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When conservative columnist George Will suggested on Sunday that a recent National Security Agency (NSA) scandal was made worse because President Barack Obama could not be trusted, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) was ready with column Will had written in 2006 to make the point that it was not just an "Obama problem."

During a panel discussion on ABC News, Will linked the NSA's practice of collecting the phone records of millions of Americans with a so-called "scandal" involving the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative groups.

"This is where the IRS scandal metastasizes into a national security scandal," Will opined. "Because I'm sure I'm not the only American saying -- looking at the NSA information gathering and saying, 'Well, this would really be a problem if we had the kind of government that, say, unleashes the IRS on political opponents. Oh, come to think about it, we do have that kind of government.' And, therefore, the willingness to trust the executive branch is today minimal and should be."

At that point, Ellison reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out Will's 2006 column excoriating President George W. Bush's administration for using the NSA to spy on Americans' phone calls without a warrant and without congressional oversight.

"Besides, terrorism is not the only new danger of this era," Will wrote. "Another is the administration's argument that because the president is commander in chief, he is the 'sole organ for the nation in foreign affairs.'"

"You were talking about George Bush as that time," Ellison pointed out. "You know, George, I actually don't disagree with much you said. My only problem is, you can't make this an Obama problem. This is an executive problem."

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House Oversight Committee ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings on Sunday said that the so-called scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) targeting of tea party groups was "solved," but Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has refused to release the testimony of a "conservative Republican" IRS manager because it indicated that the White House was not involved.

Last week, Issa had told CNN host Candy Crowley that IRS agents "were directly being ordered from Washington," but he declined to produce complete transcripts of the testimony of IRS employees to back up his claims.

On Sunday, Cummings explained to Crowley that he had "begged" Issa to release the full transcripts.

"He's the chairman of the committee, we're not in power," the Maryland Democrat pointed out. "If he does not release them, I will. Period."

"I'm willing to come on your show next week with the chairman, with the transcripts, if he agrees to do that," he added. "But if he doesn't, I'll release them by the end of the week."

Crowley observed that in a portion of the transcripts that had been released, an IRS screening group manager in the Cincinnati office told Issa's committee that he had "no reason to believe" that the White House had ordered the targeting of conservative groups.

"He was a 21-year veteran," Cummings said of the IRS manager. "He described himself in the interviews in response to a Republican attorney's question as a conservative Republican. Very significant. He is a conservative Republican working for the IRS. I think these interviews and these statements go a long way to showing the White House was not involved in this."

"Based upon everything I've seen, the case is solved. And if it were me, I would wrap this case up and move on."

(h/t: Think Progress)

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Tea party-backed Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is urging Americans to be "skeptical" of income taxes, the estate tax and President Barack Obama's health care reform law because of last year's terrorist attack in Benghazi and a National Security Agency (NSA) program that collects millions of phone records each day.

Fox News host Chris Wallace asked Johnson on Sunday if he would oppose the nominations of Samantha Power to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland to become the next assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs.

"I think that's a possibility," the Wisconsin Republican warned.

Johnson charged that the Obama administration was "going through a crisis of credibility" because "the American people have lost their faith" in the president due to the NSA and Benghazi scandals.

"When Secretary Clinton came before our committee, you know, in response to my questioning her, she asked her own question, 'What difference does it make?' We're starting to see the difference it makes when the American people lose faith in this administration," he insisted. "I think a healthy distrust in government is a good thing."

"But what I'd like to do is to make sure Americans start to take a look at the awesome power government in other areas," Johnson continued. "You know, the ability to take 45 percent of your income, 40 percent of your estate, you know, tell you what doctor you can utilize, you know, what type of health care treatments are going to be made available to you."

"So, this is about limiting our government. And Americans do need to be very skeptical of a ever-expanding, ever-more-powerful government."

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Sunday suggested that the future of comprehensive immigration reform was in his hands because he is "the conduit" between moderate Republicans in the Senate and far-right conservatives in the House of Representatives.

Fox News host Chris Wallace pointed out to Paul during a Sunday interview that comprehensive reform would not be possible if he continued to oppose a new path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

Paul, however, insisted that he was "willing to compromise" by allowing undocumented immigrants "to get in the same line" as foreigners outside the U.S., but he would not create a new pathway.

"The whole point is there needs to be a conduit," he explained. "I am the conduit between the conservatives in the House who don't want a lot of these things and more moderate people in the Senate who do want these things."

"I want to make the bill work, but see, the thing is, what they have in the Senate has zero chance of passing in the House. So, why not come to a conservative like myself and say, 'He's willing to work with you. Why not work with me to make the bill closer to what would be acceptable in the House?'"

"So, I'm really trying to make immigration work. But they're going to have to come to me, and they're going to have to work with me to make the bill stronger if they want me to vote for it."

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On his Thursday radio show, conservative host Glenn Beck asserted that Michelle Obama's recent run in with a GetEqual activist who heckled her at a fundraising event proved that the First Lady was a "monster."

Beck said that Michelle Obama had confronted the heckler because she "snapped."

"And then they shut that person up and then she walks back, and then she goes right back into the speech," the radio host explained. "No little funny thing about, 'Hey, that was...' She just went right back into the speech!"

"This woman's a monster," Beck declared. "She is Lady MacBeth. She is a frightening woman."

"And I'll tell you something else. I really believe that she -- Valerie Jarrett and Michelle and Ms. Eric Holder, that's where the information is going. The wives are talking."

(h/t: Right Wing Watch)

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A kindergarten class at the Olympic Primary Center in the Los Angeles Unified School District ended their school year by sending a message in support of LGBT rights by performing Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors" using American Sign Language.

"Oh. My. God. Conservatives were actually right on this one," teacher Arturo Avina wrote on his blog. "The 'gay agenda' is infiltrating our public schools! And you know what? It's absolutely fabulous."

Throughout the song, students hold mirrors up to the audience with the words "You Are Good" and "You Are Perfect."

"The lesson: love yourself, and always show love, kindness, and respect towards others no matter who they are," Avina explained. "Regardless of ethnicity, sex, gender, religious creed, or sexual orientation, EVERYONE is worthy of love."

The teacher said that he realized that "some detractors that may find it appalling," but if "this is what the 'gay agenda' looks like in public schools, let's bring it on. It's breathtakingly beautiful."

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During a Thursday rant about news that the National Security Administration (NSA) had been collecting phone records from millions of Americans, Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX) seemed to be a little confused when he proclaimed that freedom of the press is "granted in the Second Amendment."

Gohmert noted that NSA spying was just the latest example of executive branch overreach because the Obama administration had also gone after the phone records of Associated Press reporters.

"Many times these phones up here are used by reporters to call members of Congress, who have another constitutional privilege, under the constitutional -- under the constitution that provides privilege for the information that is provided for -- to a member of Congress," the Texas Republican explained. "It's not unlimited."

"But that's on top of the freedom of the press that's also granted in the Second Amendment," he added.

The congressman, however, mostly likely intended to refer to the First Amendment because the Second Amendment deals with the right to keep and bear arms.

Gohmert went on to quote a tweet by conservative blogger Ace of Spades.

"There was a tweet today by Ace of Spades. The tweet was, 'We've all got an Obamaphone now.' Well, apparently we do," he said.

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A Texas Republican congressman said on Wednesday that he opposed atheist chaplains in the military because they would tell the parents of dead soldiers that their children were just "worm food."

During Wednesday night's House Armed Services Committee hearing, Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) explained that he had offered an amendment to the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act that would allow humanists to join the chaplain corps to provide better counseling services for atheist soldiers.

"I don't offer this to be provocative, I certainly don't offer it as an attack on else's choice of faith," Andrews remarked. "But it seems to me that for whatever number of people -- it's either tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands -- who wear the uniform that they have this option to receive counseling when they believe they need it in such a situation."

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX), however, said that he "couldn't disagree with this move any more vehemently."

"You can't use the word chaplain with atheists because they don't believe anything," he insisted. "They don't believe in a faith, they don't believe it."

"I can't imagine an atheist accompanying a notification team as they go into some family's home to let them have the worst news of their life, and this guy says, 'You know, that's it. You're son's just worms, I mean, worm food,'" Conaway added. "I couldn't disagree with this more."

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Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Wednesday said that President Barack Obama was undermining his own "moral authority" by naming United States Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice as the new national security advisor because she had misled the public about last year's attacks in Benghazi.

"You know, I think the president's been struggling to regain the moral authority to lead the nation and this doesn't really encourage anyone," Paul told Fox News host Martha MacCallum. "To reappoint or to promoted basically the person who is guilty of misleading us over the Benghazi tragedy, I can't imagine, one, that we would be keeping Ambassador Rice in any any significant position, much less promoting her to an important position."

"How are they going to have the authority for people to believe what they're saying when he's promoting someone who directly and deliberately misled the public over Benghazi?" the Kentucky Republican opined. "The Benghazi tragedy is really not going to go away until we have some answers. Really, why was there this elaborate cover up?"

About two months after attacks in Benghazi last September, Paul had said that Republicans were making a mistake by focusing on Rice.

"The person who decided to have no Marines guarding the ambassador should be fired, just plain and simple," he told CNN. "I don't think that's Susan Rice. I think we get involved with Ambassador Rice and we're getting off subject."

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Self-proclaimed television prophet Cindy Jacobs recently warned people with Native American heritage that they should "repent for their ancestors' animism" because they are particularly vulnerable to evil spirits.

In an episode of her web series 10 Minute Prayer School last week, Jacobs said that the Leviathan spirit described in Job 41 was often the cause of "divorce, tribal wars, church splits, family feuds, sibling rivalries, ministries breaking up."

"If you have in your bloodline any animus [sic], any Native American blood, for instance -- not all Native Americans worshipped the serpent or crocodile, many did -- but you might want to renounce that and repent for the generational iniquity," she explained. "If you are -- perhaps you're Mexican and you might have indigenous blood in you or Mayan blood, those who have Aztec blood in any way, you need to repent for the sin of animism before you begin to deal with this spirit."

On an episode of her God Knows television show earlier this year Jacobs asserted that durable shoes were a “supernatural” miracle from God.

"We believe we’re moving into a supernatural season, where if needed, God will multiply food," she told her husband and fellow prophet, Mike. "But the point is we were promised supernatural provisions."

"I mean, I remember one time that I had a pair of shoes that I wore and wore and wore and wore and it just — for years, these shoes did not wear out. And I wore them years and years and years."

(h/t: Right Wing Watch)