Why Elaine Chao, Wife of Mitch McConnell, Could Help Sink his Re-election Bid 1/3

by Nomad

In this three-part post, we take a closer look at the career of Elaine Chao, wife of Senator Mitch McConnell. She is one-half of the Washington power couple.

No Trophy Wife

In the last few weeks, the wife of Mitch McConnell, Ms. Elaine Chao, has jumped feet first into the campaign. 

Strategists probably thought what McConnell's flagging re-election bid really needed was a pretty face. Clearly, the public is fed up with looking at Mitch's sour mug.  

However, Ms. Elaine Chao is by no means a trophy wife. Among her many accomplishments, Ms. Chao was the Secretary of Labor in the George W. Bush presidency from 2001 to 2009. 

In that regard, it was perhaps a risky decision to have her make an appearance. 

Cleverly the GOP strategists have thrown a smokescreen over any real discussion of Elaine Chao. Here's how they did it.  In the last few days, the Republicans have attempted to turn the tables on the left by claiming that a left-winger made a rather stupid tweet about the fact that Choa is an Asian and was not born in Kentucky.  The GOP quickly seized this opportunity to charge "racism" -which given the source is perhaps ironic.

To be sure, Ms. Chao has never attempted to hide her background. On the other hand, it's also hard to tell the Elaine Chao story without at least noting her ethnic background. That in itself is not racism. After all, Republicans have used every opportunity to use Ms. Chao's Asian background when it benefited them.  

How Ms. Chao got to where she is today is indeed a fascinating story. A suspect charge of racism shouldn't prevent a careful look at her history and her career.

Chao's Bootstraps

Pulling oneself up by the bootstraps is all the rage for conservatives but wise researchers should take all that malarky with a grain of salt. The Christian Science Monitor profiled Chao telling its readers how she "began her life in this country with nothing."

It really depends on how one describes nothing. As any investor will tell you, nothing is something if you have what they call "access. " Being in the right place with a set of diverse and powerful connections in high places is often worth more than gold in pocket.

Hunger in the Heartland: How a Record-Breaking Spaghetti Dinner Could Help Nebraska's Most Needy

by Nomad

Omaha spaghetti fundraiser in September hopes to bring the community together to break records for a good cause. 

Ms. Lin Leahy is a woman with a mission. 

Three missions in fact. 

The first mission?
This 54-year-old professional chef in Omaha, Nebraska has gathered together her friends, neighbors and co-workers in order to break the Guinness World Record. 

How? 

Well, with 3,780 pounds of pasta, 4,000 pounds of meatballs, Leahy aims to set the record for the most people served in one meal. That means, by serving more than 17,000 persons.

But it's much more than just a publicity stunt.

More than a Pretty Plate
With a board of directors made up of volunteers, Leahy's non-profit tax-exempt organization the Power of O.NE will also attempt to raise $100,000 for the Food Bank for the Heartland. 

But then, it's not just about the money. 

Her third goal is more far-reaching. The organization wants to raise awareness of food insecurities and also to remind people that a sense of community is formed when neighbor helps neighbor.

So, on Sept. 21, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., she plans to serve 20,000 plates of pasta, sauce, meatballs and green beans for $5 each at various local locations. Nobody will leave hungry, even if they can't pay. They hope people who can afford it will give more.

According to an article by Betsie Freeman, staff writer  for  the Omaha World-Herald,

So far, the group has found donors for all the food. The volunteers have reached out to area high schools and secured 13 serving sites in every corner of the metropolitan area. They estimate they’ll need 500 volunteers, and several groups already are interested in helping.

Is This Finally the End Of Issa's Benghazi Witch Hunt?

by Nomad

While the mainstream media looks the other way, a newly declassified report from Congress seems to exonerate the president and his administration in the tragic Benghazi attack on the consulate in September 2012 in which four Americans died.

The report clears the White House of any intentional or conspiratorial wrong-doing, blowing up the wild claims made by Republicans.

A report that the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee voted to declassify its completed Benghazi report last week has made a Hindenberg of the Benghazi investigation. It had all started so nicely too. With Mitt Romney inappropriately sneering in a midnight press conference. And when the Republican- led Congress decided to investigate claims of mismanagement and a cover up shivers of delight up the spines of die-hard conservatives.

It's all over now, Baby Blue. The report concludes that there was no clear advance warning of any organized terrorist attack, and that there was no "stand down" order issued to any American rescuers. Despite Republican claims to the contrary, the report also concludes that there was no attempt to clean up the site of the attack for the sake of politics. Finally, it finds that there was no conspiracy by the Obama administration to hide the facts or to cover up wrongdoing.
Basically every one of the allegations have been shown to be fictional. 

Committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa owes the American taxpayers a  millions dollars- up to over $14 million by some estimates- as well as apologies for his the baseless claims against the Obama administration.

Most of all, Issa and others who followed him, especially owes an apology to the victims of the attack. Back in May, at a Florida fundraiser, Issa clearly attempted to exploit the tragedy in Libya. He told his audience:

It takes very little time and very little committees if the administration wants to tell the truth. If the administration wants to continue delaying, denying and lying and covering up, it takes a long time.

There was a lot of time and a lot of money spent on Watergate to eventually get to the truth about the wrongdoing of Richard Milhous Nixon.

Wait.. Nixon, you mean, the Republican president? (But then he might well have cited the Republican President Reagan's Iran-Contra scandal too.)

Many on the Left knew these allegations were ridiculous and would lead nowhere.

But there is one thing this investigation has proved beyond a shadow of a doubt. This fiasco of a scandal investigation  is solid evidence that the Tea Party Republicans would rather waste time and money on baseless witch hunts than actually doing the work they are being paid to do.

Here's a syndicated post from the group, Americans Against the Tea Party