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Trump On Occupy Wall Street: ‘Nobody Knows Why They’re Protesting’

Legal Immigrant Thrown In Jail Due To Alabama Law

Herman Cain: 'Show Me The Science'

NEWS FLASH

Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke On Occupy Wall Street: ‘I Can’t Blame Them’ | During a hearing before the Joint Economic Committee yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was asked about the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests that have spread from New York City to cities across the country. He said he “can’t blame” protesters for taking to the streets, considering continued high employment and slow economic growth. “They blame, with some justification, the financial sector for getting us into this mess,” Bernanke said:

BERNANKE: I would just say very generally, I think people are quite unhappy with the state of the economy and what’s happening. They blame, with some justification, the problems in the financial sector for getting us into this mess, and they’re dissatisfied with the policy response here in Washington. And at some level, I can’t blame them. Certainly, 9 percent unemployment and very slow growth is not a good situation.

Watch it:

Economy

Herman Cain On Occupy Wall Street: ‘If You Don’t Have A Job And You’re Not Rich, Blame Yourself!’

By Alex Seitz-Wald posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Oct 5, 2011 at 10:50 am

Asked about the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that posted today, GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain said he suspected that they were “orchestrated” to help President Obama. Cain went on to blame the unemployed for their woes, saying, “if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!”:

CAIN: I don’t have facts to back this up, but I happen to believe that these demonstrations are planned and orchestrated to distract from the failed policies of the Obama administration. Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself! [...] It is not someone’s fault if they succeeded, it is someone’s fault if they failed.

Watch it:

Cain’s conspiracy theory that the protests are a plot to help the White House is pretty far fetched, especially considering that there seems to be no love lost between the protesters and Obama.

But Cain’s claim about the unemployed is especially heartless and uninformed. There are simply not enough jobs to go around, with 4.32 unemployed people for every job opening in the country. So even someone looking hard for a job will have a difficult time finding one. Moreover, Cain fails to understand the astronomical income inequality in the U.S. and the negative effect it has on economic growth.

Blaming unemployment on the unemployed is a common trend among conservative politicians, but it’s a as wrong as it is offensive to the millions of Americans looking for a job.

Media

Trump On Occupy Wall Street Movement: ‘Nobody Knows Why They’re Protesting’

By Tanya Somanader on Oct 5, 2011 at 10:10 am

Media-attention mogul and real estate tycoon Donald Trump joined the hosts at Fox & Friends to offer more of his thoughtful perspective on the Occupy Wall Street movement. “I think they’re very well-dressed,” he quipped, marveling one of the protesters “beautiful suits.” “Nobody knows why they’re protesting, but they’re having a good time,” he insisted.

Host Gretchen Carlson wondered whether “we’re all supposed to assume they’re unemployed,” to which Trump replied, “They don’t look unemployed. Some of them really don’t look unemployed. And their parents look like they really probably work on Wall Street.” Watch it:

This complete dismissal of grassroots protest is surprising coming from a former kingpin of the Tea Party. When flirting with a presidential bid and flouting his racist wedge issue, Trump lavished praise on Tea Party protesters, telling the Today Show that he considers himself one. “I’m very proud of some of the ideas they put forth. The big ideas they want to stop this ridiculous, absolutely killer of spending that’s going on.”

Slapping away any concern about the Tea Party’s radical goals, he said, “I think the Tea party has done an amazing service for this country because people now, including very liberal Democrats, are thinking well maybe we can’t just keep giving everything away. So I think they performed a great service.”

Ergo, to Donald Trump, pushing an economically destructive agenda while dressed in colonial garb is “a great service.” But joining a movement aimed at holding the banking industry that plummeted the economy into recession accountable is laughable.

NEWS FLASH

Legal Immigrant Thrown In Jail Because Of Alabama Anti-Immigrant Law | The Associated Press reports that a legal Yemeni immigrant was detained in Etowah County, Alabama because he was suspected to be an undocumented immigrant violating Alabama’s extreme immigration law. During a drug raid last Friday, police rounded up Mohamed Ali Muflahi along with two other men from Yemen who were able to produce papers proving their legal status, but Muflahi could not. His attorney provided papers on Monday proving that he had legal status. Etowah’s sheriff said it was the first immigration case to come up in his county since a judge allowed major portions of the law to go into effect last Thursday. Because it is not exactly uncommon for people to go about their business without carrying proof of their immigration status, more detentions of legal immigrants and even citizens are inevitable under this law.

NEWS FLASH

Lawsuit Alleges Nation’s Biggest Banks Defrauded Veterans | According to a whistleblower lawsuit, some of the nation’s biggest banks, including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and J.P. Morgan Chase, “defrauded veterans and taxpayers out of hundreds of millions of dollars by disguising illegal fees in veterans’ home refinancing loans.” Under VA rules, mortgage lenders are not allowed to charge attorney’s fees, so the banks allegedly instructed mortgage brokers “not to show attorney’s fees on their estimates, but to add them to the title examination fee.” The plaintiffs in the case claim that 90 percent of refinanced loans to veterans included the illegal fee.

Politics

Morning Briefing: October 5, 2011

By ThinkProgress on Oct 5, 2011 at 9:00 am

A new poll finds that “one in three U.S. veterans of the post-9/11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting.” The “first of its kind” Pew Research poll finds that veterans are “scarred by warfare and convinced that the American public has little understanding” of the problems wartime service created for them and their families.

Occupy Wall Street protesters arrested last week have filed suit against the city of New York, alleging they were victims of a police trap. The suit says the protesters were led onto the Brooklyn Bridge by officers, only to be arrested for being in the roadway. A representative for the protesters said they believed the NYPD’s actions were “premeditated, planned, scripted, and calculated.”

A “growing chorus of analysts” is predicting that the European debt crisis will turn into the continent’s second major recession in three years. European stocks plunged again Tuesday, and worries about a second European recession have begun to spread around the world as major countries, including the United States, fear its global impact.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated that Congress should not cut spending while the economy is weak, telling Congress yesterday that deep spending cuts would imperil the economic recovery by driving down aggregate demand for good and services when the private sector is too weak on its own.

Congress’ approval rating continues to drop as more Americans disapprove of Congress than at any other point in the last 20 years. In a Washington Post-ABC News poll, 62 percent of people said they “strongly disapprove” of Congress, while only 18 percent of Democrats, 13 percent of independents and Republicans say they approve of Congress.

Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (WV) held on to his seat in a special gubernatorial election yesterday, a race widely seen as a barometer of voter mood ahead of the 2012 presidential election.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) agreed with a man in Iowa yesterday calling for President Obama’s impeachment. On the campaign trail, Bachmann was asked by a man in the crowd, “When will we impeach [Obama]?” “Well, I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you, I agree, I agree. Some people are really upset,” she replied, before moving on to the next question.

A federal appeals court upheld the District of Columbia’s tough gun laws yesterday, which were put in place after the Supreme Court struck down an outright handgun ban. DC’s new restrictions include a ban on semiautomatic rifles and large-capacity ammunition magazines, as well as a stringent its handgun-registration requirement. “The ruling is the latest in a string of judicial setbacks for gun-rights activists.”

The House easily approved and the president signed a stopgap funding measure yesterday that will fund the federal government through Nov. 18. The passage “was expected, after both parties last week found a way around” the FEMA funding fight and removed language that stripped funding for a renewable energy loan program.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is considering a tax on millionaires to pay for President Obama’s $447 billion jobs bill. Reid has hinted — and sources confirm — that he wants to replace the White House’s current proposals for paying for the bill with a packing that includes a 5 percent surtax on the nation’s highest earners.

And finally: Hank Williams, Jr. apologized yesterday for comparing President Obama to Hitler, which prompted ESPN to drop his opening from Monday night football. The country singer initially stood by his statement, but said yesterday, “I have always been very passionate about politics and sports and this time it got the best or worst of me.”

For breaking news and updates throughout the day, follow ThinkProgress on Facebook and Twitter.

Economy

Stop Snitchin: Fox News And Wall Street Banks Hustle To Kill New Whistleblower Protections

By Lee Fang posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Oct 4, 2011 at 9:37 pm

Left: Rapper Cam'ron gained infamy for promoting the 'Stop Snitchin' campaign against police informants. Right: Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) sponsored a bill to gut protections for Wall Street whistleblowers.

A few years go, a media firestorm erupted over the urban “Stop Snitchin” campaign promoted by gangs and a few hip hop icons. Stop Snitchin refers to the effort to intimidate informants to prevent them from cooperating with police about gang violence or drug trafficking schemes. Rapper Cam’ron received heavy scrutiny for endorsing the trend during an interview on the issue for CBS’s 60 Minutes.

A new Stop Snitchin campaign to deter would-be informants, in this case against people speaking up against crimes on Wall Street, is quietly taking shape, this time far from the media’s eye.

Financial experts and academics agree that strong whistleblower regulations could have prevented the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme and indeed much of the financial crisis if employees at firms engaged in fraudulent activity had spoken up early or had reported complex crimes to the appropriate authorities. Employees at firms at the center for the financial crisis, including troubled lender Countrywide, have cited intimidation and other illicit tactics as the reason few people spoke up as whistleblowers. Since the old whistleblower laws provided for weak legal protections for informants and relatively rare rewards, the Dodd-Frank financial reform law passed last year revamped the system with new rights for informants blowing the whistle on financial crimes.

Bank lobbyists and Fox News, however, have made such protections enemy number one.

Fox News, part of a company known for its legal harassment tactics against whistleblowers, has promoted a smear campaign against financial whistleblower protections for months. In this recent segment, Fox Business reporter Charlie Gasparino, who refers to financial whistleblowers as “rats,” claimed that the new Dodd-Frank whistleblower protections are hurting the big banks:

GASPARINO: If you create all these incentives to sue. Well it seems like we’re increasing litigation at a time against businesses at a time when you know lets face it, all these banks, they’re getting hammered. You just saw that ugly chart of Goldman Sachs. [...] Yes, there’s a sort of slimyness about this. Its not like someone just coming forward, remember they’re getting paid to do this, you know yea those are all the counter arguments. Under Dodd Frank this thing is here to stay until you know they repeal Dodd Frank!

Watch it:

Trade associations for the big banks, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable, lobbied aggressively against the new rules, but failed to stop them. Now, bank lobbyists are attempting a rollback.

Freshman Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) sponsored a bill specifically to repeal the whistleblower law. Grimm’s legislation is a wish-list for corrupt banks: it would not only reduce rewards for reporting fraud, but would force whistleblowers to report crimes to their supervisors before notifying authorities. Consumer groups have decried Grimm’s proposal as an “extreme approach that would silence would-be whistleblowers, endanger critical inside informants, undermine investigations, hamstring enforcement at the [Securities and Exchange Commission] and [Commodity Futures Trading Commission], and provide lawbreaking financial firms with an escape hatch from accountability.”

Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH), a lawmaker-turned bank lobbyist-turned lawmaker again, is among the team of four legislators working to whip up support for the legislation. Stivers and Grimm have been showered with contributions from top Wall Street firms, including JP Morgan and Bank of America.

Point of Law, a blog hosted by a think tank run by far right billionaire investors, has promoted attacks on the new whistleblower laws. The Chamber, which counts firms like Fidelity and AIG as major contributing members, has testified in support of Grimm’s bill.

While it is unlikely that Grimm’s measure is passed and signed into law as a stand-alone bill under President Obama, it could be forced through by the Republicans using a budget stand-off or another debt ceiling hostage situation.

Politics

Sen. Rand Paul Blocks $36 Million For Disabled And Elderly Refugees, Including Those Who Aided American Troops

By Marie Diamond on Oct 4, 2011 at 7:35 pm

Like his father, GOP contender Rep. Ron Paul (TX), freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is well known for his beliefs that the government should not be in the business of helping the poor and downtrodden. Now Politico is reporting that Paul is single-handedly holding up $36 million in benefits for elderly and disabled refugees.

Funding for the refugees ran out on Friday, but Paul refuses to lift his hold out of a professed concern that the money could be used to aid terrorists:

In a statement to POLITICO on Tuesday, Paul confirmed he was blocking the bill over concerns the money could be used to aid domestic terrorists. Two alleged terrorists, who came to the U.S. through a refugee program and were receiving welfare benefits, were arrested this year in Paul’s hometown of Bowling Green, Ky.

“This incident alone raises serious questions about the system through which they came to the United States, and I am insisting on a full investigation on our practice of providing welfare to refugees,” Paul said. [...]

The bill would extend funding for one year for about 5,600 elderly and disabled refugees from war-torn regions of the world, including Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan. Some are victims of human-trafficking or torture.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the bill’s sponsor, pointed out the life-threatening consequences of Paul’s actions. “The bill ensures that refugees will not lose critical life-sustaining benefits that are their only safety net protecting them from homelessness, illness and other effects of extreme poverty,” he said, noting that “some of the disabled refugees this bill helps are people who have aided American troops overseas in Iraq or Afghanistan — and risked their lives for America’s cause.”

The idea that the refugee program is being used to usher terrorists into the U.S. has been thoroughly debunked by international organizations. As the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights has noted, asylum seekers are the victims of terrorism, not its perpetrators. “Refugee” is actually an elite status conferred by the international community to those who have already proven they are victims of, or have a well-founded fear of, persecution. To be admitted to the U.S., asylum seekers have to go through a grueling, years-long process and provide extensive proof of identification and documentation for their claims. Claiming refugee status opens one up to extensive scrutiny and investigation by the government — in short, the last thing prospective terrorists would want to do.

Yet Paul is perpetuating a dangerous myth responsible for depriving victims of the aid they need. In the wake of 9/11, a ridiculously broad definition of what it means to provide “material support” to terrorists groups has denied protection to thousands of persecuted refugees who pose no threat to national security. Refugees caught up in this legal snare include those who were violently coerced into helping the very groups they are now seeking protection from, or involuntarily aided organizations that are not even officially considered terrorist groups.

Security

Spencer And Geller Disavow Anti-Muslim Activist’s Call For Violence, Say He Was Never A Board Member

By Alex Seitz-Wald posted from ThinkProgress Security on Oct 4, 2011 at 6:22 pm

Responding to ThinkProgress, anti-Muslim activists Robert Spencer and Pam Geller disavowed any connections to John Joseph Jay, who recently wrote a blog post calling for the mass murder of politicians, journalists, and others. Geller and Spencer — leading members of the Islamophobia network — strongly denounced Jay’s calls for violence.

But, Jay’s name and signature appears on the articles of incorporation for American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), an umbrella organization for which Geller is the executive director. Geller and Spencer claim Jay was never a board member and is not affiliated in any way. Geller writes that while Jay helped establish the organization, he is not a member of the board:

Last year I was in a rush to get the organization off the ground, and enlisted [Jay's] help and that of several others. At that time I hadn’t yet chosen the board members or the key players in the organization. Jay helped me out so I could get the incorporation papers filed, but was never a Board member or a part of the organizational structure in any way. He was gone almost as soon as he was there, and is not a member of AFDI.

Spencer emails a similar statement saying, Jay “is not on the Board now, never has been, and is not a member of the organization.”

However, this seems to conflict with a blog post Spencer wrote in August of last year after Jay stirred controversy with a different call to arms. In that post on his Jihad Watch blog, Spencer wrote about the “misrepresentations of some writings by John Jay, a member of the SIOA Board.” SIOA is Stop the Islamization Of America, an organization also headed by Geller and connected to AFDI.

ThinkProgress included this in our original post and asked Spencer to clarify. “He was never a board member. I don’t recall saying he was, but if I did, it was in error.” That was “was a mistake on my part,” Spencer wrote in another email after ThinkProgress provided a link to his post.

NEWS FLASH

Romney On Wall Street Protests: ‘It’s Dangerous, This Class Warfare’ | Ongoing protests on Wall Street are in their third week, as demonstrators continue to speak out against corporate greed and growing income inequality. Several labor unions have lent their support to the protests, with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka saying that “being in the streets and calling attention to issues is sometimes the only recourse you have.” When White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked about the protests, he replied, “to the extent that people are frustrated with the economic situation, we understand.” However, 2012 GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney does not approve of the protests. “I think it’s dangerous, this class warfare,” said Romney — who has become a favorite of Wall Street donors — when asked about the protest.

NEWS FLASH

Billionaire Bet: Warren Buffett Challenges Rupert Murdoch To Release His Tax Returns | Last week, News Corp’s Wall Street Journal editorial board told the billionaire behind the president’s “Buffett Rule” that, instead of calling for America’s wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, Warren Buffett should “educate the public” by allowing “everyone else in on his secrets of tax avoidance by releasing his tax returns.” Today at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, Buffett wholeheartedly agreed to release his tax returns to the public. He just has one condition: “I think it might be a terrific idea if [the Wall Street Journal] would just ask their boss, Rupert Murdoch, and he and I will meet at Fortune, and we’ll both give you our tax returns and you can publish them.” Buffett noted, “I’m ready tomorrow morning.” Murdoch has yet to respond.

Economy

Obama Uses Reagan Quote To Rebut Republicans’ ‘Class Warfare’ Charge

By Pat Garofalo posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Oct 4, 2011 at 5:02 pm

Yesterday, we posted a video of conservative icon Ronald Reagan saying that it’s “crazy” that tax loopholes would allow a millionaire to pay lower taxes than a bus driver, using the same sort of language that President Obama has employed when describing the “Buffett rule” (which would ensure that millionaires can’t pay lower taxes than middle-class families). During a speech today in Texas, Obama used Reagan’s quote to slam Republicans who have been deriding the Buffett rule as “class warfare.” “Last time I checked, Republicans all thought Reagan made some sense,” he said:

Now, when I point this out, some of the Republicans in Congress say, ‘oh you’re engaging in class warfare.’ Let me tell you something. Years ago, one great American had a different view. I’m going to get the quote, just so you know I’m not making this up. A great American said that he thought it was ‘crazy’ that certain tax loopholes made it possible for millionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying ten percent of his salary.

Alright. You know who this guy was? It wasn’t a Democrat. It wasn’t some crazy socialist. It was Ronald Reagan. It was Ronald Reagan. Last time I checked, Republicans all thought Reagan made some sense. So next time you hear one of those Republicans in Congress accusing you of class warfare, you just tell them I’m with Ronald Reagan. I agree with Ronald Reagan that it’s crazy that a bus driver pays a higher tax rate than some millionaire because of a loophole in the tax code. And by the way, I don’t mind being called a warrior for the working class. You guys need someone working for you.

Watch it:

Update

On Fox News today, supply-side guru and former Reagan adviser Art Laffer accused us of being “deceitful and dissembling” for directly quoting Reagan. “It really irritates me enormously,” Laffer said, before bragging that the Reagan tax plan raised taxes on low-income Americans. Watch it:

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Security

Pam Geller Linked Anti-Muslim Activist Calls For Mass Murder Of Congressmen, Muslims, Liberals And Journalists (Updated)

By Alex Seitz-Wald posted from ThinkProgress Security on Oct 4, 2011 at 4:10 pm

Pam Geller and Robert Spencer, whose names appear along with John Jay's on AFDI's incorporation documents

The anti-Muslim activist John Joseph Jay has issued a call for the mass murder of the leadership of both parties in Congress, the governors of seven states, and prominent academics, along with a demand to “burn all mosques. period.”

Jay helped in the founding of anti-Muslim activist Pam Geller’s group American Freedom Defense Initiative. AFDI is the umbrella organization of the prominent Stop the Islamization Of America (SOIA). Jay’s signature can be seen below those of Geller and fellow arch anti-Muslim activist Robert Spencer on AFDI’s incorporation document (PDF), as Charles Johnson at LGF pointed out. The P.O. Box listed for Jay is also the same as Geller’s.

But while those organizations have stopped short of calls for violence, Jay crossed way over that line in a rambling post on his blog called “start the revolution,” which fantasizes about the painful medieval deaths of perceived enemies (screenshot here, cached version here):

1.)take out the talking head media, and burn the new york times, the los angeles times and the washington post to the ground. draw and quarter the media, and shoot their remains from canons in the four directions of the prevailing winds.

rinse, lather, repeat as needed.

2.)take out all the incumbent leadership of both parties in the congress, and every self avowed socialist and communist in congress. give them all proper muslim burials at sea, just like osama bin laden.

eliminate pensions for congressional service. rinse, lather, repeat as needed.

3.)eliminate the faculty senates at harvard, yale, columbia, nyu and university of california at santa barbara. boil bill ayers, bernie dorhn and angela davis in canola oil, and feed their remains to the fishes.

they are all physical cowards. they should fall into line pretty quickly. repeat every ten years as a prophylactic, on general principle.

and,

4.)now that the “arab spring” has brought enlightenment to the middle east, send all of the muslim immigrants back to their native countries, in boxes or tourist, their choice.

burn all the mosques. period.

In a post script, he adds that he wants to “burn the editors and contributors” to the Daily Kos, throw “the living governors of new york, california, ohio, illinois, washington, florida and massachusetts into the fiery pits… from which there is no escape,” and writes, “i’ll think of something suitable for hilary clinton.”

In an update to the post, Jay responds to LGF’s Johnson “breathlessly announcing that i am advocating mass murder.” Jay makes no denial of advocating mass murder, and writes of Johnson’s charge, “even the blind hog finds an occasional acorn.”

According to the organization’s website, Geller is the executive director of American Freedom Defense Initiative, which seems to be an umbrella organization for SIOA and other anti-Muslim groups. In a post on the American Thinker from the August of last year, Geller refers to, “my associate, the attorney John Jay.”

When Jay got in trouble last summer for a separate blog post advocating the mass murder of Muslims and liberals, Robert Spencer wrote of “John Jay, a member of the SIOA Board.” Still, Spencer wrote that Jay is “not a founder or co-founder of SIOA. He has no role in the running of the organization.”

As ThinkProgress reported, Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik was influenced by American anti-Muslim activists. He cited Spencer and his blog 162 times, and Pam Geller and her blog 12 times. The two play are key players in a network of Islamophbia, explored our recent report, Fear Inc.

Update

Geller and Spencer strongly condemned Jay’s call to violence and disavowed any connection to him, telling ThinkProgress that he was never on their board, though he did help with the founding of the organization. ThinkProgress originally reported he was a board member, as Spencer had written in a blog post last year. See this update for their full responses.

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NEWS FLASH

700,000-Member Strong Communications Workers Of America Announce Support For Occupy Wall Street | The Communications Workers of America (CWA), “the largest communications and media union in the US,” announced its support of the Occupy Wall Street protests this afternoon. In a statement, the CWA says it “strongly supports the Occupy Wall Street Movement,” and that “it is an appropriate expression of anger for all Americans, but especially for those who have been left behind by Wall Street.” The national union plans to “encourage all CWA Locals to participate in the growth of this protest movement.”

LGBT

Herman Cain: ‘Show Me The Science’ That Being Gay Is Not A Choice

By Zack Ford posted from ThinkProgress LGBT on Oct 4, 2011 at 3:00 pm

The ladies of The View today challenged newly crowned Republican presidential front-runner Herman Cain on his beliefs about homosexuality. He confirmed that he would bring back Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and “Yes,” he believes being gay is a choice. Joy Behar pressed him on this, asking why anyone would choose to be reviled by the society, and Cain expressed that he had not seen enough research to conclude that homosexuality is not a choice:

BEHAR: To think that gay is a choice, I don’t know how to respond to that. I mean, don’t think anybody in this world wants to be gay considering all the vilification that is brought upon someone who is gay. Why would you choose that?

CAIN: Well, you show me the science that it’s not and I’ll be persuaded. Right now it’s my opinion against the opinions of others who feel differently. That’s just a difference of opinions.

Watch it:

If Cain has not seen “the science,” he clearly has never bothered to look. Based on decades of research, all major medical professional organizations agree that sexual orientation is not a choice and cannot be changed, from gay to straight or otherwise. The American Psychological Association, the world’s largest association of psychological professionals, describes sexual orientation as “a complex interaction of environmental, cognitive and biological factors.” There is considerable evidence to suggest that biology, “including genetic or inborn hormonal factors,” plays a significant role in a person’s sexuality.

Perhaps someone could make sure Mr. Cain sees this post so he can properly reevaluate his inaccurate “opinion.”

Update

The Log Cabin Republicans have responded to Cain’s comments today:

“If Herman Cain truly wants to see the science proving that sexual orientation is not a choice, Log Cabin Republicans would be happy to show it to him,” said Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director R. Clarke Cooper. “The claim that a person chooses to be gay or lesbian has been discredited by every major professional medical organization, starting with the American Psychological Association and the American Medical Association. An individual’s orientation is no more a choice than the color of his skin or whether he is left-handed, and too many people have been hurt because of failed attempts to change the way they were born.”

“I would also be happy to discuss my experiences as a current Army reserve officer and combat veteran, and the testimony of military leadership that the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ strengthens our armed forces and furthers America’s national security interests. It is unfortunate that Mr. Cain chose to divert attention away from a solid platform of greater liberty and smaller government by indulging in anti-gay rhetoric. Log Cabin Republicans sincerely hope that Herman Cain is open to hearing the evidence and changing his mind on these issues.”
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