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Michigan Pushing New Plan To Restrict Voting Rights

Romney Flip-Flops On Ohio’s Collective Bargaining Law

Crackdown On 99 Percent Movement

Green

GOP Rep. Gibson Celebrates Solar Energy Initiative, Doesn’t Acknowledge Funds From Obama Programs

By Lee Fang posted from ThinkProgress Green on Oct 26, 2011 at 3:20 pm

Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY) taking credit for a solar program funded by the stimulus and other Obama programs.

Republicans are circling the wagons to destroy green collar jobs and the clean energy industry. The GOP seized the Solyndra controversy as an excuse to cut all clean energy loan programs. The inquisition has even led to the suspension of a program that employed veterans in clean energy jobs.

Bucking the trend, at least for a day, Rep. Chris Gibson (R-NY) participated in a publicity event on Monday to celebrate the success of a government-backed solar energy initiative. Gibson spoke at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the University of Albany to announce a deal to keep 17 solar energy research jobs. The research center hopes to boost an effort to develop “thin-film” solar cells to be built in a 18,000-square-foot manufacturing facility near the campus. Speaking at the event, Gibson applauded the investment, but failed to credit how much of the money was authorized:

“Today’s announcement continues our region’s growth as the next place for 21st Century technology. This facility will preserve existing jobs and ensure that our area remains at the forefront of research into clean energy technologies that are so vital for our future. I applaud CNSE’s efforts to invest in our local communities and look forward to continuing to work with them to expand public-private partnerships here in Tech Valley.”

Earlier this year, the research center received a $5 million grant made possible in part by President Obama’s Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus. During the election last year, Gibson made the stimulus a campaign issue and blasted his Democratic opponent for supporting such a “failed” policy.

The solar jobs are also made possible by the SunShot Initiative, a Department of Energy program started by the Obama administration to spur solar energy technological developments.

A recent ThinkProgress investigation found at least 60 Republicans writing letters to Secretary Steven Chu to request clean energy grants and loans for favored companies.

NEWS FLASH

VIDEO: Oakland Police Toss Flash Grenade At Protesters Helping Injured Person | Despite initial denials, Oakland-area police deliberately fired and tossed flash-bang grenades at Occupy Oakland protesters last night, even ones who had been visibly harmed by the police assault. Video shot by KTVU shows flash-bang grenades fired by riot police deep into the protesting crowd. Near the barricades where a Veteran for Peace holds his flag amid tear gas, a protester is knocked down by a flash-bang grenade. After a crowd surrounds the victim, riot police toss more flash-bang grenades into their midst. The police initially denied that officers had used flash-bang grenades. “The loud noises that were heard originated from M-80 explosives thrown at police by protesters,” a statement from the department falsely claimed.

Economy

Bush Had Generated More Regulations At This Point In His Presidency Than Obama

By Tanya Somanader posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Oct 26, 2011 at 2:20 pm

Republican lawmakers have been raking President Obama over the coals due to what they call a “tsunami” of new government regulations. “Business owners are reluctant to create jobs today if they’re going to need to pay more tomorrow to comply with onerous new regulations,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME). Obama’s “excessive regulations that unnecessarily increase costs” just “make it harder for our economy to create jobs,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).

As with most GOP talking points, the facts tell a different story. A Bloomberg analysis of regulations reveals that Obama has approved fewer regulations than President George W. Bush “at this same point in their tenures, and the estimated costs of those rules haven’t reached the annual peak set in fiscal 1992 under Bush’s father.” Indeed, the record for the most expensive regulations still belongs to the GOP:

Obama’s White House approved 613 federal rules during the first 33 months of his term, 4.7 percent fewer than the 643 cleared by President George W. Bush’s administration in the same time frame, according to an Office of Management and Budget statistical database reviewed by Bloomberg. [...]

In the last 12 months through the end of September, the cost range of new regulations is estimated to be $8 billion to $9 billion, a decrease from 2010, according to non-partisan Government Accountability Office reports analyzed by Bloomberg…The record [cost of regulations] came in 1992 under George H.W. Bush when that total hit $20.9 billion in current dollars. In the last year of Ronald Reagan’s term it was $16 billion in today’s dollars.

We certainly don’t remember Republicans crying about the “excessive” Bush regulations.

More of Obama’s regulations may cost more than $100 million as compared to previous administrations. But many of them help prevent outcomes that would cost exponentially more. For instance, the Department of Interior’s new controls on deep-water oil drilling may cost the industry $180 million, but one oil spill like that caused by Deepwater Horizon could cost the industry $16.3 billion. Some of the administration’s rules, like those governing coal ash, will actually help create thousands of jobs.

The impact of these regulations on small businesses is incredibly minimal. In fact, of the 10,361 mass layoffs last year, only 61 were attributed to regulations. When McClatchy asked small business owners why they have been hesitant to hire, “none of the business owners complained about regulation in their particular industries, and most seemed to welcome it.”

Justice

Tennessee Agency Charges 86-Year Old Veteran An Unconstitutional Poll Tax To Obtain Voter ID

By Tanya Somanader posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Oct 26, 2011 at 1:30 pm

This is the second installment in an ongoing series on voting rights leading up to Election Day 2011.

Pointing to a problem that doesn’t exist, Tennessee Republicans created a voter ID law this year which, they say, will ensure that only those eligible to vote can do so. As predicted, the law is disenfranchising the poor, elderly, and minority voters, including a 96-year-old African-American woman, a 91-year old woman, and now, a 86-year old veteran.

World War II veteran Darwin Spinks went to a testing center last month to get a photo ID for voting purposes. Under the law, any resident without a photo ID is supposed to get one free of charge. But when Spinks asked for an ID, he was told he had to pay an $8 fee:

Spinks said Tuesday he needed the photo because when his driver’s license with a photo expired the last time, the driver testing center issued him a new license without a photo on it. State law allows people over 60 to get a non-photo driver’s license.

The retired print shop worker who moved here 17 years ago said he told people at the driver center he wanted an ID for voting purposes. He was sent from one line to another to have a picture taken, then was charged.

“I said, ‘You mean I’ve got to pay again?’ She says, ‘Yes,’” explained Spinks, a resident of County Farm Road, who was stationed on the USS Goshen in World War II and was called to duty again for the Korean War.

Forcing an American citizen to pay in order to vote is a clear violation of the constitution’s 24th Amendment: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or the other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.” The amendment was specifically enacted in 1962 to end the poll tax, a fee that was used to prevent the black population from voting.

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security said it will send Spinks a letter and an affidavit to sign which states that he does not have a valid government-issued photo ID. Only then will they refund his $8. “If he came in for a photo ID for voting purposes, he should not have been charged,” the department stated.

Related Posts

LGBT

New Tunisian Government Promises ‘Dignity’ For Gays

By Zack Ford posted from ThinkProgress LGBT on Oct 26, 2011 at 1:00 pm

Some are concerned what social changes might come with the victory of Tunisia’s Islamist party in the country’s first free vote since the Arab Spring overthrow of autocratic president Ben Ali. Nahda party spokesman Riad Chaibi has offered reassurances that the new leadership does not want to deprive citizens of individual freedoms, going so far as to say that being gay is “a matter of dignity”:

Chaibi, who spent five years in prison for his opposition to dictator Ben Ali, said that in Tunisia “individual freedoms and human rights are enshrined principles” and that atheists and homosexuals are a reality in Tunisia and “have a right to exist.” According to Chaibi, in the case of homosexuals there is also “a matter of dignity, because society sees them as undervalued.”

Given that Tunisia has a history of stigmatizing and punishing people who are gay, this would be quite a bold step. Chaibi also said that women will not be forced to wear veils and people will be allowed to drink alcohol, promising a coalition government approach that values freedom. Detractors of the Nahda party have suggested that its actions in the mosques do not match its talking points to the public.

Tunisia’s neighbor, Libya, has adopted Islamic Sharia law, which suggests persecution of gays may continue there. If the Nahda party successfully follows through on its assurances, it could prove the Arab Spring’s potential for liberating the LGBT community from religious oppression in the Middle East.

Special Topic

Paul Ryan Is Wrong: Talking About Income Inequality Isn’t Dividing America, Actual Income Inequality Is

By Zaid Jilani posted from ThinkProgress Special Topic on Oct 26, 2011 at 12:10 pm

Does Ryan think we should just ignore income inequality?

Today, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) delivered a speech titled “Saving the American Idea: Rejecting Fear, Envy and the Politics of Division.” In his remarks, Ryan blasted President Obama for “sowing social unrest and class resentment” and said that the rhetoric of progressive thinkers highlighting economic inequality is dividing the country.

But the truth is that the words of President Obama are not the cause of division in America today. Rather, the harsh economic realities and growing inequality in the country caused by years of right-wing policies are actually responsible for dividing Americans — dividing their wealth and income and siphoning off the nation’s riches to the top one percent.

In his speech, Ryan pointed to a survey that found 93 percent of a select-group of 500 “successful entrepreneurs” came from middle or lower-class backgrounds. Ryan says this is the “American story” of the “land of upward mobility.”

But the problem is that America is increasingly not the “land of upward mobility” and that entrepreneurs simply are not forming the ranks of the top one percent. First, let’s take a look at the following chart of the occupations of the one percent of richest Americans assembled by Mother Jones from data John Bakija of Williams College collected. Only 2.3 percent of the top 1 percent are entrepreneurs. Much of the top 1 percent come from the medical, technology, and banking sectors, all of which are highly subsidized and/or protected from free market competition by the government:

Meanwhile, income gains since 1979 have gone overwhelmingly to the top 1 percent of Americans, as this chart from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities compiled using Congressional Budget Office data shows:

The richest 1 percent of Americans now take home 24 percent of the nation’s income. In 1976, they only took 9 percent. Additionally, this group of Americans holds more than 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. Ryan may consider these facts inconvenient or impolitic, but the truth is that the problem is not talking about income inequality, the problem is the actual income inequality. A New York Times/CBS News poll released today finds that two-thirds of Americans want to see a more even distribution of wealth in the country. Ryan would do well to heed their call and work on promoting policies like expanding labor rights and instituting fairer taxation that have reduced income inequality in the past. He should not scold people for simply pointing out the facts and wanting better lives.

NEWS FLASH

After Refusing To Take A Position On Ohio’s Anti-Labor Law, Romney Is Now ’110 Percent’ Behind It | Yesterday, GOP candidate Mitt Romney visited Republican supporters of Ohio’s deeply unpopular anti-workers’ rights law to tell them he “was not endorsing” their position. In a typical display of his political convictions, Romney told Ohio Republican Party Chairman Kevin Dewine, “I’m not saying anything one way or the other.” But after weathering attacks from his GOP competitors, Romney announced today that he “is 110 percent behind” GOP Gov. John Kasich’s (OH) efforts to restrict the collective bargaining rights of teachers, police, and firefighters. He claimed he just wasn’t taking a position on other ballot issues. Watch it:

Economy

Americans Support 99 Percent Movement Causes, View GOP As Defenders Of The Rich

By Travis Waldron posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Oct 26, 2011 at 11:01 am

A new report from the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday added to the evidence that the income gap between the top American income earners and the middle- and lower-classes continues to grow, as the top one percent saw its average after-tax income grow by 275 percent between 1979 and 2007. During the same time period, it grew just 18 percent for the bottom 20 percent, resulting in a “substantially more unequal” distribution of wealth than there was three decades ago.

That feeds the core message of inequality that has driven the 99 Percent Movement protests, now in their second month in New York City and gaining steam in cities across the country. And while Republicans continue to either dismiss or pay lip service to the protests and the changes they seek, a new poll from the New York Times and CBS has found that Americans not only view the protests positively but also support a more equal distribution of wealth and higher taxes on top earners while opposing corporate tax breaks that have been protected by the GOP:

Almost half of the public thinks the sentiment at the root of the Occupy movement generally reflects the views of most Americans.

With nearly all Americans remaining fearful that the economy is stagnating or deteriorating further, two-thirds of the public said that wealth should be distributed more evenly in the country. Seven in 10 Americans think the policies of Congressional Republicans favor the rich. Two-thirds object to tax cuts for corporations and a similar number prefer increasing income taxes on millionaires.

It’s no wonder 70 percent of Americans think Congressional Republicans favor the rich, as the GOP continues to either ignore the problems of the middle- and lower-classes or directly assault the programs that help them most. Even though the top income earners have seen their tax rates halved over the last decade, Republicans continue to oppose efforts to raise their taxes. Meanwhile, they have taken an axe to the federal budget, proposing to cut programs like Pell Grants, assistance for women and children, and foreclosure prevention, while preserving the very corporate tax breaks the NYT/CBS poll shows two-thirds of Americans oppose.

The same poll found that Congressional approval has slipped to another new all-time low, with just 9 percent of voters approving of the job Congress is doing. That should be a clear message to Republicans who continue to gut vital programs and block proposals that have popular support, but judging by their response to previous polls showing similar results, it won’t be.

Justice

Michigan Considers Major New Restrictions On Voting Rights

By Scott Keyes posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Oct 26, 2011 at 10:14 am

This is the first installment in an ongoing series on voting rights leading up to Election Day 2011.

Michigan may soon join states like Florida and Tennessee in implementing major new voting rights restrictions.

A new bill designed to make registering voters more difficult is currently working its way through the Republican-controlled legislature. As Project Vote details, SB 754 would put new regulations in place to require photo ID in order to register, create new restrictions on nonprofit organizations who register voters, and undercut voter registration drives by requiring completed registration forms to be submitted with 24 hours when the election is nearing:

First, SB 754 requires people trying to register at a government agency to bring state-issued photo ID with them. If they do not, their application will be treated like a mail registration.

Second, the bill creates numerous burdensome and irrelevant bureaucratic rules for nonprofit organizations engaged in voter registration efforts in Michigan. For example, a group would have to register with the Department of State and provide voluminous information, including the name and address of every agent of the organization who is helping to register voters in Michigan. Any changes in the information they submit must be reported promptly to the Department of State as well. [...]

Finally, any voter registration form collected by the organization within seven days of an election must be turned in to the election authorities within one business day. The combined effect of these requirements is that small nonprofits that help to register voters—such as religious organizations, civic groups, and the League of Women Voters—are forced to spend valuable staff time keeping up with onerous paperwork requirements and complying with unreasonable deadlines instead.

On the last provision, Michigan would go even further than Florida’s new onerous restrictions, where people conducting voter registration drives are now allowed just 48 hours to turn in completed forms. Estelle Rogers of Project Vote told ThinkProgress that Michigan’s proposed 24-hour submission window is “the worst turnaround time we’ve ever seen.”

As ThinkProgress has detailed, new voting rights restrictions like we may soon see in Michigan have popped up in states across the country this year. From Florida to Texas to Maine and elsewhere, Republican-controlled states have enacted major new legislation curbing voter registration rights, attacking the Voting Rights Act, disenfranchising millions with photo ID requirements, and repealing election day registration laws.

Health

Perry Touts Reductions To Safety Net Health Programs, But Says He’s ‘Not Ready’ To Cut Defense

By Igor Volsky posted from ThinkProgress Health on Oct 26, 2011 at 9:29 am

Rick Perry’s new economic plan calls for significant changes to the country’s health care programs, a la Paul Ryan, including raising the Medicare eligibility age and potentially pushing seniors out of the government health care program and into the private health insurance market. The Texas governor also reiterates his proposal to transform the current federal matching rate states receive for Medicaid into a pre-established block grant that does not keep up with actual health care costs.

Perry touted his “spending reduction” during an appearance on Fox News Business last night, stressing that while he’s willing to significantly cut the nation’s safety net programs, he won’t limit military spending:

PERRY: We know that one of the places that Mr. [Ron] Paul is going to talk about cutting and that’s in defense. And I will tell you, I’m not ready to put our national defense on the line for that kind of a meat cleaver. So there is obviously places we can cut…you look at what Paul Ryan is doing on Medicare. There are some great members of the Congress that have plans that can help us reduce spending and let me tell you, that’s what we need to have.

Watch it:

But Perry has it backwards: cuts to the military would likely have almost zero impact on national security — as they would target the many wasteful, costly weapons programs, many of which are barely even used. Reductions to Medicare and Medicaid, on the other hand, would significantly increase costs for beneficiaries and the nation and undermine care for lower-income Americans who need it most.

Opinion surveys show that the public shares these priorities and routinely ranks cutting defense spending ahead of Medicare and Medicaid cuts.

Politics

Morning Briefing: October 26, 2011

By ThinkProgress on Oct 26, 2011 at 9:00 am

A College Board report finds that “the net cost of college is eating up a higher share of the typical family’s income in 2011,” with the average public university tuition up 5.4 percent for in-state students. The primary reasons behind the increase is “a dramatic spike in tuition and fees at hundreds of public universities” where average tuition has jumped 8.3 percent.

Obama will unveil a plan today to allow 5.8 million Americans with government student loans to consolidate their debts into one government loan. On top of the U.S. essentially “refinancing the private loan at the lower government rate,” Obama will move up the start of a program that caps monthly loan payments for low-income students from 2014 to 2012.

The Obama administration is using the slogan “We Can’t Wait” to push for its new “piecemeal” agenda under which it advocates for small pieces of legislation and administrative changes to tackle different aspects of the poor economy. The White House rolled out an initiative to encourage community health centers to employ over 8,000 veterans over the next three years.

Despite GOP claims that they are in favor of small government and states’ rights, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee voted 19-11 in favor of the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, which would “obliterate state and local eligibility rules for concealed weapons and the state’s discretion to decide whether to honor another’s permits.”

“Support for gun control is at its lowest level in over 50 years,” according to a new Gallup poll. The poll finds that only 26 percent of respondents support a handgun ban; in 1959, 60 percent favored such a ban.

“Joe the Plumber” is running for Congress. Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher, who rose to fame after asking President Obama about tax policy on the campaign trail in 2008, said Tuesday he will run as a Republican in Ohio’s 9th District, currently represented by Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D).

Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta surrendered to the FBI today to face charges of criminal insider trading. During testimony in a high-profile insider trading case earlier this year, Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein said Gupta had leaked boardroom secrets to traders, leading prosecutors to name him as co-conspirator in that case.

And finally: Last night, President Obama appeared on the Jay Leno Show. When Leno asked Obama about Republican opposition to the withdrawal from Iraq, Obama quipped: “It’s shocking that they opposed something that I proposed.”

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

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NEWS FLASH

CBO: Income Of The Top 1 Percent Exploded Over The Last Three Decades | The Congressional Budget Office today released a new report on the growth in income that’s occurred in the U.S. over the last three decades. CBO found that, “for the 1 percent of the population with the highest income, average real after-tax household income grew by 275 percent between 1979 and 2007,” while it grew by just 18 percent for the bottom 20 percent of the income scale. “As a result of that uneven income growth, the distribution of after-tax household income in the United States was substantially more unequal in 2007 than in 1979,” CBO said.

NEWS FLASH

GOP Congressman Claims Large Jesus Statue Is Not ‘Religious’ | A statue of Jesus on U.S. Forest Service land in the mountains of Montana may be moved after an atheist organization argued that its placement on public land violates the separation of church and state. Rep. Denny Rehberg (R) has come to the statue’s defense, a monument to World War II veterans, and has even established a website for the statue. Rehberg appeared on Fox & Friends this morning to promote his effort, but ran into some trouble while responding to a statement from the foundation behind the lawsuit. “Just because it’s maintained and was put up by the Knights of Columbus does not make it a religious statement,” he said. No, the fact that it’s a statue of Jesus makes it religious. Watch it:

NEWS FLASH

Perry Speechless When Asked If He Agrees With Occupy Wall Street | Appearing on Fox Business this evening, GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry went silent when host Neil Cavuto noted that some ideas Perry espouses sound like those of the Occupy Wall Street protesters. After Perry stated his opposition to Wall Street bailouts, Cavuto replied, “You sound like one of those Occupy Wall Streeters.” This was followed by a long silence before Cavuto finally said, “OK” and moved on to another subject. Watch it:

Security

Leading Neocon Says She Wants To Feed ThinkProgress Writer To Sharks

By Ali Gharib posted from ThinkProgress Security on Oct 25, 2011 at 5:55 pm

Neocon pundit Rachel Abrams

Last week, a well-connected neoconservative pundit and board member of a high-profile right-wing pressure group wrote, after the prisoner swap deal that freed an Israeli soldier, that Israel should now take Palestinian militants — and their “devils’ spawn” children — and “throw them… into the sea, to float there, food for sharks, stargazers, and whatever other oceanic carnivores God has put there for the purpose.”

When the blog post, by Rachel Abrams (wife of top Bush adviser Elliott Abrams), got some media attention — highlighted by both liberal and conservative writers — the progressive Jewish-American group J Street demanded that the right-wing Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI) cut ties with the neoconservative doyen.

ECI responded to J Street’s criticism with a statement from former John McCain campaign adviser Michael Goldfarb (who advises ECI) to the Washington Jewish Week’s Adam Kredo. Goldfarb said:

J Street chooses to deliberately and viciously slander Rachel Abrams, accusing her of directing her words at all Palestinians when she was clearly speaking about the terrorists who abducted [Israeli soldier] Gilad Shalit and those who celebrated that deed and other acts of terror. ECI supports Israeli efforts to kill or capture terrorists, including those responsible for abducting Gilad Shalit.

Despite the fact that her original post said Palestinians’ children should also befall the fate she prescribes for their parents — something the denial took no heed of — Abrams would unequivocally demonstrate shortly thereafter that she does not, indeed, limit her call for gruesome physical harm to be done only to Palestinian terrorists. Her list of those slated to become “food for sharks” also apparently includes liberal American writers with no ties to terror or a record of supporting or celebrating such acts.

After the Washington Jewish Week piece, this reporter asked Goldfarb on Twitter if he personally thought it would be alright to drop Palestinian prisoners in the sea as shark food instead of taking them to Israeli prisons. Goldfarb dodged, writing back that he’d “have to check with [Rachel Abrams] re official ECI position.” It was at this point that Abrams herself chimed in, writing in a Twitter post that she would feed this reporter “and all his friends to sharks.”

Before Abrams and ECI start issuing convoluted denials that relay implausible defenses or alternate intended meanings, it should be noted that the context of Abrams’ Tweet seems unambiguous as to the target of her comment. Take a look at a screenshot of her tweet, along with Goldfarb’s to which she was responding:

In his condemnation of the original blog post, J Street chief Jeremy Ben-Ami said Abrams’ screed was an “unhinged rant filled with incitement and hate.” The term seems to apply to her twitter feed too. If Abrams is, as her brother Commentary editor John Podhoretz posited, the “neocon id,” then perhaps that school of thought has its issues to work out as well. Looking at her tweet, one wonders what this reporter and Abrams’ mutual friends must think, for she said she’d consign them to becoming shark feed, too.

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