'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
President Obama's election was a hopeful moment for civil rights advocates who thought he would usher in a golden era of government openness and respect for civil liberties, but some of the president's most enthusiastic supporters have expressed the harshest condemnation this week as revelations of multiple controversies involving intrusive government overreach have exploded onto the national stage.
!["History is filled with stories of political comebacks ... and [Rep. Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican] has the capability to rehab her image and change the focus to her work instead of these other issues," said Keith Appeal, a GOP consultant.](http://media.washtimes.com/media/image/2013/05/16/5_152013_movies-bachmann038201_mugshot_four_by_three_s101x76.jpg?38f271e3d49cdfd5d0ef8cac5cad23b117d14f23)
Nearly 18 months after she faltered on the snowy fields of Iowa in the GOP presidential primary, Rep. Michele Bachmann is making a return to the headlines this week, sponsoring the bill to repeal President Obama's health care law and giving a forum to tea party groups who say the IRS led politically motivated audits against them.
Congress is on a break this week, so here's some more of the whoppers that came out of lawmakers' mouths last week.

Rep. Michele Bachmann has found herself tangled in an investigation by the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) for allegations of improperly transferring campaign funds.

One thing's for sure about the Conservative Political Action Conference, which begins Thursday. It starts bright and early at 8 a.m. sharp, and on a note of traditional patriotism and respectful gravitas, countering critics at Politico who already have declared that "CPAC muddle mirrors GOP mess," and deemed the event a "carnival."

"I don't vilify all Republicans, I don't believe all Republicans are evil, I believe there are lots of good people who just believe differently," Tim Robbins told a packed audience last week in Santa Monica, where he was interviewed by liberal comedian Marc Maron.

In stark contrast to the last congressional session, Republican lawmakers have introduced only a handful of bills to strike down or dismantle President Obama's health care law in the first weeks of the new Congress — the latest indication that the epicenter of debate over "Obamacare" has shifted to the nation’s statehouses.

The Washington Times analyzed a decade of congressional pay records to find the offices with the highest turnover rates and found 27 members who — over a period of four or more years — lost an annual average of at least one-third of their staff who sought calmer pastures or were fired.

President Obama's signature health care reforms are accelerating into the new year, with a growing number of state-run insurance markets getting the green light from the federal government, even as critics decry the law as a dagger to small businesses and a tea party icon attempts to repeal it for the 34th time.

Unlike most of the Republican Party establishment who live in the hermetically sealed bubble known as Washington and fight for nothing more than the next 24-hour news cycle, I actually talk on a daily basis to the people who do most of the living and dying in this country.
If President Obama wants to get anything done in his second term in the White House, he needs to cut a deal with House Speaker John A. Boehner on the "fiscal cliff," Rep. Tom Cole said Sunday.

Slamming the Republican Party establishment for tapping Mitt Romney as its standard-bearer, the co-founder of the nation's largest tea party group said Wednesday the lessons learned from the 2012 presidential election will strengthen the grass-roots movement, making it an even more important part of the GOP's future.
Three high-profile House conservatives, facing opponents insisting that their views are too extreme, have tricky paths to re-election next month.

High-profile House members typically cruise toward re-election with little worry. But Democrats and their allies this year have vowed to make a few of the chamber's top Republicans sweat at least a bit during the campaign season.

Rep. Allen B. West, whose acerbic tongue and unabashed conservative swagger made him a tea party hero nationally two years ago during a successful run for Congress, is finding life on the campaign trail different -- and more difficult -- this year as he is locked in a battle to save his Florida seat.
” Rep. Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican, said Thursday at a news conference with tea party members.
GOP eager to link IRS scandal to 'Obamacare' takedown efforts →