The WAWG Blog

Weak Actions on Wall Street and Weak Health Care Policies Make People Upset – Massachusetts voters who backed Barack Obama in the presidential election a year ago and either switched support to Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown or simply stayed home, said in a poll conducted after the election Tuesday night that if Democrats enact tougher policies on Wall Street, they’ll be more likely to come back to the party in the next election.

A majority of Obama voters who switched to Brown said that “Democratic policies were doing more to help Wall Street than Main Street.” A full 95 percent said the economy was important or very important when it came to deciding their vote.

In a somewhat (completely) paradoxical finding, a plurality of voters who switched to the Republican — 37 percent — said that Democrats were not being “hard enough” in challenging Republican policies.
It would be hard to find a clearer indication, it seems, that Tuesday’s vote was cast in protest.

The poll also upends the conventional understanding of health care’s role in the election. A plurality of people who switched — 48 — or didn’t vote — 43 — said that they opposed the Senate health care bill. But the poll dug deeper and asked people why they opposed it. Among those Brown voters, 23 percent thought it went “too far” — but 36 percent thought it didn’t go far enough and 41 percent said they weren’t sure why they opposed it.

Among voters who stayed home and opposed health care, a full 53 percent said they opposed the Senate bill because it didn’t go far enough; 39 percent weren’t sure and only eight percent thought it went too far.

The firm Research 2000 conducted the post-election survey Tuesday night on behalf of three progressive organizations — the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Democracy for America and MoveOn.org.

Taken from interviews of 500 Obama backers who voted in the Senate election and 500 Obama backers who sat out the election, the firm discovered that 18 percent of Obama backers who voted in the Senate race ended up casting ballots for Brown.

Of that group, 82 percent said they favored a public option for insurance coverage, with 14 percent opposed. Of those who sat out the election, 86 percent favored the public option, while only seven percent opposed it. The findings suggests that progressive arguments that disappointed Obama supporters deserted have serious merit.

UPDATE: With little, if any, historical precedent for the current situation in Congress, anything is possible on Capitol Hill over the next few weeks. Progressives have seized on the chaos and the polling numbers above to argue that the message voters sent was that Democrats haven’t been bold enough. So far, more than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for the Senate to put the public option back into the health care bill and pass it using the parliamentary maneuver known as reconciliation, which only requires 50 votes plus the vice president. Meanwhile, top Democrats are taking the idea seriously.

“Congressional Democrats have now been given fair warning by voters about what they expect in 2010: faster change, bolder change, and a willingness to fight big corporations on behalf of the little guy,” said Adam Green, whose organization is leading the petition effort. “The Lieberman-Nelson strategy lost Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat. Now it’s time to push the public option through reconciliation — and then, on to strong Wall Street accountability.”

Tea Party Bloc Leader Arrested for Child Rape; Police Find Stolen Grenade Launcher In His House – Marine Sgt. Charles Dyer, aka “July4Patriot,” is a leader of the “Oath Keepers” bloc of the Tea Party movement — an organization devoted to recruiting military and police-force veterans into a Patriot-movement belief system predicated on a series of paranoid conspiracy theories, especially the notion that the federal government intends to begin rounding up citizens and putting them in concentration camps.

Dyer played a prominent role in connecting the Oath Keepers to the Tea Party movement, speaking at a July 4 Tea Party rally in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. And he’s been involved in organizing militia “maneuvers” in Oklahoma.

Dyer cropped up again in the news — this time in the police blotter for allegedly raping a 7-year-old girl:

An ex-military man has been arrested on charges of rape of a child and forcible sodomy.
Charles Alan Dyer, 29, of Marlow, was arrested Tuesday afternoon by Stephens County Sheriff’s deputies, said Sheriff Wayne McKinney. Dyer served in the United States Marines in Iraq.

Oh, and guess what police found when they searched his home:

During the search the sheriff’s deputies noted several firearms and a device believed to be a Colt M-203, 40-millimeter grenade launcher, a complaint filed in the United States District Court of Western Oklahoma by Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco Special Agent Brett Williams said.

As the story from KAUZ-TV notes, Dyer had a history of making bizarre claims in his videos — as well as violent fears of being arrested.

“We come home and those bastards want to talk about how we’re domestic terrorists and a threat to this country. It makes me so angry,” said Charles Dyer, who has been accused of committing rape.
… More incriminating evidence against Dyer has surfaced in a YouTube video. The video shows Dyer, a former U.S. Marine, talking proudly about domestic terrorism. “Join the military?”, said Dyer. “Depends on what you want to do with it. Me? I’m going to use my training and become one of those domestic terrorists that you’re so afraid of from the DHS reports.”

(Question: As both a Tea Party guy and a confessed terrorist, does he believe he should be water boarded and sent to Gitmo? – JLV)

Inhofe: “I Believe In Racial And Ethnic Profiling” – Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) knows he’s not politically correct, but he doesn’t care: “I believe in racial and ethnic profiling,” the GOP senator announced at a Senate Armed Services Committee review of Fort Hood shootings on Thursday.

And now some random thoughts I spotted: – Congressional Republicans are huddling behind closed doors to decide who gets to shout down President Obama during his State of the Union speech next week. Their main criteria: who needs his or her campaign coffers filled the most by jubilant fist-pumping teabaggers, and who has the sweetest vibrato.

If reincarnation really happens, I want to come back as a Washington, D.C. pigeon with superior divebombing skills and overactive bowels. I have some scores to settle.

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Regards,

Jim

Whites-Only Basketball League: All-American Basketball Alliance Bans Blacks, Foreigners – A whites-only basketball league aims to launch in twelve cities this summer, according to a report in the Augusta Chronicle. The All-American Basketball Alliance would also ban players born outside the United States.

The league’s commissioner, Don “Moose” Lewis, claims that he doesn’t “hate anyone of color. But people of white, American-born citizens are in the minority now.” Thus, he says, the All-American Basketball Alliance would be “a league for white players to play fundamental basketball, which they like.”

The report includes additional shocking quotes from the commissioner:

Lewis said he wants to emphasize fundamental basketball instead of “street-ball” played by “people of color.” …

“Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands or grabbing their crotch?” he said.

(Yea, that just can’t happen with a white Americans only policy, ya think? – JLV)

Pastor Calls for a Boycott of Houston – A new Web site is urging people to “Boycott Houston.” Why? Because the site’s owner thinks the city is becoming “a Texas version of San Francisco” and “the abortion capital of America.” Translation: David Grisham of Amarillo doesn’t like Houston electing a gay mayor or Planned Parenthood’s plans to open a big facility here.

Grisham is also behind repentamarillo.com, which calls on Christians to enter spiritual warfare to save Amarillo’s soul. (Spiritual warfare, you know, like Jihad, but whiter. – JLV)

Exxon Valdez Oil Still Trapped on Beaches – Oil remains trapped along miles of gravel beaches more than 20 years after the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Prince William Sound. An estimated 20,000 gallons of crude remain in Prince William Sound, even though oil remaining after the nearly 11-million-gallon spill had been expected to biodegrade and wash away within a few years.

Boufadel said the study points out the susceptibility of beaches worldwide to long-term oil contamination, especially at higher latitudes where beaches tend to be gravel or a mixture of sand and gravel.

“As global warming is melting the ice cover and exposing the Arctic to oil exploitation and shipping through sea routes such as the Northwest Passage, the risk of oil spills on gravel beaches in high-latitude regions will be increased,” the study says.

2000s are the Warmest Decade on Record – Contrary to what you may have heard from conservative propaganda sources, the 2000-2009 decade was the warmest on record, easily surpassing the previous hottest decade — the 1990s — researchers said Tuesday in a report providing fresh evidence that the planet may be warming at a potentially disastrous rate.

Regards,

Jim

U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With ‘Jesus’ Bible Codes – Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company. The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious “Crusade” in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

The company also sponsors God’s Great Outdoors, a radio ministry for Christian hunters on which the company’s sales director, Tom Munson, has been interviewed. Trijicon’s wordmark is listed as a “featured sponsor” on the radio show’s Web site.

“It’s wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws,” Michael Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation told ABC. “It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they’re being shot by Jesus rifles.”

Trijicon’s Munson dismissed the concerns of Weinstein’s group by saying it comes from a group that is “not Christian.”

“We believe that America is great when its people are good,” the company states on its “about us” page. “This goodness has been based on biblical standards throughout our history and we will strive to follow those morals.”

Many commenters on the Accurate Shooter blog took the company’s side on the issue.

“I always consider whether my optics are manufactured by Christians or heathens,” writes commenter Brandon. “Christians have a much better track record when it comes understanding and promoting the quality scientific research necessary to give us an edge on the battlefield than companies run by atheists.”

FBI Broke Law for Years in Phone Record Searches – The FBI illegally collected more than 2,000 U.S. telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records, according to internal bureau memos and interviews. FBI officials issued approvals after the fact to justify their actions.

A Justice Department inspector general’s report due out this month is expected to conclude that the FBI frequently violated the law with its emergency requests, bureau officials confirmed. FBI general counsel Valerie Caproni said in an interview Monday that the FBI technically violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act when agents invoked nonexistent emergencies to collect records.

Fox News Falsely Claims That Coakley Rally Has Plenty of Empty Seats – According to Fox’s veteran propagandist reporter Carl Cameron, the rally Sunday with President Obama for Senate candidate Martha Coakley was ill-attended, with plenty of empty seats. That bit of “news” would no doubt surprise the several thousand who could not get in to the full to capacity event. Or the 500 who had to sit in the overflow room. The line, running around several blocks all the way down Huntington Ave.

Regards,

Jim

Rush Limbaugh Says: ‘We’ve Already Donated To Haiti, It’s Called US Income Tax’ – Well, it didn’t take long for conservative Rush Limbaugh to use the crisis in Haiti to attack President Obama politically. On his radio show yesterday Limbaugh said the earthquake in Haiti will play right into Obama’s hands by allowing him to play up his “compassionate” and “humanitarian” credentials, and that the President will use this crisis to “boost his credibility with the black community.”

As if that weren’t enough, Limbaugh also pivoted off a caller who complained about Obama directing the public to the White House website to find charitable organizations operating in Haiti to promote a conspiracy theory that finding these charities via the White House website puts your money at risk of not reaching Haitians.

Limbaugh also seems to feel we’ve done enough already for Haiti: “We’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.”

Republican Candidate’s Spokesman Says World Community Including Charities Should Leave Haiti ASAP – The communications director for California Republican Senate candidate Chuck DeVore tweeted on Thursday that the world and even charity organizations should immediately leave the island as soon as possible. “[T]he best thing the int’l community can do is tend the wounded, bury the dead, and then LEAVE. That includes all UN and charity,” wrote Josh Trevino.

Pat Robertson Says Haiti ‘Cursed’ Because They Made ‘Pact To the Devil’ – Televangelist Pat Robertson said Wednesday that earthquake-ravaged Haiti has been “cursed” by a “pact to the devil.”

“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it,” he said on Christian Broadcasting Network’s “The 700 Club.” “They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it’s a deal.” Robertson said that “ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other.”

Pat Robertson is a ‘Public Relations Nightmare,’ Says God 😉 – In the wake of his comments about the earthquake in Haiti, televangelist Pat Robertson has become a “public relations nightmare” and a “gynormous embarrassment to me, personally,” God said today.

In a rare press conference at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, the usually reclusive Almighty said that He was taking the unusual step of airing His feelings in public because “enough is enough.”

“I pray that his TV show would just go away, but of course, when you’re me there’s no one to pray to,” God said, to the laughter of the packed room of reporters.

While God held out no hope that Rev. Robertson’s “700 Club” would be cancelled any time soon, He did say, somewhat ruefully, “If Pat Robertson were on NBC he’d be replaced by Jay Leno by now.”

Regards,

Jim

Conservatives make a lot of noise in hope that if they shout loud enough and often enough, you’ll believe it’s true. Well, the American people aren’t buying it. Here are some examples of reality that run counter to what Conservatives would have you think:

Majority Confident Obama Can Handle Terrorism – In the wake of the Christmas day attempt to blow up a U.S. airliner, most Americans remain confident that the Obama administration can protect the country from terrorism, according to a new national poll. Nearly two-thirds of people questioned in the poll say they have a moderate or great deal of confidence in the administration to protect the public from future terrorist attacks, up 2 points from August. Thirty-five percent say they have not much or no confidence at all, down 1 point from August.

A number of Republicans have criticized the president over his handling of the attempted bombing of Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit. But according to the survey, 57 percent approve of the way President Barack Obama’s responded, with 39 percent disapproving of how he handled the situation.

Public Says – Health Care Bill Doesn’t Go Far Enough – Far from overreaching on health care reform, a plurality of the public thinks President Obama and Democrats have done too little to regulate the insurance industry, hold down costs and extend coverage, a new poll finds. Forty-three percent of Americans said the health care bill goes “not far enough” in regulating health insurance companies, according to a new CBS survey released Monday evening. Just 18 percent deemed it “about right” and 27 percent thought it “go[es] to far.” Thirty-nine percent said the legislation doesn’t achieve strong enough cost controls one of the leading goals of reform as opposed to 24 percent who believed it goes too far and 21 percent that are satisfied.

The study contradicts the common argument made by the Republican Party and some conservative Democrats that the bill forces too much change upon the American people.

(And here is a personal observation: Shortly after seeing this new poll, I saw Fox News reporting a new poll shows that most Americans oppose the health care bill. How could that be? It turns out that Fox News added the percent of people who said that the bill didn’t go far enough to the percent of people who said the bill went too far and counted all of them as “opposed to the health care bill.” A sneaky way to give a false impression.)

US Fed Earned Record $45 Billion in 2009 – The US Federal Reserve turned a record profit of 45 billion dollars last year even as it plowed money into teetering banks to prevent a financial collapse. The country’s central bank played a pivotal role in propping up the US economy in the midst of the sharpest recession since the Great Depression, spending billions of dollars on a highly controversial bailout of financial institutions. The Fed’s unconventional moves led to a windfall for the government. It is the highest earnings in the 96-year history of the central bank. The figures lend weight to claims by President Barack Obama’s administration that the Fed has been largely successful in its drastic intervention in the US economy and the protection of the American public. In addition to the bonds, the central bank also made money on its emergency loans to banks and financial firms, some of which repaid billions of dollars in loans and interest payments in 2009. Fed chairman Ben Bernanke has received a modest raise for 2010, bringing the annual salary of one of the most powerful figures in the United States to just 199,700 dollars, with no bonus.

Most People and Companies Recognize That Glenn Beck is Unacceptable – Ninety-eight companies have pulled their ads from the Glenn Beck show. The Glenn Beck show is losing more than 50% of its weekly ad revenue as a result of this boycott. It also appears that Fox News has been left with unsold airtime on Glenn Beck’s show.

China is Doing Much More Than the U.S. to Reduce CO2 Emissions – Traveling by rail is on average three to 10 times less CO2-intensive compared to road or air transport, according to the UIC, a Paris-based international organization of the railway sector. Among governments, China has been especially aggressive, spending heavily on its emerging high-speed nationwide rail network. In December 2009 it launched a line between the cities of Wuhan and Guangzhou that cuts travel time from over 10 hours to within three, putting pressure on domestic airlines. China plans to build 42 high-speed rail lines in the next two years. Europe is making progress also. The Boston Consulting Group estimates that by 2020 passengers will be able to travel faster point-to-point by high-speed rail than by plane on nearly half of Europe’s densest air routes. The U.S. is only starting to talk about doing something with high-speed rail.

Underpants Bomber Would Have Been “Lawyered Up” Faster Under Military Court – James Cullen, a retired brigadier general who served as a JAG officer, tells the Huffington Post that there are narrow differences between the legal and interrogation proceedings Abdulmutallab was subjected to and those which would have happened in a military commission.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, the suspect would have been granted access to a lawyer if he had been put in a military system. In fact, he may have had easier access to an attorney.

“The military is not some type of Soviet show-trial kangaroo court,” said Cullen. “Absolutely he would have gotten a lawyer.”

Indeed, a study completed by The Century Foundation, a non-partisan research foundation, noted that under Defense Department rules, “regardless of a defendant’s wishes, he will have a military lawyer appointed to him at government expense. However, he may have a regular criminal defense attorney only if he arranges and pays for it himself.”

But, the next question goes: isn’t there a difference — with regard to the civilian and military systems — in the time that can elapse between when a suspect is captured and when he or she has to be granted legal representation? Not all that much, says Cullen. Abdulmutallab, for starters, was questioned for 30 hours before requesting a lawyer. Military personnel might have had more time. But not all that much.

More broadly, even in a civil system, authorities can question a suspect without reading them their Miranda rights for a limited amount of time as long as there is “no intention to try the person” and it is “purely for intelligence purposes.” This is little different then in a military setting, where — if the detaining authority wants to prosecute the detainee — the impetus is on bringing legal counsel into the equation early on. “If you want to prosecute you can’t foul up the process,” explained Cullen.
There is a similar mischaracterization over what can be done in terms of interrogating the detainee, claim Cullen and others.

As Stacy Sullivan, counterterrorism adviser at Human Rights Watch posits: “al Qaeda views itself as warriors… Our argument is you shouldn’t elevate their status to that. They are criminals and you should treat them just like criminals.”

Media and Conservatives Distort Terrorism Expert’s Testimony to Bash Obama Administration – Brian Michael Jenkins, who has been called “one of the world’s leading authorities on terrorism, testified that al Qaeda has been reduced to “a strategy of weakness.” He said that the US has destroyed al Qaeda’s ability to engage in large-scale terrorist operations and forced it to fall back on scatter-shot attempts. However Conservatives have misrepresented his remarks to paint the Obama administration as weak on terror by saying Jenkins testified, “there were more low-level jihadist plots uncovered in 2009 than in prior years.”

UK Daily Mail and Fox News Distort Scientist’s Statements – Using a 2008 report that is widely mischaracterized as proof that warming has slowed, the Mail, whose report was later picked up by Fox News, claimed that statements by Professor Mojib Latif, of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, could prove that the threat of global warming has been Newspapers Are Still Important – Newspapers and other “traditional media” still generate the bulk of news that gets to US consumers despite the rising importance of online media, according to a study released Monday. The report by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, based on a study of media in Baltimore, Maryland, found that 95 percent of stories with “new information” came from traditional media, mainly newspapers.

“Most of what the public learns is still overwhelmingly driven by traditional media — particularly newspapers,” the report concluded. “These stories then tended to set the narrative agenda for most other media outlets.” The report found general interest newspapers generated 48 percent of the news and specialty newspapers such as those dedicated to business or law produced another 13 percent. Local television accounted for 28 percent of news gathering and “new media” outlets just four percent of “enterprise reporting,” Pew said.

Regards,

Jim

32,000 Leading Scientists? Not Actually. – 32,000 leading scientists signed a petition against global warming? Is that really true? Well, no…. Some of these “leading scientists” have names like Hawkeye Pierce and Ginger Spice. Some are veterinarians or dentists. Only 39 claim to be climatologists. How many really are? Some just have a B.S. degree “or equivalent.” So it seems that just about anybody qualifies as a “leading scientist” according to the global warming deniers standards. These are the same tactics used by the tobacco industry years ago to convince us that there’s no danger from tobacco use. Video at the link.

How Fitting! Fox News Hires Author of Lie of the Year, Sarah Palin – The “death panels” lie from Sarah Palin was rated as lie of the year by Politifact, a non-partisan organization. That apparently qualifiers her for her new job at Fox News. The network confirmed that Ms. Palin would appear on the network’s programming on a regular basis as part of a multiyear deal. Financial terms were not disclosed. She fits right in with other Fox personalities such as (Iran-Contra planner) Oliver L. North and (Watergate burglar) G. Gordon Liddy.

Giuliani: No Attacks of Amnesia Under Bush, One Under Obama 😉 – Trying to draw a sharp contrast between the Bush and Obama administrations while appearing on ABC’s Good Morning America, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani said, “I never had an attack of amnesia under Bush, and I’ve had one under Obama.”

The former New York mayor had many nostalgic things to say about the Bush White House, telling host George Stephanopoulos, “Under Bush, we never had any flooding in New Orleans or economic meltdowns.”

When asked if he was considering running for president, Mr. Giuliani said, “That’s something I’d like to try once before I die.”

Underscoring his concern about the attacks of memory loss under Obama, Mr. Giuliani said, “Where am I again, and how did I get here?”

Mr. Giuliani concluded the interview by drooling on his shirt.

Regards,

Jim

Mr. 9/11 Forgets 9/11 (and other terror attempts) – Rudy Giuliani has joined fellow Republicans Dana Perino and Mary Matalin in seeming to forget that the September 11th attacks (and other attempted attacks) happened under President Bush.

On “Good Morning America” Friday, the former New York mayor declared, “We had no domestic attacks under Bush; we’ve had one under Obama.”

Not only does the statement suggest Giuliani does not remember the devastating attack in his own city, it also omits the anthrax attacks and the attempted shoe bomber attack (and the D. C. Sniper, and the American soldier in Kuwait who killed and wounded other American soldiers and the other terrorist events under G. W. Bush).

A day earlier, Giuliani falsely claimed that the shoe bomber attack occurred before September 11th.
The Associated Press did a long write-up of Giuliani’s Obama criticisms but omitted the startling mistake. George Stephanopoulos, who conducted the ABC interview, included the quote in a blog post but did not question it. (Stephanopoulos did not question it during the on-air interview either.)

Another Republican Takes Credit For Stimulus Funds He Voted To Kill – Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) has staggered to the right, voting against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the stimulus), financial regulation reform, the recent jobs package, and health reform. In the past two weeks, Castle has sent out multiple press releases publicizing stimulus funds awarded to his state. In his most recent release, he not only calls the money “imperative,” but in “announcing” the funds, he tacitly claims credit for securing them. Nowhere on the press release is the source of the funds or the word “stimulus” mentioned. But the stimulus Castle opposed is the source of the “imperative” funds he now champions.

Muslim Extremist, Meet Tea Party Extremist. Tea Party Extremist, Meet Muslim Extremist – An award-winning California-based political cartoonist says he is receiving death threats over a 90-second animated film he created that teaches viewers “how to speak tea bag.” Mark Fiore compares his predicament to that of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, whose cartoon depicting the prophet Mohamed caused rioting across the Muslim world several years ago, and an attempt on his life last week.

Anti-Gay Republican Files to Run as Democrat for Harris County Race – Conservative anti-gay activist Dave Wilson will be on the March 2 primary ballot for Harris County Precinct 4 commissioner as a Democrat. Wilson once hosted a fund-raiser for Republican incumbent Jerry Eversole. County election records indicate that Wilson, 63, has voted in eight Republican primary and runoff elections since 1995, but never in a Democratic election. This is the same Wilson who sent out 35,000 fliers in November opposing Annise Parker for mayor, in part, because of her sexual orientation.

Harris County Democratic Party Gerry Birnberg accused Wilson and the Republican Party of fraud. Not only is Wilson not a Democrat, Birnberg said, but the candidate sent a representative who signed in as Wilson and allowed himself to be introduced as Wilson to a roomful of applauding Democrats.

Regards,

Jim

Top Republican Strategist Can’t Name One Thing Republicans Have Done for the Country in 20 Years – Yesterday, I told you about the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, who when asked for a specific recommendation on how to improve fighting terrorists, could only recommend saying the word “terrorism” more often. Clueless.

Well, to complete the picture of how clueless they are, during Hardball on Wednesday, Chris Matthews asked Republican strategist Todd Harris what have the Republicans done for America in the past couple decades.

Matthews repeatedly asked for examples, while citing negative examples like Bush-era spending bills, Katrina, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Harris tried to keep the focus on the 2010 elections and expressed hope that Democrats would keep going after Bush so the GOP could stay on message about being a balance against the current Democratic leadership.

Matthews suggested one answer, which Harris latched onto. “The Bush administration kept the country safe,” said the guest.

“Except the one big day,” the host shot back.

“YouTube is watching,” he told Harris. “You’re the Republican consultant. One of the best in the country. Tell me what the Republican party has done for this country in the last ten to 20 years.”
Harris stayed silent.

“Thank you,” Matthews said to his recurring GOP guest as he closed the segment. “We’ll have you back with the answer.”

But Don’t Criticize Republicans – Michael Steele has a message for those criticizing his leadership: Get a life and shut up.
“I tell them to get a life,” he told ABC News Radio on Thursday. “If you don’t want me in the job, fire me. But until then, shut up.”

Sean Hannity Blatantly Lies About Global Temperatures – In three separate instances over two weeks, Sean Hannity has baselessly asserted that “this is one of the coldest years on record” to claim that climate change is a “hoax” or not “real.” However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), and Britain’s Met Office have stated that to date, 2009 is among the warmest years on record.

All Spin and No Facts – Here were the first two lines of the top headline story at The Hill on Wednesday (other news outlets had similar commentary):

Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd (Conn.) on Wednesday announced that he will not seek another term after facing a tough reelection bid.

Dodd’s decision to retire is another blow to the increasingly fragile Democratic majority in the Senate.
But here are the facts:

Dodd replacement candidate Blumenthal leads potential Republican candidates Rob Simmons 59-28, Linda McMahon 60-28, and Peter Schiff 63-23, whereas Dodd trailed Simmons for the 11th consecutive time in a publicly released poll, 44-40, and also found himself locked in a tie with McMahon at 43. Democrats score a 32% boost in Connecticut Senate polling in one-day, and it is called “a blow” to their Senate election chances? This is just shoddy, pro-Republican reporting.

People Who Say There’s No Positive Change Aren’t Paying Attention – From the NRDC’s Assessment of the Obama Administration’s Environmental Record:
“In his first year in office, President Barack Obama and his administration have taken a remarkable number of actions to address a wide variety of environmental challenges. From investing in clean energy technology through the stimulus bills to increasing energy efficiency, the Administration has done more in its first few months to protect our air, water and communities than we’ve seen in the last decade.”
Read the whole report at the link:

Regards,

Jim

Empty Chairs at the Chemical Safety Board – When the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) was authorized by Congress in 1990 under the Clean Air Act amendments, it stipulated a five-person Board. For most of the last two years, the CSB has been operating at less than full capacity: only four of the five Board seats were filled. Now there are only three of the five required Board members, and all three men (Chair John S. Bresland, William B. Wark, and William E. Wright) were nominated during the G.W. Bush Administration.

The recent rash of industrial explosions and other damaging incidents (e.g., Valero Energy in Texas City, and American Acryl in Seabrook, TX) should compel the Obama White House to move quickly on nominating individuals for the CSB vacancies. An editorial last month in the Houston Chronicle criticized the current CSB chair for deciding against a probe of the Dec 5 incident at Valero’s Texas City refinery and the Dec 9 event at American Acryl in Seabrook, TX. The editorial’s lead was:
“If only a few workers die in an industrial accident, we won’t pry. That seems to be the philosophy of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB)…”

CSB Chairman Bresland explained his decision was based on funding constraints, saying:
“We would like to investigate more accidents, but that would require additional resources from Congress.”

The follow-up question to Mr. Bresland from the Houston Chronicle could have been:
“Have you asked for more funding?”

Indeed some new leadership blood at the CSB should take advantage of the GAO recommendations from 2008, suggesting, among other things, that the agency “request necessary resources from Congress to meet its statutory mandate.”

Bin Laden Faxes Connect-the-Dots Picture Directly to Dept. of Homeland Security 😉 – WASHINGTON – Officials at the Department of Homeland Security confirmed today that al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden has faxed what appears to be a connect-the-dots picture directly to department headquarters.

High-ranking members of the department, including Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano, immediately held emergency meetings to plan a course of action to deal with the mysterious connect-the-dots picture in their possession.

“One option, just thinking out loud here, would be to connect the dots,” said Ms. Napolitano. “But first we want to look at all courses of action available to us.”

Ms. Napolitano said that prior to receiving the connect-the-dots picture, she received a personal wake-up call at her home from Mr. bin Laden himself.

“A wake-up call and a connect-the-dots picture in the same day almost make you think he’s trying to tell us something,” said Ms. Napolitano. “Add that to the smoking gun he just FedExed, and it starts to form a pattern.”

But seriously,
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Yes, we need to fix our intelligence. Yes, we absolutely must live up to our own ideals, as President Obama is trying to do in banning torture and closing Guantánamo Bay. We can’t let this “war on terrorism” consume us. We can’t let our country become just The United States of Fighting Terrorism and nothing more. We are the people of July 4th — not Sept. 11th.
Excerpted from THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN in the NY Times
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By encouraging hysteria over the terrorist threat, are making the threat of terrorism that much more salient. In the coming weeks, it will be worth remembering Al-Qaeda’s formula: small acts for big effect. The amateurish efforts of the Christmas bomber have brought a nation to its knees, and reduced us to fear and panic. Fear and panic make us do things that are ultimately self-destructive. Al-Qaeda knows this but perhaps we still don’t.

Why Didn’t We See This Simple Way to Defeat the Terrorists? – U. S. Rep. Peter King, the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, has simple, specific advice on how to defeat the terrorists:

From an interview on ABC’s Good Morning America:

George Stephanopolous: “You are saying someone should be held accountable. Name one other specific recommendation the president could implement right now to fix this.”

King: “I think one main thing would be to — just himself to use the word terrorism more often.”

Yep, that should do it. NOT!

Regards,

Jim

Lawmakers Slip in Language to Force Constellation Program to Stay As-Is – A bipartisan group of lawmakers slipped a provision into a massive government spending package last week that would force President Barack Obama to seek congressional approval for any changes to the ambitious Bush-era, back-to-the-moon program.

Democrats in the House and Senate joined forces with Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., in the end-of-year legislative avalanche to insert language into a must-sign spending package that requires the president to ask Congress for all the money that would be needed to adjust the scope or timetable of human spaceflight.

“Congress’ commitment to our nation’s human spaceflight program is unwavering with respect to the path we have already charted,” says Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, whose congressional district includes Johnson Space Center. “The debate should not be if we are moving forward, but how we are going to pay for it.”

None of the $18.7 billion given NASA to spend this year and in future years “shall be available for the termination or elimination” of any part of the Constellation program, the legislation declares, or to “create or initiate a new program” without “subsequent appropriations acts.”

“Congress’ commitment to our nation’s human spaceflight program is unwavering with respect to the path we have already charted,” says Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, whose congressional district includes Johnson Space Center. “The debate should not be if we are moving forward, but how we are going to pay for it.”

(Yea, who cares if we’re moving forward? So, these lawmakers with vested interests in the Constellation program in their districts/states have snuck in language that protects all parts of that program, regardless of the merits (or lack of) of the various parts of that program. Got a better idea for accomplishing the mission? Forget about it! In the words of Mel Brooks, “We’ve got to protect our phony-baloney jobs !” (And corporations, too!) – JLV)

John McCain’s Newest Hypocrisy – John McCain was outraged last week when Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), who was presiding over the Senate, prevented Sen. Joe Lieberman from getting extra time to finish his comments on the Senate floor.

“I’ve been around here twenty-some years, first time I’ve seen a member denied a minute or two to finish his remarks,” McCain said. “And I must say that I don’t know what’s happening here in this body, but I think it’s wrong.”

Political observers quickly pointed out that, in October 2002, McCain himself prevented Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) from finishing a speech opposing the Iraq war and Congress’ move to authorize President Bush to launch military action against Iraq.

Regards,

Jim