Obama administration belatedly threatens veto of detainee, war legislation

The Obama administration is urging Congress not to adopt legislation that would reaffirm and arguably expand the Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed just three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In addition, for the first time, the administration is formally threatening a veto over Congress's efforts to limit his authority to release Guantanamo prisoners and to transfer war-on-terror prisoners held by the U.S. military to the U.S. for any reason.

There is a belated quality to the veto threat, because Obama previously objected to but ulitmately signed a series of bills which had provisions effectively blocking the closure of Guantanamo as well as trials for the alleged Sept. 11 conspirators.

Those provisions are among a group of GOP-sponsored detainee-related measures in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act the House is expected to take up on Wednesday.

"If the final bill presented to the president includes these provisions that challenge critical executive branch authority, the president’s senior advisers would recommend a veto," the official Statement of Administration Policy issued Tuesday afternoon by the Office of Management and Budget read.

The administration said it "strongly objects" to language regarding the use-of-force authorization. "In purporting to affirm the conflict, [the measure] would effectively recharacterize its scope and would risk creating confusion regarding applicable standards," said the budget office, which coordinates the administration's consensus response to pending legislation. "At a minimum, this is an issue that merits more extensive consideration before possible inclusion."

Human rights and civil liberties groups had objected to the revision to and extension of the AUMF, saying the new language amounted to a permanent declaration of war that could be used to justify an attack on any nation. Proponents of the new language said it did not expand the 2001 measure, but simply reaffirmed it and adopted a definition the Obama Administration itself had proposed in court to govern who could be detained in the conflict.

Lamakers have filed amendments to strip out several of the provisions to which the administration is objecting.

The administration statement did not contain any objection to or comment on a provision which prohibits Defense Department funding for any program to allow family members to visit Guantanamo prisoners. Currently, such visits are prohibited, but The Washington Post reported this month that the Pentagon is considering allowing them for some inmates.

Source: http://feeds.politico.com/click.phdo?i=06d2ddf499f0dc72ad54e9bea8c4fd21

Ed Whitfield Eddie Bernice Johnson Edolphus Towns Edward J. Markey

Kloppenburg Concedes

**Written by Doug Powers Almost two months and around a half million dollar recount later, JoAnne Kloppenburg has conceded: Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg said Tuesday that she was conceding the Supreme Court race to Justice David Prosser, ending what had been a contentious campaign that culminated in a rare statewide recount. Kloppenburg made the [...]

Source: http://michellemalkin.com/2011/05/31/kloppenburg-concedes/

Gary Miller Gary Peters Gene Green Geoff Davis

Sunshine Week 2011 and Our Ongoing Commitment to Open Government

This week is “Sunshine Week.”  Led by the American Society of News Editors and originally funded by the Knight Foundation, Sunshine Week is observed by media organizations around the country. It coincides with National Freedom of Information Day—March 16—selected to fall on James Madison’s birthday.  Journalists, good-government groups, transparency advocates, educators, and many others interested in government transparency host events throughout the week to promote open government and freedom of information. They do so to assess the extent to which government is truly open, and to encourage citizens to seek information from their government and participate in public affairs. 

Sunshine Week provides an ideal time to recount the Administration’s many open government successes since last March.  And so each day this week, we will identify various ways in which agencies have made our government more open and, in turn, more democratic and more efficient. On Monday, the Department of Justice launched FOIA.gov, and we reviewed some of the substantial progress agencies across the government have made to disclose more and withhold less. We will recount, among other things, how greater transparency has saved government resources, and how technology and openness have been fused in ways that improve the everyday lives of our citizens.  We will also feature the enormous work many agencies have done over the past year to make government more open and foster public participation.  As the examples are too numerous to catalogue here, I encourage you to visit agencies’ own Open Government websites, which feature their recent successes.

Open government is a commitment, though, not a task. Thus the Administration’s efforts to promote open government are, as they should be, still ongoing. Nor is greater transparency desirable in every case and circumstance. Our government also owes its citizens, among other things, protection of their personal privacy and business confidentiality, effective law enforcement, and a strong national defense.  That understood, the Administration’s commitment to open government, and the great progress it has made so far, are unmistakable.

Steve Croley is Special Assistant to the President for Justice and Regulatory Policy

Source: http://feeds.whitehouse.gov/~r/whitehouse/open/~3/VkqNoaBjsfo/sunshine-week-2011-and-our-ongoing-commitment-open-government-0

Delaware Dennis Cardoza Dennis J. Kucinich Dennis Ross

Photos: President Obama in Poland

President Barack Obama and President Bronislaw Komorowski review troops during the arrival ceremony in the courtyard of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, May 28, 2011. A member of the Ceremonial Army Garrison stands with them. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Today President Obama was in Warsaw, Poland where he held a bilateral meeting  Polish President Bronis?aw Komorowski and participated a discussion on democracy with President Komorowski and NGO’s.

President Barack Obama reaches to shake hands with President Bonislaw Komorowski of Poland following their statements to the press at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, May 28, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Later in the day, the President met Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and held a joint press conference. 

President Barack Obama and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk make remarks during a press conference at the Chancellery Building in Warsaw, Poland, May 28, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Before heading back to Washington, the President visited the memorial to the victims of the Smolensk plane crash at the Field Cathedral of the Polish Military.

President Barack Obama pays his respects while visiting the memorial to the victims of the Smolensk plane crash at Field Cathedral of the Polish Military in Warsaw, Poland, May 28, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/28/photos-president-obama-poland

Heath Shuler Henry A. Waxman Henry Cuellar Herb Kohl

Open thread for night owls: Goal of holding temperature rise to only 2� C may be impossible

Fiona Harvey at The Guardian writes Worst ever carbon emissions leave climate on the brink:

Greenhouse gas emissions increased by a record amount last year, to the highest carbon output in history, putting hopes of holding global warming to safe levels all but out of reach, according to unpublished estimates from the International Energy Agency.

The shock rise means the goal of preventing a temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius ? which scientists say is the threshold for potentially "dangerous climate change" ? is likely to be just "a nice Utopia", according to Fatih Birol, chief economist of the IEA. It also shows the most serious global recession for 80 years has had only a minimal effect on emissions, contrary to some predictions.

Last year, a record 30.6 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide poured into the atmosphere, mainly from burning fossil fuel ? a rise of 1.6Gt on 2009, according to estimates from the IEA regarded as the gold standard for emissions data. ...

? About 80% of the power stations likely to be in use in 2020 are either already built or under construction, the IEA found. Most of these are fossil fuel power stations unlikely to be taken out of service early, so they will continue to pour out carbon ? possibly into the mid-century. The emissions from these stations amount to about 11.2Gt, out of a total of 13.7Gt from the electricity sector. These "locked-in" emissions mean savings must be found elsewhere. ...

Another telling message from the IEA's estimates is the relatively small effect that the recession ? the worst since the 1930s ? had on emissions. Initially, the agency had hoped the resulting reduction in emissions could be maintained, helping to give the world a "breathing space" and set countries on a low-carbon path. The new estimates suggest that opportunity may have been missed.

? ? ? ? ?

At Daily Kos on this date in 2007:

So you're a power broker in your state. THE power broker. Your party's governor is scandal plagued, under indictment, and sports approval ratings that rival George Bush's. So you gin up a primary challenger, let's call her "Anne Northup". She's a former congresswoman, still fairly popular, and relatively clean from an ethics standpoint. She barely gets 30 percent of the vote as your indicted governor romps to an easy victory.

Supporters of this indicted governor, let's call him "Ernie Fletcher", are feeling frisky. You've been exposed as the proverbial emperor with no clothes. Your "machine" is out of gas. And, in a fit of pique, they start revving up a potential primary challenger. Oh, did I mention you're a Senator? And not just any senator, but the leader of your party?

What to you do?

Apparently you get down on your knees.

?I?ve never met a finer man than our governor, Ernie Fletcher,? said [Mitch] McConnell. ?I?m proud of Ernie Fletcher. I?m proud of Glenna Fletcher. And I?m proud of the image they present for our state.?

? ? ? ? ?

See High Impact Diaries here. See Top Comments here.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/4iwBdVX5FYs/-Open-thread-for-night-owls:-Goal-of-holding-temperature-rise-to-only-2°-C-may-be-impossible

Eleanor Holmes Norton Elijah E. Cummings Eliot L. Engel Elton Gallegly

Senators support two more years for Mueller

Key senators on the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees introduced legislation Thursday to extend FBI Director Robert Mueller's term by another two years.

President Barack Obama had requested the extension. FBI directors are typically limited to a 10-year term. Mueller assumed his post the week before Sept. 11, 2001 and his current term is set to expire Sept. 3.

Democrats Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Dianne Feinstein of California and Republicans Chuck Grassley and Saxby Chambliss announced they would meet Obama's request with a one-time extension, citing "extraordinary times" and Mueller's record of service.

“Bob Mueller has served tirelessly and selflessly for 10 years, and is undoubtedly ready to begin the next phase of his life. But he has characteristically answered duty’s call and indicated his willingness to continue his service," Leahy said. "We should fulfill our duty, as well, and join together without delay to secure the continuity and stability that is demanded at this time, and that is needed to keep our country safe."

 

Continue reading post...

Source: http://feeds.politico.com/click.phdo?i=5105fb431917cf7ae26765da80c5652a

Brad Miller Brad Sherman Brian M. Higgins Brian P. Bilbray

The left comes home to Hahn

Janice Hahn continues to rally the liberal troops around her bid to become California's 36th District congresswoman.

Anti-war activist and former congressional candidate Marcy Winograd threw her support to Hahn in a statement, warning voters about GOP candidate Craig Huey's "right-wing extremist agenda."

“Make no mistake, Tea Party darling Craig Huey will seek to end Medicare as we know it, radically cut Social Security benefits, and let Wall Street run rampant once again,” said Winograd in the endorsement. “It’s all hands on deck now, and we need to work to defeat the right-wing extremist agenda and elect Janice Hahn to Congress.”

Earlier in the day, it was Howard Dean -- previously a supporter of Debra Bowen -- who climbed aboard the Hahn campaign, firing the same shot about "right-wing extremists."

"We can’t afford to send Tea Party darling, Craig Huey, to Washington," Dean said.

Since her first place finish in the jungle primary, Hahn has won the backing of Gov. Jerry Brown, Reps. Judy Chu, Henry Waxman and Howard Berman as well as Emily's List.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to hold an event for Hahn on June 8.

Bowen has said she would not endorse in the race, citing her role in administering the July 12 election as Secretary of State.

Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/0511/The_left_comes_home_to_Hahn.html

David N. Cicilline David Price David Rivera David Schweikert

Transparency for Global Development

Today the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched Version 1.0 of the Foreign Assistance Dashboard, a new platform devoted to making it easier than ever for policymakers, civil society, and the public to understand U.S. investments and their impact around the globe. The Dashboard—the latest milestone in the Obama Administration’s commitment to create an unprecedented level of openness in Government—promises to advance U.S. goals for global development and broader prosperity by shining a light on how much foreign assistance is provided, for what purposes, and with what result. To find out more about it, check out today’s blog on the OSTP site.

Source: http://feeds.whitehouse.gov/~r/whitehouse/open/~3/NGcBWVBs3LQ/transparency-global-development-0

Cedric L. Richmond Chaka Fattah Charles B. Rangel Charles Bass

The Party That Forgot about Jobs

John Boehner’s constant refrain in advance of the 2010 elections was, “Where are the jobs?”

It was a simple question pertinent to the concern far and away foremost in the public mind — the state of the economy. Since the election, the question for the GOP has become, “Where is your concern about jobs?”

The unemployment rate is still at 9 percent. According to Gallup, 35 percent of people say the economy is their top concern, and 22 percent say jobs. Just 12 percent cite the federal deficit and debt. Republicans have taken the top concern of roughly one-eighth of the public and made it their existential cause. On top of that, they have taken a subset of the debt issue, the long-term fiscal sustainability of Medicare, and made it their calling card.

If political life were fair, they’d be rewarded for their farsightedness. Medicare’s trustees report that the trust fund that covers hospital stays will go broke in 2024, five years earlier than forecast just last year. But bureaucratic reports about threats more than ten years off don’t hit people where they live, especially not during a recovery that still feels like a recession.

If you are worried about the security of your job, if your personal income is stagnant, if the value of your home is still declining, and if you are paying more for food and fuel, the perilous state of a government program circa 2024 that you know, one way or the other, will never be permitted to go bankrupt is not a subject of proverbial kitchen-table conversation.

The special election in New York’s 26th district served as an early, albeit imperfect, referendum on the Republicans’ new calling card. Democrats made the Republican plan to transition Medicare to a premium-support program the overwhelming issue. It worked. Henry Olsen of the American Enterprise Institute points out that blue-collar independents and Democrats who swung the GOP’s way in 2010 swung against them this year. The Republican candidate, Jane Corwin, even bled blue-collar Republicans to a bogus “tea party” candidate.

These voters are especially sensitive to economic conditions and especially chary of changes to government programs they will come to depend on. They also are absolutely essential to Republican hopes in 2012.

Retreat on Medicare isn’t an option now. Like Cortés in Mexico, Republicans have disabled their ships behind them. With Senate Republicans voting overwhelmingly in favor of the Ryan budget during a Democratic-engineered show vote, all but nine Republicans on Capitol Hill are on record for Paul Ryan’s reforms. They’ll have to fight it out, and, as Abraham Lincoln advised Ulysses S. Grant, “hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible.”

But even the shrewdest Medicare messaging will not suffice. For a party obsessed with the legacy of Ronald Reagan, post-2010 Republicans have been quick to forget the absolute pride of place he gave to economic growth.

The Ryan plan is called “The Path to Prosperity,” although prosperity hasn’t figured prominently in the conversation. Deficit reduction should be only an element of a program for renewing the economy, which directly impacts people’s lives and also makes controlling the debt marginally easier. By a rough back-of-the-envelope calculation, every 1 percent of economic growth above the assumptions of the Congressional Budget Office knocks $2 trillion from the debt over the next 10 years.

House Republicans just released a growth plan. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio has been evangelizing for a growth agenda since his election last year. The elements are familiar — cutting taxes and reforming the tax code, reining in regulation, increasing energy production, passing free-trade agreements. It doesn’t have much chance of getting signed into law, but neither does Ryan’s Medicare plan.

All of it is an exemplary exercise setting out a vision counter to Pres. Barack Obama’s and demonstrating that Republicans still know the most important question in American politics: “Where are the jobs?”

— Rich Lowry is the editor of National Review. He can be reached via e-mail at comments.lowry@nationalreview.com. © 2011 by King Features Syndicate

Source: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/268255/party-forgot-about-jobs-rich-lowry

Elijah E. Cummings Eliot L. Engel Elton Gallegly Emanuel Cleaver

The indy option in Kentucky

A Lexington attorney who has staked out an ardent stand against mountaintop removal coal mining claims he has the 5,000 signatures for an independent candidacy for governor in Kentucky.

[Gatewood] Galbraith . . . said he intends to collect another 5,000 signatures before turning them over to the secretary of state's office to officially enter the race against Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear and Republican nominee David Williams, just in case the opposing campaigns challenge the eligibility of some of the people who signed. 

Galbraith also stands apart from Beshear and Williams as a proponent of legalizing hemp and medicinal marijuana, positions that have marginalized him for mainstream Kentucky voters in four previous runs for governor.

So who does Galbraith hurt most?

A Democratic operative familiar with the contest bets he probably will siphon more anti-incumbent votes away from Williams than Beshear.

His populist libertarian streak also gives him the potential of attracting tea party support, which flocked to Phil Moffett in the primary.

A Republican operative working the race did not respond to an inquiry about Galbraith's impact.

 

Source: http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/0511/The_indy_option_in_Kentucky.html

Diane Lynn Black Dianne Feinstein Dick Durbin District of Columbia

Holiday Season Merrimack Making

On December 8th, along with Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Shikhar Ghosh, I hosted my second “Entrepreneurs’ Town Hall” to hear first hand about the challenges and opportunities confronting founders on “Main Street” (read about the first Town Hall here, or check out the video).  Nearly 100 entrepreneurs from the Merrimack Valley area in northern Massachusetts participated as we gathered to celebrate the launch of an exciting new philanthropic initiative—the Merrimack Valley Sandbox, an effort designed to foster an innovation ecosystem through the region’s leading universities and community colleges.

Endowed with a $5M grant from famed entrepreneur Desh Deshpande (who also serves as Co-Chair of the National Council for Innovation & Entrepreneurship), the Sandbox will provide leadership training, seed funding and capacity-building support to organizations and individuals in the region.

We will post video from the town hall soon, but here are a few highlights:

Clean Tech Entrepreneurs Commercialize Federal Research:  I heard from Peter Vandermeulen, CEO of the local startup 7AC Technologies, who shared his favorable experience working with the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Lab. Although it took nearly a year to finalize, Peter was pleased to have had the opportunity to commercialize technology that he posits could cut in half the use of energy for heating and cooling of buildings. His advice on how we might improve our commercialization efforts was to evaluate the process of determining when an exclusive license might be granted to “kick-start” an entrepreneurial venture. I’ve taken that message back to our team for consideration.

Open Government Fuels Entrepreneurship:  One of the highlights of my trip was hearing from Conor White-Sullivan, CEO of Localocracy. A graduate of UMass-Amherst, this charismatic entrepreneur talked about his startup’s recent partnership with the Boston Globe to link open government platforms with local media. His idea is a new model of civic engagement—one in which identified members of the community express their views and invite public participation on key issues facing the neighborhood, came to him during a 1-credit course in school, he said.  His approach was, of course, music to my ears, as it has been a high Obama Administration priority to step up efforts to leverage technology for citizen participation. His request was to simplify access to voter registration data, as that is the “fuel” for his identity system. I’ve tasked our open government team to conduct due diligence on this matter.

Importance of SBIR as a Vehicle for Early Stage Capital:  Several entrepreneurs at the forum spoke of the advantages of the Small Business Investment Research program as a source of capital at the stage of business maturation when it is difficult to gain access to capital. Thaddeus Fulford-Jones, CEO of Locately, spoke of the ease with which he won a National Science Foundation SBIR grant within 5-6 months of applying. But it was a story told by Robert Goldberg—a Partner at Neumitra—that commanded my most immediate attention.

Robert expressed concern that his primary information source on SBIR grant opportunities, SBIR.gov, was down for maintenance with a message alerting visitors that it would be months before the site could be re-launched. This was unfortunate as it meant he had to sift through each Federal agency’s solicitations page to learn of opportunities.

Thanks to the leadership of NSF’s new Director, Dr. Subra Suresh, and his terrific team, including Tom Peterson, Kesh Narayanan, and Cheryl Albus, the site went live last week.

I was encouraged by the degree to which our Nation’s entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the Merrimack Valley—a great reminder that innovation flourishes in all corners of our country if we nurture the right components of the ecosystem—and I am keen to address the myriad concerns that emerged throughout the discussion. In that spirit, I wish to extend my deepest thanks to the Deshpande Foundation, which helped arrange for our town hall, and to the entrepreneurs and ecosystem partners who participated. Happy holidays to all, and here is to an innovative and entrepreneurial New Year!

Aneesh Chopra is U.S. Chief Technology Officer

Source: http://feeds.whitehouse.gov/~r/whitehouse/open/~3/XgVpOtQZFZo/holiday-season-merrimack-making

Debbie Wasserman Schultz Deborah Ann Stabenow Delaware Dennis Cardoza

A Major Investment In Helping Students Get Off On The Right Foot

"Investing in early learning is one of the smartest things we can do as a nation,” said Secretary Arne Duncan earlier this morning at a town hall meeting with US Human and Health Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to announce a new $500 million state-level Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge. Secretary Sebelius explained that “the only way America can out-compete the rest of the world is if we out-educate the rest of the world … And the only way we can do that is if every child gets a healthy start and a rich early learning experience.”

The Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge rewards states that create comprehensive plans to transform early learning systems with better coordination and assessment mechanisms, clearer learning standards, and meaningful workforce development and family engagement initiatives.

read more

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/25/major-investment-helping-students-get-right-foot

Bill Huizenga Bill Johnson Bill Nelson Bill Owens

Obama administration belatedly threatens veto of detainee, war legislation

The Obama administration is urging Congress not to adopt legislation that would reaffirm and arguably expand the Authorization for the Use of Military Force passed just three days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

In addition, for the first time, the administration is formally threatening a veto over Congress's efforts to limit his authority to release Guantanamo prisoners and to transfer war-on-terror prisoners held by the U.S. military to the U.S. for any reason.

There is a belated quality to the veto threat since Obama previously objected to but ulitmately signed a series of bills which had provisions effectively blocking the closure of Guantanamo as well as trials for the alleged September 11 conspirators.

Those provisions are among a group of GOP-sponsored detainee-related measures in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act the House is expected to take up on Wednesday.

"If the final bill presented to the President includes these provisions that challenge critical Executive branch authority, the President’s senior advisors would recommend a veto," the official Statement of Administration Policy issued Tuesday afternoon by the Office of Management and Budget said.

The administration said it "strongly objects" to language regarding the use-of-force authorization. "In purporting to affirm the conflict, [the measure] would effectively recharacterize its scope and would risk creating confusion regarding applicable standards," said the budget office, which coordinates the administration's consensus response to pending legislation. "At a minimum, this is an issue that merits more extensive consideration before possible inclusion."

Human rights and civil liberties groups had objected to the revision to and extension of the AUMF, saying the new language amounted to a permanent declaration of war that could be used to justify an attack on any nation. Proponents of the new language said it did not expand the 2001 measure, but simply reaffirmed it and adopted a definition the Obama Administration itself had proposed in court to govern who could be detained in the conflict.

Lamakers have filed amendments to strip out several of the provisions to which the administration is objecting.

The administration statement did not contain any objection to or comment on a provision which prohibits Defense Department funding for any program to allow family members to visit Guantanamo prisoners. Currently, such visits are prohibited, but the Washington Post reported this month that the Pentagon is considering allowing them for some inmates.

Source: http://feeds.politico.com/click.phdo?i=06d2ddf499f0dc72ad54e9bea8c4fd21

Brian P. Bilbray Bruce Braley C. W. Bill Young California

Autopen Signs Patriot Act Extension; Update: Ruh roh! Robo-bama challenged, Auto Pen gets its own Twitter account

**Written by Doug Powers President Obama is over in France and wasn’t in Washington to sign the extension of the Patriot Act that was to expire at midnight, so it was signed with an “autopen.” What a great excuse to offer the inevitable criticism he’ll get, much of it from his own base: “But I [...]

Source: http://michellemalkin.com/2011/05/27/autopen/

Dennis Cardoza Dennis J. Kucinich Dennis Ross Denny Rehberg

Republicans ax clean-car program to fund disaster relief by same amount they cut it in 2012 budget

(Photo: NOAA)

Just when you think the Republicans can't get even more out of touch, one of them red-lines the outrageous gauge in a new category. We saw that Monday when House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (VA-07) said that tornado victims in Joplin, Mo., would only get emergency relief if money could be chopped from somewhere else in the federal budget. The House Appropriations followed up Tuesday by doing exactly that.

If emergency relief requires a budget offset, why not provide it by chopping some tax "incentives" from Big Oil?

Oh, yeah, I forgot. Never mind.

Where will the money needed for disaster relief come from? From America's underfunded investment in technology designed to wean the nation off fossil fuels, natch.

Rep. Robert Aderholt's (AL-04) amendment lops half-a-billion from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program at the Department of Energy. At the same time the committee was transferring this money so that a billion dollars could be provided to people affected by floods and tornadoes, it whacked $1.07 billion from the Homeland Security appropriations bill for disaster aid and firefighter funding in fiscal 2012. If myopia could be monetized, these guys would make the Koch Brothers look like beggars.

Last month, the Center for American Progress released its Year of Living Dangerously report spotlighting the extreme weather of 2010 and the damage it caused?including "the 1,000-year flood in Nashville, Tennessee, and the 'snowmageddon' across along the East Coast?and the connection to global warming":

More than 380 people died and 1,700 were injured due to weather events in the United States. The magnitude of these events forced the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, to declare 81 disasters. For nearly 60 years the annual average was 33. Total economic damages in 2010 exceeded a whopping $6.7 billion.

Five months into 2011 and the number of dead from extreme weather events is already far more than in 2010 and rescue workers are still searching the rubble in Joplin. The clueless House Republicans, with scores of climate-change deniers in their ranks, treat the ongoing disasters as just another opportunity to ax programs that might make a difference. Meanwhile, they assure their fossil-fuel benefactors that they view "shared sacrifice" to be merely propaganda.

As Brad Johnson at the Wonkroom put it:

The deadliest twister in U.S. history since 1947 is the latest multi-billion-dollar climate disaster in this season of unprecedented death and destruction. Scientists have warned for decades that our climate system would grow deadlier as greenhouse pollution from coal and oil increases, with greater floods, heat waves, droughts, wildfires, and storms. Instead of responding to reality by mobilizing our nation to protect people from climate disasters and build a resilient, green economy, Republicans are keeping us tethered to big oil.

But they go further than that. Not only do they want to capitalize politically on the natural disasters that have befallen Americans the past few weeks, they also seem unconcerned that their budget actions will make future tragedies worse than they might otherwise be. That was proved by the cuts they delivered in HR 1 to the weather forecasting and hurricane-tracking budget of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

What's next on the GOP list? Communities subject to tornadoes better hope that the sirens used to alert residents that a twister is headed their way aren't operated with federal matching funds.  

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/uqed3w2dO_c/-Republicans-ax-clean-car-program-to-fund-disaster-relief-by-same-amount-they-cut-it-in-2012-budget

Gwen Moore Hal Rogers Hank Johnson Hansen Clarke

Greta on Schultz: ?Let it go?

Greta Van Susteren, who is Ed Schultz’s competition at 10 p.m., weighed in on the affair on her blog this morning, urging her readers to accept Schultz’s quite evidently heartfelt apology and move on.

“Yeah, it was really lame what he said….and I am certainly not making excuses for it, but, my view after watching his apology? Let it go. He apologized (within a short period of time) and did so in a very bold way (it was not “I am sorry IF I offended…blah blah blah” but a real “fall on the sword” apology.) His apology is to a broader audience than his insult, a more visible medium, placed right at the top of his show and then he turned his show over to another host. What more can we ask of him? Laura ought to accept the apology, too, and just chalk it up to the competition going stupid.

She then used the episode to make a broader point about how female political figures on both sides of the aisle are treated by the media.

And here is the silver lining: MAYBE other men and women in the media will hear of what Ed Schultz did and get the message about how women are treated in the media by some….do the names Clinton, Palin, Bachmann or Pelosi ring a bell? This might be a good time for reflection for everyone in the media. The easy ones are when women are called names like sluts….the tough ones to identify – but are bad - are the ones that are snickering and demeaning.It is fair and right and our job to challenge women politicians aggressively on the issues but you know when it is sexism and not issues. Who can forget Newsweek putting a picture of Palin in short shorts on its cover?

 

Source: http://feeds.politico.com/click.phdo?i=517a09330772aff90af5c3a42ba5f264

Bill Pascrell Jr Bill Posey Bill Shuster Billy Long