Political News Bits of the Day

[kwlyon]

'Cause I know that the Green states are the democrats...not green as in Green Party but rather as in blue states that have suffered a rather evident red shift. The republicans have become the microwave states.

Drum roll please!

Kevin

[Dardedar]

Republicans having a tantrum:

GOP Senators Refusing To Work Past 2PM, Invoking Obscure Rule

Senate Republicans fuming over the passage of health care reform are now refusing to work past 2 p.m. -- a tactic they can employ by invoking a little-known Senate rule.

On Wednesday, the Judiciary Committee was forced to cancel a hearing as was the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) tweeted today : "Disappointed. Rs refusing to allow hearings today. Had to cancel my oversight hearing on police training contracts in Afghanistan."

Jim Manley, a spokesperson for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), objected to the objection. "For a second straight day, Republicans are using tricks to shut down several key Senate committees. So let me get this straight: in retaliation for our efforts to have an up-or-down vote to improve health care reform, Republicans are blocking an Armed Services committee hearing to discuss critical national security issues among other committee meetings? These political games and obstruction have to stop -- the American people expect and deserve better."

...Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, had his hearing shut down abruptly at 11:00 Wednesday morning, in the middle of a discussion on the effort to end veteran homelessness in the next five years. It is estimated that more than 100,000 veterans are homeless in the United States on any given night.

"The Senate should be a place for debate, but I cannot imagine how shutting down a hearing on helping homeless veterans has any part of the debate on the health insurance reform," said Akaka. "I am deeply disappointed that my colleagues chose to hinder our common work to help end veteran homelessness."

Link

[Dardedar]

Boehner joins the Obama song of hope:

NO You Can't!

video.

See also, George Bush does ad against Alan Grayson.

[Dardedar]

RNC Chairman Michael Steele has a lavish lifestyle on the road.

"Strong reports that Steele "once raised the possibility of using party money to buy a private jet for his travel," and has run up some substantial tabs at some of our nation's nicest hotels:

"Once on the ground, FEC filings suggest, Steele travels in style. A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,946.25 at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex."

Huff Po

[Savonarola]

A February RNC trip to California, for example, included a $9,099 stop at the Beverly Hills Hotel, $6,596 dropped at the nearby Four Seasons, and $1,946.25 at Voyeur West Hollywood, a bondage-themed nightclub featuring topless women dancers imitating lesbian sex."

How does DNC chairperson spending compare?
Either way, though, having the RNC pay for trips to a bondage nightclub where strippers imitate homosexuality is comedy gold yet not the least bit unexpected from the Party of No (Cognizance of Hypocrisy).

[Dardedar]

Ha ha ha ha.

2010 Census: Officials Worry Low Response Rate Is Form Of Anti-Government Protest

For months, right-wing activists and politicians have been criticizing the Census and urging people not to return their census forms.

"One of the most infamous Census conspiracy theories was spread by Rep. Michele Bachmann -- that the Census lays the groundwork for World War II-style internment camps.

"If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the Census Bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations at the request of President Roosevelt, and that's how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps," she told Fox News."

[kwlyon]

This is just stupid. But if you feel uncomfortable giving the government your phone number (I honestly don't recall this request being on my census but I guess it likely was) just don't fill in that information. They really don't want anything but the number of people and their ages in your household. This is used to fairly distribute funding to education and other such things. I assure you, however, they will not come knocking on your neighbors door to obtain information from you. They haven't the manpower even if they wanted to. If you do not reply to the census then they will simply not have your response, and your local schools and other municipal interest will suffer for it.

Kevin

[Betsy]

If they do hire enough people to knock on doors, it will cost $700 million....so much for the teabaggers wanting to stop wasteful government spending, huh?

[Dardedar]

Another reminder of why Al Franken, is such a great guy.

Good video clip.

There is something very telling in this.

The opponents of the Health Care bill now have some 2,700 pages of material to data mine and find the very worse bits. This fellow, who hates Obama as much as anyone, gets an opportunity to go after Franken here with his very best shot. And this unbelievably silly bit of distorted crap is his very best? Really? Holy cow. Very telling.

[Dardedar]

Larry W. passed this along:

Teabonics!

Dumber than you thought. Sixty-seven pictures of misspelled and screwed up Teabagger signs. Woof!



It's one thing to sit at home, mind your own business and be stupid, but to put it on a sign and carry it around town? Now that's really goddamn dumb.

[Dardedar]

Nearly half of Americans give a thumbs-up to Congress' passage of a healthcare reform bill last weekend, with 49% calling it "a good thing."

40% called it a "bad thing." (11% unsure)



Gallop (March 22)

[L.Wood]

.

FOX News...uses old urban myth to make some ironic 'news."

"Famed global warming activist James Schneider and a journalist friend were both found frozen to death on Saturday, about 90 miles from South Pole Station, by the pilot of a ski plane practicing emergency evacuation procedures."
FOX News Mar 29, 2010

Debunking: "The above-referenced ironic tale of a global warming activist's freezing to death in Antarctica was presented on the Fox Nation web site as a straightforward news story on 29 March 2010. However, the original source for the story (which is linked from the Fox site) was a 2006 article from ecoEnquirer.com, a satirical site featuring spoof articles such as "Court Orders Fisherman to Apologize to Eagle" and "Penguins 'Fed Up' with Media Attention."

You know what they say, Fox Nation. The best April Fools jokes are the ones you play on yourself. (Do they say that? I don't know, maybe.)

Update: It seems that Fox Nation accidentally deleted this highly important news story from their site. Whoops! Don't worry, Fox Nation. Google kept a cached version of the page for you. "

As Dar likes to say, it takes a Comedy Show to get the truth out.

.

[Dardedar]

A little late but better than never. Look how smart this is:

Administration releases new fuel efficiency rules

"...the requirements would add an estimated $434 per vehicle in the 2012 model year and $926 per vehicle by 2016 but would save more than $3,000 over the life of the vehicle through better gas mileage.

EPA and the Transportation Department said the requirements would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 960 million metric tons over the lifetime of the vehicles regulated, or the equivalent of taking 50 million cars and light trucks off the road in 2030."

[L.Wood]

darrell quote-

Nearly half of Americans give a thumbs-up to Congress' passage of a healthcare reform bill last weekend, with 49% calling it "a good thing."

What the vested Rwing interests fear more than anything is the plain truth, just facts and straight information.

Harold Pollack in The New Republic: The Best-Covered News Story, Ever
regarding coverage of the health care reform.

Snip-

Because it is so easy to find bad reporting and public stupidity, it is easy to overlook something. Press coverage of health care reform was the most careful, most thorough, and most effective reporting of any major story, ever.

New Republic story is here. It covers the best and worst of HCR reporting and spin.

As the truth of HCR trickles down many people will find it does more for them than they were led to believe.

A simple untruth, lie or spin which Pollack points out:

"The Wall Street Journal editorial page and Fox News were predictably awful, though the apotheosis of groundless polemic must have been the Investor's Business Daily's assertion:

People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless.

The second own-goal prize goes to the Daily for its subsequent correction:

This version corrects the original editorial which implied that physicist Stephen Hawking, a professor at the University of Cambridge, did not live in the U.K."

.

[Dardedar]

These Media Matters weekly summaries are quite good. Here is part of the one for this week:

***
Media Matters: Fox News, a Beck revival, and the fringe "Woodstock" that wasn't

Fox News has promoted and defended the Tea Party movement since that movement's inception in early 2009. It should come as no surprise, then, that March 27's kickoff to the Tea Party Express III bus tour in Searchlight, Nevada, transformed Fox hosts into giddy adolescents awaiting what "organizers" had "hop[ed]" this event would become: "a conservative Woodstock." The rally -- which was sponsored by Republican consultants and headlined by Fox News' resident Tea Party hero, Sarah Palin -- centered itself around defeating Sen. Harry Reid and other members of Congress who support health care reform. But aggressively promoting the rally was really just another day in Fox News' continued political activism.

Six hours before the rally started, Fox & Friends Saturday co-host Clayton Morris was already unable to contain his excitement, as he declared the Nevada rally was a "huge day for the tea party" as they begin "getting ready to rumble." Co-host Dave Briggs concluded that "all eyes" were on the Nevada rally that day.

Fox's Neil Cavuto was hosting a two-hour health care special, but that didn't keep him from repeatedly profiling the upcoming rally. Fueling the hype, he announced, "We're going to be going back and forth to Nevada for something that doesn't take place for another five hours or so." He showed footage of the protesters gathering for the rally and concluded "God bless these folks." On the same show, Fox's Casey Stegall -- live on the ground in Searchlight -- offered a bit of that "fair and balanced" analysis that only Fox can give: "[There is] a real energy that you feel from the people who are out here ... this is a very grassroots campaign." (Note: The Tea Party Express is not a "grassroots campaign," it's run by Republican consultants.)

Promoting both their employee and movement of choice simultaneously, Fox carried "keynote speaker" Palin's speech live in its entirety. Afterward, Stegall described Palin as a "rock star" and reported which Palin comments caused the crowd to go "really wild" and "nuts."

And a fringe party wouldn't be complete without the ramblings and rantings of Andrew Breitbart. In exclusive footage taken by Media Matters, Breitbart attacked George Soros and John Podesta as the biggest enemies of freedom, ranted about ACORN, and, of course, dubbed Media Matters and Senior Fellow Eric Boehlert "a vile group of people."

In another of our exclusive clips, Fox News' Griff Jenkins attempted to interview a child about her feelings on how the "costs of the government might be on your shoulders." That one went about as well as could be expected.

But, alas, even after all of Fox's fevered promotion and coverage, "Conservative Woodstock" it was not. As Boehlert noted: "Woodstock's approximate attendance: 500,000. Searchlight's approximate attendance: 8,000." I'm sure Fox isn't feeling too defeated, though. There's always April 15.

Not to be outdone by his Fox friend Sarah Palin, Fox's resident "rodeo clown" Glenn Beck spent the same day hosting his "day-long American Revival for 8,000 die-hard fanatics." There, Beck touted his "100-year plan" for the nation, as well as a "budget" for America devised by experts he promised to roll out in the weeks to come, complete with tax reductions down to a rate of 12 percent.

To combat all of those pesky accusations that the right-wing media has been inciting the fringe to violence, Beck made sure to add this jewel into his monologue:

"Get God on your side, and then pick up a hammer...with non-violence, take your hammer and POUND that truth every day and everything that doesn't fit, toss it out! We have the truth. ... [W]ith non-violence, be the anvil of truth every single day!"

Well. That's reassuring.

Beck wept several times during the seven-hour long revival -- no doubt a sign of the genuine "love" and "fear" he has for this country. The most notable line from the revival was rampant fear-mongering right out of his radio and TV playbook: "If we don't face the truth right now, we'll be dead in five years -- this country can't survive." As a result, he declared that he is "stockpiling food." You should do the same."

[Dardedar]

Richard Cordray, the attorney general of Ohio, and Tom Miller, the attorney general of Iowa, explain why any attempt to overturn the health care bill on the basis that the...

"new law is unconstitutional because Congress lacks authority to address the health care issue by mandating coverage..."

Will Fail

Excerpt: "As attorneys general for our respective heartland states, we take issue with the constitutional arguments being made against this new legislation. Under long-settled Supreme Court precedents, Congress has ample power under the commerce clause of the Constitution to legislate on health care.

Congress has the authority to regulate anything that affects interstate commerce “among the several States.” This is bolstered by the supremacy clause, which explicitly makes the Constitution and the laws of the United States “the supreme Law of the Land” for all Americans.

For Congress to have the power to pass this legislation, therefore, the health care problem need only affect interstate commerce. It clearly does."

[L.Wood]

.

It's official. Glen Beck is nothing but an entertainer.

Glenn Beck Inc
Lacey Rose, 04.08.10,

"With a deadpan, Beck insists that he is not political: "I could give a flying crap about the political process." Making money, on the other hand, is to be taken very seriously, and controversy is its own coinage. "We're an entertainment company," Beck says. He has managed to monetize virtually everything that comes out of his mouth."..Forbes article is here.






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[Dardedar]

And the money shot:

Glenn Beck Earned $32 Million In 2009

[Doug]

A new Military Times survey finds that fewer American troops identify as Republicans.

According to the survey of 1,800 troops released on Monday, the number of active service members self-identifying as Republican has fallen by one-third since 2004, with 9 percent of that drop-off occurring in the last year.

See here.

[Dardedar]