Home add your blog Archives Search Book Reviews Forum Contact RSS FEED

This site is an rss/xml news reader containing our favorite feeds. All articles are the copyrighted material of the blogs that wrote them.

Nelson signals intent to join Republican
filibuster of Obama labor board nominee.

post from Think Progress on 09 February 2010 02:35:00 PM. © Think Progress

Late yesterday, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) announced that he would not vote for cloture on the nomination of former AFL-CIO and SEIU attorney Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), effectively joining a Republican filibuster. Republicans have been using Becker’s nomination as a proxy battle over the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) — which would level the playing field for workers who want to form a union. And Nelson bought into that frame in his statement against Becker:

Mr. Becker’s previous statements strongly indicate that he would take an aggressive personal agenda to the NLRB, and that he would pursue a personal agenda there, rather than that of the Administration. This is of great concern, considering that the Board’s main responsibility is to resolve labor disputes with an even and impartial hand. In addition, the nominee’s statements fly in the face of Nebraska’s Right to Work laws, which have been credited in part with our excellent business climate that has attracted employers and many good jobs to Nebraska.

As the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein pointed out, Nelson had no problem voting to invoke cloture on Bush administration nominees like UN Ambassador John Bolton and EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson. Bush’s last nominee to the NLRB — Peter Schauber — was confirmed uncontroversially, along with a host of nominees for various positions. Now, Nelson is helping the GOP employ the filibuster to obstruct and stall Obama’s mere ability to govern.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/09/nelson-nlrb/

Digg this

Dems: Our Votes or Their Money

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 09 February 2010 02:30:37 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Simulposted at Daily KosWait, don't answer yet! Before you make the reflexive 21st century choice of the DC politician, stop and remember one thing:Their money is only used to buy our votes.Unless of course you are keeping it in your freezer. And look[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Docudharma/~3/6FKEgqJCGds/dems-our-votes-or-their-
money

Digg this

Mystery Solved! Swift-Boat Backer Wrote Check To
AL GOP, Says Pawlenty

post from TPMMuckraker on 09 February 2010 02:27:00 PM. © TPMMuckraker

Well, that didn't take long.

We just told you about a $100,000 check, from an anonymous donor, delivered last week by Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty to the Alabama GOP. Who was that mystery funder, we asked.

Within minutes, readers were pointing to Bob Perry, the Houston home builder who has bankrolled numerous conservative and Republican causes, including the Swift-Boat Veterans For Truth.

And sure enough, Pawlenty has now confirmed that it was indeed Perry. "The donor's name was Bob Perry and he was somebody I was visiting in Texas on behalf of the Republican Governors Association and he noted that I was going to Alabama and asked if I would bring them a check so I said I would," Pawlenty said today, reports the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

It's perhaps not surprising that Pawlenty, a top 2012 GOP presidential hopeful, would have been hitting Perry up for cash. Perry helped ensure Pawlenty's re-election as governor in 2006 by funding Stronger America, a conservative 527 group that ran a blizzard of ads attacking Democrat Mike Hatch, Pawlenty's opponent, the paper adds.

But that's only the tip of the iceberg in terms of Perry's financial support for conservative causes. In 2004, Perry was the largest single donor to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which helped sink John Kerry's presidential hopes. Perry gave the Swift Boaters $4.45 million, and gave a total of $8.1 million to 527 groups that election cycle.

For an encore, in 2006 Perry was the largest political donor in Texas. He put $5 million into the Economic Freedom Fund, TPMmuckraker reported at the time. That group put out a stream of push-poll robo-calls against Democratic candidates, which were described by an independent polling group as "egregious."

Perry has also been a key backer of Tom DeLay's political action committee, and of the Hammer's legal defense fund.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TPMmuckraker/~3/PxQYtkcTjE4/mystery_solved_swift-b
oat_backer_wrote_check_to_al.php

Digg this

As the Middle East Peace Talks Hit Deadlock, Talk
of Israel Joining the European Union Increases

post from Jutia Group on 09 February 2010 02:10:43 PM. © Jutia Group

The Middle East peace talks are at a deadlock. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians to move ahead with the plan established by the so-called Quartet – the US., U.N., EU and Russia — have faltered and come to a complete standstill. Continuing with this inertia will have a long-term negative effect on the future of the region both from a political point of view as well as from a business perspective. With the exception of a few risk-takers, what company or business executive would be willing to invest in the Middle East once the region plunges onto the abyss…

Read The Full Article:
http://jutiagroup.com/2010/02/09/as-the-middle-east-peace-talks-hit-deadlock-talk
-of-israel-joining-the-european-union-increases/

Digg this

Foot, mouth, Michael Steele

post from Daily Kos on 09 February 2010 02:10:04 PM. © Daily Kos

Via Greg Sargent, Michael Steele suggests that media coverage of his tenure as RNC chief is motivated by racism (emphasis added):

"I don't see stories about the internal operations of the DNC that I see about this operation. Why? Is it because Michael Steele is the chairman, or is it because a black man is the chairman?"

It is true that Newt Gingrich said that some Republicans aren't comfortable with Steele because he's African-American, but Steele is attacking the media with his rhetorical question.

Moreover, Steele himself has spent much of the year attacking Democrats for playing "the race card" to defend President Obama. Media Matters points to some examples:

STEELE: I'm kinda sick and tired of the left and Democrats in this country when they get in trouble and don't get their way and their backs are up against the wall on legislation or whatever it is their trying to do, they go to that card, they play that race card, that slavery card, that civil rights card.

Proud Americans, black and white, fought for too long and too hard to have the claim of racism be used in such a cavalier fashion. Blind charges of racism, where none exist, not only are an affront to those who have suffered the effects of racism, but it weakens our efforts to address true acts of racism and makes them more difficult to overcome.

I don’t play the race card, I don’t play the race game, the way some tend to want to do.

This isn't to minimize Michael Steele's complaint. If he really believes he's the victim of racism on the part of the media. he's got every right to make that accusation.

But when he repeatedly attacks Democrats for playing "the race card" whenever their backs are up against the wall, it smacks of uber-hypocrisy for him to do the same when he also in a tight spot.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/zFUqYmCQnNk/-Foot,-mouth,-Michael-
Steele

Digg this

Gettin' His Dialectic On ...

post from Talking Points Memo on 09 February 2010 02:05:00 PM. © Talking Points Memo

This happened last week. But it was just too classic to let slip into the ether. GOP Chairman Michael Steele was up at Harvard last Wednesday. And a questioner got on his case about he and his party referring to the health reform bill as "socialism"[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/uKUDMEGfjRw/this_happened_l
ast_week_but.php

Digg this

Two thirds of Americans want Congress to continue
working on HCR bill

post from To Move a Nation on 09 February 2010 02:04:00 PM. © To Move a Nation

Read The Full Article:
http://www.tomoveanation.com/2010/02/two-thirds-of-americans-want-congress.html

Digg this

GOP Whines About Health-Care Summit, NY Times
Says 'There, There!'

post from Crooks and Liars on 09 February 2010 02:00:38 PM. © Crooks and Liars

This story reeks of "I'm on deadline, I don't feel like working that hard so I'll just expand this handy list of Republican bullet points and then call a few Democrats for 'balance.'" But then, maybe it's just me:

WASHINGTON ? When Republicans take President Obama up on his invitation to hash out their differences over health care this month, they will carry with them a fairly well-developed set of ideas intended to make health insurance more widely available and affordable, by emphasizing tax incentives and state innovations, with no new federal mandates and only a modest expansion of the federal safety net.

Umm, excuse me, Mr. Reporter? What do you mean by "fairly well-developed"? And why are you just taking their word for it that their ideas will make health insurance more affordable? Did you, you know, ask any experts?

It is not clear that Republicans and the White House are willing to negotiate seriously with each other, and Mr. Obama has rejected Republican demands that he start from scratch in developing health care legislation.
But Congressional Republicans have laid out principles and alternatives that provide a road map to what a Republican health care bill would look like if they had the power to decide the outcome.

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were writing a press release!

[...] The Republicans rely more on the market and less on government.

Ha ha ha! Oh, I get it now: It's a parody of a press release, like Stephen Colbert!

All kidding aside, is this really journalism? Not by any stretch of the imagination. There's no new information, there's only the Republican insistence on their far-fetched version of reality - which we could just as easily get from Fox News. New York Times, maybe you should put some actual work into these stories if you plan to charge us for them.

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/gop-pouts-about-healthcare-summit-ny

Digg this

Senate reaches apparent deal on jobs bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has apparently orchestrated a deal on a jobs bill with Senate[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenLeft-FrontPage/~3/XSGjilO9BNA/senate-reaches-a
pparent-deal-on-jobs-bill

Digg this

Cantor backtracks on his bluff, says he’ll
show up to health care meeting with Obama.

House Republican leaders John Boehner (R-OH) and Eric Cantor (R-VA) sent a letter to the White House yesterday, stipulating some preconditions for Republican participation in a bipartisan health care meeting proposed by President Obama. Boehner and Cantor’s letter said that unless Obama was willing to scrap the current health reform proposals, Republicans ?would rightly be reluctant to participate.? Their letter was met with some derision from conservatives, who called it “silly” and “politically dangerous.” The Plum Line’s Greg Sargent reported today that Republican insiders said it was unlikely their leaders would follow through on their bluff. Indeed, appearing on Fox News this afternoon, Cantor backtracked on his letter. “We’re going to show up,” he said. Fox host Jane Skinner observed that his letter to the White House “wasn’t in the tone of bipartisanship.” The segment concluded:

SKINNER: But again, quickly, you’re showing up to this televised thing, right?
CANTOR: Absolutely. Republicans have always said, we stand ready and willing to work with this President.

Watch it:

video details and more

Cantor has stood “ready and willing” to obstruct health care from the beginning. He has been unable to offer any compromises that the GOP would be willing to make; he has lifted Frank Luntz’s language on how to kill reform; and, he has even advised his constituents to seek out “charitable organizations” if they’re in need of medical care.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/09/cantor-health-care-showing-up/

Digg this