Rep. Broun Claims Federal Government Will Be Calling Your House Every Day To Make Sure You Eat Your Veggies
Rep. Broun Claims Federal Government Will Be Calling Your House Every Day To Make Sure You Eat Your Veggies
Earlier this month, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA) held an America Speaks Out town hall at the Elberton Civic Center in Elberton, Georgia to discuss various issues with constituents. At one point, Broun made the wild claim to his constituents that the federal government, through the Centers for Disease Control, would be calling Americans every single day to make sure they eat their fruits and vegetables. Broun called this “socialism of the highest order”:
BROUN: I tell ya, we’ve got some new problems in Washington. Big problems. Just today, Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta said people in America are not eating enough fruits and vegetables. They want to give all the power to the federal government to force you to eat more fruits and vegetables. This is what the federal, CDC, they gonna be calling you to make sure you eat fruits and vegetables, every day. This is socialism of the highest order!
Watch it:
Needless to say, the federal government is not going to deploy the doctors and scientists of the CDC to call every American in the country every single day to make sure they eat their fruits and vegetables. But the CDC is running a public awareness campaign highlighting the various benefits to a healthier diet, and has even assembled a convenient list of recipies that Americans can use to take advantage of fruits and vegetables in their diet. Given that September is Fruits and Veggies More Matters month, perhaps Broun — who is a medical doctor by trade — should be giving his constituents tips about eating healthier instead of scaring them about the nonexistent threat of the federal government forcing them to eat their vegetables.
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Merkley: Senate Obstructionism Is ‘Damaging the Other Two Branches of Government’
Merkley: Senate Obstructionism Is ‘Damaging the Other Two Branches of Government’
Speaking at an event hosted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund this week, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) warned that Senate obstructionism has become so severe that it is hollowing out the other branches of government:
It’s absolutely impossible to make the Senate any less deliberative than it is at this moment . … I want to add that this isn’t just about the Senate and legislation. This is about the judiciary and the executive branches, because we are unable to confirm the nominations for the courts. We’re unable to confirm the nominations for the President’s team, and that is outrageous that the Senate, in its role of consulting and confirming, is basically damaging the other two branches of government.
Watch it:
Merkley is right. Although Sen. Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) megolomaniacal decision to block all bills that he has not personally approved may be the most dramatic example of widespread Senate obstructionism, conservatives began sabotaging the Senate the minute that President Obama took office. As Attorney General Eric Holder noted yesterday, judicial confirmations have slowed to such a glacial pace that fully half of all federal judgeships will be vacant by 2020 unless the pace improves.
Such obstructionism works because the Senate Rules allow the minority to delay all Senate business by up to 30 hours every time the Senate votes to confirm just one nominee. A new president must fill approximately one thousand Senate confirmed jobs over the course of their first term. So when you multiply the 30 hours of wasted time across all one thousand nominees, it adds up to more time than the Senate is in session for two entire presidential terms:
Rove: O’Donnell Has Sean Hannity To Thank If She Wins Senate Seat In Delaware
Rove: O’Donnell Has Sean Hannity To Thank If She Wins Senate Seat In Delaware
Karl Rove got into trouble with his right-wing friends earlier this month when he attacked GOP U.S. Senate candidate in Delaware, Christine O’Donnell, after she won the state’s primary, stating that she’s a bad candidate who has “serious character problems.” While Rove was in the process of walking back that criticism, Sarah Palin advised O’Donnell to only “speak through Fox News” after a series of unflattering stories emerged. Last week, she did just that. The GOP senate candidate gave what she claimed would be her last national media interview to Fox’s Sean Hannity.
Today on Hannity’s radio show, Rove continued his walk-back campaign, saying that she had successfully answered her character questions during her interview with Hannity. But Perhaps Rove may have dug himself another hole with the pro-O’Donnell crowd, suggesting that if she wins her Senate race in Delaware, it would have nothing to do with her:
ROVE: If she wins, the moment that she began to win was the moment she appeared on your television program and you asked her the tough questions and rather than ignoring them as she had in the past she confronted them and put these character questions in the most sympathetic light possible. So if she wins, she’s going to have to come come back and thank you profusely for having gotten her on the right course. You can’t solve a problem without acknowledging the problem and on your program she acknowledged the problem and put them in the most favorable light.
Listen here:
Regardless of where Rove stands with his friends on the O’Donnell issue, the former Bush aide is essentially acknowledging what President Obama said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, that Fox News is promoting the GOP “point of view.” While Hannity attacked the President for his comments yesterday, he didn’t take issue with Rove’s analysis.
McMahon Unsure What The Minimum Wage Is, But Sure That It Should Be Lower
McMahon Unsure What The Minimum Wage Is, But Sure That It Should Be Lower
At a press conference today, Republican Senate candidate and World Wrestling Entertainment CEO Linda McMahon (CT) celebrated the endorsement of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a “prominent business interest lobby” that finds fault with unemployment insurance, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family Medical Leave Act.
But “staff abruptly shut down” the conference when McMahon began endorsing the NFIB’s more controversial opposition to increasing the federal minimum wage. When pressed by reporters on whether she supported reducing wages, McMahon said “Congress should consider lowering” such a “mandate” that businesses cannot afford:
Most notably, McMahon said she believed Congress should consider lowering the federal minimum wage in times of economic distress for small businesses, such as the current recession.
“The minimum wage now in our country, I think we’ve set that and a lot of people have benefited from it in our country, but I think we ought to review how much it ought to be, and whether or not we ought to have increases in the minimum wage,” McMahon said.[...]
When reporters asked McMahon to clarify whether she would support reducing the wage, which is currently $7.25 per hour, the candidate replied, “We should always review the policy that is put in place.”
“I think we ought to look at all of those issues in terms of what mandates are being placed on businesses and can they afford them?” McMahon said. “I think we should get input from our business community. We should listen to our small business operators, and we should hear what it is they have to say and how it’s impacting their businesses and make some of those decisions.”
McMahon insisted that she was not advocating an elimination of the minimum wage altogether, but when pressed on whether the state’s minimum wage “was too high, or onerous on state businesses,” she “admitted that she did not know what the current minimum wage is” and decided she was “just not going to comment anymore.”
Six hundred and fifty economists, however, were quite clear in 2007 that an increase in minimum wage not only “would improve the well-being of low-wage workers” but would have “very little or no effect on employment” as critics suggest. In fact, the Economic Policy Institute found last year that the minimum wage acted as a “stealth stimulus” during the current economic crisis by boosting consumer spending by $4.9 billion.
But McMahon has no interest in delving into the actual impact of her policies. Indeed, McMahon admitted that she didn’t even know “if any of her employees at World Wrestling Entertainment are paid” a minimum wage. But if her treatment of her employees is any indication, Connecticut constituents shouldn’t expect even a health or pension benefit from her. That’s just how she does business.
Ted Mann, The Day: Should it be reduced now? Since businesses are struggling, as you all described? Would you argue for reducing the minimum wage now?
McMahon: "We have got minimum wages in states, we have got minimum wages in the (federal) government, and I think we ought to look at all of those issues in terms of what mandates are being placed on businesses and can they afford them. I think we should get input from our business community. We should listen to our small business operators and we should hear what it is they have to say and how it's impacting their businesses and make some of those decisions."
Most Tea Partiers Think Free Trade Agreements That Tea Party Candidates Support Are Bad For The Country
Most Tea Partiers Think Free Trade Agreements That Tea Party Candidates Support Are Bad For The Country
Earlier this week, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal released a new poll surveying Americans’ views on trade. The poll found that 69 percent of Americans thought that free trade agreements the United States has taken part in have cost the country jobs, and 53 percent of Americans think these agreements hurt the country as a whole.
Interestingly, the poll also found that opposition to free trade agreements is particularly strong among Americans who define themselves as supporters of the Tea Party movement. 61 percent of self-described tea party supporters said they thought free trade has harmed the United States, just four percent less than union members:
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that 69 percent of Americans believe free trade agreements with other countries have cost jobs in the United States, while just 18 percent believe they have created jobs. A 53 percent majority—up from 46 percent three years ago and 30 percent in 1999—believes that trade agreements have hurt the nation overall. [...]
While 65 percent of union members say free trade has hurt the U.S., so do 61 percent of Tea Party sympathizers. Democratic pollster Peter Hart and his Republican counterpart Bill McInturff, who conduct the NBC/WSJ poll, say the greatest shift against free trade has come among relatively affluent Americans, or those earning more than $75,000 a year.
What’s ironic about most tea partiers opposing free trade is that numerous high-profile tea party-endorsed candidates are ardent backers of the policy. From sitting U.S. senators to relatively unknown individuals who have become serious candidates for higher office, politicians who have co-opted the tea party movement do not share its view on free trade:
– Rand Paul: Tea party “darling” Paul’s campaign website boasts that the candidate wants to “engage the world in free trade.” He also bragged that he would “stand up” to unions to get free trade agreements with Peru, Panama, and South Korea passed through Congress.
– Joe Miller: “Tea Party favorite” Miller, who ran an insurgent campaign that successfully toppled incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), responded to a candidate survey earlier this month that he was in favor of “the United States’ involvement in free trade agreements.”
– Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC): DeMint, who “has embraced the tea party movement more enthusiastically than most of his GOP congressional colleagues,” is a strong backer of free trade. He has voted to support every new free trade agreement that has come before the Senate over the past five years, and writes on his website that he sees backing new free trade agreements as the key to a “strong economy.”
– Rep. Tom Price (R-GA): Price, who has been a featured speaker at national tea party rallies, is a prominent backer of free trade within the Republican congressional coalition. Price wrote an op-ed in the Washington Times last month saying that opposition to further free trade agreements is doing “real damage to our nation’s future prosperity.”
– Marco Rubio: Rubio, whose support from the tea party allowed him to coast to the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, writes on his campaign website that “we should adopt the free trade agreements that have already been negotiated with Colombia, Panama, South Korea and other nations around the world.”
– Mike Lee: Utah tea party-backed GOP Senate candidate Mike Lee told a radio host earlier this year “that one of the best ways we can improve our economy is with free trade.”
– Pat Toomey: Toomey, who has praised the tea party in the past as a “constructive force for political change,” supported free trade agreements with Australia, Chile, and Singapore during his time in office as a congressman. He also slammed Democratic presidential primary candidates Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards as “collectivists” for skepticism over a free trade deal with South Korea and a willingness to alter NAFTA.
One major financier of the tea party movement, Americans For Prosperity (AFP), also supports free trade agreements. On its congressional scorecard, support for further free trade agreements is a major category, and AFP gives legislators who are critical of these agreements worse ratings. This lends merit to the idea that AFP is a corporate-backed astroturf front group, not a group of grassroots Americans claiming to represent average Americans who are sympathetic to the tea parties. (HT: David Sirota)
Michigan AG Mike Cox Refuses To Discipline Deputy For Anti-Gay Hate Speech
Michigan AG Mike Cox Refuses To Discipline Deputy For Anti-Gay Hate Speech
For nearly six months, Michigan’s assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell has been engaging in a bizarre internet campaign against Chris Armstrong, an openly gay student assembly president at the University of Michigan. Shirvell has attacked Armstrong’s “radical homosexual agenda” and has published posts on his blog “Chris Armstrong Watch” with photoshopped pictures of Armstrong with rainbow flags and swastikas. This week on CNN, Shirvell maintained the legitimacy of his campaign against Armstrong, saying, “I don’t have any hate in my body at all.”
CNN’s Anderson Cooper last night asked Shirvell’s boss, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, if Shirvell should be reprimanded in any way for his actions. “We have this thing called the First Amendment, which allows people to express what they think,” Cox said defending Shirvell.
Cooper noted that Cox has even “made Internet safety one of the main initiatives” of his department and has “done public service announcements” on cyber-bullying. Cox conceded that Shirvell is bullying Armstrong but added that his actions are protected by the First Amendment. When Cooper said that CNN legal analyst Jeffry Toobin had suggested that Cox’s reluctance to discipline Shirvell was because he’s a political ally, Cox attacked Toobin:
COX: Well, you know, Mr. Toobin reminds me of the old joke, “I’m not a lawyer, but I play one on TV,” because he clearly didn’t read any of the Supreme Court case that I cited for you.
COOPER: He’s a former federal prosecutor, but you’re saying politics has nothing to do with this?
COX: But that — you know, that doesn’t mean anything, Anderson. He’s not in the ring every day practicing law. He’s spending time on CNN. And it’s a pretty good gig. I wish I had it.
Watch the interview:
“I’m sorry he’s not a fan,” Toobin said later on the program, adding that “the direction the [Supreme] Court is moving is towards less and less free speech protection for stuff that is a heck of a lot less offensive than the stuff” coming from Shirvell. Noting that Shirvell had actually picketed outside Armstrong’s house, legal scholar Jonathan Turley said, “That comes very, very close to stalking. There could be civil liability here. And I think that that moves this away from free speech into conduct. And that does — that is a legitimate basis for discipline. ”
George W. Bush Institute’s First Initiative Will Be To Train Half Of The Nation’s Public School Principals
George W. Bush Institute’s First Initiative Will Be To Train Half Of The Nation’s Public School Principals
Yesterday, the George W. Bush Institute, based at Southern Methodist University (SMU), “the innovation arm of The George W. Bush Center,” announced that its “first major initiative” would be a program to train principals and prepare them for service in public schools across the country. The Institute says its goal is to “train half of the nation’s public school principals in the next decade”:
The first major initiative of the new George W. Bush Institute will be to create a training program that will provide more qualified principals to the nation’s public schools, officials announced Wednesday.
The institute, which will be based at Southern Methodist University, is launching the Alliance to Reform Education Leadership with a pilot program that includes school districts in Fort Worth, Dallas, Plano, Denver, St. Louis and Indianapolis. The goal of the program is to train half of the nation’s public school principals in the next decade.
The Institute is aiming for certifying 50,000 public school principals by 2020. It’s ironic that the first major initiative of Bush’s institute is to train principals, given the criticism the former president received from them. Reacting to cuts in education funding in Bush’s last proposed budget, the National Association of Secondary School Principals president Gerald Tirozzi criticized the former president for deciding to “shortchange public schools and undermine their efforts to improve student achievement.” (HT: DailyKos diarist teacherken)
Tea Party Coloring Book Teaches Kids That A High Tax Rate ‘Takes Away Jobs and Freedom’
Tea Party Coloring Book Teaches Kids That A High Tax Rate ‘Takes Away Jobs and Freedom’
Calling it a “wonderful book of The Tea Party for Kids,” a St. Louis-based publisher has sold “many thousands” of its Tea Party Coloring Book for Kids! The book, complete with “puzzles, mazes and connect the dots,” promises to teach kids about “Liberty, Faith, Freedom and so much more!” “We’re not really making a political statement,” publisher Wayne Bell told CBS News, though the book contains a good deal of far-right rhetoric. For example, it warns that government-run healthcare “cannot be the only choice,” and that “[w]hen taxes are too high, the high tax takes away jobs and freedom.” “In 1773 we had a Tea Party and this led to freedom from high taxes,” the book explains to kids. “Today we are having another Tea Party and this will lead to freedom from high taxes again!” (Nevermind that tax rates in 2009 were actually the lowest since 1950). The tea party coloring book:
While Bell said he is not a member of the tea party movement, activists seem to love the book, forcing Bell to print new copies every day to keep up with demand. The coloring book seems to be latest scheme of tea party profiteering. From for-profit tea party web forums, to Fox News host Glenn Beck’s Goldline scam, to a convention that cost $550 per ticket with a primary goal of making money, the movement has been characterized by people looking to exploit others’ political grievances for personal reward. Indeed, asked about his his affiliation with the movement, Bell said, “I’m a salesman, okay, first and foremost. I sell coloring books for crying out loud.”
Rupert Murdoch Defends Fox News’ Immigration Coverage While Calling For Path To Legalization
Rupert Murdoch Defends Fox News’ Immigration Coverage While Calling For Path To Legalization
Today, Fox News Channel owner Rupert Murdoch testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Membership on the “Role of Immigration in Strengthening America’s Economy.” In his testimony, Murdoch called for comprehensive immigration reform which includes a path to citizenship that brings 11-12 million new people into the U.S. tax base. According to Murdoch, “it’s impossible to secure our borders without an overall package of reforms”:
Our partnership advocates reform that gives a path to citizenship to responsible, law-abiding immigrants who are in the U.S. today without proper authority. It is nonsense to talk about expelling 11 or 12 million people. Not only is it impractical, it is cost-prohibitive. A study this year put the cost of mass deportation at $285 billion over five years. There are better ways to spend our money. [...]
A full path to legalization: requiring unauthorized immigrants to register, undergo a security check, pay taxes, and learn English would bring these immigrants out of a shadow economy and into our tax base. According to one study, a path to legalization would contribute an estimated $1.5 trillion to the gross domestic product over ten years.
Earlier this year, Murdoch indicated that the media should be involved in the push for comprehensive immigration reform. However, Fox News employees don’t seem to agree. The Wonk Room shows that more than any other network, Fox News has repeatedly and consistently advocated against immigration reform and referred to Murdoch’s proposal as “amnesty.”
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) called Murdoch out on the blatant contradiction later in the hearing, pointing out, “it does not appear that what you are talking and the way you are discussing it is the way it is discussed on Fox.” Murdoch defended his position and his network:
We are home to all views on Fox. [...] We don’t censor that or take any particular line at all. We are not anti-immigrant on Fox News. [...] We certainly employ a lot of immigrants at Fox. In all arms of Fox. We have many immigrants there and we do not take a consistent anti-immigrant line.
Watch it:
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) supported Murdoch’s defense of Fox News, saying most people think that the network is “the most fair.”
DeMint Rejects Idea That ‘Government Has To Do Something’
DeMint Rejects Idea That ‘Government Has To Do Something’
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) sealed his status as the right’s standard-bearer when he brought the Senate to a virtual halt this week by threatening to hold all legislation unless it had been preapproved by his office. Though DeMint insisted that this unprecedented move was simply an effort to allow his office to read and consider pending legislation, the senator made his true intentions clear on the “Focal Point” radio program: preventing the government from functioning.
Speaking with host Bryan Fischer, DeMint argued that “this idea that government has to do something is not a good idea.” He then went on to insist that “the less we do, the better”:
FISCHER: Do you think some kind of gridlock is possible and what do you think will happen if that ensues?
DEMINT: Well I had a group of businessmen tell me the other day “if you can just stop the tax increases on us and then have two years of gridlock, that would be the best thing that could happen for business because at least we would know what to expect.” Right now they don’t know what the government is going to do to them next. So this idea that government has to do something is not a good idea. So I think the less we do, the better except maybe to dismantle some of the federal programs that are making it harder for America to be competitive.
Watch here:
In a recent interview, DeMint said, “I’ve been told by businesses that if we would stop the tax increases the best thing that could happen for business after that is complete gridlock.” DeMint’s comments echo similar statements from Reps. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) and Steve King (R-IA), who have called for a government shutdown beginning next year.
ThinkProgress also caught up with DeMint this week to ask him about Republican obstructionism in the Senate. He conceded that although “over 90% of the bills” in the Senate receive unanimous agreement, we still ought to stop passing legislation:
DEMINT: The problem is not secret holds, it’s secretly passing bills without reading them, without debating them, and without voting on them. Over 90% of the bills that come through the Senate are never voted on, never debated, they pass by unanimous consent. I’ve never heard one person across America want more bills to pass more quickly.
Watch it:
The idea that Americans benefit when government reneges its responsibilities is a total fantasy, one that America has learned all too well in the past.
(HT: Right Wing Watch)
Michael Steele Tacitly Endorses Government Shutdown: ‘Anything Can Happen’
Michael Steele Tacitly Endorses Government Shutdown: ‘Anything Can Happen’
Earlier this month, right-wing congressman Steve King (R-IA) publicly demanded a “blood oath” from House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to repeal the Affordable Care Act if the GOP takes back the House, even if it means shutting down the government. In the event a government shutdown were to occur, King said he wants to ensure “there wouldn’t be a repeat of 1995 where the House caved.”
Such radical measures were also espoused by Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), who told a group of supporters this month that shutting down the government is worth the “pain,” even if it means cutting off veterans’ disabilities payments. “If government shuts down, we want you with us,” Westmoreland said at the Faith and Freedom Coalition convention.
While the right-wing fringe has been at the forefront of advocating a government shutdown, the party leadership seems to be going along for the ride. RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who is on a nationwide bus tour (riding aboard the RNC’s “Fire Nancy Pelosi!” express), tacitly endorsed a shutdown during an interview with the Nebraska Watchdog blog:
NEBRASKA WATCHDOG: What about the possibility of a government shutdown if Republicans get control of Congress?
STEELE: Well, anything can happen. Again, I don’t know what the dynamics are at that point. We’ll see who the leadership is, how big the margins are, what the numbers in the new Congress look like.
Watch it:
Newt Gingrich, the architect of the last shutdown of the government, has laid out a strategy for the GOP to make it happen once again, beginning with a promise not to fund anything. When asked by ThinkProgress in April about the possibility of a shutdown, Gingrich said that, while he’s “not for shutting the government down,” he is for “drawing a line in the sand.” And if Republicans do force a shutdown, it will be Obama’s fault, Gingrich argued.
ThinkFast: September 30, 2010
ThinkFast: September 30, 2010
McDonald’s Corp. is threatening to drop its health insurance plan for nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers unless regulators waive a new health care law requirement. Sending “one of the clearest indications that new rules may disrupt workers’ health plans,” McDonald’s claims the requirement to spend 80% to 85% of premiums on benefits would be “economically prohibitive” to continue offering coverage. (Update: Igor Volsky has an explanation of McDonald’s denial.)
The House yesterday approved a bill “to give up to $7.4 billion to workers sickened during the cleanup of the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.” New York lawmakers said they would push the Senate to pass a similar bill once Congress returns for its lame-duck session.
CIA Director Leon Panetta told Pakistan’s intelligence community yesterday that the U.S. government is working to counter a terror plot to attack several public targets in European capitals. According to Panetta, the CIA learned of the attack — which was set to occur in November — after “capturing one of the prospective attackers en route from Pakistan’s FATA region.”
Pakistan blocked a vital supply route for U.S. and NATO troops yesterday, following a cross-border helicopter strike that killed three Pakistani soldiers. The blockade appears to be a major escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) “will not lift her hold on Office of Management and Budget director nominee Jack Lew,” continuing to demand that the Obama administration first lift its moratorium on offshore drilling. The senator met with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Tuesday, but there was no resolution of her issues with the moratorium.
Sen. Barbara Boxer and her Republican challenger, Carly Fiorina, traded charges that the other was too extreme for California during a debate last night. Boxer accused Fiorina of shipping jobs overseas as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and attacked her opposition to health care reform.
Yesterday, Senate Democrats “agreed to a Republican demand” to block President Obama from making recess appointments while Congress is out for midterm elections. In scheduling pro-forma sessions, Democrats prevent Republicans from forcing any of the 115 executive- and judicial-branch pending nominations from having to be resubmitted and reconfirmed in the Senate.
And finally: Obama said he’s “amused” by Jon Stewart’s rally. “I was amused – Jon Stewart, the host of The Daily Show, apparently he’s going to host a rally called something like ‘Americans in Favor of a Return to Sanity’ or something like that,” the president said. “And his point was, you know, 70 percent of the people…are just like you.”
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‘Worship Satan’ Spray-Painted On St. Louis Mosque In Second Act Of Vandalism In As Many Weeks
‘Worship Satan’ Spray-Painted On St. Louis Mosque In Second Act Of Vandalism In As Many Weeks
Two weeks ago, vandals spraypainted the words “Worship Satan” and drew a pentagon along the side of the Masjid Qooba mosque in St. Louis. The FBI immediately began investigating the incident, but made no arrests.
Now, vandalism has once again befallen the mosque. The words “Worship Satan” were spray-painted over a different wall of the same mosque, alarming its worshippers. The FBI and St. Louis Police are both investigating the incident, and suspect the same vandals from the incident two weeks earlier may be responsible.
In an interview with local news station KMOV, mosque spokesman Tim Kaminski said the mosque is not interested in pursuing charges against the vandal or vandals. “What we would like is for this person to come forward and come clean,” said Kaminski. “We have no rancor, no anger. We want to talk to this person. Explain to them what Islam is, that we worship the same God as the Christian and Jewish traditions do.” Watch it:
Jim Hacking, a local attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told local news station KMOX that right-wing figures have helped gin up the hatred against Muslims that is leading to vandalism. “Nationally on things like FOX News, you have people like Newt Gingrich comparing Muslims to Nazis,” Hacking said. “Just really negative, stereotypical hatred that’s been spewing out, and it’s really at its worst level, even worse than after 9/11.”
Cornyn Bows To DeMint’s Unilateral Control Of Senate Legislation: ‘I Think It’s A Good Idea’
Cornyn Bows To DeMint’s Unilateral Control Of Senate Legislation: ‘I Think It’s A Good Idea’
Yesterday, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) made the extraordinary demand that every single piece of legislation in the Senate would be blocked by his office unless it had been preapproved by his own staffers. As Roll Call reported, “Democratic and Republican aides alike were stunned, arguing that DeMint had essentially made a unilateral decision to end legislative activity in the Senate.”
At a fundraiser for Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck yesterday afternoon, ThinkProgress interviewed several GOP Senators about DeMint’s move to singlehandedly take control of the chamber. DeMint himself told us that his crop of candidates, like Buck, would support his efforts if they are elected to the Senate. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), the chairman of the GOP committee tasked with electing more Republican Senators, did not find anything wrong with DeMint’s undemocratic move to seize control of Congress. Asked about DeMint’s unilateral power grab, Cornyn simply smiled and said that he “certainly think[s] it’s a good idea” because it would give more time for lawmakers to review bills:
TP: I have a quick question about Senator DeMint. What do you think about his unilateral hold of all the bills in the Senate before they’re reviewed by a member of his staff.
CORNYN: Well, I think it’s important for every member of the Senate to review legislation before it passes by unanimous consent. There’s a lot of garbage that gets through that should be stopped, certainly ought to be reviewed. I certainly think it’s a good idea to look at it, to read it, know what we’re voting on before it passes.
TP: But what do you think about the leadership structure if just one member can hold up the entire Congress essentially, one member could just have a whim and shut everything down, right?
CORNYN: Well, what creates the pressure is, we’re at the tail end of the session. A lot of people like Senator Reid, Speaker Pelosi want to get out of town and a lot of folks want to go and campaign. A lot of this stuff should have been taken care of earlier in the year.
Watch it:
Cornyn appears to be weary about picking fights with DeMint. Earlier this year, DeMint publicly challenged Cornyn’s power as the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and declared that he would be picking his own ultra-conservative candidates to run for office. For instance, Cornyn funneled money to his own candidate in Colorado, Jane Norton, who later lost to DeMint’s candidate, Ken Buck. While Cornyn initially tried to support his own candidates, he was eventually steamrolled by DeMint’s allies in the Club for Growth, a Wall Street front group, FreedomWorks, and other lobbyist-controlled conservative organizations.
As ThinkProgress’ Ian Millhiser wrote in a post yesterday, DeMint can get away with this stunt because the Senate’s rules are ripe for abuse. By exploiting the rules, DeMint can force up to 60 hours of uninterrupted debate before a final vote. Using this tactic, DeMint can require over two and a half years to deliberate just the 372 bills already passed by the House since August. “In other words,” Millhiser explained, “there is simply not enough time to get more than a fraction of the Senate’s business done if a minority is determined to do everything they can to block progress.” Regardless of national security interests, national emergencies, or really any matter confronted by Congress, DeMint wields ultimate power — while Cornyn and the GOP leadership is too afraid to stand up to him.
Fox Newsers Call Obama ‘Paranoid,’ ‘Out Of Touch,’ And ‘Radical’ For Noting That Fox Promotes The GOP Agenda
Fox Newsers Call Obama ‘Paranoid,’ ‘Out Of Touch,’ And ‘Radical’ For Noting That Fox Promotes The GOP Agenda
In an interview that will be published in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, President Obama said that Fox News has been promoting “a point of view” that “is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth” of the U.S. He said that in the past, “you had folks like Hearst who used their newspapers very intentionally to promote their viewpoints. I think Fox is part of that tradition.”
Naturally, after news of the story broke yesterday, Fox News hosts and personalities attacked the President:
MONICA CROWLEY: Look, Barack Obama is a radical progressive.
SEAN HANNITY: I’m confused as to, you know, how much one man can be so out of touch with the American people? … He seems extraordinarily thin-skinned.
DANA PERINO: The more he does these types of things the more it casts him in a light of being petty, of being partisan and of being really paranoid.
Watch the compilation:
Of course, Obama is correct. Fox News, particularly since the President assumed office, has operated primarily as the communications arm of the Republican Party. As Media Matters noted, Fox “has a long history of actively promoting the Republican agenda and of opposing economic positions which economists say would stimulate growth.”
Indeed, just in the last 9 months, Fox News has made a special effort to promote the GOP line. For example, network figures have often given the “Republican narrative” on tax cuts. Republicans credited the network with helping get their ideas out. Sarah Palin advised right-wing senate candidate Christine O’Donnell to “speak through Fox News.” The network’s parent company donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. Fox News personalities regularly campaigned for Republicans, and GOP senate candidate Sharron Angle said she goes on Fox to raise money.
So it seems that the President isn’t the one who is “out of touch.”
The Day After Calling For A Crackdown On Hiring Undocumented Workers, Whitman Admits Employing One
The Day After Calling For A Crackdown On Hiring Undocumented Workers, Whitman Admits Employing One
In an explosive press conference this afternoon, a woman who worked in California Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman’s house for nine years claimed that Whitman knew she was an undocumented immigrant, but that she turned a blind eye.
According to Nicky Diaz Santillan’s attorney, Gloria Allred, Whitman never inquired about Santillan’s immigration status when she hired her through a service, and during her employment, Whitman discovered numerous clues that Santillan was in the country illegally. According to Allred, Whitman discovered that Santillan’s Social Security number didn’t match her name, and Santillan told Whitman she could not travel to Mexico. “She knew that I did not have papers to work here,” Santillan said.
In addition, Allred said Santillan was “exploited, disrespected, humiliated and emotionally and financially abused” by Whitman. She also alleged that Whitman did not fully compensate Santillan for wages and transportation. Watch it:
In response, Whitman did not deny that she had employed Santillan illegally, saying, “Once we learned she was an illegal worker, I immediately terminated Nicky’s employment. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I considered Nicky a friend and a part of our extended family.”
While it would be embarrassing for any politician to be discovered employing an undocumented worker, the news is especially at odds with Whitman’s public posturing on immigration. As the Wonk Room’s Andrea Nill wrote, she “built much of her tough primary campaign around an image that portrayed her as a tough immigration hawk.” In fact, just yesterday in a debate with Democratic candidate Jerry Brown, Whitman vowed to crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers:
Whitman said she opposes a path to legalization. She outlined a several-step approach that began with: “We have to secure the border of the United States of America.”
She pledged more resources for border patrol agents, more enforcement of businesses hiring illegal immigrants, a guest worker program for agriculture and cracking down on sanctuary cities.
Indeed, as Nill has noted, Whitman continually sends “two conflicting messages” on immigration. While she has made reaching out to the large Latino population of California a major emphasis of her campaign, she has taken a much harsher tone when speaking with the English press. For example, she put up over 30 Spanish billboards in Latino-heavy areas of the state professing her opposition to Arizona’s harsh immigration law, but recently told a local radio station that the law “should stand for Arizona,” and that “the federal government [should not] be telling Arizona what to do.” She also wrote a Spanish-language editorial suggesting that she and Brown “share an almost identical immigration platform.” But at last night’s debate, Brown said he supports a path to citizenship while Whitman said she opposes the concept.
The housekeeper issue serves to further expose Whitman’s double talk on immigration.
Exclusive: Joe Miller Failed To File Personal Finance Disclosure As Required By Law, Could Face $50,000 Fine
Exclusive: Joe Miller Failed To File Personal Finance Disclosure As Required By Law, Could Face $50,000 Fine
Sarah Palin-backed Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller (R-AK), who defeated incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in the primary in August, skyrocketed to power partially by demanding more transparency and ethics in Washington. In his 12-point campaign promise, Miller says he will “end czar layer of government” that “clouds transparency in government.” Miller’s campaign endorsement page features Alaskans praising him for having higher ethics and a greater commitment to transparency.
However, ThinkProgress contacted the Senate Ethics Committee and the Senate Office of Public Records yesterday and discovered that Miller has not filed a personal finance disclosure as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, as required by law. According to Title I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and Senate Rule 41.1, candidates for U.S. Senate must file a disclosure form within 30 days of raising or spending $5,000. According to the Federal Elections Committee, Miller raised well over $5,000 as early as April of this year. Asked again today by ThinkProgress if Miller has filed his personal finance disclosure, or has contacted the Senate Office of Public Records with any request for an extension to file, a staffer with the Office responded:
“We haven’t received anything from him. He hasn’t sent us anything.”
According to law, “failure to file or report information required to be reported by section 102 of the Act may subject” Miller — a Yale Law School graduate — to a “civil penalty of not more than $50,000 and to disciplinary action by the Select Committee on Ethics and/or any other appropriate authority.” As of today, Miller is at least five months late with his disclosures.
It’s not the first time Miller has faced ethical issues. As the Associated Press reported yesterday, Miller received a special low-income hunting and fishing license shortly after joining a law firm making about $70,000 a year. Although he claims he received the license lawfully, his opponent blasted him for “gaming the system.”
ThinkProgress reached out to several members of the Miller campaign team for comment. They have not yet provided a response, but we will post an update if they do.
MILLER: The simple answer is there was a requirement that we make a filing in May. We just found out about it today. It's a simple solution to get the filing in. It is going to be in by the end of the week.
Coburn Holding Up Millions Of Dollars In Aid For Haiti Earthquake Survivors Over Obscure Objection
Coburn Holding Up Millions Of Dollars In Aid For Haiti Earthquake Survivors Over Obscure Objection
Last spring, the United States pledged nearly $1.2 billion in emergency aid to Haiti following its tragic earthquake that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and many more homeless.
Yet the Associated Press (AP) reports today that “not a cent of the $1.15 billion the U.S. promised for rebuilding has arrived” to Haitians who badly the need the aid. This summer, both the House and the Senate passed a bill that would make $917 million available for Haiti reconstruction aid. Yet Congress must also pass an authorization bill that directs exactly how the money will be spent, and thus far, the U.S. Senate has failed to do.
The AP conducted its own investigation of why the Senate has failed to pass the authorization bill, and it discovered that a single senator “pulled it for further study.” After calling dozens of senators’ offices, the AP discovered that the senator holding up the bill is Tom Coburn (R-OK). Coburn spokeswoman Becky Berhardt explained that the reason he is holding up the bill is because he objects to the creation of a senior Haiti coordinator — a position that would cost a paltry $5 million over five years — when the United States currently has an ambassador to the country:
Now the authorization bill that would direct how the aid is delivered remains sidelined by a senator who anonymously pulled it for further study. Through calls to dozens of senators’ offices, the AP learned it was Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma. “He is holding the bill because it includes an unnecessary senior Haiti coordinator when we already have one” in U.S. Ambassador Kenneth Merten, Coburn spokeswoman Becky Bernhardt said.
The bill proposes a new coordinator in Washington who would not oversee U.S. aid but would work with the USAID administrator in Washington to develop a rebuilding strategy. The position would cost $1 million a year for five years, including salaries and expenses for a staff of up to seven people.
While Coburn continues to hold up much-needed reconstruction aid over a relatively meaningless objection, “just 2 percent of [Haiti's earthquake] rubble has been cleared and 13,000 temporary shelters have been built – less than 10 percent of the number planned.” There are estimated to be 1.3 million Haitians still homeless as a result of the earthquake.
Richest House Member Darrell Issa Wants Tax Rates For The Rich Lowered From Bush Rates
Richest House Member Darrell Issa Wants Tax Rates For The Rich Lowered From Bush Rates
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) went on Fox News last night to promote the GOP line that the government must not let the Bush tax cuts expire for the rich, repeating his charge that the House should hold a vote on the Bush tax cuts “or resign.” Issa dismissed the cost of extending those cuts for the rich (more than $800 billion over the next decade). “It isn’t that much,” he said.
Incredibly, Issa later argued that the tax cuts should be extended for the rich because those making less than $250,000 per year might one day win the lottery. “One of the things that you lose in the debate is most people don’t make over a quarter million dollars a year. But a great many people once in their lifetime will sort of win the lottery,” he said. But not only does Issa want to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, he actually wants the tax rates that the rich pay to be lowered:
ISSA: We were better off at 28 percent under Reagan than we’ve been since. And we are going to be at 39 percent come January. And in my state that is over and above over another 10 percent. You are looking at 50 percent of every dollar of every California business is being taken before they get to reinvestment.
Watch it:
Seeing that Issa doesn’t seem to care about the cost of extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich, he probably isn’t too worried about the additional hundreds of billions in debt that would result from cutting them even more. Rather, he stands to handsomely benefit from lower tax rates on the rich. The California lawmaker is one of the richest members of Congress:
The wealthiest members of Congress grew richer in 2009 even as the economy struggled to recover from a deep recession. The 50 wealthiest lawmakers were worth almost $1.4 billion in 2009, about $85.1 million more than 12 months earlier, according to The Hill’s annual review of lawmakers’ financial disclosure forms. [...]
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), with a net worth of $160.1 million, is the second-richest member of Congress under The Hill’s formula, even though his wealth declined by more than $4 million in 2009.
According to Open Secrets, Issa was the wealthiest member of Congress in 2008.
Coburn, DeMint Block National Women’s History Museum Because ‘Quilters’ And ‘Cowgirl’ Museums Already Exist
Coburn, DeMint Block National Women’s History Museum Because ‘Quilters’ And ‘Cowgirl’ Museums Already Exist
This week, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) made the “unilateral decision to end legislative activity in the Senate.” In co-opting complete control of Senate business, DeMint has picked up the mantle of veteran obstructionist Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) in blocking any bill that does not meet his personal “parameters.” Now, both Coburn and DeMint have joined forces to target a bill celebrating women’s history.
In a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Coburn and DeMint decided to place a “hold” on a bill “that would sell land near the Smithsonian Institution for the National Women’s History Museum.” The bill, which would allow a private group to use private funds to purchase the land, passed the House last year and has bipartisan support in the Senate. However, the two senators cite three objections to this “laudable undertaking”: taxpayer burden, abortion politics, and redundancy:
The senators say their concerns are financial: Though the museum would pay fair market value for the land, the group has raised little money. And they said the new institution would duplicate more than 100 similar museums — some of which already get taxpayer subsidies.
Abortion politics are also in play: The senators’ action came two days after the Concerned Women for America, a conservative group, wrote DeMint asking for a hold. The group’s CEO, Penny Nance, wrote in July that the museum would “focus on abortion rights without featuring any of the many contributions of the pro-life movement in America.”[...]
In their hold letter to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the GOP senators said the museum was “a laudable undertaking.” But while the museum isn’t asking for a subsidy now, Coburn and DeMint said “taxpayers simply cannot be guaranteed of this in the future.”
The reasons behind the hold “just don’t hold water.” First, as stated on the National Women’s History Museum organization’s (NWHM) website, the federal government “is not underwriting the cost of this museum with taxpayer dollars. It rests upon NWHM “to raise no less than $150 million to build this museum privately.” Secondly, according to NWHM CEO Joan Wages, there will be no reproductive rights exhibit because “we have to raise $400 million. We cannot afford, literally, to focus on issues that are divisive.”
And, as the New York Times’s Gail Collins revealed Sunday, the redundancy argument completely dries out under scrutiny. When asked what entities the new museum would duplicate, Coburn suggested that quilters and cowgirls were sufficient to tell the entire story of American women:
The office sent me a list of the entities in question. They include the Quilters Hall of Fame in Indiana, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Texas and the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Washington.
There also were a number of homes of famous women and some fine small collections of exhibits about a particular locality or subject. But, really, Senator Coburn’s list pretty much proved the point that this country really needs one great museum that can chart the whole, big amazing story.
Both Coburn and DeMint are notoriously and predictably anti-women’s rights. Both voted against an amendment allowing justice for sexual assault victims and opposed a rape victim’s right to seek an abortion. In fact, Coburn has registered his belief that health coverage for mammograms is purely “political” and abortion is part of the “gay agenda” whose practitioners deserve the “death penalty.” It is unfortunately predictable that such contempt for the health and security of American women would translate into contempt for the history.
Having sufficiently relegated women’s history to blankets and lilacs, Coburn selected animals as a new target today. On the Senate floor this morning, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) asked unanimous consent to pass the Crane Conservation Act, the Marine Mammal Rescue Assistance amendments, the Great Cats and Rare Canids Act, the Shark Conservation Act, and the Southern Sea Otter Recovery and Research Act. Coburn objected to each request.
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