The Republic of T.

• Power finally back on as of 6:45 pm. The house is warm, the kids are asleep. And I no longer smell like a goat. #snowpocalypse #pepco #

I didn’t watch the Super Bowl, even after the power came back on. Frankly, I wasn’t interested. Never have been. I’d rather they put the ads on — maybe even put them in a show of their own — and left it at that.

Well, that’s kinda what’s happened online. Now I can see the ads without having to sit through the game. This one is my favorite, hands down.

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• Half the family is out if the house at least. Still no power in MoCo on Jones Bridge Rd. Pepco WTF?! #pepco #snowpocalypse #snOMG #
• Heard a rumor that the east side of East West highway has power. Any truth to that? #snowpocalypse #pepco #snowcopalypse #
• This driving me crazy. I'm down to runiing the car just to charge my iPhone, so I can have contact with the outside world. #snowpocalypse #
• Does anyone in Montgomery County have power yet? #
• Power out since 11pm last night. Snow sucks. #

• Power out since 11pm last night. Snow sucks. http://bit.ly/bH3u5m #

If you’ve ever wondered where conservative economic policies like permanent tax cuts for the wealthy, slashed social services and government spending are supposed to lead us, look no further than Colorado Springs.

David Sirota’s description of what’s happening to that conservative stronghold should serve as a cautionary tale.
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• Reading: "Delaware, New Jersey brace for blizzard; D.C. area to see heavy snow – CNN.com" ( http://bit.ly/b2f5Pn ) We are doomed. DOOMED! #

• Reading: "Delaware, New Jersey brace for blizzard; D.C. area to see heavy snow – CNN.com" ( http://bit.ly/b2f5Pn ) We are doomed. DOOMED! #

With reports that of kidnapping and criminal association have been filed in the case of 10 Baptist missionaries from Idaho, accused of kidnapping 33 Haitian children, it seems that several things are — or may be — going on. The news about the background of the groups leader, 40-year-old “businesswoman” Laura Silsby is enough cause for concern.

A CBS News employee who witnessed today’s court proceedings says Silsby told the judge: “We were trying to do what’s best for the children.”

When the judge asked, “Didn’t you know you were committing a crime?” Silsby quietly answered, “We are innocent.”

But CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports there are serious questions tonight about Silsby’s motives. The 40-year-old business woman, who convinced members of Idaho’s Central Valley Baptist Church to follow her dream of an orphanage in Haiti, has a troubling financial history.

She’s been the subject of eight civil lawsuits, 14 for unpaid wages, Whitaker reports. Her Meridian, Idaho house is in foreclosure. She’s had at least nine traffic citations in the last 12 years including four for failing to register or insure her car.

It suggests that perhaps Silsby, in convincing the church members to “follow her dream” of an orphanage in Haiti, may have actually have conned them in to becoming accomplices in what sounds more and more like a typical trafficking operation.

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 3rd through February 4th:

• Ugandan Ethics Minister to Obama: “Ouch!!! Stop That!” –
• Crazy Republicans –
• Grifters’ Tale –
• Terrorism Derangement Syndrome: The GOP’s scare tactics work so well because the public is already so afraid. –
• How would the R’s handle this one? | Michael Tomasky –

Update: It appears that these children really were rescued — by the people who stopped them from being taken out of the country.

It’s being reported now that the 10 missionaries have been charged with child kidnapping and criminal association. And it sounds like the criminal they’re associating with is group leader Laura Silsby, based on her background:

But CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports there are serious questions tonight about Silsby’s motives. The 40-year-old business woman, who convinced members of Idaho’s Central Valley Baptist Church to follow her dream of an orphanage in Haiti, has a troubling financial history.

She’s been the subject of eight civil lawsuits, 14 for unpaid wages, Whitaker reports. Her Meridian, Idaho house is in foreclosure. She’s had at least nine traffic citations in the last 12 years including four for failing to register or insure her car.

The children taken from the group, ranging in age from 2 to 12, were being cared for at the Austrian-run SOS Children’s Village in Port-au-Prince on Wednesday.

…Coq said that nine of the 10 knew nothing about the alleged scheme, or that paperwork for the children was not in order.

“I’m going to do everything I can to get the nine out,” Coq said. That would still leave mission leader Laura Silsby facing charges.

And AlterNet reports:

Several of the parents claimed that the group told them their kids would be attending school in the Dominican Republic, and would be free to return to Haiti to visit their parents. In fact, the group planned to transport the kids to an orphanage in the neighboring country, where they would be in line for adoption.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton weighed in on the case, saying “”It was unfortunate that, whatever the motivation, that this group of Americans took matters into their own hands.” The group had not previously run an orphanage and was not registered as an adoption agency or a non-profit.

It remains to be seen whether Silsby will be found guilty of trafficking, but the accounts so far suggest she was operating exactly the way traffickers in Haiti operate.

Let’s get something straight. Kidnapping is a crime. Taking a child across state or national borders, without the full knowledge and informed consent of the parents or surviving relatives is kidnapping. Taking a child across state or national borders without following the required legal procedures, and obtaining the necessary documents is kidnapping.

kid⋅nap
–verb (used with object), -napped or -naped, -nap⋅ping or -nap⋅ing. to steal, carry off, or abduct by force or fraud, esp. for use as a hostage or to extract ransom.

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 3rd from 01:27 to 16:30:

• *Instinctive Hypocrisy *<br>* *<br><br>by digby<br><br>Dr Krugman puts to rest –
• John Kerry: Republicans Attack Military Leadership to Defend Ban On Gays –
• Skewed Sample Distorts Kos GOP Poll –
• Obama Calls Out Conservative Democrats For Their Timidity –
• Deb Price | A Cheat Sheet for Straight Allies –
• Discomfort with the angry mob –
• Jim Hightower | Republicans Out of Touch as Middle Class Sinks –
• The Corporate Takeover of U.S. Democracy –
• Break the Chains of Haiti’s Debt –
• Editorial: Equality in the Military –

Listening to conservatives squawk about deficits is a bit like taking parenting and/or relationship advice from Medea, the Gosselins or “Octomom.” At best, they serve as an example of what not to do.

As it is with children, so it is with conservatives and deficits. People who are very good at making them aren’t necessarily all that skilled in dealing with them.

And we know, during the previous decade, conservatives proved themselves quite adept at creating a deficit from a surplus.

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for February 1st through February 3rd:

• Op-Ed Columnist: Defending the Long Gay Line –
• Robert L. Borosage: The Stupid Party –
• Joel Weinberger: John Edwards and the Dark Side of the Political Personalit –
• America’s Sorry History with Haiti –
• What Happened to Democracy? –
• Thoughts On Cost –
• In 2011 budget proposal, rate of change slows to a crawl –
• It’s a blue country | Michael Tomasky –
• What’s A Little Discrimination . . . We’re at War –
• Center-Right Nation? –