Rep. Weiner continues the fight against GOP health care lies

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GOP moves quickly to block Clean Air Act

Because clean air for humans is obviously a terrible idea. Anything that might increase costs for business is bad and anything that promotes higher health care costs to individuals is good. All clear?

Three days into the new Congress, rank-and-file Republicans in the House are quickly making it clear that one of their main priorities will be blocking new air regulations from U.S. EPA -- and not just the ones that are aimed at climate change.

On the climate side, with top-ranking Republicans promising to pass legislation that would block agency actions they see as harmful to the economy, there are already plenty of options on the table. Reps. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Ted Poe of Texas opened up the new session by introducing bills that take different approaches to stopping EPA's new rules for greenhouse gas emissions.

And yesterday, Rep. John Carter (R-Texas) put forward a resolution to block the agency's new regulations for toxic air pollution from cement kilns, prompting a swift backlash from environmentalists and Democrats, who painted the Republicans as putting business interests ahead of human lives.

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Rachel on macho-izing Tim Pawlenty

And in other news, while we're waiting for further Giffords updates (though I have to say, the obsession with macho by the Fearful Right, featured below, echoes the news in a horribly inadvertent way).

So here's Rachel Maddow on Tim Pawlenty recently. She makes some very smart comments, but it feels like there's a ton of subtext here, starting with the very first comments.



She's doing two things. First, she's making a great point about the entirely corrupt modern PR and advertising industry and how it "manufactures authenticity". (Let your mind marinate in that last phrase for a moment; like I said, entirely corrupt).

In this case, the industry is re-branding Tim Pawlenty as the kind of he-man that a Sarah Palin, say, won't have to tell to grow a pair. (See, he's already got a pair; he's standing next to a Ford F-150.)

But Rachel's also doing something else, something that surprises me. Either that, or my flashlight just went dim. Isn't she also re-branding him?

GP Read the rest of this post...

More incendiary language from Limbaugh, only two days after Giffords was nearly assassinated

Rush Limbaugh's response to the near assassination of Congresswoman Giffords (and the assassination of a federal judge and a nine year old girl):

"They're shutting down any opposition and criminalizing it. They've had a plan filed away in a drawer to take away as many of our political freedoms as they can. The Democrats just lost an election, and now the only other thing they can try to do is silence the opposition."

So the politicians who just got gunned down had a secret plan to take away as many of our political freedoms as they can...

...but please don't try to hurt them. Read the rest of this post...

Writer for lead conservative publication suggests government behind Giffords assassination attempt

We may find WorldNetDaily nutty, but it's an influential publication on the right, and many of the right-wing talking heads use WND's "news" stories as fodder for their own on-the-air rants. That's what makes this man's comments particularly disturbing, dangerous, and relevant to today's discussion about the degree to which the Republican party is responsible for fostering a culture of violence in America. Read the rest of this post...

Feds arrest suspect for allegedly threatening Democratic Senator

Nothing to see here. Read the rest of this post...

No, Mr. Ailes, both sides don't do it

Fascinating notion that "both sides do it." Did our vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden, take down a bullseye he had drawn on the districts of GOP members of Congress? Where is the Vice President's bullseye, like GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's bullseye, if both sides do it?

What Ailes means is that the leadership of the GOP, and their propaganda organ, do "it" all the time - "it" meaning "cross the line of decency" - whereas the occasional person on the left, usually an anonymous commenter on a blog, are the ones who do "it" on the Democratic side. On our side it tends to be an abberation. On their side, the aberration is elevated to the leadership of the party, given its own show on FOX News, or both.

The Republican party, and American conservatives, have a fetish for violent imagery in words and pictures. It's why Republicans think it funny that their supporters bring guns to Obama rallies. It's why Glenn Beck can claim on FOX News that President Obama plans to eliminate 10% of the US population in some kind of genocide, and Beck still keeps his job. It's why Sarah Palin (the woman who coined the phrase "death panels" - suggesting that Democrats, and our president at the lead, had a plot to kill millions of elderly Americans for sport - a ridiculous, and incendiary, notion that was embraced by the leadership of the Republican party and its propaganda organ, FOX News) can put bullseyes on the districts of Democratic members of Congress, and even tell her followers to "lock and reload," and all the Republicans laugh at how funny the violent imagery and words are.

We on the left have been complaining for years about the right's embrace of violence, and how its rhetoric feeds America's already out of control violent culture. There is nothing opportunistic about continuing to express that concern when a congresswoman is almost assassinated (and a federal judge and a 9 year old girl are assassinated) after Sarah Palin put a bullseye on the woman's district - and refuses to remove the bullseye after the congresswoman expresses the concern that someone may take it as an exhortation to violence.

Has the right been constantly bemoaning a left-wing leadership embrace of violence, and somehow we all missed it?

Anyone who has visited Europe, Western Europe in particular, and especially those of us who have lived there, know all too well how unique America's culture of violence is. In European capitals you generally don't worry about walking home alone at 1, even 3, in the morning through deserted neighborhoods. Try that in Washington, DC. And if you do get robbed in Europe, odds are you won't be hurt. In Washington, odds are you'll be shot, knifed, or hit in the head - or in my case, they'll simply try to strangle you to death on a busy street, in a nice neighborhood, at 8 o'clock in the evening.

Yes, we live in a great country. And it has a serious problem with violence. Rather than acknowledging the problem, and steering clear of tempting the metaphorical drunk, as it were, our conservative friends try to tap into the violence, in the hopes it will propel them to victory at the ballot box.

There is no left-wing NRA. There is no vice presidential candidate on the Democratic side who puts bullseyes on the districts of members of Congress he doesn't like. And there is no Republican presidential nominee who has seen a spike in death threats in part because of the ramblings of the other team's noise machine and its elected officials.

When you tell people that Democrats in Congress, and the White House, are planning to institute death panels to kill their grandmother, how do you expect them to respond - with roses?

There aren't two sides to the Republicans' embrace of guns, violence, and angry mobs. It's all theirs. And it's time the media stopped pretending otherwise. Read the rest of this post...

Tom Tomorrow - Don't go blaming guns

The shooter in Tucson could just as easily have used something else -- like, maybe, lawn furniture (click image to see a larger version).

Source


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Flashback: FOX's Glenn Beck says Obama might kill 10% of the US population (Palin works at FOX too)

For those who like to equate MSNBC with FOX, in terms of "both being bad," tell me what Rachel or Keith have ever said that comes anywhere close to this:

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2 lawmakers will now arm themselves

I know when I was mugged, had I a gun, I worry that a lot of innocent people might have been collateral damage (you seriously don't want to be shooting a gun, running down the street, right after someone tried to strangle you). I'm just not sure this is such a great idea. Increased security, yes. People arming themselves, I'm not so sure. Read the rest of this post...

Flashback: Sarah Palin blamed by the US Secret Service over death threats against Barack Obama

The Telegraph:

The Republican vice presidential candidate attracted criticism for accusing Mr Obama of "palling around with terrorists", citing his association with the sixties radical William Ayers.

The attacks provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling "terrorist" and "kill him" until the McCain campaign ordered her to tone down the rhetoric.

But it has now emerged that her demagogic tone may have unintentionally encouraged white supremacists to go even further.
The Secret Service warned the Obama family in mid October that they had seen a dramatic increase in the number of threats against the Democratic candidate, coinciding with Mrs Palin's attacks.

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Glenn Beck now talking about the end of the country

It's always about him. Just had to involve himself and try to steal the news cycle with more apocalyptic language, of the very sort we've all been worrying about. Yes, Mr. Beck, tell your followers that we might be on the verge of the end of our nation. That should convince them to put their guns down. Read the rest of this post...

High-capacity magazine used by Loughner was banned until GOP gave in to NRA

Maybe one life could have been saved if the shooter didn't have such easy access to the additional bullets. It still doesn't explain how someone with such a troubled past could so easily get his hands on such a weapon. Salon:

The high-capacity magazine of the semiautomatic pistol used in the shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and more than a dozen other people on Saturday would have been illegal to manufacture and difficult to purchase under the Clinton-era assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.

According to police and media reports, the alleged shooter, Jared Lee Loughner, legally purchased a semiautomatic Glock 19 with a high-capacity magazine in November at a gun store in Tucson. Under the assault weapons ban, it was illegal to manufacture or sell new high-capacity magazines, defined as those that hold more than 10 rounds. The magazines used by Loughner had 31 rounds each, according to police.

If Loughner had been using a traditional magazine, "it would have drastically reduced the number of shots he got off before he had to pause, unload and reload -- and he could have been stopped," Daniel Vice, senior attorney at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, tells Salon.

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A moment of silence from the White House

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NYT on holding 'Republicans and particularly their most virulent supporters in the media responsible'

Today's New York Times editorial:

It is facile and mistaken to attribute this particular madman’s act directly to Republicans or Tea Party members. But it is legitimate to hold Republicans and particularly their most virulent supporters in the media responsible for the gale of anger that has produced the vast majority of these threats, setting the nation on edge. Many on the right have exploited the arguments of division, reaping political power by demonizing immigrants, or welfare recipients, or bureaucrats. They seem to have persuaded many Americans that the government is not just misguided, but the enemy of the people. (emphasis added)

That whirlwind has touched down most forcefully in Arizona, which Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik described after the shooting as the capital of “the anger, the hatred and the bigotry that goes on in this country.” Anti-immigrant sentiment in the state, firmly opposed by Ms. Giffords, has reached the point where Latino studies programs that advocate ethnic solidarity have actually been made illegal.

Its gun laws are among the most lenient, allowing even a disturbed man like Mr. Loughner to buy a pistol and carry it concealed without a special permit. That was before the Tucson rampage. Now, having seen first hand the horror of political violence, Arizona should lead the nation in quieting the voices of intolerance, demanding an end to the temptations of bloodshed, and imposing sensible controls on its instruments.

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No recorded votes in the House this week. Moment of silence at 11 AM ET

The House won't take any action this week, except for resolutions relating to the shooting of Rep. Giffords and the other victims. This is the statement from Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer:

"The Republican leadership, working with the Democratic leadership, have announced that we will consider at least one resolution on the House Floor on Wednesday honoring Congresswoman Giffords, as well as honoring those who were killed in yesterday's tragic attack in Arizona. We do not anticipate any recorded votes in the House this week. We all continue to keep Congresswoman Giffords, her family, her staff, and the other victims and their families in our prayers."

Remember, the House GOP leaders planned to hold the vote to repeal the health care reform bill on Wednesday. Their plan was to have that repeal vote before the President delivered the State of the Union on January 25th.

The President has called for a moment of silence today at 11:00 AM ET:

I call on Americans to observe a moment of silence to honor the innocent victims of the senseless tragedy in Tucson, Arizona, including those still fighting for their lives. It will be a time for us to come together as a nation in prayer or reflection, keeping the victims and their families closely at heart.

Obama should also soon announce that he's going to be calling for unity and a more civil tone in his State of the Union address. Hopefully, that won't be met with catcalls from the GOP side of the aisle, as in the past. Obama should challenge the GOPers to solve problems, not exacerbate them with angry rhetoric.

Over 800 Capitol Hill types, including members, Congressional spouses and staffers, participated in what appears to be an unprecedented conference call to discuss the shooting and its aftermath yesterday. Read the rest of this post...

EU steps up pressure on Portugal to accept financial aid

Portugal kicked the can down the road but the problem still exists. Reuters:

No formal talks on aid have started yet, a number of euro zone sources said, but the pressure was rising in the Eurogroup, which brings together euro zone finance ministers.

"France and Germany have indicated in the context of the Eurogroup that Portugal should apply for help sooner rather than later," the senior source said, adding Finland and the Netherlands had expressed similar views.

But Germany denied any pressure.

"It is not the strategy of the German government to push Portugal to take the bailout," said Steffen Seibert, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman.

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Iceland summons US ambassador to explain Twitter case

Some outside of Iceland have argued that the US warrant includes all 637,000 WikiLeaks followers on Twitter. I don't remember hearing that all readers of the NY Times were under investigation during any of their top secret reports. The Guardian:

Birgitta Jónsdóttir, an MP for the Movement in Iceland, revealed last week that the US justice department had asked Twitter to hand over her information. The US authorities are trying to build a criminal case against the website after its huge leaks of classified US information.

"[It is] very serious that a foreign state, the United States, demands such personal information of an Icelandic person, an elected official," the interior minister, Ogmundur Jonasson, told Icelandic broadcaster RUV. "This is even more serious when put [in] perspective and concerns freedom of speech and people's freedom in general," he added.

Iceland's foreign ministry has demanded a meeting with Luis Arreaga, the US ambassador to Reykjavík. No one at the US embassy in Reykjavík was available for comment.

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