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Thursday 31 March 2011
The Plum Line: Rep. King undermines his own case for anti-Muslim hearings
Is Pete King backing away from his own stated reasons for holding hearings on Muslim radicalization this week?
'Pass the Damn Thing!'
House Speaker John Boehner unloads on Senate Democrats over looming government shutdown.
Source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=846736e384d2189fc17365f8f5adabee
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GOP trying to use tax law to limit abortions
House Republicans are trying to use the tax code to curb abortions by limiting tax breaks for insurance policies that cover the procedure.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42357766/ns/politics-capitol_hill/
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The Plum Line: Wisconsin 14 planning "homecoming" march on capitol tomorrow
The fourteen Wisconsin Democrats who have been on the lam for weeks are all returning to the state tonight -- and will celebrate their return with a march together on the capitol tomorrow meant to signal that they fully intend to fight on, a state senator confirms to me.
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Rep. Peter King's congressional hearings on American Muslim radicalization consider CAIR impact
Congressman Peter King held Congressional hearings on radicalization in the American muslim community. As Michelle Boorstein and David Fahrenthold reported on the proceedings:
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Arming Libya's rebels would be a tricky gamble
In addition to requiring on-the-ground training, arming Libya's rebels may mean giving weapons to America's enemies 
Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsMain/~3/3Uj-Ixkwh_I/main20048966.shtml
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Lax Internal Revenue Service rules help groups shield campaign donor identities
American Crossroads GPS, an advocacy group that reported spending about $17 million on advertising before the midterm elections, generated controversy by using its nonprofit status to shield donors' identities.
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Wednesday 30 March 2011
Budget Talks in California Break Down
Negotiations between California Republican leaders and Gov. Jerry Brown on a package to close the state?s huge budget deficit collapsed Tuesday with each side accusing the other of intransigence.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1342512d04082a32660bde2ada222f46
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Ohio House votes to curb labor rights
The vote to restrict collective bargaining rights for public employees sends the bill to the governor.
Source: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/52254.html
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IV infections examined after 9 hospital deaths
Officials probe outbreak of bacterial infections in 6 Alabama hospitals, possibly linked to IV bags 
Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsMain/~3/2Dww8QP8gHk/main20048625.shtml
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Fragile Budget Talks Resume as Parties Trade 'Extreme' Label
Fragile budget negotiations have resumed on Capitol Hill, Fox News has learned, as Congress hurtles toward an April 8 government-shutdown deadline.
Source: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/politics/~3/DGPjVzBwG7Y/
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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signs collective bargaining bill, bypasses Senate Democrats
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill to strip public workers of most of their collective bargaining rights on Friday. As Karen Tumutly reported:
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Wisconsin protests: Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic state senators continue standoff
Protests in Wisconsin continue as Democratic legislators remain in exile to avoid voting on Governor Scott Walker's proposed changes to union laws. An end to the impasse does not appear imminent:
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Tuesday 29 March 2011
On Libya, Obama willing to let allies take the lead
President Obama is content to let other nations publicly lead the search for solutions to the Libyan conflict, his advisers say, a stance that reflects the more humble tone he has sought to bring to U.S. foreign policy but one that also opens him to criticism that he is a weak leader.
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Right Turn: Will Libya matter in 2012?
A reader e-mailed me over the weekend asking whether "the situation in Libya may affect the 2012 presidential campaigns." He mused: "Depending on how bad it gets in Libya, I envision a whole slew of political ads showing Obama shaking Gaddafi's hand back in 2009."
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Analysis: GOP wins cuts without government closure
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42282001/ns/politics-capitol_hill/
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Fox News managing editor: I lied on-air to smear Obama
Bill Sammon, left, Jan. 2, 2009.
Fox Washington managing editor Bill Sammon, admitting in a newly uncovered 2009 speech that he publicly smeared Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign with speculation that he did not privately believe:
Speaking in 2009 onboard a pricey Mediterranean cruise sponsored by a right-wing college, Fox Washington managing editor Bill Sammon described his attempts the previous year to link Obama to "socialism" as "mischievous speculation." Sammon, who is also a Fox News vice president, acknowledged that "privately" he had believed that the socialism allegation was "rather far-fetched.""Last year, candidate Barack Obama stood on a sidewalk in Toledo, Ohio, and first let it slip to Joe the Plumber that he wanted to quote, 'spread the wealth around,' " said Sammon. "At that time, I have to admit, that I went on TV on Fox News and publicly engaged in what I guess was some rather mischievous speculation about whether Barack Obama really advocated socialism, a premise that privately I found rather far-fetched."
Sammon isn't part of the Fox News "opinion" team. He's part of the "news" team, and here he is admitting that he used his position to engage in political warfare against a candidate that he didn't want to win. He lied, and lied repeatedly.
But as blunt as Sammon's words were, let me be clear about one thing: there's nothing at all surprising here. We know Fox is a Republican news channel, there's no question about that.
The only question is why others in the media pretend that this isn't the case.
Update: Greg Sargent assesses Sammon's attempt at damage control: "Sammon is conceding that the idea did indeed strike him as far fetched in 2008, even though he and his network aggressively promoted it day in and day out throughout the campaign. And he?s defending this by pointing out that the idea ended up gaining traction, as if this somehow justifies the original act of dishonesty!"
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Barbour, Gingrich show differing style, priorities
Before activists at the Conservative Principles Conference in Iowa today, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) gave a glimpse of what they might focus on if they launch likely presidential runs.
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Why we must defend Sarah Palin
Roger H. Goun/Wikimedia Commons
Let's be clear: I don't like Sarah Palin.
She is, as I have said before, hyper-partisan, painfully ignorant, pathologically dishonest, chronically unethical, intellectually unconscious, and jaw-droppingly stupid. And those are her better qualities.
But that does not mean that sexist attacks on her are immune from criticism. Last week, on his show Real Time, Bill Maher called Sarah Palin a "dumb twat." This was, of course, his typically politically incorrect shorthand way of saying that Palin is, as many have said before, and justifiably so, an idiot. But his use of the word "twat" to describe her raised the ire of Lisa Bennett, Communications Director for the National Organization of Women, who released this statement in response:
Listen, supposedly progressive men (ok, and women, too): Cut the crap! Stop degrading women with whom you disagree and/or don't like by using female body terms or other gender-associated slurs. OK? Can you do that, please? If you think someone's an idiot or a danger to the country, feel free to say so, but try to keep their sex out of it. Sexist insults have an impact on all women.
This is not a new criticism. Many feminists believe that using words such as "twat" or "cunt" are gender-specific slurs that, intentionally or not, degrade women and women's anatomy by using them as an insult.
On her Facebook page, Palin appeared to agree with NOW, calling Maher's comment "personal, vulgar, sexist venom." But Palin also had a message for NOW. In an interview on?where else??Fox News, Palin said, "By the way, I need NOW's defense like a fish needs a bicycle. I don't want them to defend me."
Certainly, NOW took no pleasure in defending Palin. In fact, in 2008, after John McCain picked Palin as his running mate, NOW took the unusual step of issuing an endorsement?for the Democratic ticket:
Sen. John McCain's choice of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate is a cynical effort to appeal to disappointed Hillary Clinton voters and get them to vote, ultimately, against their own self-interest.Gov. Palin may be the second woman vice-presidential candidate on a major party ticket, but she is not the right woman. Sadly, she is a woman who opposes women's rights, just like John McCain.
The fact that Palin is a mother of five who has a 4-month-old baby, a woman who is juggling work and family responsibilities, will speak to many women. But will Palin speak FOR women? Based on her record and her stated positions, the answer is clearly No.
What was, not surprisingly, lost on Palin, was that NOW's response to Bill Maher wasn't really about defending Palin. In fact, since Palin's rise to prominence in 2008, many feminists have defended her against what they perceive as sexist attacks. As Melissa McEwan at Shakespeare's Sister explained immediately after Palin's nomination, and continued in her ongoing series "Sarah Palin Sexism Watch" (which has more than two dozen posts):
For the record, there is plenty about which to criticize Palin that has absolutely fuck-all to do with her sex. She's anti-choice, against marriage equality, pro-death penalty, pro-guns, and loves Big Business. (In other words, she's a Republican.) There's no goddamned reason to criticize her for anything but her policies.And I'll go ahead and put it right in the fucking inaugural post in this series: I will defend Sarah Palin against misogynist smears not because I like or support her, but because that's how feminism works.
And that, of course, is the point. The fight for women's equality, and specifically, women's fair treatment by the media, isn't about any one woman. It certainly isn't about Palin. It's not even about Maher's use of "dumb twat" to describe her.
It's about fighting to change an institutionalized power structure that disadvantages women. It's about changing the cultural assumption that men are the baseline of normal, from which women are a deviation. In the debate over health care reform, Sen. John Kyl perfectly exemplified this assumption when he argued that health insurance should not have to cover maternity care because he doesn't need it. Sen. Debbie Stabenow famously responded, "I think your mom probably did."
We have witnessed, countless times, the double standards applied to female politicians, who are asked whether they can effectively govern and raise a family, a question male politicians with children are never asked. The media obsessively analyzes how female politicians dress or style their hair or whether shedding a tear proves that women are, indeed, too emotional to lead. Male politicians are exempted from such analysis. And it is that double standard that feminists and advocacy groups, like NOW, fight to end, even when the target of such sexism is someone who does not share the goal of ending sexism.
Palin is certainly comfortable denouncing sexism when it suits her. What she doesn't do is stand up to sexism when it is directed at those with whom she disagrees. When the Minnesota GOP posted a video calling Democratic women ugly, Palin was silent. When a woman was assaulted at a Rand Paul rally last year, and her attacker claimed she deserved it and demanded an apology, Palin was silent.
Palin also opposes virtually everything that improves women's lives, from paycheck fairness legislation to women-dominated unions to reproductive health care to funding for teen mothers. (Yes, really.)
In Palin's response to Maher, and her rejection of NOW's defense, she also said that she is "through whining about a liberal press that holds particularly conservative women to a different standard, because it doesn't do any good to whine about it."
And Palin has certainly done plenty of whining about the liberal press and its treatment of women Sarah Palin. She's previously attacked women's advocacy groups, specifically NOW, for an alleged double standard. She even offered this advice:
NOW could gain ground and credibility with everyday Americans, thus allowing their pro-women message to be heard by more than just their ardent supporters, if they made wiser decisions regarding which battles to pick.
However, that was in the context of criticizing NOW for condemning CBS's decision to air a "pro-life" ad during the 2010 Super Bowl. Having demonstrated its single standard of calling out sexism regardless of the target, Palin doesn't want NOW to do any such thing.
Before Palin discovered the joys of decrying sexism, she criticized Hillary Clinton for?that's right?"whining" about sexism, insisting that it "doesn't do us any good."
But Palin isn't the arbiter of media sexism. That she has apparently returned to her original position that women ought not to complain about sexism does not mean that those women and advocacy groups who have always taken a stand against it should follow suit. Quite the opposite. Those who want to end sexism must take a stand and hold the media accountable for its treatment of women. All women. Even women who reject feminism, or use it as nothing more than a campaign slogan. Even women who fight against women's interests. Even women who attack other women for "whining" about sexism. Even women who remain silent when attacks are directed at women with whom they disagree. Even women who criticize other women politicians and then misquote their Starbucks cup to say that women who don't support other women are going to hell.
That, of course, is why NOW released its criticism of Bill Maher. That, of course, is why feminists admonish the media for using gender-specific slurs and attacking Palin on the basis of her anatomy rather than her heinous political positions, her laughable gaffes, her made up vocabulary, or her pathetic crib notes. It is because of the very simple understanding that sexism, on the left or the right, harms all women. When we remain silent in the face of it, every woman suffers. And equality cannot be achieved only for some women. None of us are equal unless all of us are.
That's not something a woman who fights against women's equality can be expected to understand, of course. And, to be clear, her positions deserve no defense. It isn't necessary to support Palin's politics. It isn't even necessary to refrain from calling her an idiot. But sexist attacks on women have no place in our political discourse, regardless of who is attacked. We will not bring an end to sexism by selectively defending only those with whom we agree. And that means that even Sarah Palin, whose very politics is anathema to the cause of women's equality, deserves defense against such attacks. Even if she doesn't want it. Even if she doesn't understand it.
Let's just call her dumb and leave the sexism to Sarah.
Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/bWmErFTw9gM/-Why-we-must-defend-Sarah-Palin
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Obama talks immigration, education with Hispanics
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama sought to assure Hispanic Americans on Monday that he will not abandon his efforts to overhaul U.S. immigration policy or preserve government financial support for education. 
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Monday 28 March 2011
WI Sup. Ct.: PolitiFact misses key evidence showing Prosser will pre-judge cases
David Prosser
In our legal system, it's crucial that judges enter each and every case with an open mind. So JoAnne Kloppenburg, running against incumbent Republican David Prosser for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, leveled a pretty hefty charge in a recent debate:
"I, unlike my opponent, will approach cases with an open mind and without having prejudged the matters that come before the court."
Kloppenburg is right. But PolitiFact, which has a problem with politics in general, also has a problem with this statement, alleging that the evidence to support it is weak. Let's put aside their dismissive attitude toward Prosser's unambiguous statement that he'll serve as a "complement" to Gov. Scott Walker and the new Republican legislature, or that his ideology "closely mirrors" Walker's. Those are pretty damning statements to me, but evidently not good enough for PolitiFact.
But even if you want to play their game, PolitiFact still managed to miss key occasions where Prosser crossed the line into prejudging cases. Major credit to the blog Uppity Wisconsin for these catches. The first is from a video interview Prosser did with the Dane County Republican Party:
PROSSER: I would think that there?s going to be champ?I?m sure there?s going to be litigation on the Court and in fact, I think part of the effort against me in the campaign is to replace me on the Court in the event this bill and other legislation passed by the new governor and legislature are litigated. I think that they want someone on the Court who will be an almost automatic vote against anything that comes out of the new legislature.HOST: Is that right?
PROSSER: Oh, yes. I think that there?s no question at all as I?ve talked to people that part of the motivation for the candidates running against me is to have a block of four people who will reapportion the legislature along more liberal lines whereas the conservative members of the Court don?t want any part of legislative redistricting.
By his own admission, Prosser is one of the "conservative members of the Court"?even PolitiFact acknowledges that. So how has Prosser not pre-judged potential redistricting cases by saying he wants nothing to do with them? Of course he has. The GOP wants to ram through new legislative maps this year, and Prosser wants to give them his seal approval by refusing to even entertain litigation on the topic. That's textbook pre-judgment.
Prosser was more slippery in a different interview (this one with an outfit called "Northwoods Patriot Radio"), but he knows exactly what game he's playing:
STEVE: It is for sure and another thing that I?d like to point out that?s quite interesting, in the upcoming race for Supreme Court is that Justice Prosser is a pro-life candidate and the three opponents that he?s running against are not pro-life, so... I take it, Justice Prosser, that you hold life dearly and you believe that that is not something that is not to be messed with.PROSSER: Well, Steve, I have to be very careful what I say because I cannot commit myself, I, as a judge...
STEVE: I understand.
KIM: Yeah.
PROSSER: In deciding a case in a particular way. On the other hand, people can look at what I?ve done over a lifetime and kind of read between the lines.
So when asked about a hypothetical reproductive rights case, Prosser goes through the charade of announcing that he can't pre-judge a case... but then?nudge nudge, wink wink?assures his listeners than they can "read between the lines" to know how he'll rule. For a potential litigant in such a case, can this mean anything other than Prosser's already made up his mind? No, it can't.
So you tell me: Will this self-described "political conservative" whose views "closely mirror" and "complement" Gov. Walker's, who says he doesn't "want any part" of any legislative redistricting cases, and who assures observers they can know how he'll rule on abortion cases by "reading between the lines"... will this guy approach cases with an open mind? Or has he already pre-judged matters before they even reach his bench? I'm not surprised that PolitiFact blew it once again, but what matters is that we all know better.
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