cal04
cal04's JournalObama super PAC takes on Romney in Michigan ad
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/22/obama-super-pac-ad-takes-on-romney-in-michigan/The primary super PAC supporting President Barack Obama's reelection campaign is airing a new ad in Michigan which knocks Mitt Romney's business credentials in a state which suffered when the auto industry stumbled.
"Let Detroit go bankrupt," Romney says in the Priorities USA television advertisement, repeating the headline of an op-ed he wrote in 2008, arguing for a managed bankruptcy process rather than a bailout for the industry.
A baritone narrator criticizes Romney around the quote, saying "There's little question he made a fortune from businesses he helped destroy," and later asking, "Are those the values we want in an American president?"
The brief clip of Romney is from a 2011 interview on CBS, as Romney explained his argument in the op-ed. In the interview, he said that "those companies needed to go through bankruptcy to shed those costs."
Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd resigns
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17123397Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has resigned amid widespread reports of a leadership tussle between him and Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
He made the announcement at a press conference in Washington DC, where he had earlier met US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.
There has been ongoing tension in the Labor Party in recent weeks over the leadership.
Kevin Rudd quits as foreign minister
Mr Rudd made the dramatic announcement at a media conference in Washington DC, as Julia Gillard prepared to sack the Foreign Minister amid claims by her supporters he has been disloyal.
Mr Rudd says he'll return to Brisbane on Friday and will make a full statement on his future before parliament resumes on Monday after consulting with family and colleagues.
“While I am sad to leave this office I am sadder still that it has come to this,” Mr Rudd said.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/in-depth/kevin-rudd-quits-as-foreign-minister/story-fnccyr6m-1226278546981
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd resigns as Foreign Minister
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/former-prime-minister-kevin-rudd-resigns-as-foreign-minister/story-e6frfku0-1226278542431
Hoekstra Scrubs Sites Of Racially-Charged Ad
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/hoekstra-scrubs-sites-of-racially-charged-ads?ref=fpbIt looks like Pete Hoekstra doesn't even want supporters to know he once defended his highly controversial Super Bowl ad, let alone paid a fortune to run it.
Hoekstra, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, has scrubbed all mention of the ad featuring an actress portraying a Chinese woman speaking in broken English from his campaign Facebook page and YouTube account. Back on Feb 5, when the ad ran during the Michigan broadcast of the Super Bowl, Hoekstra posted it in both places. Then as the controversy kicked up, he used his YouTube account to post clips of him vehemently defending the spot on Fox News.
Now the ad is gone from his Facebook page (as captured in this screenshot, which shows all entries from Feb. removed) as well as his YouTube account. More interestingly, Hoekstra's defense of the ad has also been scrubbed from YouTube (as this screenshot shows).
Romney Endorser Corrects Mitt On Auto Rescue: ‘No One Could Have’ Saved The Industry Except
Romney Endorser Corrects Mitt On Auto Rescue: ‘No One Could Have’ Saved The Industry Except The Governmenthttp://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/02/21/429279/romney-endorser-corrects-him-on-auto-rescue-no-one-could-have-saved-the-industry-except-the-government/
Mitt Romney’s renewed opposition to the rescue that saved the American auto industry, which came in the form of yet another editorial announcing his desire to “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt,” was immediately slammed by auto industry insiders, reporters who covered the rescue, and even publications that had once taken his same position.
Michigan Rep. Fred Upton (R), who endorsed Romney, has now joined that chorus, telling Western Michigan University’s WMUK radio that turning to the private sector to rescue Detroit as Romney advocated was never an option:
HOST: He wrote an op-ed for the Detroit News in which he said it is good news that U.S. auto companies are back but he questioned the manner in which it was done, the so-called auto bailout. This was a fight that you were knee deep in at the time it was happening. Do you agree with his characterization?
UPTON: I did not see the article that he wrote. I do know that all of the Michigan delegation worked very hard as related to the revival of the auto industry. There was really a choice between bankruptcy and liquidation. There was no one that was willing to come up not only with the cash to keep them afloat but also to serve the warranties of everyone, you and I that drive all these cars. There was no one that could have picked up those pieces other than the federal government.
President Obama Urges Congress to Reward Companies That Keep Jobs in U.S.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-18/obama-urges-congress-to-reward-companies-that-keep-jobs-in-u-s-.htmlPresident Barack Obama urged Congress to enact tax proposals that reward technology companies and other businesses that help create jobs in the U.S. rather than overseas.
Boeing Co., whose Everett, Washington, jet factory Obama visited yesterday, has “put thousands of folks to work all over the country,” Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. “We want to see more of this. We need to make it as easy as we can for our companies to create more jobs in America. And that starts with our tax code.”
Obama said U.S. businesses created 3.7 million new jobs over the past 23 months, adding, “Companies like Boeing are realizing that even when we can’t make things cheaper than China, we can make things better. That’s how we’re going to compete globally.”
“No company should get a tax break for outsourcing jobs,” Obama said. He urged helping “manufacturers who set up shop here at home,” particularly technology companies. “And Congress should send me that kind of tax reform right away.”
WEEKLY ADDRESS: Continuing to Strengthen American Manufacturing
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/02/18/weekly-address-continuing-strengthen-american-manufacturing
Obama DOJ Won’t Defend Constitutionality Of Denying Military Benefits To Same-Sex Couples
Obama DOJ Won’t Defend Constitutionality Of Denying Military Benefits To Same-Sex Couples
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/02/17/428383/obama-doj-wont-defend-law-denying-military-benefits-to-same-sex-couples/
The Obama administration has announced that it will not defend laws that prevent married same-sex couples from obtaining military benefits. In a letter to Congress today, Attorney General Eric Holder argued, “[t]he legislative record of these provisions contains no rationale for providing veterans’ benefits to opposite-sex couples of veterans but not to legally married same-sex spouses of veterans … Neither the Department of Defense nor the Department of Veterans Affairs identified any justifications for that distinction that would warrant treating these provisions differently from Section 3 of DOMA.”
Currently, the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act prevents federal agencies from recognizing same-sex relationships and Title 38 of the United States Code defines spouses as a person of the opposite sex. Holder added that Congress would “be provided a ‘full and fair opportunity’ to defend the statues in the McLaughlin v. Panetta case if they wished to do so.”
That lawsuit, filed by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in October on behalf of Maj. Shannon McLaughlin of the Massachusetts National Guard, argues that McLaughlin and her partner Casey are denied benefits that similarly situated opposite-sex couples enjoy, including, “medical and dental benefits, basic housing allowances, travel and transportation allowances, family separation benefits, military ID cards, visitation rights in military hospitals, survivor benefit plans, and the right to be buried together in military cemeteries.” Such treatment “violates constitutional equal protection guarantees,” “the Tenth Amendment and constitutional principles of federalism,” it says.
“Given the military’s ‘zero tolerance’ for discrimination based on sexual orientation, it is unconscionable that DOMA forces the military to engage in the very discrimination that it prohibits its service members from engaging in through its ‘zero tolerance’ policy,” the suit claims.
Angry lawmakers challenge lineup at hearing: 'Where are the women?'
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/16/politics/women-lawmakers-hearing/index.htmlA pair of female Democratic lawmakers had a simple question Thursday about a controversial hearing on Capitol Hill.
"What I want to know is: Where are the women?" Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, said as she began her remarks at the top of hearing titled "Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?"
Directing her question at Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Maloney was referring to the fact that the first panel of five witnesses at the hearing did not include a woman, even though the discussion touched on the recent controversy over an Obama administration regulation requiring health insurance coverage for contraception.
"When I look at this panel, I don't see one single woman representing the tens of millions of women across the country who want and need insurance coverage for basic, preventative health care services, including family planning," Maloney continued. Then she repeated: "Where are the women?"
Keith Olbermann:Debunking Breitbart's "Occupy Rape List"
Keith Olbermann
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/15/1065161/-Debunking-Breitbart-s-Occupy-Rape-List-
You saw the video of his mad rant against Occupy, then you saw the "list"cobbled together in far too much of a hurry to rationalize the rant, then the new video from World Net Daily of all people, showing Andy Breitbart drinking before the rant (and breaking, in cartoon fashion, his wine glass).
http://campusprogress.org/articles/exclusive_video_andrew_breitbart_to_occupiers_stop_raping_people/
What you have not seen are the facts behind the transparently dishonest "list" with which Breitbart is trying to smear Occupy as rapists. Sadly, it appears his people's efforts consisted of finding stories in which both the word "Occupy" and some report of sexual misconduct.
It doesn't look like anybody bothered to read the links. Nearly every one of the stories shows Occupy participants were the victims and not the alleged perpetrators, or the incidents had nothing to do with Occupy.
On Countdown tonight we had - and we will continue to have - as much fun at possible with Breitbart's on-camera meltdown in front of a group of Occupy Protestors at CPAC last weekend. The first night we mashed it up with video of Charlton Heston from "Planet Of The Apes" and Breitbart-lookalike Andrew Keir in a compelling sci-fi film called "Quatermass And The Pit." Tonight we mixed Andy with Sam Kinison's epic classroom rant from "Back To School."
But however hilarious Breitbart's self-destruction might be, the subject of rape itself is no laughing matter. The allegation that a political or cultural group condones or encourages rape and sexual assault, against anyone, is virtually as serious a charge as can be levelled. Yet nearly just as bad, is to fabricate, twist, and alter facts, to make it seem like such a charge against such a group has credence.
Mr. Breitbart and his websites have now promulgated a list of what his people boast are 17 rapes at Occupy protests between October 16th and November 19th. 17 stories and links, headlined "Rapes and Various Sexual Crimes" and all of them attributed to Occupy.
It turns out Breitbart and his people have padded this, by listing some stories twice. And in nearly every case, Breitbart's crew has twisted nearly every one of the allegations in the stories. The idea seems to have been to make as long a list as possible, and assume that your supporters will never bother to link through to the stories, let alone follow-up to find their true outcomes.
Those who do bother will find Mr. Breitbart and his colleagues, are lying:.
(snip)
So. Seventeen stories Breitbart claims are cases of Rape at Occupy. Just reading the stories, googling the names of those identified, following up - this only took me about 70 minutes. The final result:
-- Two stories on the list were duplicates.
-- One story turns out to have been about consensual sex.
-- One case, in Scotland, led the Occupy group to disband for the sake of safety.
-- One case of an arrest for child porn, with Occupy immediately banning the alleged perpetrator.
-- One case of a girl disappearing -- ignoring the fact that she was home and unharmed a month later.
-- Four cases in which police said neither the victim nor the assailant were apparently even associated with Occupy.
That leaves seven others stories, all of which show police identifying Occupy participants as the victims, six of which show police identifying the alleged assailants as not being Occupy participants.
That is the evidence that Andrew Breitbart has submitted to rationalize his irrational attempt to smear the Occupy movement and Occupy members, as rapists, and to brand anybody who points out his dishonesty, his twisting of the facts, and who bothers to actually read the stories that disprove his own contention, as a rape denier or rape apologist. What Mr. Breitbart and his fellow propagandists have done, in fact, is to take at least eight women, eight members of Occupy, who were raped or otherwise assaulted, and blamed them.
But he is not just perpetrating the classic fabrication con of the dishonest man for whom facts are malleable and can be ignored when they are inconvenient. More importantly, Breitbart is exploiting rape victims, blaming rape victims. And no woman, no man - conservative, liberal, or indifferent - can abide this despicable attempt to take individual human suffering, and by lying at the top of his voice, try to score cheap political points.
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Before current birth-control fight, Republicans backed mandates
Republicans are fighting a birth-control rule in President Obama's healthcare law, but several states have enacted contraceptive mandates with the support of GOP lawmakers and governors.http://www.latimes.com/health/la-na-gop-contraceptives-20120216,0,3392996.story
Since President Obama moved to require Catholic hospitals and universities to offer their employees contraceptive health benefits, Republicans have rushed to accuse the administration of an unprecedented attack on religious freedoms.
None has been more forceful than former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who accused Obama of "a direct violation of the 1st Amendment." But years before the current partisan firestorm, GOP lawmakers and governors around the country, including Huckabee, backed similar mandates.
Twenty-two states have laws or regulations that resemble, at least in part, the Obama administration's original rule. More than a third had some Republican support, a review of state records shows.
In six states, including Arkansas, those contraceptive mandates were signed by GOP governors.
US cracking down on dinner-interrupting marketing robocalls
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/15/10418510-us-cracking-down-on-dinner-interrupting-marketing-robocallsThe Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday it's going after those annoying automated marketing calls that always seem to come right as you're sitting down to dinner.
The commission unanimously adopted new rules to crack down on what are known as robocalls. That's when a company sets up its computers to call thousands of numbers in sequence, hoping one or two of them will be answered by someone who'll listen to a pitch for whatever they're selling.
"Unwanted telemarketing calls and texts were consistently in the top three consumer complaint categories at the FCC in 2011," the FCC said. "Robocalls invade consumers' privacy, and can, in the case of calls to wireless numbers, use up their minutes."
(snip)
Wednesday, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said it had become clear that the current rules — which the FCC enforces along with the Federal Trade Commission — weren't working.
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