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Stories tagged with “Todd Akin”

LGBT

Akin Advances Military ‘License To Bully’ Amendment

By Zack Ford on May 8, 2012 at 4:10 pm

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) is still concerned that the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell has made the military too gay-friendly. He has proposed an amendment (PDF) to the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act that would essentially create a “license to bully” for military personnel with anti-gay beliefs, with a special layer of protection for military chaplains:

The Armed Forces shall accommodate the conscience and sincerely held moral principles and religious beliefs of the members of the Armed Forces concerning the appropriate and inappropriate expression of human sexuality and may not use such conscience, principles, or beliefs as the basis of any adverse personnel action, discrimination, or denial of promotion, schooling, training, or assignment. [...]

No member of the Armed Forces may (A) direct, order, or require a chaplain to perform any duty, rite, ritual, ceremony, service, or function that is contrary to the conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the chaplain, or contrary to the moral principles and religious beliefs of the endorsing faith group of the chaplain; or (B) discriminate or take any adverse personnel action against a chaplain, including denial of promotion, schooling, training, or assignment, on the basis of the refusal by the chaplain to comply with a direction, order, or requirement prohibited by sub-paragraph (A).

In other words, under Akin’s amendment, any servicemember would have free reign to express anti-gay views, regardless of what consequences they have to unit morale. For example, homophobic officers could intimidate and condemn gay troops serving under them, compromising productivity and creating a hostile environment of disrespect and potential violence. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell may no longer be law, but it seems Akin still wants a military that forces out its gay troops.

Last year, all of the anti-gay amendments offered by Akin and Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) were ultimately dropped from the defense budget. Hopefully the same happens this year.

Update

MetroWeekly reports that this amendment and another banning same-sex marriages on military bases are the handiwork of some of the most notorious anti-gay groups, including:

  • Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness.
  • Brian Duggan, a lobbyist for the National Organization for Marriage.
  • Austin Nimocks and Daniel Blomberg, lawyers with the Alliance Defense Fund.
  • Tom McClusky from the Family Research Council.
  • Doug Lee and Ron Crews from the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.
  • Nathaniel Bennett, the director of government affairs for the American Center for Law and Justice.

Education

Missouri GOP Rep. Says Federal Student Loans Gave America ‘Stage Three Cancer Of Socialism’

By Travis Waldron on Apr 26, 2012 at 9:35 am

Under pressure from President Obama and Senate Democrats, House Republicans unveiled their plan to prevent a scheduled hike in interest rates on federal student loans Wednesday, but they probably won’t be counting on the support of Missouri Rep. Todd Akin (R).

At a debate over the weekend, Akin, who is running for Senate, said involving the government in the student loan process has given the government a “stage three cancer of socialism”:

AKIN: America has got the equivalent of the stage three cancer of socialism because the federal government is tampering in all kinds of stuff it has no business tampering in. So first, to answer your question precisely, what the Democrats get rid of the private student loans and take it all over by the government was wrong, it was a lousy bill, and that’s why I voted no. The government needs to get its nose out of the education business.

Akin isn’t the first Republican to come out against student loans recently, nor is he the first to make the false claim that the government “took over” the student loan process. The reform plan passed by Democrats as part of the health care overhaul did not take over the private student loan industry — as Akin surely knows, there is still a large private student loan industry. Instead, it removed banks from the process that was already managed by the federal government.

Obama used a speech at the University of Iowa to mock Akin yesterday. “You’ve got one member of Congress who compared these loans, I’m not kidding here, to a stage three cancer of socialism,” Obama said. “Stage three cancer? I don’t even know where to start. What do you mean? What are you talking about? C’mon. Just when you think you’ve heard it all in Washington, somebody comes up with a new way to go off the deep end.”

NEWS FLASH

Republican Congressman Calls Female Senator A ‘Gal’ | Rep. Todd Akin (R) is one of three Republicans vying for the chance to run against Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) in the fall. At a GOP candidate forum yesterday, the congressman referred to the senator as “this gal,” a title that some might consider demeaning for a sitting U.S. senator. Missouri News Horizons reports:

“Everybody always says, ‘if you don’t elect me, we can’t beat the Democrats.’ I’m not as pessimistic as John [Brunner, another Republican candidate], I think any of the three of us could beat this gal,” Akin said.

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Apr 24, 2012 at 2:29 pm

Economy

VIDEO: All 3 Missouri GOP Senate Candidates Stumped When Asked To Identify The Minimum Wage

By Scott Keyes on Mar 16, 2012 at 3:10 pm

John Brunner, Sarah Steelman, and Todd Akin don't know what the minimum wage is

Three Missouri Republicans running to take on Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) in November were asked during a radio debate on KMOX what the federal minimum wage is and whether they would vote to increase it. None of the three knew what the minimum wage it, but all knew that they would vote against increasing it, regardless.

Host Charlie Brennan asked the three candidates — businessman John Brunner, former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman, and Rep. Todd Akin — “What is the federal minimum wage? Would you vote to increase it?” Here are their responses to the first question:

BRENNAN: Okay, do you know what the minimum wage is?

BRUNNER: No sir.

BRENNAN: How about you Sarah Steelman?

STEELMAN: Uh…$7.50 an hour.

BRENNAN: Do you know what the minimum wage is?



AKIN: My guess is its somewhere in the 6 or 7, but I don’t know the exact number right now.



Watch it:

The federal minimum wage (and Missouri’s minimum wage) is $7.25 per hour. Certainly all three should know the wage level at which four million American workers are at or below. Akin, especially, should know, since in 2007 he voted against raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25.

The candidates’ explanations for not wanting to raise the minimum wage ranged from nonsensical (Brunner said his business gave “better than the minimum benefits”) to extreme, with Akin calling for scrapping the minimum wage altogether. “I don’t think the government should be setting prices on wages in any way shape or form,” said Akin.

Steelman was opposed to raising the minimum wage because she “think[s] it’s high enough as it is.” A person working a minimum-wage job for 40-hour work weeks with no vacation would earn just $15,080 over the course of the year, before taxes.

Perhaps explaining their ignorance of the current minimum wage is the fact that none of the three candidates personally live anywhere near it. Akin owns two homes and receives an annual congressional salary of $174,000. Steelman has donated upwards of $400,000 to her own Senate campaign. Brunner tops them all, sporting a net worth of approximately $100 million.

NEWS FLASH

Anti-Gay Amendments Dropped From Defense Bill | The House and Senate have reached a compromise on the National Defense Authorization Act that includes dropping both anti-gay provisions from the bill. Rep. Vicky Hartzler’s (R-MO) amendment had “reaffirmed” the Defense of Marriage Act as applicable throughout the Department of Defense, while Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) would have prohibited military chaplains from performing same-sex marriages. However, lawmakers also removed a Senate amendment dropping anti-sodomy provisions from the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

LGBT

Akin Would Compromise Defense Budget To Discriminate Against Same-Sex Couples

By Zack Ford on Nov 2, 2011 at 4:31 pm

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) continues his quest to impose discrimination upon same-sex couples in the military through the Defense Authorization Act. He and 85 of his House colleagues have called upon the Senate to maintain the amendments he and Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO) added, which extend the Defense of Marriage Act to prohibit same-sex marriages from being performed by military chaplains or on military bases:

We recognize that the national Defense Authorization Act is well underway and needed funds for our troops should be expedited without delay. However, we respectfully request that an amendment similar to that passed by the House be included to ensure that this administration follow the law as written and comply with DOMA. It is not the place of any citizen of this country to pick and choose which laws will be obeyed. We expect citizens sworn to defend those laws to set the example in their application.

Akin’s request is an overreach that directly targets servicemembers’ religious liberty. The Defense of Marriage Act defines what is recognized by the government as marriage, but in no way prohibits same-sex marriages from being performed.

NEWS FLASH

GOP Rep. Akin: Obama Is A ‘Flaming Socialist’ On Debt Negotiations | In an interview with PoliticsMo, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) called President Obama a “flaming socialist” who is incapable of negotiating with Republicans on raising the debt ceiling. The fact that Akin would deem Obama a hardcore socialist after the president has caved to nearly every Republican demand, agreeing to slash trillions in spending and cut social safety net programs, in exchange for a what should be a non-controversial move to pay off the country’s debt shows just how far Akin is willing to diverge from reality to attack the president.

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jul 25, 2011 at 3:00 pm

Politics

GOP Rep. Todd Akin: ‘No, I’m Not Going To Apologize’ For Saying Liberals Hate God

By Tanya Somanader on Jun 28, 2011 at 10:50 am

GOP Rep. Todd Akin (MO)

GOP Rep. Todd Akin (MO) came under fire this week after he declared, “The heart of liberalism really is a hatred of God.” Several religious leaders blasted Akin for contorting religious faith into a political attack. Rabbi Jim Bennett of Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis, Missouri scolded Akin for his “grotesque” attack and for making “a mockery of his own understanding of these liberal values and of God.” Unitarian Rev. Krista Taves of St. Louis told Akin, “You know very little about liberals, and sadly enough, you also seem to know very little about God and his son Jesus.”

Despite the blowback, Akin is flatly refusing to apologize. Akin told KMOX yesterday that, “to be a little more precise,” liberals have “a hatred for public references for God.” When asked whether he’d apologize to groups insulted by his words, Akin scoffed, stating “I’m not going to apologize for what I see liberalism doing in trying take God out”:

AKIN: No, I don’t think there’s anything to apologize for. I think I can clarify that I was talking about public references, too. I think that clarifies it a little bit. But there’s just such a historic pattern there, that I think that it probably could’ve been clarified but no, I’m not going to apologize for what I see liberalism doing in trying to take God out.

Listen here:

Akin then pointed to Thomas Jefferson, who he interpreted as saying that “if you don’t believe your rights come from God, then anytime a king or emperor or tyrant tells you to do something else, you say ‘Oh I guess I have to do what he says.’” Incidentally, Jefferson was a staunch believer in the separation of church and state, helped enshrine that principle into Virginia law, and used it as the basis for the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. That “historical pattern,” however, seems to be irrelevant to Akin.

Politics

Akin Refuses To Apologize For Accusing Liberals Of Hating God

By Travis Waldron on Jun 27, 2011 at 1:30 pm

A spokesperson for Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), who last week accused liberals of having a “hatred for God,” refused to apologize for those remarks, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Akin’s communications director, Steve Taylor, told the Post-Dispatch that Akin was commenting on a difference between the two ideas: while conservatives believe rights come from God, liberals think they come from the government. Taylor said Akin was not referring to any individual’s beliefs, only the “defining principles of two political ideologies.”

Update

Multiple religious leaders have fired back at Akin’s original comments. Rabbi Jim Bennett of Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis:

Representative Akin has taken a broadcasting gaff made by NBC during last week’s U.S. Open golf championship, for which the network quickly apologized, and turned it into a grotesque politicized attack upon the network and upon all those who espouse the values of “liberalism.”

With his outrageous statement, Representative Akin makes a mockery of his own understanding of these liberal values and of God.

Vicky Trippe, a voting rights activist in Missouri, responded:

“It’s because of my faith in God that I’m a Liberal Democrat. And it’s through government programs like Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare, that we can most effectively take care of those in need. It’s through God’s teachings, and our love for God, that we see these programs as a tool of God, not hatred and certainly not as a replacement.”

Rev. Krista Taves, of Emerson Unitarian Universalist Chapter in St. Louis, wrote to Akin:

For you to say that liberals hate God means you know very little about liberals, and sadly enough, you also seem to know very little about God and his son Jesus, who said that ‘as you do to the least of these, you do unto me.’

Politics

GOP Rep. Todd Akin: ‘The Heart Of Liberalism Really Is A Hatred For God’

By Tanya Somanader on Jun 24, 2011 at 4:00 pm

GOP Rep. Todd Akin (MO)

Last Sunday, Americans tuning in to NBC watched 22-year-old golf star Rory McIlroy become the second youngest U.S. Open champion in nearly a century. Right-wing spectators, however, caught their latest scandal. In a pre-taped segment leading off the telecast, NBC played the Pledge of Allegiance but imprudently omitted the words “under God” and “indivisible.” NBC later apologized that day for the edit, stating, “It was not done to upset anyone and we’d like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it.”

Republicans, however, used the omission as an opportunity to expound upon American moral decline. GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich actually used the edit to plug his book A National Like No Other as “dramatically more relevant” in light of NBC’s edit. Avid golfer Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH) actually fired off a letter to the U.S. Golf Association asking them to reconsider “its relationship with NBC in advance of any future events.” “When we silence the name of God, we dim the light of freedom that defines us,” Renacci wrote. “That is why this matters.”

Today, Right Wing Watch reports that Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) argues NBC’s omission is actually emblematic of a deeper evil. Joining Family Research Council president Tony Perkins in outrage over the omission, Akin said NBC “systematically” edited out “under God” because NBC is a “very liberal” news outlet and “at the heart of liberalism is really a hatred of God“:

AKIN: This was something that was done systematically, it was done intentionally, and is tremendously corrosive in terms of all of the values and everything that’s made America unique and such a special nation.

PERKINS: Why would NBC do this?

AKIN: Well, I think NBC has a long record of being very liberal and at the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God and a belief that government should replace God. And so they’ve had a long history of not being at all favorable toward many of things that have been such a blessing to our country…This is a systematic effort to try to separate our faith and God, which is a source in our belief in individual liberties, from our country. And when you do that you tear the heart out of our country.

Listen here:

Incidentally, the words “under God” were not in the original Pledge of Allegiance written by Baptist Minister Francis Bellamy in 1892. The phrase was added via a joint resolution of Congress that President Dwight Eisenhower signed into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.

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