August 21, 2012

Group targets Koch brothers on cable ads

Source: CNN

&feature=player_embedded

(CNN) – The liberal group Patriot Majority launched a cable television ad campaign Tuesday going after the Koch brothers, who are major supporters of conservative and libertarian causes.

Patriot Majority said it was initially spending $500,000 to air the ads, and expects to spend more than a million dollars by the end of 2012.


"Billionaire oil tycoons Charles and David Koch and their special interest friends are $400 million to buy this year's elections and advance their agenda. What's their payback? Politicians who will pass laws that benefit special interests but hurt the middle class," a narrator in the minute-long spot says.

The ad claims the Koch brothers' donations to politicians are prompted by a desire for policies that would help them financially, including lowering tax rates for the wealthy and changing Medicare to allow private insurers to compete with the government-funded health program on an exchange.

The ad says those policies would hurt the middle class while lining wealthy people's pockets.

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/21/group-targets-koch-brothers-on-cable-ads/

August 21, 2012

Eugene Robinson: Blaming the victim, again

At least until Election Day, Republicans were supposed to pretend that their party's alleged "war on women" was nothing but a paranoid fantasy stoked by desperate Democrats. Obviously, Rep. Todd Akin didn't get the memo.

¬snip¬


Let's begin with the ignorant and offensive distinction Akin tries to draw between "legitimate rape" and some other kind of rape. He did not elaborate, but I'm pretty sure I know what he means.

He's obviously talking about what Republicans call "forcible rape." Last year, Akin co-sponsored a bill in the House that would have narrowed the exception that allows Medicaid funds to pay for abortions for women who are raped. The proposed measure would have permitted the use of funds only to end pregnancies resulting from "forcible rape." GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan was another co-sponsor of the measure, which ultimately failed.

The statutory rape of a child by an adult would not fit the definition the House Republicans tried to impose; nor would the rape of a woman who was drugged, say, or who had limited mental capacity. Never mind the fact that as far as criminal law is concerned, rape is rape. Never mind the fact that all rape, by its very nature, is "forcible."

more: http://www.indystar.com/article/20120820/OPINION12/208210308/Eugene-Robinson-Blaming-victim-again

Eugene!

August 20, 2012

Akin's Kinfolk[read Ryan etc] : He Is Well Within GOP Mainstream

Posted: 08/20/2012 7:34 pm

Republicans are scurrying to get away from Todd Akin as fast as they can, because he is a political fool to say things many conservatives believe but don't want the public to know they believe. He's done it repeatedly -- on calling liberals "Godless", on student loans, and now on abortion and rape. But no matter how fast they scurry away from him, the Republicans have to take responsibility for Todd Akin and his beliefs, because he has had a welcome place in their political party for a long time.

First, we should just note that Todd Akin has been a member of good standing in the House Republican caucus since being elected to Congress in 2000. He has two very important, hard to get committee assignments, Paul Ryan's Budget Committee and the Armed Services Committee. He is the chair of a sub-committee. He also serves, ironically, on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, where as a climate change and evolution denier, and a self-proclaimed expert on women's reproductive science, he is right at home with today's Republican party. In a Republican party where the party committees and other establishment forces do everything they can to take down primary candidates they don't like, Akin sailed through the primary. Up until the National Republican Senatorial Committee dumped him earlier today, he had been one of the top Senate candidates in the country being helped by them.

In terms of his voting record, he certainly wasn't an outlier either. He has voted with the Republican caucus between 96% to 99% of the time in recent years. His 91.67% voting record with the American Conservative Union over the last year was less conservative than Paul Ryan (96%) and many other Republicans. His position on abortion is shared by 234 other Republican House members, the vast majority of congressional Republicans. His bill to narrow the definition of rape was co-sponsored by Ryan and 215 other Republican house members.

After his absurd and repugnant statement, Todd Akin is thankfully persona non grata in the Republican party, as he went too far even for them. But this Republican party proudly embraced an extremist like Akin as a congressman for 12 years who got great committee assignments and was one of their top Senate candidates. They agree with and embrace his scary ideas on abortion and narrowing the definition of rape. They put him on their budget committee and his ideas contributed to the Ryan budget. They knew how extreme he was, and they welcomed him with open arms anyway.

This election is about many issues and factors, but most fundamentally it is a debate about values. The Republicans have enthusiastically embraced the ideas of Ayn Rand, who believed that selfishness is a virtue and that compassion weakened society (and who incidentally wrote rhapsodically about heroes who violently raped women.) They have embraced the ideas of Dick Cheney, who violated 230 years of American tradition dating back to George Washington and said our government should not hesitate to torture people. They have been excited beyond belief to embrace the budget ideas of Paul Ryan, who wants to end the guarantees of health care and nursing home care for seniors, the poor, and the disabled in order to shovel more tax breaks to millionaires. And yes, they have embraced the ideas of Todd Akin, even as they run away from him today as fast as they can.

more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-lux/todd-akin-legitimate-rape_b_1813593.html

August 20, 2012

Akin & 7 More Crazy Rape Statements, including Ryan's "there's rape and then there's forcible rape"

Aug 20, 2012 5:05 PM EDT

Rep. Todd Akin’s outburst about ‘legitimate rape’ isn’t defensible, but it does have some precedent. From Paul Ryan’s ‘forcible rape’ head-scratcher to a Yale frat’s ‘no means yes’ rally, more shocking examples of
male ignorance.

¬snip¬


‘If It’s Inevitable, Just Enjoy It’
Rape, like a rainy day, can be unavoidable...so perhaps some victims would do better to take it in stride. This particularly foul-weather analogy was made in 1990 by Clayton Williams, then Texas’s Republican gubernatorial nominee, in front of cowboys, campaign workers, and reporters during a cattle roundup on a foggy morning at his ranch in West Texas. Later that day he apologized “if anyone’s offended” by his extremely offensive joke before adding that a cattle roundup is “not a Republican women’s club” but “a tough world where you can get kicked in the testicles if you’re not careful.” Instead of worrying about taking a cow hoof to the crotch, perhaps Williams should just “relax and enjoy it.”


Women Who Are Raped ‘Secrete a Certain Secretion’
In light of Akin’s gaffe, this one sounds familiar. Stephen Freind, then a Pennsylvania legislator, came out with a real doozy in 1988 during a radio interview when he said that the odds of a woman getting pregnant from being raped are “one in millions and millions and millions,” simply because the experience causes a woman “to secrete a certain secretion” that generally kills sperm. Freind stood by his claim—even though scientists negated it, with one joking that he’d use the magical “secretion” Freind refers to as a contraceptive if he could “find out what it was.” Freind went on to lose a 1992 Senate race, his last venture into state politics.

There’s Rape, and Then There’s…‘Forcible Rape’
GOP veep candidate Paul Ryan should probably have consulted a dictionary before laying out the conditions for a No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which he cosponsored with Akin himself in 2011. The bill said taxpayer dollars could only go toward aborting pregnancies that resulted from “forcible rape”... apparently it’s important to distinguish between regular old rape and “forcible rape.” The meaning of the term was never clearly defined and ultimately removed from the bill.

Marital Rape Could Be a ‘Legal Weapon’
A memo to all the ring-wearing ladies: your husband, that man with whom you exchanged the most sacred vows of love, can’t force himself upon you when you don’t want to have sex, according to some wingnuts. In 1991, Akin ultimately voted in favor of an anti-marital-rape law, but only after raising the issue of whether or not it would be misused, for example, “in a really messy divorce as a tool and a legal weapon to beat up on the husband.”

Just an Excuse for an Abortion?
Earlier this year, moments before Idaho’s state senate passed a mandatory ultrasound bill, Sen. Chuck Winder concluded his supporting arguments with these choice words of wisdom: “I would hope that when a woman goes into a physician, with a rape issue, that that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage, was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage, or was it truly caused by rape.”

more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/20/rep-todd-akin-7-more-crazy-rape-statements.html

August 20, 2012

Obama doesn't take SEAL group attacks 'seriously'

Source: Politico

Comments (3) By BYRON TAU | 8/20/12 5:54 PM EDT
President Obama said Monday that he isn't too worried about two groups of military veterans running campaign ads against him.

Last week, two groups — Special Operations Speaks and Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund - formed to criticize Obama on national security policy, the Osama bin Laden raid and intelligence leaks.

“I don’t take these folks too seriously. One of their members is a birther who denies I was born here, despite evidence to the contrary," Obama told The Virginian-Pilot. "You’ve got another who was a tea party candidate in a recent election."

"This kind of stuff springs up before election time," Obama said.

The founder of one group, ex-Navy SEAL Larry Bailey, told Foreign Policy magazine last week: "I have to admit that I'm a birther."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/08/obama-doesnt-take-seal-group-attacks-seriously-132620.html

---

Virginia Pilot article here:
Obama calls for compromise to head off military cuts
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/08/virginianpilot-military-editor-interview-obama

August 20, 2012

Christine Pelosi- Out of the Shadows: DREAMers, Democrats and Democracy

If there is anyone left wondering if there are big choices at stake in 2012, I say look to the dawn, the twilight and the shadows. I've been doing so since my first campaign, as a toddler with two sisters in a stroller pushed by mom. As we strolled precincts that fall in 1968, our Mom wore a patterned H-H-H scarf for Hubert H Humphrey, who said that our moral test, our calling , our job, is to care for those in the dawn of life, the twilight of life and the shadows of life. The dawn of life, our children; the twilight of life, our seniors; and the twilight of life, our most vulnerable Americans.

Little did we know then that 40 years later our mom, Nancy Pelosi, would have moved from kitchen to Congress, becoming the first woman Speaker of the House. But that's what politics is -- not a great leap to power, but the steps that you take for your values along the way. Now I'm taking those steps with my own toddler, Isabella, across 20 states and around California, including yesterday's Democratic BBQ & Chili Cook-Off rally in Stockton. And I find that in every community, the moral test that Humphrey talked about for 1968 is just as true today -- and, if anything, even more urgent in 2012.

Because what's at stake in 2012 is the fate of those in the dawn of life, and what kind of future we give our children: whether we invest in early education, HEAD Start, school lunches and the opportunity for each kid in Isabella's generation to reach their God-given potential regardless of race or creed or class or gender or sexual orientation.

Also at stake in this election are those in the twilight of life, our seniors: the big choice about medicare -- do we take $716 billion from insurance companies and give it to Medicare services or to tax cuts? Are you going to serve seniors or are you going to serve the Koch brothers? You decide. We have to support those who took the gutsy call - not when it was easy or where it was easy -- but where it was tough and where it was necessary -- to stand up for healthcare and Medicare.

more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christine-pelosi/out-of-the-shadows-dreame_b_1812664.html?utm_source=Alert-blogger&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%2BNotifications

August 20, 2012

Akin ‘rape’ remarks draw attention to candidate’s anti-gay record

The Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Missouri has been thrust into the national spotlight following comments he made suggesting a woman can resist becoming pregnant after a “legitimate rape” — prompting LGBT advocates to decry not only his views on women but also his long history of opposition to LGBT rights.

¬snip¬

The remarks ignited a media firestorm, particularly over the notion of what Akin would consider a “legitimate” rape. The next day, Akin apologized on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s radio show, saying his earlier remarks were “ill-conceived, and it was wrong.” Amid speculation that he would drop out of the race, Akin said he had no intention of quitting.

¬snip¬

Akin has an anti-gay record as a six-term congressman representing Missouri in the U.S. House, where he has not only supported, but taken the lead, on measures targeting the LGBT community. He has consistently scored a “0? on the Human Rights Campaign’s annual congressional scorecards.

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, Akin proposed an amendment in May — which the Republican-controlled panel adopted as part of major Pentagon spending legislation — to institute a “conscience clause” in U.S. code to allow service members to object to openly gay people in their ranks in the wake of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal.

more: http://www.washingtonblade.com/2012/08/20/akin-rape-remarks-draw-attention-to-candidates-anti-gay-record/

August 20, 2012

Ryan & Akin Partnered On Radical ‘Personhood’ Bill Outlawing Abortion & Many Birth Control Pills

Yesterday, ThinkProgress reported that Rep. Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin (R-MO) and GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan both cosponsored the bill that introduced America to the despicable term “forcible rape.”

As it turns out, this may only be the second most sweeping attack on reproductive freedom that both men partnered on. Ryan and Akin also cosponsored a federal personhood bill, the Sanctity of Human Life Act of 2009, which declares that a fertilized egg is entitled to the exact same legal rights as a human being:

(1) the Congress declares that–
(A) the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution is vested in each human being, and is the paramount and most fundamental right of a person; and
(B) the life of each human being begins with fertilization, cloning, or its functional equivalent, irrespective of sex, health, function or disability, defect, stage of biological development, or condition of dependency, at which time every human being shall have all the legal and constitutional attributes and privileges of personhood; and
(2) the Congress affirms that the Congress, each State, the District of Columbia, and all United States territories have the authority to protect the lives of all human beings residing in its respective jurisdictions.

Lest there be any doubt, this bill is unconstitutional. Congress does not have the power to overrule Roe v. Wade by an ordinary statue, only a constitutional amendment could serve that purpose. Moreover, even if Roe were overruled by the Supreme Court, Ryan and Akin’s bill still attempts to redefine who “the right to life guaranteed by the Constitution” applies to. Again, changing the meaning of the Constitution can only be done through an amendment, not through an ordinary Act of Congress.

more: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/08/20/712501/paul-ryan-and-todd-akin-partnered-on-radical-personhood-bill-outlawing-abortion-and-many-birth-control-pills/

August 20, 2012

Mitt Romney Taxes Enriched Foreign Governments At U.S. Expense

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney sought and received $787,455 in foreign tax credits from the U.S. Treasury to cover his tax payments to other nations in 2008.

While there is no evidence that his actions violated the law, abuse of the foreign tax credit has been a problem for the Internal Revenue Service. The agency has prosecuted a number of international fraud cases in the last few years involving such credits. And the size of Romney's claim in 2008 raises questions about the sources of his foreign income.

"This could definitely be a contributing reason for Romney's unwillingness to disclose prior years' returns," said New York University School of Law professor Daniel Shaviro, a tax expert.

The U.S. government provides tax credits to Americans who also pay taxes abroad, so that foreign income is not taxed twice by different governments. While these credits do not save U.S. residents from paying taxes -- they still have to pay the foreign governments -- they do put a dent in the U.S. Treasury's collections.

MORE: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/20/mitt-romney-foreign-tax-credit_n_1812507.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

August 20, 2012

Ryan Hailed Akin’s ‘Leadership’ During Missouri Senate Primary

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), whose comments Sunday that “legitimate rape” is biologically unlikely to cause pregnancy sparked a firestorm, earned gushing praise from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) last year when he declared his candidacy for Senate. His comments were so glowing that Ryan had to clarify later that they did not constitute an endorsement.

“Todd Akin has been a great asset to the House Budget Committee,” Ryan said in a joint press release last November with fellow House leaders, including NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions, and Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. “His principled approach to fiscal responsibility is exactly the kind of leadership America needs and I appreciate his hard work.”

Akin touted Ryan’s praise as a major asset, prompting his GOP primary rivals to accuse Akin of misleading by implying Ryan had endorsed him in the race. Ryan’s spokesman quickly clarified at the time that he merely was “applauding Rep. Akin’s work on the House Budget Committee,” not giving his official backing, according to Politico.

Although best known for his budget work, Ryan is firmly within the right wing of his party on abortion. The Obama campaign recently released a TV adhighlighting Ryan’s support for banning abortions without exceptions for rape and incest and, in certain cases, even the health of the mother.

more:http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/paul-ryan-hailed-todd-akins-leadership-in-missouri-senate-race.php