Greek Bailout: An Extreme Necessity
Media Leave “South Park” Creators Out to Dry
Diana West, DC Examiner
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of “South Park,” get it.They get the free-speech significance of the Danish Muhammad cartoons epitomized by Kurt Westergaard's bomb-head Muhammad.
‘Colbert Report’: The Lindsey Graham Sex Tape
Suddenly, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is under the microscope for maybe, potentially, being gay! What’s a conservative Southern senator to do? Well, as Stephen Colbert points out, hanging around with Sen. Joe Lieberman might help, but releasing a (straight) sex tape would be even better.
Suddenly, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is under the microscope for maybe, potentially, being gay! What’s a conservative Southern senator to do? Well, as Stephen Colbert points out, hanging around with Sen. Joe Lieberman might help, but releasing a (straight) sex tape would be even better.
‘You Shall Not Pass’
It seems the GOP’s “make sure nothing happens in government” approach is still going strong, with Senate Republicans blocking an effort by Democrats to begin debate on widely popular legislation to regulate the nation’s financial system. Bickering over who was pre-empting which negotiations, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell claimed debate should not start on the bill until the two sides reach a true, bipartisan agreement. All this sounds wildly familiar to the health care reform debate, but would the Republicans really be that petty? —JCL The New York Times: Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked an effort by Democrats to start debate on legislation to tighten regulation of the nation’s financial system, and the two sides traded bitter accusations about who was standing in the way of a bipartisan agreement. The majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, asked Republicans to agree to begin debating the measure, which would impose a sweeping regulatory framework on Wall Street and big financial institutions. But the Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, objected, saying Democrats were pre-empting negotiations to reach a deal. In response, Mr. Reid said he would call the first procedural vote on Monday in an effort to stop the Republican filibuster. That vote could test Republican resolve to oppose the measure in an election year, amid public dismay over big Wall Street profits and bonuses even as unemployment remains high. Read more
It seems the GOP’s “make sure nothing happens in government” approach is still going strong, with Senate Republicans blocking an effort by Democrats to begin debate on widely popular legislation to regulate the nation’s financial system.
Bickering over who was pre-empting which negotiations, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell claimed debate should not start on the bill until the two sides reach a true, bipartisan agreement. All this sounds wildly familiar to the health care reform debate, but would the Republicans really be that petty? —JCL
The New York Times:
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked an effort by Democrats to start debate on legislation to tighten regulation of the nation’s financial system, and the two sides traded bitter accusations about who was standing in the way of a bipartisan agreement.
The majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, asked Republicans to agree to begin debating the measure, which would impose a sweeping regulatory framework on Wall Street and big financial institutions. But the Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, objected, saying Democrats were pre-empting negotiations to reach a deal.
In response, Mr. Reid said he would call the first procedural vote on Monday in an effort to stop the Republican filibuster. That vote could test Republican resolve to oppose the measure in an election year, amid public dismay over big Wall Street profits and bonuses even as unemployment remains high.
2010 Census Return Rate Hits 72 Percent, Matches 2000 Census Return Rate
WASHINGTON — It’s down to the wire: With a few days left before final mail-in results are tallied, nearly three-fourths of U.S. households have returned…
Miner Dies At Pocahontas Coal Mine Listed By Rep. George Miller
A West Virginia man has died after being pinned against the wall of a coal mine, reports WOWKTV. According to an official with West Virginia…
Oklahoma Abortion Bills Vetoed By Democratic Governor Brad Henry
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry vetoed two abortion bills Friday that he said are an unconstitutional attempt by the Legislature to insert government…
Two Senators And Larry Summers On Bank Size
Bank size is suddenly the issue of the day — with politicians lining up to oppose any meaningful restriction on the size of our largest…
Have Conservatives Gone Mad?
Serious thinkers on the right have finally gotten around to a full and open debate on the epistemic closure problem that’s plaguing the conservative movement….
Media Matters: Fox News’ ever-expanding ethics nightmare
Another week, another handful of ethical scandals that should permanently sink Fox’s claim of being a legitimate news organization.
To recap: Last week, they gave us twin scandals starring Fox News stalwarts Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity. “Furious” Fox News execs pulled Sean Hannity from his planned show filming/fundraiser for the Cincinnati Tea Party after numerous news veterans and watchdogs called foul.
O’Reilly spent last week reminding us of his willful ignorance by repeatedly falsely asserting that “no one” on Fox promoted the falsehood that “jail time” was a penalty for not buying insurance under the health care reform bill. He was outrageously wrong.
Though Howard Kurtz reported that Fox plans to “keep a tighter rein on Hannity and others” in the wake of the tea party scandal, we remain skeptical. Fox has a long history of promising change in the wake of damaging ethics scandals, then failing to deliver on those promises.
Indeed, despite cancelling Hannity’s tea party event, Fox News has yet to cancel a planned appearance by Fox Business host John Stossel at a paid event for a nonprofit organization with very close ties to the energy industry. If history is any indicator, Fox will hold its breath and hope that everyone forgets about the Stossel fundraiser.
Of course, this being Fox News, Stossel’s planned fundraiser wasn’t even the cable channel’s biggest ethics scandal this week.
While a great deal of attention has deservedly been given to Rupert Murdoch’s statement that Fox News “shouldn’t be promoting the tea party,” the rest of his comment — “or any other party” — is equally notable. So, how’s Fox’s supposedly frowned-upon promotion of that “other party” — the GOP — going? In a word: lucratively.
As we detailed last week, Fox News hosts and contributors have raised millions of dollars for Republican candidates and causes using PACs, 527s, and 501(c)(4) organizations.
In a follow-up report this week, we detailed the massive scope of Fox’s fundraising for the GOP:
In recent years, at least twenty Fox News personalities have endorsed, raised money, or campaigned for Republican candidates or causes, or against Democratic candidates or causes, in more than 300 instances and in at least 49 states. Republican parties and officials have routinely touted these personalities’ affiliations with Fox News to sell and promote their events.
In their defense, they did miss Wyoming.
Were Fox an actual news organization that cared about journalistic standards, all of these ethics scandals would be excellent fodder for its weekly media criticism show, Fox News Watch. Unfortunately, as we noted last weekend, they ignored the O’Reilly and Hannity scandals in favor of such pressing stories as media coverage of the new Oprah bio. Forthcoming coverage of the Fox Newsers’ fundraising seems unlikely.
Media Matters reporter and senior editor Joe Strupp pointed out that while Fox News Watch was once a source of legitimate media criticism, the show has increasingly transformed into yet another megaphone for GOP talking points. Strupp quoted former Fox News Watch host Eric Burns (no relation to Media Matters President Eric Burns) saying: “The show was getting to be more and more of a struggle to do fairly. There was a progression of interference to try to make the show more right-wing. I fought very hard against it.”
As Media Matters President Eric Burns pointed out on MSNBC this week, “When you have a famed, well known Republican hitman — Roger Ailes — running a news network, this is what you’re going to get.”
Fox News has a slightly different take, however. As Fox News Watch put it in the promo for its segment on Ailes’ new ratings high, “Fairness plus balance equals success.”
Take note, CNN.
If dishonesty won’t derail financial reform, maybe denial will
Right-wing story time this week — brought to you by Frank Luntz — centered around the claim that financial reform legislation would encourage perpetual and permanent taxpayer bailouts. The genesis of this particular tall tale is Luntz’s January memo that advised opponents of financial regulatory reform to tie the issue to big bank bailouts. Message received. Driving the clown car was Glenn Beck, who appeared on Fox & Friends to decry the “insane” idea of using $50 billion to save failing firms; Michelle Malkin claimed the bill would “institutionalize and make permanent financial bailouts”; Fox Business’ Charles Gasparino said the bill contained a “slush fund” of “$50 billion to bail you out.” Actually, the $50 billion fund would be paid for by the financial services industry and would cover the costs of the orderly liquidation of failing firms, quite clearly the opposite of a bailout. No worries. The Wall Street Journal’s John Fund tried to argue that the bill was bad because it would bail out firms and because it let the government liquidate them. Rush Limbaugh complained that it was “a bailout bill, or a destroy ‘em bill.” Neat trick.
Not content to distort the bill to push their talking points, media conservatives also trumped up the completely baseless allegation that the Obama administration colluded with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sue Goldman Sachs over alleged fraud, all to create a villain in the financial reform narrative. Now that would be big — bigger even than, say, allegedly failing to disclose to investors that the creator of a fund you were selling them is betting on its failure. And so it was, without a scintilla of evidence, that CNN contributor Erick Erickson claimed on his blog that the administration was “colluding to destroy Goldman Sachs.” Big Government said Obama was “in need of a villain to serve as a political piñata,” and Fox News aggressively pushed the baseless accusation, which SEC officials and the White House strongly denied.
Right-wing media figures also sweated to the oldies while attacking financial reform this week, dragging out a greatest hits collection of anti-progressive attacks to criticize yet another reform bill. Karl Rove and Fox News claimed health care financial reform meant the government would soon by spying on individual bank accounts with a research office actually charged with analyzing risk across the financial sector. Fox News figures tried to undermine support for the stimulus financial reform by aggressively pushing the canard that affordable housing initiatives caused the housing crisis. Limbaugh whined that “the same people that gave you the DMV” will “be running our health care financial system.” (Sound familiar?)
Dishonesty, distortion, baseless allegations and yesterday’s attacks. Wouldn’t it be easier to just bury their heads in the sand and pretend there is no “real crisis” at all?
Fox News rallies for religious bigotry
In October 2001, evangelical preacher Franklin Graham delivered remarks while dedicating a chapel in North Carolina, during which he touched on the September 11 attacks and the newly spawned war on terrorism: “We’re not attacking Islam but Islam has attacked us. The God of Islam is not the same God. He’s not the son of God of the Christian or Judeo-Christian faith. It’s a different God, and I believe it is a very evil and wicked religion.” Graham’s stance on Islam has not softened over the years, and he told CNN’s Campbell Brown just last December: “[T]rue Islam cannot be practiced in this country. You can’t beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they’ve committed adultery or something like that.”
Smearing the world’s second-largest faith as “very evil and wicked” and condemning that faith for the worst terrorist attack in American history is inflammatory and wildly offensive. So it should come as a surprise that Fox News rallied to Graham’s defense when religious freedom organizations protested Graham’s invitation to the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer ceremonies this year. It should come as a surprise because for most, defending Graham’s religious bigotry would be unthinkable. But, unfortunately, Fox News does not operate under such standards of propriety, and has added yet another chapter to its long and undistinguished record of smearing the Islamic faith.
Fox’s first stab at defending Graham backfired pretty badly, as the Fox & Friends crew invited Graham on to defend himself. He promptly counseled the Muslims that “they don’t have to die in a car bomb, don’t have to die in some holy war to be accepted by God.”
Fox News personalities then turned to the role of apologists, and chief among them was legal analyst Peter Johnson Jr., who for two days running tried desperately to explain away Graham’s “evil and wicked” comments, including this excuse: “After 9-11, a lot of folks were making those statements.” He also offered this gem: “No one is out to make any excuses for the statements that Franklin Graham made. And they were made nine years ago, in the wake of 9-11. In the wake of 3,000 deaths. He doesn’t need excuses.”
Johnson certainly wasn’t alone in the excuse-making department. Sean Hannity offered a full-throated defense of Graham, falsely claiming that he was only talking about “radical Islam” and going so far to accuse Graham’s critics of being “afraid to take on radical Islam.” After Graham was disinvited by the Pentagon from a National Prayer Day event, Fox News contributor Sarah Palin wrote: “Nation suffers … as Mr. Graham is uninvited to speak.” Fox News “Culture Warrior” Margaret Hoover felt that the Pentagon’s decision was “unfortunate.”
So what, if anything, have we learned from all this? We’ve learned that there’s really no smear against Muslims or the Islamic faith that’s too outrageous or offensive to find a home at Fox News.
This weekly wrap-up was compiled by Ben Dimiero, Jeremy Holden, and Simon Maloy.
GOP Rep. Promises Donors: ‘I Would Turn To You For Advice’
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) canceled a fundraiser after questions were raised about her promise of special access to donors.
Touchy Subject: Steele Slammed For Criticizing GOP’s Southern Strategy
Michael Steele’s charge this week that the GOP’s southern strategy has “alienated” minority voters may not have provoked as many headlines as a trip by young Republicans to a lesbian bondage club. But in the long run it could cause just as much trouble for him.
How the Republican Superboy Spent Earth Day
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Why ‘I Feel It In My Heart’ Is a Terrible Justification for God’s Existence
As vivid as the experience of our hearts and minds can feel, it’s unreliable and subject to bias.
As vivid as the experience of our hearts and minds can feel, it's unreliable and subject to bias.
Arizona Gov. Signs Sweeping Immigration Crack Down Into Law, Essentially Legalizing Racial Profiling
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed on Friday what is now the most punitive and sweeping anti-immigrant state law in the nation.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed on Friday what is now the most punitive and sweeping anti-immigrant state law in the nation.
Building a Climate Justice Movement
The climate justice movement has taken up two enormous concerns: How to address ecological catastrophe and how to develop a new global economic model.
The climate justice movement has taken up two enormous concerns: How to address ecological catastrophe and how to develop a new global economic model.
Will President Obama Stand up for Real Financial Reform?
“Ultimately there is no dividing line between Main Street and Wall Street. We rise or we fall together as one nation. So I urge you to join me,” President Obama to Wall Street Executives at Cooper Union, April 22, 2010. Now, in the wake of the Goldman Sachs lawsuit, is a golden moment for President Obama […]
Wall Street’s Simple Formula for Staying Rich
Through the Federal Reserve, the public is basically giving the mega banks free money and letting them make bundles on the difference with which they lend.
Through the Federal Reserve, the public is basically giving the mega banks free money and letting them make bundles on the difference with which they lend.
What’s Holding Obama The Professor Back?
Dahlia, many thanks for your generous words–and for your excellent question, which has to have occurred to our president from time to time, especially in recent months. Should he say more–should he say anything at all–about his understanding of…
Supreme Court – United States – Barack Obama – United States Supreme Court – History
End occupation then start negotiations
US President Barack Obama is about to take a political leap on the Palestine/Israel issue. Many American presidents took similar leaps and each and every one of them fell flat on their faces. The leap is the launch of a…
Barack Obama – Middle East – Israel – Obama administration – United States
GOP newsletter: ?Let?s take Betty Sutton out of the House and put her back in the kitchen.?
The Medina County Republican Party in Medina, OH has put out a Spring 2010 edition of its newsletter titled the “Republican Review” that urges supporters to “slow the pace of President Obama’s slippery slide down the slippery slope toward a more socialistic society.” The newsletter names several Democrats that should be defeated and includes a […]
The Medina County Republican Party in Medina, OH has put out a Spring 2010 edition of its newsletter titled the “Republican Review” that urges supporters to “slow the pace of President Obama’s slippery slide down the slippery slope toward a more socialistic society.” The newsletter names several Democrats that should be defeated and includes a sexist swipe at Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH):
This sexist belief that women don’t belong in the workforce is similar to a National Republican Congressional Committee press release that said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) needs to be “put in her place” for expressing certain views on the war in Afghanistan. As Pelosi later responded, “I’m in my place. I’m the speaker of the House — the first woman speaker of the House.” (HT: Jamison Foser)
ThinkFast: April 23, 2010
The oil rig that exploded on Tuesday has now sunk into the Gulf of Mexico, “leaving a one-by-five-mile sheen of what the authorities said was ‘crude oil mix.’” A vice president for BP, which was leasing the rig, said “it certainly has the potential to be a major spill.” The most damage would come if […]
The oil rig that exploded on Tuesday has now sunk into the Gulf of Mexico, “leaving a one-by-five-mile sheen of what the authorities said was ‘crude oil mix.’” A vice president for BP, which was leasing the rig, said “it certainly has the potential to be a major spill.” The most damage would come if the oil spill “were to reach the Louisiana coast, some 50 miles away.”
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has until tomorrow to decide how to act on the “nation’s toughest legislation against illegal immigration,” which reached her desk Monday. She can “sign, veto or allow it to become law without her signature.” Brewer hasn’t said what she will do, but her primary opponent “has called on her to sign the legislation.” Brewer is expected to sign the bill today.
The Florida GOP is invoking the loyalty oath to forbid any party officials from supporting Charlie Crist’s possible independent bid for Senate. “[T]he Party Loyalty Oath forbids Republican Executive Committee members from supporting any candidate other than the candidate nominated by the voters of the Republican Party through its primary election,” FL GOP general counsel Jason Gonzalez wrote in a memo.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) left the door open to a possible presidential bid in 2012. Saying it’s not “something I desire,” DeMint added, “There are a lot of changes I’d like to make in this country and I think Americans are going to be ready for someone to tell them the truth next election.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) slammed the White House’s policies with respect to Israel, saying that it “has to stop” pressuring the Middle Eastern country on issues related to negotiations with the Palestinians. Responding to Schumer’s words, the New America Foundations’ Steve Clemons writes, “Has Chuck Schumer EVER criticized Israel or its leadership in the way he just unloaded on Obama?”
Federal records show that “[f]inancial services companies increased their spending to influence Congress during the first three months of the year, while also hiring well-connected lobbyists to press their case on new Wall Street regulations.” Goldman Sachs spent $1.2 million in 2010’s first quarter, 72 percent more than last year, while Citigroup spent $1.4 million, a 13.5 percent increase.
Democrats released their “long-awaited campaign finance bill,” which “would force top corporate executives, union officials and top donors to stand by political ads just like politicians must do.” The bill, whose main co-sponsors are Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), will be introduced next week; its backers expect it to be approved by July 4.
“House Republicans have launched a new ‘real-time’ e-mail, Internet and media offensive aimed at fueling public opposition to Democrats’ climate proposals.” The effort is “designed to coincide” with the introduction of a climate bill in the Senate next week and the “upcoming annual summer spike in gas prices.”
Several NATO allies are pressing the U.S. to “withdraw its aging stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons from Europe.” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. is not opposed to such a move, but “ruled out removing these weapons unless Russia agreed to cuts in its arsenal, which is at least paper”>10 times the size of the American one.”
And finally: In honor of “Take our Daughters and Sons to Work Day,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) held a press conference yesterday with the “pint-size progeny of journalists and congressional aides.”
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Senate moves toward combined bill on derivatives oversight
OVERSIGHT Senate aides inched closer Friday to combining separate bills that would establish oversight of the vast market for derivatives, an effort central to the ongoing push to revamp the nation’s financial regulations.
Undercover persuasion by tech industry lobbyists
Why pay for a golf trip, dinner or full-page ad when you can tweet for free?
Call to freeze congressional salaries may be tied to midterms
Is it a smart political move or mere election-year populism when members of Congress offer to cut their own pay?
Deficit commission has a name, a phone number and a few dates
President Obama’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform may not have a Web site or any other obvious point of access for the public, but as its first meeting draws close, some information about the panel assigned to balance the federal budget is finally beginning to trickle out.
Federal Eye: SEC porn investigation nets dozens
Dozens of Securities and Exchange Commission staffers used government computers to access and download explicit images and many of the incidents have occurred since the global financial meltdown began, according to a new watchdog investigation.
Don’t Cry for Wall Street
Paul Krugman, New York Times
On Thursday, President Obama went to Manhattan, where he urged an audience drawn largely from Wall Street to back financial reform. “I believe,” he declared, “that these reforms are, in the end, not only in the best interest of our country, but in the best interest of the financial sector.”Well, I wish he hadn’t said that — and not just because he really needs, as a political matter, to take a populist stance, to put some public distance between himself and the bankers. The fact is that Mr. Obama should be trying to do…
Who’s Afraid of a Hung Parliament?
Peter Riddell, Times of London
Hung parliaments can be made to work. Just ask the Scots and the Swedes, but not the Belgians, whose Government collapsed, yet again, yesterday.We have become so used to the winner-takes-all politics of the first-past-the-post system that anything else is regarded as inferior and dangerous. This week, the Tories stepped up their warnings about an inconclusive result to alarm voters, claiming it could threaten the economy. But, like it or not, we may have to live with it.
Burning Oil Rig Sinks in Gulf
An oil platform that burned for more than day after a massive explosion sank into the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Eleven workers remain missing.
Early Morning Swim: Rachel Maddow and Rick Perlstein Discuss GOP’s Southern Strategy
And the backlash against Michael Steele begins.
And the backlash against Michael Steele begins.
A GOP aide involved in the 2010 election effort emails angrily: “Why the hell is Steele, chairman of the RNC (!!), talking about a southern strategy from decades past when today’s GOP can win 50 seats in the House and 10 in the Senate this cycle in districts north/south/east/west?”
Oops.
Jealous much?
Michael Steele discovers political parties are supposed to raise more money than they spend, is offended.
Michael Steele, a high-living and exquisitely inadvertent quote machine is the best RNC Chair a Democrat ever had. Two days ago he managed to admit what is well-known but never spoken by a Republican, that the Party of Lincoln’s strategy the last two generations has been to become the Party of Jefferson Davis.
After a series of reports of lavish spending, from bondage-clubs and single-malt office supplies to keeping the Hawaiian tourism economy afloat, he had the kindness to send me this email yesterday:
Barack Obama is crisscrossing the country shaking down his fat-cat pals for campaign cash:
* Boston, April 1: $2.5 million.
* Miami, April 15: $2.5 million.
* Los Angeles, April 19: $3.5 million.These are the latest stops on his whirlwind fundraising tour.
Yes, Michael Steele has discovered that politicians, especially powerful ones, have the incredible ability to RAISE cash, not just spend it. This is something even Sarah Palin knows — incredibly well. And when Sarah Palin is wiser to the ways of the world than you, well, you are the best RNC Chair a Democrat ever had.
Late Late Night FDL: Addams Family Masochism Tango
Scenes from The Addams Family movie set to The Masochism Tango peformed by Tom Lerher becomes The Addams Family Masochism Tango.
Scenes from The Addams Family movie set to The Masochism Tango peformed by Tom Lerher becomes The Addams Family Masochism Tango.
What’s on your mind?
Obama Pitches Financial Reform to Wall Street Execs
President Obama spoke before a group of fat cats—or rather, “titans of industry,” as he called them—from Wall Street on Thursday at Cooper Union in New York City, the same site where he’d delivered his pre-bailout, pre-presidential speech on the economy two years ago, in an attempt to recruit them to support his cause of reforming the financial industry. Good luck with that one, Mr. President. —KA Read the text of Obama’s speech here. USA Today: “I’m sure that some of these lobbyists work for you and they’re doing what they are being paid to do,” Obama told invited guests—“titans of industry,” he called them—during a speech at Cooper Union in New York City. Even so, Obama argued that new regulations on the financial industry would help businesses, customers, and the U.S. economy as a whole. “We need to enact a set of updated, common-sense rules to ensure accountability on Wall Street and to protect consumers in our financial system,” he said. Read more
President Obama spoke before a group of fat cats—or rather, “titans of industry,” as he called them—from Wall Street on Thursday at Cooper Union in New York City, the same site where he’d delivered his pre-bailout, pre-presidential speech on the economy two years ago, in an attempt to recruit them to support his cause of reforming the financial industry. Good luck with that one, Mr. President.? —KA
Read the text of Obama’s speech here.
USA Today:
“I’m sure that some of these lobbyists work for you and they’re doing what they are being paid to do,” Obama told invited guests—“titans of industry,” he called them—during a speech at Cooper Union in New York City.
Even so, Obama argued that new regulations on the financial industry would help businesses, customers, and the U.S. economy as a whole. “We need to enact a set of updated, common-sense rules to ensure accountability on Wall Street and to protect consumers in our financial system,” he said.
Steve Clemons: Has Chuck Schumer EVER Criticized Israel or its Leadership in the Way He Just Unloaded on Obama?
Senator Chuck Schumer may have just lost any shot at succeeding Harry Reid as Senate Majority Leader if the Nevada Senator stumbles in the…
Janice Bryant Howroyd: Literacy: The Ladder Up and Across The Bridge To Our Futures
Last night, I listened to Morgan Freeman say, on American Idol’s “Idol Gives Back”, “Literacy is the ladder out, but we must be fit enough…
Jill Richardson: US Senate, Bill Gates Give Planet a Middle Finger for Earth Day
Mother Nature does not work like a market: simply put, the world cannot shift to diets based on grain-fed meat.
Obama Administration Explores New ‘Fast Strike’ Missiles
WASHINGTON — In coming years, President Obama will decide whether to deploy a new class of weapons capable of reaching any corner of the earth…
With a grain of salt: Right-wing media claim government is coming for your shaker
Following reports that the FDA is considering regulating the amount of salt in processed foods, media conservatives have falsely claimed that the Obama administration is “seizing our salt shakers.” In fact, the FDA review has nothing to do with consumers’ use of table salt and instead invovles examining warnings about high sodium content in processed foods and restaurant meals, the sources of 77 percent of sodium intake.
Rush: “We can now thank the regime for seizing our salt shakers.” During the April 20 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush Limbaugh commented: “We can now thank the regime for seizing our salt shakers.” Limbaugh added that “they’re going to take away our salt shakers, and we’re supposed to thank the regime for seasoning our food.”
Martha MacCallum: “Can’t we make our own decision about whether or not we salt our food?” Announcing a Fox News online poll on the potential regulations, co-host Bill Hemmer said on the on the April 20 edition of Fox News’ America’s Newsroom: “Do you think the government should regulate the ingredients in the food we eat?” Co-host Martha MacCallum asked: “Can’t we make our own decision about whether or not we want to salt our food?”
Fox & Friends: “Food police” are “taking salt away from you.” During the April 22 edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Brian Kilmeade teased an upcoming segment by stating, “Coming up straight ahead, all this talk about the government taking salt away from you because it’s so bad for you, but aren’t there good things about salt?” Later, senior managing editor of FoxNewsHealth.com Dr. Manny Alvarez said, “I hate the government getting involved and telling me what to eat.” Co-host Steve Doocy replied: “Food police!”
Jane Skinner: “Will the government take the spice out of life and the thrill out of cooking?” During the April 20 edition of Fox News’ Happening Now, co-host Jane Skinner asserted: “The FDA is making a major push to limit how much salt you eat. Will the government take the spice out of life and the thrill out of cooking?”
Bolling: “Hide the salt and pepper.” Teasing an upcoming segment on the April 20 Fox Business’ Happy Hour, co-host Eric Bolling stated: “Hide the salt and pepper. The government is about to shake up — Get it? — your eating habbits.”
FDA is “not currently working on regulations nor has it made a decision to regulate sodium content.” In an April 20 press release, the FDA stated: “A story in today’s Washington Post leaves a mistaken impression that the FDA has begun the process of regulating the amount of sodium in foods. The FDA is not currently working on regulations nor has it made a decision to regulate sodium content in foods at this time.” The release further stated that the agency plans to review a recent Institute of Medicine report on the dangers of excessive sodium intake in processed and prepared foods and plans “to work with other federal agencies, public health and consumer groups, and the food industry to support the reduction of sodium levels in the food supply.” [FDA, 4/20/10]
Institute of Medicine warns of “sodium in foods across the board by manufacturers and restaurants” where “the vast majority of people’s sodium intake comes from.” An April 20 brief from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies called for “a coordinated effort to reduce sodium in foods across the board by manufacturers and restaurants [emphasis added] — that is, create a level playing field for the food industry.” The brief stated:
As its primary strategy for sodium reduction, the committee recommends that the FDA set mandatory national standards for the sodium content in foods — not banning outright the addition of salt to foods but beginning the process of reducing excess sodium in processed foods and menu items to a safer level.
The report brief stated that the majority of salt in food is “added as it is being processed or prepared by the food industry.” An accompanying press release stated, “[T]he vast majority of people’s sodium intake comes from salt that companies put in prepared meals and processed foods.”
CDC: “Most sodium comes from processed and restaurant food.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states: “Most of the sodium we eat comes from packaged, processed, store-bought, and restaurants foods. Only a small amount comes from salt added during cooking and from being added at the table, and most Americans have already exceeded their daily limit of sodium before cooking or adding salt at the table.”
An accompanying chart explains that 77 percent of Americans’ salt intake comes from processed and restaurant foods; only 6 percent is added at the table:
Yale University’s Dr. David Katz: “The issue is not what you do with your salt shaker.” Appearing on the April 20 edition of Fox Business’ Happy Hour, Yale University’s Dr. David Katz explained that “the FDA is not actively regulating anything” but that “[t]he industry has not fixed this problem on its own so the Institute of Medicine, which looks out for our health, is encouraging the federal authorities to do something about it.” Katz also commented, “The issue is not what you do with your salt shaker,” and added: “We often have these discussions about federal regulation as if the choice is between Big Brother telling you what to do or you making your own well-informed choice. So the question is, how informed are you now? Do you know that most commercial breakfast cereals are saltier than your diet should be on average?” Katz concluded: “It’s not a choice between you taking personal responsibility because you don’t have complete information.”
Center for Science in the Public Interest praised report. In an April 20 release, the Center for Science in the Public Interest stated:
Legislators and public health groups today praised a long-awaited report from the National Academies’ Institute of Medicine that calls for urgent, government action to reduce salt in packaged and restaurant foods.
“Limiting salt in packaged and restaurant foods is perhaps the single most important thing that the Food and Drug Administration could do to save hundreds of thousands of lives and save billions of dollars in health-care expenses,” said Center for Science in the Public Interest executive director Michael F. Jacobson. “The FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture should quickly implement the Institute of Medicine’s recommendations, starting with mandatory limits on salt, which could be phased in gradually over time.” [Center for Science in the Public Interest, 4/20/10]
Fox misrepresents NY voluntary initiative as a government mandate. Following the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s January announcement of a National Salt Reduction Initiative (NSRI), Fox News anchors and personalities misrepresented the initiative as mandatory, despite the health department stating: “Targets are voluntary, not mandatory, so they cannot force products off the market.”
Ensign’s PAC Has Not Raised A Single Dollar This Year
Sen. John Ensign’s PAC has taken in a grand total of $0 so far this year, according to FEC records examined by TPMmuckraker
Stanford Lobbyist, Bush Admin. Medicare Bamboozler Host Kasich Fundraiser
One host of today’s fundraiser for John Kasich was a senior executive and top lobbyist for alleged Ponzi schemer Allen Stanford, while another is a former Bush administration official who threatened to fire a subordinate if he revealed to Congress the true cost of a major bill.
Republican Takeover of Senate Unlikely
Nate Silver’s latest forecast shows Republicans will gain a net of four Senate seats in this fall’s elections, a figure unchanged since last month.
The Republicans now have only a 6% chance of an outright takeover of the Senate.
Maryland Rematch Will Be Close
A new Rasmussen survey in Maryland shows Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) edging former Gov. Bob Ehrlich (R) in their repeat race for governor, 47% to 44%.
Hoyer Sees Big Democratic Losses
When asked about a recent Cook Political Report analysis that showed Democrats likely to lose 30 to 40 House seats in the midterm elections, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) did not disagree, reports Washington Whispers.
Said Hoyer: “It’s an accurate view of what the polls reflect right now. Yes. I have great respect for Charlie Cook.”
Republicans need to pick up 40 seats to take control of the House.
Are the Tea Partiers Losing Steam?
It is hard to see how, in a nation tilting toward the "have-not" column, the Tea Party crowd’s placebo politics can sustain them as an enduring national political force.
It is hard to see how, in a nation tilting toward the "have-not" column, the Tea Party crowd's placebo politics can sustain them as an enduring national political force.
Is It Possible to Be Elitist in a Good Way? The Organizers of TED Would Like You to Think So
With a $6,000 price tag, TED caters to an exclusive group of tastemakers and moguls … is it enough that anyone can watch videos from the conference for free?
With a $6,000 price tag, TED caters to an exclusive group of tastemakers and moguls … is it enough that anyone can watch videos from the conference for free?
Videos of Small Animals Being Crushed by Women in High Heels Are Protected Free Speech?
The Supreme Court’s 8-1 ruling comes down to protecting the depiction of a gruesome act on 1st Amendment grounds, not the legality of the gruesome act itself.
The Supreme Court's 8-1 ruling comes down to protecting the depiction of a gruesome act on 1st Amendment grounds, not the legality of the gruesome act itself.
Alice Walker: Obama May Never Realize How Profound His Election Was for Black Southerners
In a wide-ranging interview, Walker discusses Tibet and Palestine, womanism versus feminism, the election and presidency of Obama, and the "spiritual survival" of our society.
In a wide-ranging interview, Walker discusses Tibet and Palestine, womanism versus feminism, the election and presidency of Obama, and the "spiritual survival" of our society.
Moyers: Six Banks Control 60% of Gross National Product — Is the U.S. at the Mercy of an Unstoppable Oligarchy?
Moyers and economists James Kwak and Simon Johnson wonder whether the financial powers are more profitable, and more resistant to regulation than ever.
Moyers and economists James Kwak and Simon Johnson wonder whether the financial powers are more profitable, and more resistant to regulation than ever.
