ThinkFast: November 20, 2009
ThinkFast: November 20, 2009
“The tea party movement has become so rife with internal feuding over philosophy, strategy and money that some supporters fear it will disintegrate before realizing its full potential,” Politico reports. “Some of these groups may burn out, but this is part of this entrepreneurial process and the competition is good,” said Adam Brandon, vice president of communications for FreedomWorks.
“The Obama administration won’t announce its new comprehensive strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan until after Thanksgiving,” a White House official confirmed to Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin. “Observers and experts close to the discussions see it as the White House’s attempt to stage a full and controlled rollout over the week beginning November 30.”
A new survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association finds that nearly 1 in 10 homeowners with mortgages was at least one payment behind in the third quarter of the year. The delinquency rate is the highest since the association started keeping records in 1972.
The U.S. military says the vast majority of the 700 detainees at the prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan “could eventually be released because they’re fighting more for money than ideology.” Brig. Gen. Mark Martins said that 10 to 20 percent of the inmates at Bagram are considered hard-core or “irreconcilable” Taliban fighters.
“The U.S. Army will allow the media limited coverage of Sarah Palin’s appearance at Fort Bragg, but will bar reporters from interviewing her or her supporters on the post,” reports the AP. “A Fort Bragg spokesman initially said the Army would ban the media from Palin’s book signing next week, fearing it would turn into political grandstanding against President Barack Obama.”
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ThinkFast: November 19, 2009
ThinkFast: November 19, 2009
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) unveiled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act last night, a health care reform bill that combines elements from legislation that passed two Senate committees. According to Reid, the CBO says the bill will cost $848 billion over 10 years while reducing the deficit by $130 billion over a decade and extending coverage to 31 million uninsured Americans.
“In a ruling that could leave the government open to billions of dollars in claims from Hurricane Katrina victims,” a federal judge said yesterday “that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had displayed ‘gross negligence’ in failing to maintain a navigation channel — resulting in levee breaches that flooded large swaths of greater New Orleans.”
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was inaugurated today for a second term. With “around 800 Afghan and foreign dignitaries” in attendance — including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — Karzai said, “We want our security within five years to be entirely within the hands of the Afghan government and led by Afghans.”
President Obama has nominated Dana Perino, President Bush’s former press secretary, to a seat on the Broadcasting Board of Governors. He also nominated Susan McCue, former chief of staff to Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). Bush had previously nominated McCue, but “Senate Republicans refused to move her nomination.”
1 million: Number of people who “could lose unemployment benefits in January if Congress doesn’t extend federal aid,” according to a new report by the National Employment Law Project. Around 9 million people currently rely on jobless benefits, with unemployment at a 26-year high of 10.2 percent.
ThinkFast: November 18, 2009
ThinkFast: November 18, 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Afghanistan today “for a surprise visit on the eve of the inauguration of President Hamid Karzai.” Clinton, who is making her first visit to Afghanistan as secretary of state, “will attend Karzai’s Thursday inauguration to a second term, showing U.S. support for his government, after an election which was tainted by fraudulent balloting.”
President Obama told CBS News that leaks about his administration’s Afghanistan deliberations are “absolutely” a “firing offense.” “I think I am angrier than Bob Gates about it, partly because we have these deliberations in the Situation Room for a reason,” said Obama. “Because we are making decisions that are life-and-death, that affect how our troops will be able to operate in a theater of war.”
Former Bush adviser Karl Rove’s memoir will be released on March 9, 2010, and be titled “Courage and Consequence.” In a new statement, Rove said that the book will be “a frank account of what I witnessed and my often-controversial role.” Last year, Rove said that he was planning to “name names” of the people who never “accepted” Bush as a “legitimate president.”
The House “may pass a new economic stimulus bill by December 18 in a bid to combat sky-high US unemployment.” “I would certainly want to see us move something on jobs before that, and we are working on it now,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said, adding, “I wouldn’t characterize it as a second stimulus. I don’t want to be as broad as that, I want to be very targeted on jobs.”
President Obama “directly acknowledged for the first time” today that the prison at Guantanamo Bay will not close by the January 2010 deadline he set. Saying he was “not disappointed,” Obama “said he hoped to still achieve that goal sometime next year.”
A retraction, and an apology to Mark Shields.
A retraction, and an apology to Mark Shields.
Yesterday, ThinkProgress reported that syndicated columnist Mark Shields said this weekend on Inside Washington, referring to Obama’s Afghanistan war decision, that he is “nostalgic” for the days when the U.S. “had a manly man in the White House who could say, ‘Let’s kick some tail and ask questions afterwards.’” Shields contacted ThinkProgress this morning and kindly informed us that his comments were intended to be sarcastic. We regret our error in misinterpreting his comments and for questioning his motives. Shields told us that his comments were meant to disparage those who consistently argue that more war will solve America’s problems and that his statement was directed at co-panelist and right-wing neoconservative Charles Krauthammer, who, according to Shields, was displeased with the remark. With a deeper appreciation for his wit, we extend our sincere apologies to Mr. Shields.
ThinkFast: November 17, 2009
ThinkFast: November 17, 2009
With the federal deficit at “a record $1.4 trillion,” a plan for reducing long-term deficits will be “a key component” of President Obama’s State of the Union address. “It is foremost on his mind and the mind of the economic team,” White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said yesterday.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York — then led by current Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner — “gave up much of its power” and overpaid AIG’s banking clients to “tear up their contracts” during last fall’s bailout, according to a new report from the special inspector general for the TARP. The report faults the NY Fed for failing to secure a good deal for taxpayers.
Though a new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that Americans are “deeply divided” over President Obama’s health care reform proposal, “Americans continue to support key elements of the legislation, including a mandate that employers provide health insurance to their workers and access to a government-sponsored insurance plan for those people without insurance.”
For its cover photo on Sarah Palin, Newsweek elected to recycle a picture taken by Runner’s World depicting the former governor in her jogging outfit. Palin has released a statement blasting the photo. “The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now,” she said.
After gaining access to the once secret underground nuclear enrichment plant in Qom, IAEA inspectors “voiced strong suspicions” that Iran is concealing other nuclear facilities. The IAEA report appeared “highly skeptical” that Iran did not construct other facilities in case its main centers of fuel production were bombed.
ThinkFast: November 16, 2009
ThinkFast: November 16, 2009
In Singapore this weekend, President Obama “was forced to acknowledge that a comprehensive climate deal was beyond reach this year,” dashing his desire for the United States to “lead the way toward a global agreement in Copenhagen next month to address the warming planet.” Instead, Obama expressed support on Sunday for a plan “to pursue a two-step process at the Copenhagen conference.”
During his first public appearance in China, President Obama pressed for greater “universal rights” — “freedoms of expression and worship, of access to information and political participation.” Speaking to 500 “carefully screened” students in Shanghai, Obama’s “most provocative” statement was a call for greater Internet freedom.
In his first interview since the Fort Hood rampage, Yemeni American cleric Anwar al-Aulaqi “said that he neither ordered nor pressured Maj. Nidal M. Hasan to harm Americans, but that he considered himself a confidant of the Army psychiatrist.” Aulaqi said he may have played a role in transforming Hasan into a devout Muslim and “the two developed an e-mail correspondence over the past year.”
“Despite a solid Democratic majority in the Senate, Obama is on pace to set a record for the fewest judges confirmed during a president’s first year in the White House.” So far, only six of Obama’s nominees to the lower federal courts have won approval, while President George W. Bush had 28 judges confirmed and President Clinton had 27 confirmed in their respective first years in office.
Iraqi doctors in war-ravaged Fallujah are reporting a huge rise in birth defects among infants. “Before 2003 [the start of the war] I was seeing sporadic numbers of deformities in babies. Now the frequency of deformities has increased dramatically,” said Fallujah general hospital’s director Dr. Ayman Qais.
McCain urges town hall attendees to cut up their AARP membership cards.
McCain urges town hall attendees to cut up their AARP membership cards.
Last week, the AARP, a nonpartisan organization that advocates on behalf of those aged 50 and over, endorsed the House health care bill. “We can say with confidence that it meets our priorities for protecting Medicare, providing more affordable health insurance for 50- to 64-year-olds and reforming our health care system,” AARP vice president Nancy Leamond said. At a town hall meeting in Arizona on Friday, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) vowed to “fight with every fiber of my body” to oppose a similar health care reform bill in the Senate. He then claimed that Medicare will actually be “cut” and reportedly urged the town hall attendees to tear up their AARP membership cards:
The 2,000-page bill would mean more regulation and mandates, he said. People wouldn’t be able to keep the coverage they had. It would also increase taxes and the cost of Medicare, he said.
The bill claims to save $500 billion in waste from Medicare, he said.
“I don’t think so,” McCain said. “I think it’s going to cut it.”
He encouraged audience members to cut up their AARP cards and send them back.
ThinkFast: November 13, 2009
ThinkFast: November 13, 2009
Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others accused of involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks will be put on criminal trial in New York. The move is “the first set of decisions before a Monday deadline on how to deal with the more than 200 prisoners remaining” at Gitmo.
White House Counsel Greg Craig is expected to announce his resignation “as early as Friday,” ending an “embattled tenure in which he struggled to lead the closure” of the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Craig will be replaced by Bob Bauer, “a prominent Democratic lawyer who is Obama’s personal attorney.”
“President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year’s State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit in 2010 — and will downplay other new domestic spending beyond jobs programs.” The administration plans to look for “ways to cut spending, reduce the growth in costs in other areas besides health care, and find ways to get Republicans to share the risk.”
The Treasury Department reported yesterday that the federal deficit for October hit a record $176.4 billion, “even higher than the $150 billion imbalance that economists expected.” The deficit for FY2009, which ended on Sept. 30, “set an all-time record in dollar terms of $1.42 trillion.”
A Goldman Sachs study conducted last month concluded that the passage of any health reform legislation would restrain health insurance company profits. HuffPost’s Sam Stein writes, “Simply put: health care reform is going to hurt their bottom line. No less a prestigious voice than Goldman Sachs is telling them so.”
ThinkFast: November 12, 2009
ThinkFast: November 12, 2009
President Obama will not accept any of the options given to him by Gen. Stanley McChrystal on the future of U.S. involvement in the Afghanistan war. Obama “believes the U.S. needs to make clear to the Afghan government that America’s commitment to the country isn’t open ended,” an official said in a statement.
Karl W. Eikenberry, the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, has sent two cables to Washington in the past week expressing his opposition to a troop surge in Afghanistan. Eikenberry instead favors a focus on improving governance and anti-corruption measures in the country.
A new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll has found that 56 percent of Americans oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan and just 40 percent support the war there, where as 58 percent oppose the conflict.
A repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” will “likely be included as part of next year’s Department of Defense authorization bill in both chambers of Congress,” according to Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). Congress would vote on the legislation next spring, and it will go into effect Oct. 1, 2010.
In a speech at Southern Methodist University today, President Bush will initiate his new public policy institute “as a forum for study and advocacy in four main areas: education, global health, human freedom and economic growth.” Bush “will announce the appointment of the first five of two dozen scholars to be affiliated” with the George W. Bush Institute. Laura Bush will also give a speech.
ThinkFast: November 10, 2009
ThinkFast: November 10, 2009
President Obama will be at Fort Hood today, speaking at a memorial service for the men and women who died in last week’s shooting. Around “3,000 spectators, as well as the families of the 12 soldiers and one civilian killed, are expected to attend.” Vice President Biden will be at Fort Lewis, WA to “speak at the memorial ceremony for seven Stryker brigade soldiers” who were killed in Afghanistan two weeks ago.
Ft. Hood shooter Maj. Nidal M. Hasan gave a presentation on Islam in 2007 to mental health staff members, in which he said “it’s getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims.” Hasan also reportedly corresponded with a radical cleric in Yemen.
President Obama said yesterday that “Congress needs to change abortion-related language in the health care bill passed by the House.” “I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill,” Obama told ABC News. “And we’re not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions.”
In a recent interview, RNC Chairman Michael Steele said that white Republicans are afraid of him. “I mean I’ve been in the room and they’ve been scared of me,” he said, “I’m like, ‘I’m on your side.’” Steele has previously claimed he would reach out to black voters by offering them fried chicken and potato salad.
In a 13-page strategy memo circulated to his colleagues, House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN) says Republicans need to hammer “Pelosi Health Care” over the upcoming recess. Pence instructs his members how to talk about “Speaker Pelosi’s 1,990 page bill.”
ThinkFast: November 9, 2009
ThinkFast: November 9, 2009
The historic health care legislation passed by the House over the weekend included an amendment that sharply restricts “the availability of coverage for abortions.” Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) said she has collected “more than 40 signatures from House Democrats vowing to oppose any final bill that includes the amendment — enough to block passage.”
As chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) will lead an investigation into the Fort Hood shootings to look for “signs of ‘Islamic extremism.’” Lieberman said on Fox News Sunday that the shootings may be “the most destructive terrorist act to be committed on American soil since 9/11.”
Former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev said that President Obama should begin a withdrawal from Afghanistan. “I think that what’s needed is not additional forces,” he said, “this is something that we discussed, too, years ago but we decided not to do it. And I think our experience deserves attention.”
President Obama is reportedly nearing a decision to send up to 34,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. “This is not going to be an easy sell [to the American public],” one administration official told McClatchy.
The three biggest banks to exit the government’s TARP program — Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s investment bank — “are set to pay record bonuses this year,” totaling $29.7 billion. “It doesn’t seem as if even political threat, disastrous PR, envy, rising unemployment rates and home repossessions is enough to get any of these people to refuse the bonuses they have ‘earned,’” said Paul Hodgson of Corporate Library.
GOP Gone Wild: Unruly Republicans Silence Women Lawmakers With Screams, Shouts, And Delay Tactics
GOP Gone Wild: Unruly Republicans Silence Women Lawmakers With Screams, Shouts, And Delay Tactics
This morning, the House began consideration of the rule for debate of the House health care bill. As the Democratic Women’s Caucus took to the microphone on the House floor to offer their arguments for how the bill would benefit women, House Republicans — led by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) — repeatedly talked over, screamed, and shouted objections. “I object, I object, I object, I object, I object,” Price interjected as Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) tried to hold the floor.
In an effort to delay and derail the proceedings, the Republicans continually talked over the Democratic women for half an hour. They sought to prevent the debate by calling for unnecessary “parliamentary inquiries” and requests for “expanding the debate” by an hour.
After being repeatedly interrupted by Republican shouts, Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH) observed:
Do I not have the right to be able to continue my sentence without objections that are trying to censor my remarks here on the floor that I have a right to make as a member of this House?
Watch a compilation:
The presiding chair of the House, Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), tried to assuage the Republican ruckus, without much success. The debate must be conducted with “a measure of comity and grace and decency,” Dingell urged. “There’s no advantage to be achieved by making all this fuss,” he told the Republicans.
Jewish Organizations Condemn GOP For Standing By As Tea Party Protesters Waved ‘Vile’ Anti-Semitic Signs
Jewish Organizations Condemn GOP For Standing By As Tea Party Protesters Waved ‘Vile’ Anti-Semitic Signs
One of the most disturbing images from yesterday’s Tea Party rally against health care reform on Capitol Hill was a protester’s gruesome sign showing a pile of dead Holocaust victims. The banner — captured by ThinkProgress here — read: “National Socialist Health Care: Dachau, Germany – 1945.” Another sign said that “Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds [sic],” a reference to the famous Jewish banking family often implicated in conspiracy theories. Today, Nobel Prize winner and Holoacaust survivor Elie Wiesel strongly condemned the signs, calling them “indecent and disgusting.” From his foundation’s Twitter page:
The National Jewish Democratic Council also criticized the “vile invocations of Nazi and Holocaust rhetoric” and called out GOP leaders who stood in plain view of the signs but ignored them. The Simon Wiesenthal Center demanded that the rally organizers “publicly repudiate the use of Nazi and Holocaust imagery.” Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) made similar comments in a video he posted on YouTube, singling out the rally’s organizer, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN):
I can’t believe that Congresswoman Bachmann would stand where she stood, and see those images, and not have the common decency to say, “I disagree with the use of those images.” I think that she owes the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust an apology. She owes us all an apology. And I’m waiting. We’re all waiting.
Watch it:
When Politico asked House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-OH) spokesman for comment on these signs, he simply replied, “Leader Boehner did not see any such sign. Obviously, it would be grossly inappropriate.” Today, Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) spokesman called the photograph “inappropriate.”
ThinkFast: November 6, 2009
ThinkFast: November 6, 2009
A new labor report this morning indicates 190,000 jobs were lost last month. Unemployment rose to 10.2 percent in October, the highest rate since April 1983 and “much higher than analysts expected.”
Nidal M. Hasan’s name “appears on radical Internet postings,” including “posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.” A fellow officer says Hasan “argued with soldiers who supported U.S. wars,” and while an intern at Walter Reed, Hasan reportedly had some “difficulties” that required counseling and extra supervision.
President Obama will make his first visit as president to Walter Reed Army Medical Center this afternoon. The White House says the visit was scheduled before the fatal shootings at Fort Hood yesterday. Obama is also pushing back a planned trip to Capitol Hill “aimed at discussing the proposed health care overhaul with lawmakers” from today to Saturday.
House Democratic leaders are trying to secure 218 votes to pass a health care reform bill this weekend. Of the 258 House Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — while “confident of victory” — is “working to limit defections to the roughly 25 Democrats viewed as ‘hard no’ votes.”
The editorial boards of both the New York Times and the Washington Post today sharply criticized Congress’s plans to expand a home buyer’s tax credit as stimulus. “This costly giveaway to the real estate and mortgage industry will spend far more in taxpayers’ dollars than it can ever deliver in economic benefit,” writes the NYT. The Post called the extension “a bad idea.”
Republicans wouldn’t find coverage under their own health plan.
Republicans wouldn’t find coverage under their own health plan.
The Congressional Budget Office has concluded that the overwhelming majority of Americans would remain uninsured and continue paying higher premiums under the Republicans’ health care alternative. In fact, it’s unlikely that any of the members of the Republican House Leadership would be able to find affordable insurance under their own proposal, should they chose to give up their government-sponsored plans. The six men and one woman in the Republican House leadership have an average age of 52 and, as a group, are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease, different cancers, high blood pressure, and a host of other chronic diseases. The Republican health alternative would allow insurers to discriminate against these conditions and price the Republican leaders out of the market. Igor Volsky explains why Republicans wouldn’t find coverage under their own health plan.
ThinkFast: November 5, 2009
ThinkFast: November 5, 2009
In a conference call last night that was arranged by the corporate front group Americans for Prosperity, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) called on protesters to “scare” members of Congress into killing health care reform. “Republican organizers are planning for activists to go into the House office buildings and the U.S. Capitol and confront members directly.”
Speaking on the House floor yesterday, Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) read estimates of how many people will die in each congressional district if health care legislation is not passed. “Is it really asking too much of us that we keep people alive?” asked Grayson. “We know according to the Harvard study we will keep these people alive.”
After clearing “one of the final hurdles” late Tuesday, Democratic House leaders are pushing for a Saturday vote on their health care bill. House leaders “didn’t appear to have secured the 218 votes they need” due to concern about the funding of abortions, but leaders are moving to quickly swear in two newly-elected Democrats in an effort to pass the bill before next week’s holiday.
The Republican wins in New Jersey and Virginia helped inflate Fox News’ ratings Tuesday night, the New York Times reports. Fox, which was the only cable network to see significant ratings increase on election night, had its “biggest percentage gains” when the Republican governor-elects gave their victory speeches.
Senate Democrats are considering passing their climate bill out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee without amendments today due to a GOP boycott of the mark up process. The committee is due to convene at 9 a.m. today.
Creigh Deeds Failed To Run As A Progressive
Creigh Deeds Failed To Run As A Progressive
Republican Bob McDonnell won a “landslide” victory over Democrat Creigh Deeds in yesterday’s gubernatorial election in Virginia, sweeping the state by a whopping 18 points. Exit polls showed Democrats had “trouble getting their base to the polls.” One possible explanation: Deeds did not run as a progressive reformer.
McDonnell “spent much of the campaign trying to tie Deeds to cap-and-trade environmental legislation and pro-union legislation on Capitol Hill that is unpopular with many Virginia voters.” But rather than make the affirmative case for progressive policy reforms, Deeds responded by largely “distanc[ing] himself from Obama’s agenda, especially on health and energy policy.” Some key examples:
NOT PROGRESSIVE ON CLIMATE: By the end of his campaign, Deeds was running ads attacking Obama’s clean energy agenda, saying Obama’s “cap and trade bill” would “hurt the people of Virginia.” Other ads carried the same message: “Creigh Deeds says no to any new energy taxes from Washington.” Instead of disputing his Republican opponent’s false attacks on climate legislation, Deeds amplified them. Deeds chose to run away from his past record on environment and climate issues. He had been a leader in “getting a land-preservation tax credit program into effect and supporting mass transit,” and “supporting a gas tax to fund transportation improvements.” Deeds “was one of 40 members of a commission on climate change convened by Virginia’s current governor.” His campaign platform included strong renewable energy and energy efficiency standards and environmental protection programs. Deeds embraced some coal industry positions. During the primary season, Deeds defended the despicable practice of mountaintop removal, telling a reporter in March, “The coal industry calls it surface mining.”
NOT PROGRESSIVE ON HEALTH CARE: During the final gubernatorial debate, Deeds stressed that health reform must “reduce costs so more people can afford insurance” and “increase coverage,” but argued that creating the option of a public health care plan “isn’t required.” “I don’t think the public option is necessary in any plan…I would certainly consider opting out if that were available to Virginia,” he said. After the debate, Deeds conceded that the plan might be “one way” to reduce costs, but “maybe one way might not be the best way.” “We have to leave all options on the table to find ways to reduce costs and increase coverage,” he concluded. The Deeds campaigned also issued a statement reiterating the candidate’s lukewarm support for the plan. “If the public option proves to be the best way” to reduce costs and expand
coverage, “he’d support having Virginia participate. He’ll examine all of the proposals on the table and choose the option than provides
Virginians with the most affordable and quality coverage.”NOT PROGRESSIVE ON LABOR ISSUES: “When I’m governor, you won’t just have a friend in Richmond — you’ll have a partner,” Deeds told union supporters in October, 2008. However, despite support from SEIU and the Teamsters, Deeds then proceeded to campaign on an anti-labor platform. He opposed the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) — which would have created a fairer path toward unionization for workers — saying it would “put us at a competitive disadvantage” and reasserting the false right-wing claim that EFCA would eliminate the secret ballot in union elections. Deeds also did not support the right of public safety employees in Virginia to bargain collectively, “because it would carry with it the right to strike.” However, Deeds had previously told the Fraternal Order of Police of Virginia that he was a “strong” supporter of their right to collectively bargain.
NOT PROGRESSIVE ON IMMIGRATION REFORM: More than one in ten Virginians are immigrants. The Immigration Policy Center also points out that Latinos comprised 2.0% (or 74,000) of Virginia voters in the 2008 elections — enough to make a difference in a tight race. Creigh Deeds might regret repeatedly voting in favor of legislation that would hurt a large and growing part of his constituency. Deeds voted alongside his contender, Republican Robert F. McDonnell, to designate English as the state’s official language. He also supported denying undocumented immigrants state or local benefits. Deeds recently voted in favor of a bill that would’ve restricted in-state college tuition benefits to undocumented immigrants. And although undocumented immigrants can’t vote, about one-third of all “unauthorized families” in the country are “mixed-status families,” or families that include legal resident and US citizen family members. Neither Deeds nor McDonnell talked much about immigration on the campaign trail, however, Deeds’ organizers told the Washington Post that he would treat immigration as a federal issue and McDonnell would not.
ThinkFast: November 4, 2009
ThinkFast: November 4, 2009
Concerns over jobs and the economy helped propel Republicans to sweep the gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia. In Virginia, Governor-elect Bob McDonnell pledged “a wise and frugal government” and to keep taxes, regulation and litigation “to a minimum.” In New Jersey, Governor-elect Chris Christie pledged to cut regulations and spending and “get government back under control.”
In New York’s 23rd congressional district, Bill Owens scored a historic victory by becoming the first Democrat to carry the district since the mid-19th century. In California, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, who “never retreated from his support of progressive policies” during the campaign, easily won a special election.
Fifty-three percent of Maine voters chose to repeal the state’s same-sex marriage law yesterday, with 47 percent voting against the proposition. There was brighter news for gay rights advocates in Washington state, where voters narrowly approved Referendum 71 granting “registered domestic partners additional state-granted rights currently given only to married couples.”
On a 344 to 36 vote, the House yesterday rejected a U.N. report that accuses Israeli and Palestinian forces of war crimes during last year’s war in the Gaza Strip as “irredeemably biased and unworthy of further consideration or legitimacy.” The nonbinding resolution urges the Obama administration “to oppose unequivocally any endorsement” of the report.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has set aside an earlier ruling that would have allowed five victims of the U.S. rendition program to sue the U.S. government. At the behest of the Obama administration’s Department of Justice, the case will be re-heard before an 11-judge panel December 15th.
ThinkFast: November 3, 2009
ThinkFast: November 3, 2009
Buoyed by their success in New York’s 23rd congressional race, right-wing activists “are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.” “What you’re going to see,” said FreedomWorks’ Dick Armey, “is moderates and conservatives across the country in primaries.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has reportedly reached a “private understanding” with Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) that would ensure the Connecticut senator does not block a final vote on health care reform. “Lieberman keeps assuring Reid that he’s OK,” said one source. “But he’s one of those characters — you never know with Joe.
“Maine could become the first state to endorse gay marriage by popular referendum” today “as voters head to the polls to decide whether to repeal a recently-passed law legalizing unions between people of the same gender.” Following the disappointment of Proposition 8’s success last year in California, “advocates of same-sex marriage are optimistic that ballot box history won’t repeat itself in Maine.”
The suicide rate in the Army has passed that of the general population for the first time. Sixteen American soldiers took their lives in October, and suicides have risen 36 percent since 2006.
The Senate voted 85-2 to cut off debate on a bill that would expand homebuyer and business tax credits and expand jobless benefits. This bill would add up to 20 more weeks of aid to unemployment benefits, extending them through Thanksgiving and Christmas.
ThinkFast: November 2, 2009
ThinkFast: November 2, 2009
Afghan officials cancelled the country’s run-off presidential election set to take place this Saturday after challenger Abdullah Abdullah announced his withdrawal from the race. The officials declared President Hamid Karzai the winner. An election commission official “cited security and financial concerns about the cost of the vote.”
According to a summary of the FBI’s interview with Dick Cheney regarding the Valerie Plame CIA leak scandal, on 72 occasions, the former vice president said “he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small.” The equivocations underscore prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s famous declaration that “there is a cloud over the vice president.”
“Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James T. Conway has emerged in internal Pentagon deliberations as the most outspoken opponent of permitting gay men and women to serve openly in the U.S. military,” the Washington Times reports. “He feels very strongly that [removing the ban] would be disruptive, and he opposes it,” said a former senior Pentagon official. President Obama has pledged to repeal the policy.
As the Senate climate change bill emerges from committee tomorrow, “key Republicans are making their opposition clear.” “Why are we trying to jam down this legislation now?” asked Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) at a hearing last week. Now, “Democratic leaders, with the support of the Obama administration, are trying to sway at least half a dozen Republicans by offering” support for new nuclear power plants.
A fact-checking performed by the AP shows that many Republican lawmakers are using “grade school arithmetic” to criticize the stimulus package. The AP notes that critics are complaining that the stimulus cost $246,000 a job, ignoring material costs and the ongoing value of jobs created.
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