Bad Deeds for 5-12-2011

 

Boehner’s Policies Are “Anti-Life” According to Catholic Professors – But Mr. Boehner is coming in for a dose of harsh criticism for his policies that violate basic teachings of the Catholic church.

More than 75 professors at Catholic University and other prominent Catholic colleges have written a pointed letter to Mr. Boehner saying that the Republican-supported budget he shepherded through the House of Representatives will hurt the poor, elderly and vulnerable, and therefore he has failed to uphold basic Catholic moral teaching.

“Mr. Speaker, your voting record is at variance from one of the Church’s most ancient moral teachings,” the letter says. “From the apostles to the present, the Magisterium of the Church has insisted that those in power are morally obliged to preference the needs of the poor. Your record in support of legislation to address the desperate needs of the poor is among the worst in Congress. This fundamental concern should have great urgency for Catholic policy makers. Yet, even now, you work in opposition to it.”

The letter writers go on to criticize Mr. Boehner’s support for a budget that cut support for Medicare, Medicaid and the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, while granting tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations. The Catholic professors call Boehner’s policies “anti-life.”

As if to say that they are not speaking out of turn, the professors point out that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops also recently issued a similar letter expressing the hierarchy’s concerns about budget cuts in programs that aid the poor.

The letter is signed by professors at Xavier University, from which Mr. Boehner graduated, and the University of Dayton, both in Mr. Boehner’s home state of Ohio, as well as at universities such as Fordham, Marquette, Notre Dame and Santa Clara.

 

Republicans Vote to Keep the Terror Gap Open – Less than 24 hours after two terror suspects were arrested trying to purchase guns and grenades in New York City, Congress failed to pass a measure to close the Terror Gap.

The Terror Gap is a loophole in our background check system that permits suspects on the FBI’s terrorist watch list to legally obtain guns and explosives. Suspects on the watch list cannot board an airplane, but they can pass a background check and purchase guns and explosives.

Thankfully, the NYC plotters were already under surveillance by the NYPD, but as details emerged, the House Judiciary Committee voted to keep the Terror Gap open and leave America vulnerable. The vote was 21 Republicans voting to keep the Terror Gap open, and 11 Democrats voting to close it.

 

Republican Plan Will Double What Most Seniors Pay for Health Care – Republicans in Congress want to end Medicare as we know it and give tax cuts to millionaires and big corporations that ship jobs overseas. Every American, not just the rich ones, should have quality health care when they reach retirement age. If the Republican spending plan passes, seniors will have to pay over $12,500 for life-saving medicine and treatments in the first year alone. That’s nearly double what most seniors pay under the current system.

 

Mike Hukabee’s Advisor Tell Him Crazy Stuff – I don’t like to repeat Republican/Conservative crazy talk. But every once in a while, there is something so crazy that there seems to be no other way to expose it other than to just put it out there. The rantings of one of Mike Hukabee’s closest advisors is one example:

Mike Huckabee has joked that he “answers” to “two Janets.” One is his wife, Janet Huckabee. The other is Janet Porter, the onetime co-chair of Huckabee’s Faith and Values Coalition. And Porter, the former governor has said, is his “prophetic voice.” But that voice has said some weird things over the years: Porter has maintained that Obama represents an “inhumane, sick, and sinister evil,” and she has warned that Democrats want to throw Christians in jail merely for practicing their faith. She’s attributed Haiti’s high poverty rate to the fact that the country is “dedicated to Satan,” and she suggested that gay marriage caused Noah’s Flood. And there’s this: In a 2009 column for conservative news site WorldNetDaily, Porter asserted that President Barack Obama is a Soviet secret agent, groomed since birth to destroy the United States from within. She also publicly suggested that former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson might be the anti-Christ.

Huckabee’s greatest asset has always been his ability to speak two languages—one to his base, and one to everyone else. But that may not last if he decides to run again. His most recent appearance on the normally friendly confines of The Daily Show was dominated by a discussion of his admiration for discredited amateur historian David Barton, whom Huckabee says Americans should be “forced at gunpoint” to listen to.

 

After Approving Comcast Buyout of NBC, Republican FCC Commissioner Becomes Comcast Lobbyist – Meredith Attwell Baker, one of the two Republican Commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, plans to step down—and right into a top lobbying job at Comcast-NBC.

The news comes after the hugely controversial merger of Comcast and NBC earlier this year. At the time, Baker objected to FCC attempts to impose conditions on the deal. Four months after approving the massive transaction, Attwell Baker will take a top DC lobbying job for the new Comcast-NBC entity, according to reports.

 

Poluttion From Just One Electric Power Company Can Cause 34,000 Premature Deaths – American Electric Power (AEP) is America’s #1 polluter. They burn more coal than any other utility and rank as the biggest emitter of most major air pollution categories.

But, instead of working to clean up its act, AEP is spending millions of dollars to lobby to keep the air you’re breathing right now more polluted and more deadly. AEP has drafted and is circulating an outrageous 56-page draft bill that would halt implementation of America’s clean air laws for the single largest source of air pollution: the oldest, dirtiest coal-fired power plants.

If this bill were to become law, it would cause up to 34,000 premature deaths from air pollution in the first 2 years alone. That’s one death every 30 minutes! All to protect AEP’s $1.2 billion in annual profits.

That’s why the Environmental Defense Fund has launched our “What’s Your Number” campaign to ask AEP one simple question: How many lives are your polluter profits worth? Are 34,000 premature and preventable deaths okay with you? How about your customers — is this okay with them?

Regards,

Jim