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LGBT

In Sit Down With Bloggers, Obama Hints At Change On Same-Sex Marriage, Reiterates DADT Approach

By Igor Volsky on Oct 27, 2010 at 8:13 pm

During a first-of-its-kind sit down with progressive bloggers at the White House this afternoon, President Obama told AmericaBlog’s Joe Sudbay that he didn’t think the LGBT community’s “disillusionment and disappointment” in his approach to issues like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was justified, saying “I guess my attitude is that we have been as vocal, as supportive of the LGBT community as any President in history.”

Speaking directly to the DADT issue, Obama reiterated that the policy “is not just harmful to the brave men and women who are serving…but it doesn’t serve our interests.” “I think that the best way to overturn it is for Congress to act,” he insisted, revealing that he asked Log Cabin Republicans’ executive director R. Clarke Cooper, who attended yesterday’s top level meeting about ending the ban, to “Get me those votes.” After district court judge Virginia Phillips ruled the ban unconstitutional and barred the Pentagon from enforcing the policy, LGBT advocates urged Obama to agree with her interpretation of the law and refuse to appeal her decision. The administration, however, is asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the injunction and reverse the ruling, insisting that it was bound to defend existing law.

During the sit down, Obama avoided Sudbay’s question about the constitutionality of the policy since “I’m not sitting on the Supreme Court,” he said. “And I’ve got to be careful, as President of the United States, to make sure that when I’m making pronouncements about laws that Congress passed I don’t do so just off the top of my head.” But he also hinted that he understood the community’s frustration with the pace of change, recalling how African American civil rights leaders responded to similar arguments about “patience and time”:

Now, I say that as somebody who appreciates that the LGBT community very legitimately feels these issues in very personal terms. So it’s not my place to counsel patience. One of my favorite pieces of literature is “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” and Dr. King had to battle people counseling patience and time. And he rightly said that time is neutral. And things don’t automatically get better unless people push to try to get things better.

So I don’t begrudge the LGBT community pushing, but the flip side of it is that this notion somehow that this administration has been a source of disappointment to the LGBT community, as opposed to a stalwart ally of the LGBT community, I think is wrong.

Responding to Sudbay’s question about the growing support for same-sex marriage, Obama reiterated his belief in civil unions but conceded that “attitudes evolve, including mine.” “And I think that it is an issue that I wrestle with and think about…while I’m not prepared to reverse myself here, sitting in the Roosevelt Room at 3:30 in the afternoon, I think it’s fair to say that it’s something that I think a lot about,” he said.

For a full transcript of Obama’s remarks, click here.

Economy

Utah’s Republican Senate Candidate Calls For 40% Federal Spending Cut Or A Government Shutdown

By Pat Garofalo on Oct 27, 2010 at 7:46 pm

House Republicans, in their much-ballyhooed “Pledge to America,” suggested immediately cutting $100 billion from the non-defense discretionary portion federal budget, which would require a 21 percent reduction in, among other things, federal education funding. But Mike Lee, the Republican nominee for the Senate in Utah, has doubled down on the House GOP’s idea, saying that he would like to see an immediate 40 percent reduction in the federal budget, adding that he’s willing to see the government shut down if President Obama refuses to accede to such draconian cuts:

Lee said he’d “call their bluff” by first passing the tax cuts and forcing President Obama to sign them or veto them. Then, pass a balanced budget, which “would require about a 40 percent cut,” and force Obama to either sign it or shutdown the government. The prospect of such a showdown between Obama and Republicans, in fact, made Lee “giddy.” When asked about it Friday afternoon, Lee said that Thursday night was the first time he’d used the 40 percent figure.

What would this mean in practical terms, particularly in light of Lee’s previous decision to rule Social Security and the defense budget as out of bounds for cuts? As Newsweek’s Andrew Romano put it, “the math is simple–and bleak“:

In Obama’s budget, Social Security costs $787.6 billion; defense costs $928.5 billion; debt payments cost $250.7 billion. Together they total $1.967 trillion. If you remove that $1.967 trillion from the equation–as Lee suggests–you’re left with $1.863 trillion in spending to work with. At this point, balancing the budget–i.e., wringing $1.669 trillion in savings out of that last $1.863 trillion–would require slashing every government program that’s not defense or Social Security (Medicare, Medicaid, veterans affairs, education, and so on) by 89.6 percent.

Republican candidates like Lee and Marco Rubio (FL) like to act as if reducing the federal budget is a simple task that involves rooting out waste, fraud, and eliminating programs that nobody likes. But Lee’s plan would involve a nearly 90 percent reduction in the health care entitlements, education funding, and other discretionary programs like federal highway funding, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Are such reductions practical or economically advisable? Of course not. But Lee’s willing to stoke the Tea Party into a frenzy with his talk of balanced budgets and a government shutdown.

Politics

Arkansas School Board Member Wants ‘Fags’ To ‘Commit Suicide’ And To ‘Give Each Other AIDS And Die’

By Tanya Somanader on Oct 27, 2010 at 7:45 pm

Last week, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) asked people to “Go Purple” to call attention to the suicides of six teenagers who were victims of homophobic bullying. In response, a myriad of high-profile figures “jumped at the opportunity” to voice their support as part of YouTube’s “It Gets Better” campaign, including 40 Broadway actors, Google, Inc., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and President Barack Obama. Yesterday, Obama’s Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sent new official guidelines on school-bullying to 15,000 school districts and 5,000 colleges and universities as a message that “bullying is not acceptable” and could violate federal civil rights laws.

Despite a chorus of support, GLAAD’s anti-bullying message is falling on deaf ears in Arkansas. Specifically, the ears of Arkansas District School board member Clint McCance. In response to GLAAD’s appeal to wear purple, McCance, an elected member of the Midland school board, unleashed a tirade of anti-gay bigotry on his facebook page. In a series of posts, McCance actually encourages “fags” and “queers” to kill themselves and says that, if his kids were gay, he’d “run them off“:

McCance wrote the following message on his Facebook page: “Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed thereselves because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE.”

Initially, six people “liked” McCance’s message. He also received supportive comments, though some challenged his statement. A commenter wrote, “Because hatred is always right.” That led McCance to write, “No because being a fag doesn’t give you the right to ruin the rest of our lives. If you get easily offended by being called a fag then dont tell anyone you are a fag. Keep that shit to yourself. I dont care how people decide to live their lives. They dont bother me if they keep it to thereselves. It pisses me off though that we make a special purple fag day for them. I like that fags cant procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other aids and die. If you arent against it, you might as well be for it.”[...]

“I would disown my kids they were gay. They will not be welcome at my home or in my vicinity. I will absolutely run them off. Of course my kids will know better. My kids will have solid christian beliefs. See it infects everyone.”

While schools across the country are clamping down on this kind of bigotry, it is appalling that McCance, a school official, would champion this extreme level of hatred. Particularly when Arkansas enacted an anti-bullying law in 2003 to “prohibit bullying while on school property, at school-sponsored activities, and on school buses.” Not only does the law require school employees to report bullying to the principal, but it even calls on local school board to provide opportunities to “develop the knowledge and skills to prevent and respond” to acts of bullying. McCance’s comments, however, are the antithesis of knowledge.

Still, as the Daily Kos diarist Michael Hendricks notes, “the man is a disgusting individual but sadly he has the freedom to say what he says. He cannot be fired. He is an elected official. Short of him resigning only the people of the community can fire him the next time he is up for re-election.” But, should efforts like the “Fire Clint McCance” facebook page raise enough awareness, Arkansans may have the last word.

Health

Republicans Will Likely Preserve The Health Insurance Exchanges, Since It Was Their Idea

By Igor Volsky on Oct 27, 2010 at 6:40 pm

On Friday, Joel Ario, the Director of the Office of Insurance Exchanges at HHS reiterated his claim that regulators on the state level are far more open to implementing the exchanges in the Affordable Care Act than the current political rhetoric suggests. Speaking at a panel for the Alliance on Health Reform, Ario said “that there was a lot of interest on the state level in these exchanges and that it was very focused and very specific to the fact that state markets are broken.” “It’s hard to see who’s from a red state or a blue state, you just see people who are working in their marketplaces trying to put things together.” Watch it:

Washington and Lee University law professor Tim Jost, also a member of the panel, reiterated that the idea behind an exchange “comes out of free market advocacy groups and has been endorsed by them in the past. The particular way it is shaped, we’ll see blue states taking one approach and red states taking one approach, maybe,” he stressed, referring to the two existing exchange models in Massachusetts and Utah. Blue states may follow California’s lead and adopt the Massachusetts model, which allows the authority that governs the Exchange to bargain with insurance companies on behalf of consumers and requires issuers to meet certain minimum standards. Red states, conversely, may consider the Utah model where consumers can “compare a wide variety of health plans sold by any insurers that want to participate.”

Ario also added that he first heard of exchanges from a Republican legislator in Oregon, “who had a concept paper from Ed Haislmaie at the Heritage Foundation. I followed the idea for several years there, as it made its way through the Heritage foundation. They took credit for getting Governor Romney to support the idea in Massachusetts and to date, the three states that have exchanges have all been led by Republican governors.” (Click here to read Haislmaie’s article praising the exchanges and the individual mandate.)

Heritage may now be downplaying its support for the concept, but the exchanges are still fairly popular in conservative states. Last month, for instance, 48 states — 21 of which are suing the federal government over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act — accepted federal grants “to invest in research and planning to get the Exchanges up and running” by 2014.

Politics

Rand Paul Refuses To Return Head-Stomper’s $2,000 Donation

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Oct 27, 2010 at 6:02 pm

Kentucky GOP Senate nominee Rand Paul has “disassociated” himself from Tim Profitt, his former Bourbon County campaign coordinator who stomped on a progressive activist’s head Monday night, but the Paul campaign is now refusing to return the $1,950 Profitt has contributed to the campaign. Democratic nominee Jack Conway, among others, have called on Paul to return the money, along with another $600 Profitt’s wife contributed. But a campaign spokesperson told the Louisville Courier Journal today that that would not be happening:

“The Paul campaign condemned the incident far before Conway’s camp ever addressed it and decisively severed all ties with the supporter in question,” said Jesse Benton, Paul’s campaign manager. “To suggest otherwise is nothing but a desperate attempt to distract voters from the issues facing Kentucky.”

But Benton said the campaign would not return Profitt’s contributions.

It’s odd that Paul would refuse to return the relatively insignificant $2,000 donation — he raised over $1 million in the last quarter alone — considering that rejecting the money would send a clear signal that the campaign wants nothing to do with Profitt. Moreover, this seems to be a reversal for the Paul campaign. The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent notes that last night Fox reported that the campaign said it would return Profitt’s donation. (HT: Barefoot & Progressive)

Economy

Rep. Royce Says GOP Would Allow Bank Regulators To Veto New Consumer Protection Agency

By Pat Garofalo on Oct 27, 2010 at 5:45 pm

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee have already made it quite clear that they intend to attempt to defund the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau if the GOP gains control of the lower chamber. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), one of the top Republicans on the committee, has explicitly announced his intention to defund the agency, as he believes it “assaults the liberties of the consumer.”

But denying the CFPB funds may not be the only way in which Republicans look to kneecap the new agency. Rep. Ed Royce (R-TX), who has been floated as a possible challenger to Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) for the Financial Services chairmanship, told American Banker that he also wants to give bank regulators direct veto power over the CFPB’s rulemaking:

“If the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau can trump the safety and soundness regulator, you run the risk of creating the same type of environment that was created with the government-sponsored enterprises in which you created moral hazard in the system,” he said. “We need to address giving the regulators for safety and soundness the ability to trump the actions on consumer protection if they threaten safety and soundness. Safety and soundness has to be our fundamental concern.“

This “safety and soundness” talking point was constantly employed by Republicans during the debate over financial regulatory reform, showing that they care more about a bank’s ability to make a profit than the government’s responsibility to protect consumers from financial shenanigans. And Royce is evidently not ready to give it up.

But the CFPB is already subject to veto by the bank regulators. A two-thirds vote of the Financial Stability Oversight Council — a nine member board composed of the heads of the bank regulators, the Treasury Secretary, and an “insurance expert” — can nullify any CFPB regulation.

Is Royce suggesting that the individual bank regulators have veto power over rules that affect the insitutions that they regulate? If so, such a move would be incredibly destructive, as those agencies have already shown that they are easily co-opted by the firms they oversee. The entire point of creating the CFPB was to level the playing field a bit between the banks and consumers. Giving the bank regulators a straight veto would effectively put the consumer protection system right back where it was before the Dodd-Frank financial reform bill passed.

In an interview with National Journal, CFPB head Elizabeth Warren said that the agency will be bolstered by crowd-sourcing, collecting stories from the public’s interactions with the financial system. Evidently Royce wants the crowd to be composed solely of bankers.

Yglesias

Conservatives Don’t Care About the Deficit, “Cutgo” Edition

By Matthew Yglesias on Oct 27, 2010 at 5:27 pm

As I’ve been at pains to argue for a while now, the modern American conservative movement does not care—even a little bit—about the size of the budget deficit. For example, congressional Democrats have a procedural rule in place called “PAYGO” that makes it difficult to reduce revenue or increase expenditure without offsets. A movement that cared a lot about the deficit would be promising to alter this rule so as to reduce loopholes. A movement that cared some about the deficit would be promising to leave it in place.

But as Jon Chait observes, that’s not what the GOP is doing, instead they want to scrap PAYGO and “replace it with a different rule, Cutgo, which would require that new spending be offset with spending cuts.”

In other words, they want to make it easier to expand the deficit. And note that this doesn’t even particularly make it harder to expand the deficit through spending. It just means that your new spending program needs to be called a “refundable tax credit” and administered by the IRS. That means that new government subsidies for things are likely to be handed out in a relatively inefficient way, via the tax code, and the deficit is likely to get bigger. Now you can make the case for these priorities, but it would be nice if the press would wake up and notice what they are.

Politics

Tea Party Nation Founder Judson Phillips: ‘I, Personally Have A Real Problem With Islam’

By Ben Armbruster on Oct 27, 2010 at 5:08 pm

The Rachel Maddow show blog reported this week that the Tea Party Nation — founded by Tennessee lawyer Judson Phillips — sent out an email to supporters on Saturday urging them to support the Republican candidate in Minnesota’s 5th congressional district because the incumbent — Rep. Keith Ellison (D) — is too…Muslim. “Ellison is one of the most radical members of congress. … He is the only Muslim member of congress. He supports the Counsel for American Islamic Relations, HAMAS and has helped congress send millions of tax to terrorists in Gaza,” the email said. ThinkProgress noted that Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) is also Muslim. The Daily Caller reports today that Phillips has corrected his false claim that Ellison is the only Muslim member of Congress, but he refused to apologize, saying that he has a problem with Islam:

“I am not going to apologize because I’m bothered by a religion that says kill the infidel, especially when I am the infidel,” Phillips wrote on the Tea Party Nation website Tuesday. “Should we vote out Keith Ellison just because he is a Muslim? No. But his beliefs define his character and his character is a central issue.”

“A majority of Tea Party members, I suspect, are not fans of Islam,” Phillips said. “I, personally have a real problem with Islam. With Islam, you have a religion that says kill the Jews, kill the infidels. It bothers me when a religion says kill the infidels. It bothers me a lot more when I am the infidel.” [...] When asked if he would vote for a Muslim candidate who was a conservative, he replied, “I don’t know.”

Update

Phillips made similar comments to the Washington Post today. “If you read the Koran, the Koran in no uncertain terms says some wonderful things like, ‘Kill the infidels,’” he said. “It says it on more than one occasion. I happen to be the infidel. I have a real problem with people who want to kill me just because I’m the infidel.”

Climate Progress

Masters: “Strongest storm ever recorded in the Midwest smashes all-time pressure records”

By Joe Romm on Oct 27, 2010 at 5:02 pm

‘Weather bomb’ hits Midwest with power of major hurricane

My dad was the biggest Republican that ever walked the earth. He always said: “Actions have consequences.” To pretend that a 38% increase in greenhouse gases isn’t going to have any impact, that we can have our cake and eat it too, and smear it all over our face, and maybe have our grandchildren deal with the hangover, I think it is immoral.

That’s Minnesota meteorologist Paul Douglas in an exclusive interview with Brad Johnson about the “weather bomb” that just hit and the global warming deniers that populate his state.

Weather bomb

Visible satellite image of the October 26, 2010 superstorm taken at 5:32pm EDT. At the time, Bigfork, Minnesota was reporting the lowest pressure ever recorded in a U.S. non-coastal storm, 955 mb. Image credit: NASA/GSFC.

But let’s start with meteorologist Jeff Masters, who puts this staggering superstorm in context and examines the climate change angle:

Read more

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