didn't go over too well with many of them. They're not too fond of their family members and friends being murdered by mercenaries, followed by hearing that their lives were worth a few lousy bucks, that poor wittle Blackwater was about to become penniless, and finally, being told to just go away.

In fact, now we discover that they were forced into a deal:

Several victims of a 2007 shooting involving American private security guards employed by the firm formerly known as Blackwater alleged Sunday that they were coerced into reaching settlements, and they demanded that the Iraqi government intervene to have the agreements nullified.

The Iraqis said they were pressured by their own attorneys into accepting what they now believe are inadequate settlements because they were told the company was about to file for bankruptcy, that its chairman was going to be arrested and that the U.S. government was about to confiscate all of the firm's assets. This would be their last chance to get any compensation, the victims said they were told.

When criminal charges against the guards were dismissed by a U.S. federal judge on Dec. 31, the Iraqis concluded that they had been duped and that Blackwater, now called Xe, was not in the kind of legal and financial trouble they had been led to believe. [...]

The settlements were reached last fall in meetings at Baghdad's Rasheed Hotel, where the claimants say they were required to sign a paper, written in English, and make videotaped testimony in Arabic, relinquishing all future claims against the company.

Short version: We get to kill your loved ones indiscriminately, shove a few dollars at you, lie to you, and tell you to shut up and get lost.

Xe worst.

Pelosi re: Deal with Blue Dogs on healthcare: Not so much

By GottaLaff

Deal or No Deal? Two out of three Howie Mandels agree that the Blue (read: yeller) Dogs declared "no deal" some time ago:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is nixing a deal she cut with centrists to advance healthcare legislation, said a source familiar with negotiations.

Pelosi’s decision to abandon the agreement that was made with a group of Blue Dogs to get the bill out of committee would steer health reform back to the left as she prepares for a floor vote.

Yes, yes! Left GOOD! Left very good!

Pelosi is planning to include a government-run "public option" in the House version of the healthcare bill. She wants to model it on Medicare, with providers getting reimbursed on a scale pegged to Medicare rates."The speaker is full-steam ahead," said a senior Democratic aide.

Blue Dog Democrats, many of whom represent rural districts where Medicare reimbursement rates are low, vehemently oppose tying the public option to Medicare.

Pelosi is now effectively withdrawing her support. In leadership meetings last week, she said the public option in the House bill should be linked to Medicare.

Pelosi has also told her fellow leaders she still wants an income surtax on the wealthy, rather than a tax on "Cadillac" health plans, as a means to help pay the $1 trillion cost of the bill. The rest is to be made up with savings in Medicare by eliminating wasteful spending.

That will worry many members who led the charge against the surtax when it was rolled out. [...]

"The Speaker is committed to having a strong public option in the House bill because it is the best way to promote competition, control cost and keep the insurance companies honest," said Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami. "The caucus continues to meet to discuss the legislation and its provisions."

Clear?