The Hill News

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Monday defended Occupy Wall Street protesters’ right to express their “frustrations” so long as they remained lawful.

"Under the First Amendment, people have the right to speak out and protest," Boehner said at the University of Louisville, according to local news site WDRB. "But, they don't have a right to violate the law."

Boehner was responding to a student’s question about the protest movement, which started in New York City’s financial district and has prompted demonstrations in cities worldwide, including in Louisville, Ky.

“Under the First Amendment, people have the right to speak out,” Boehner said. “That doesn’t mean they have the permission to violate the law.”

Read more...

The breaking news last night alleging that Herman Cain sexually harassed female employees while heading the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, surely gave the Cain campaign quite a spook this Halloween.

Still, in this post-Watergate era, in which we freely rely on unnamed sources, we are left with very little information from which to gauge the accuracy of these claims. While I absolutely condemn sexual harassment â€" especially in the workplace â€" the details of this particular case remain unclear. “The sources,” according to the original article, “describe episodes that left the women upset and offended.” No one should be subject to inappropriate sexual conduct at work, but it’s really hard to make out if much â€" if anything â€" actually happened from these vague descriptions.

Read more...

The lesson for the press in the last election should be drawn from Marshall McLuhan’s famous vision that the media are themselves the vehicle and the message. TV’s popular celebrity commentators are gatekeepers to a geist of their own time and generation (their own “kind”); sentries at the portal to tell Sarah Palin that she cannot go in. She gave her children funny names. She uses a Garfield desk calendar. She shot a moose and ate it. She dresses like a “slutty flight attendant.” She does not belong here. She is not “one of us.” Rick Perry, naturally leery in this otherworld of imagery and style, will not be likewise taken down. By solstice it will be clear to all that he is an instinctively agreeable and genuine person with a common grace that McLuhan’s winged monkeys cannot exile.

Read more...

Stop right there, Mr. President. Whoever is advising you that it’s all right and not a contradiction in any way that you can continue to rail against lobbyists while lining your pockets with their political help is selling you some bad corn whiskey, as my grandfather used to say.
 
A report by The New York Times last week uncovered that over a dozen of the president’s top campaign fundraisers all have close ties to the lobbying industry. This during the very weeks where Obama is out on the political hustings (at taxpayers’ expense, mind you) throwing all sorts of invectives at fat cats on Wall Street and all those who “influence Washington.” Something’s not right when Obama takes such a purist position on campaign dollars and self-righteously condemns those who would peddle their agendas, and yet has a virtual money-machine behind the White House curtain.

Read more...

We have heard this story before. The “only solution” to the Afghan conflict is a political settlement with the Taliban. The adversary could be brought “home” under a national “reconciliation and reintegration” framework. There are “indications” that the Taliban are interested in dialogue. Allured by incentives, they would abandon their arms, and aims, and become constructive members of the society. They have always wanted to compromise but we never opened any doors. 

Yet, this pure reconciliation-based optimistic view of peace, like its opposite - the one that hinges solely on military successes - misses the point. It considers the two approaches â€" military and political - mutually exclusive. We however need to work on both approaches in tandem. This view also presupposes the primacy of approach over objectives. The approach should in fact be guided by our objectives and informed by the local context in Afghanistan.

The current approa! ch towards bringing peace in Afghanistan is flawed in its design because of three fundamental reasons:

Read more...

A Democratic congresswoman plans to sustain her diet on a $4.50 budget which is roughly he amount spent per meal by a food stamp recipient.

"It is the lifeline of people who are poor," Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said Monday according to Patch.com. "The alarming part about this is that the numbers are growing."

Speier shared some of the items she could buy on her $4.50 budget according to patch. The groceries included loaf of bread, a bag of coffee, Campbell's chicken noodle soup, and canned sweat peas. Speier said her treat for the week under her food stamp budget would be microwavable popcorn packets.

"And this is my treat for the week," Speier said as she held up the popcorn box.

Speier plans to go on her foo! dstamp budget for five days. The California congresswoman says she's doing it to protest potential budget cuts to the food stamp program.

"The program is in jeopardy right now," Speier said according to the site.

Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) is putting some legislative promotion into his Halloween treats.

Begich, whose state is one of the largest producers of fresh salmon in the world, tweeted Monday that he is handing out buttons in opposition to genetically-altered salmon, also known as “frankenfish,” to members of the upper chamber. The Food and Drug Administration is considering approval of the fish for consumption.

"I’m celebrating Halloween by delivering “No Frankenfish” buttons to all my Senate colleagues,” Begich tweeted Monday afternoon with a link to a picture of a fanged fish with a line through it.

Begich proposed legislation earlier this month that would make it illegal to sell, posses, and/or purchase genetically-altered salmon in the U.S. It has gained support fro! m his Republican counterpart in the Senate, Lisa Murkowsi (R-Alaska).

The legislation is aptly titled after the mythical winged horse, the PEGASUS Actâ€" the Prevention of Escapement of Genetically Altered Salmon in the United States Act.

Both Alaskan senators have questioned the economic and environmental impact of introducing genetically-altered salmon into the national food supply.

“Turning the genes of salmon into a genetic super-growth formula sounds like a plot for the next 'Deep Blue Sea,' 'Jaws' or some other horror movie,” Begich said. “Wild-caught, well-managed salmon is one of our nation’s richest resources and best foods. There’s no need to create fake Frankenfish to try and replace it.”

Murkowsi introduced similar legislation that would restrict funds to the FDA required to approve the genetically-altered salmon application. It was proposed as an amendment to the agriculture appropriations bill that made i! t to the floor earlier this month.

President Obama is in good health and is tobacco free, according to a medical report released by the White House.

Obama's examination was done by Navy captain and Physician to the President Dr. Jeff Kuhlman. Kuhlman's report was released on Monday.

Kuhlman reported that Obama eats healthy, has a healthy weight, is tobacco free, and is physically active. Kuhlman also reported that Obama "On occasion drinks alcohol in moderation."

In the past advisers said that Obama had been working to quit smoking.

"This is not something he's proud of," then-White House press Secretary Robert Gibbs said in December. "He knows it's not good for him."

Kuhlman reported tha! t Obama is in good health.

"The president is in excellent health and "fit for duty"," Kuhlman writes. "All clinical data indicate he will remain so for the duration of his Presidency. The president is current on all age-appropriate screening tests. He is "fit at fifty" and "staying health at 50+"."

Read the report below:

The President's Periodic Physical ! Exam

Universities in Denver, New York and Florida will host three 2012 presidential debates, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Monday.

The commission announced three presidential and one vice presidential debate. 

The University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., and Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla., will host the presidential debates, the commission announced. All three debates are set for October 2012 â€" the Denver debate will be Oct. 3, the Hofstra event will be Oct. 16 and the Lynn debate will be Oct. 22.

The vice presidential debate will be held at Centre College in Danville, Ky., on Oct. 11.

The commission also announced that Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., will serve as a backup debate site. Washington University was the location for one of the 2008 debates between then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).

The committee said! that formats and moderators for the debates will be announced in 2012.

“The President looks forward to next year’s debates," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a statement. "Once the Republicans have selected their candidate, we will work through the details with their campaign and the Commission on Presidential Debates.”

â€"This story was updated at 3:12 p.m.

Universities in Denver, New York, and Florida will host three 2012 presidential debates, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced Monday.

The commission announced three presidential and one vice presidential debate. 

The University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, and Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, will host three presidential debates, the commission announced. All three debates are set for October, 2012. The Denver debate will be October 3, the Hofstra event will be October 16, and the Lynn debate will be October 22.

The vice presidential debate will be held at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky on October 11.

The commission also announced that Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri will serve as a backup debate site. Washington Unviersity was the location for one of the 2008 presidential debates between then Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) and former Alaska Gov. Sa! rah Palin (R).

The committee said that formats and moderators for the debates will be announced in 2012.

“The President looks forward to next year’s debates," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in a statement. "Once the Republicans have selected their candidate, we will work through the details with their campaign and the Commission on Presidential Debates.”

â€"This story was updated at 3:12 p.m.

Voters' approval first lady Michelle Obama remains high, but a new poll found that her approval ratings have fallen slightly.

According to the Marist Poll released Monday, 63 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of Michelle Obama while 21 percent hold an unfavorable view of her. That's a slight dip from six months ago when Marist last surveyed voters' opinions of the first lady. In May, Marist found that 66 percent of voters hold a favorable view of Obama. In September, Marist found that 65 percent of voters held a favorable view and 24 percent had an unfavorable view. In December 2009, Marist found that 68 percent had a favorable view while 20 percent had an unfavorable view.

Broken down by party affiliation, Marist found that 85 percent of Democrats hold a favorable view while 6 percent hold an unfavorable view. Republicans are more evenly split â€" 42 percent have a favorable view and 39 percent have an unfavorable view. Independents gener! ally like the first lady. The poll found that 58 percent have a favorable view of Obama while 21 percent have an unfavorable view.

Obama has recently been hitting the campaign trail for her husband's reelection campaign. Last weekend the first lady was in Florida to speak at a number of Democratic National Committee events.

Voters' approval First Lady Michelle Obama remains high but a new poll found that her approval ratings have fallen slightly.

According to the Marist Poll released Monday, 63 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of Michelle Obama while, 21 percent hold an unfavorable view of her. That's a slight dip from six months ago when Marist last surveyed voters' opinions of the first lady. In May, Marist found that 66 percent of voters hold a favorable view of Obama. In September Marist found that 65 percent of voters held a favorable view and 24 percent had an unfavorable view. In December 2009, Marist found that 68 percent had a favorable view while 20 percent had an unfavorable view.

Broken down by party affiliation, Marist found that 85 percent of democrats hold a favorable view while 6 percent hold an unfavorable view. Republicans are more evenly split â€"42 percent have a favorable view and 39 percent have an unfavorable view. Independents general! ly like the first lady. The poll found that 58 percent have a favorable view of Obama while 21 percent have an unfavorable view.

Obama has recently been hitting the campaign trail for her husband's reelection campaign. Last weekend the first lady was in Florida to speak at a number of Democratic National Committee events.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration deserves part of the credit for Arab Spring and the fall of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in a report published Monday by USA Today.

"The change in the conversation about the Middle East, where people now routinely talk about democratization, is something that I'm very grateful for and I think we had a role in that," Rice said.

Rice credited former President George W. Bush for leading the way into “uncharted territory” in the Middle East, as well as with the agreement with Gadhafi to give up and turn over material from his nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs in 2003.

"[I'm] grateful we disarmed [Gadhafi] of his most dangerou! s weapons. Sitting in that bunker, I'm pretty sure he would have used them," she said, adding that Gadhafi "wasn't totally sane."

Read more...

Nobody should jump to conclusions on a report alleging that Herman Cain had engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior while running the National Restaurant Association, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said.

"Well, I think the important thing is that nobody should come to any conclusions quickly," Lieberman said Monday on the Laura Ingraham radio show.

Over the weekend, Politico reported that two female employees of the National Restaurant Association quit after receiving financial settlements and agreeing not to discuss sexually inappropriate behavior by Cain.

During the interview with Ingraham, Lieberman said that more would have to come out for the story to have a big effect.

"I think there'll have to be more that comes out for this to really have an effect," Lieberman said. "Unfortunately, it may have an effect on Herman Cain whether more comes out" or not.

Since the report surfaced, Cain's campaign has st! rongly denied that the businessman had ever engaged in sexual harassment.

“Herman Cain has never sexual harassed anybody. Period. End of story,” Cain chief of staff Mark Block said on MSNBC's “Daily Rundown.”

The Occupy Wall Street protests are not reflective of the opinions of most Americans, Sen. Joe Lieberman said Monday.

"The way this Occupy Wall Street is expressing itself is not reflective of the majority of people in our country," Lieberman (I-Conn.) said on the Laura Ingraham show.

Lieberman also said that the anti-corporate protesters should mimic what the Tea Party did: form a clear platform and start participating in elections.

"This group ought to do what the Tea Party did," Lieberman added. "It formed a platform and it got into the election."

Critics of the protests have said Occupy Wall Street does not have a core set of complaints that make it a coherent movement.

Both Republicans and Democrats have weighed in on the protests, roughly along partisan lines. The Republican National Committee said Democratic leaders who support the Occupy Wall Street had been ignoring anti-Semitic comments by demonstrators.
"Democratic leaders have spent the last week championing the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement," RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer said in a statement earlier this month. "Yet in the midst of protesters’ extreme anti-Semitic, anti-Israel comments, they’ve been silent."

Rove says it's more likely Palin "gets in than doesn’t." "Serious people" urging Rep. Ryan to run.

Read more...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Sunday night compared Syrian President Bashar Assad to former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was recently killed by rebels, and indicated Assad could be next.

"The Assad regime has spilled too much blood to stay in power,” McCain told the crowd at the 2011 AIPAC Summit at the Scottsdale Princess Resort, according to the Associated Press report. “Its days are numbered, but it will use those days to murder more of its own people.  In this way, there is no moral distinction whatsoever between the case of Syria and that of Libya.”

Read more...

Speaking about a Palin presidential bid, Rove said it was more likely “that she gets in than doesn’t.”

Read more...

As Cain regroups, polls show the voters likely to be turned off by the allegations - women - support Romney.

Read more...

Rep. West has faced criticism from the left and the right. Now he's hearing it from his own brother.

Read more...

Lewis's comments come after Rep. Maxine Waters said the black community is supportive of Obama but also "getting tired."

Read more...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) made the comments to a young boy who asked the age of the Earth. 

Read more...

Lewis's comments come after Rep. Maxine Waters said the black community is supportive of Obama but also "getting tired."

Read more...

In an interview Wednesday, Rep. Allen West said he hopes to free African-American voters from the Democratic Party's "plantation."

Read more...

Rep. Allen West said he hopes to free African-American voters from the Democratic party's "plantation" in an interview Wednesday.

Read more...

Measures are being taken around the Capitol complex and all along the East Coast in anticipation of Hurricane Irene.

Read more...

The South Carolina governor said Wednesday she’s not ready for a national ticket after eight months in office.

Read more...

The remarks came at a “Kitchen Table Summit” in Inglewood Saturday night attended by more than a thousand people.

Read more...

Perry suggested the Fed chairman would find himself in a "pretty ugly" situation if he authorized more quantitative easing.

Read more...

Former White House press secretary Gibbs maintains Obama's reelection campaign isn't running against the specter of former President Bush.

Read more...

Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is admirably legislating against U.S. arms sales to Bahrain, the autocratic Gulf kingdom which has killed at least 30 protesters during the Arab Spring. To suppress protests, Bahrain has arrested more than 1,600 protesters, has fired 2,500 from their jobs, and is handing down harsh jail terms to medical personnel who treated injured protesters. This brutal repression of Bahraini human rights led Wyden to introduce a resolution to prohibit U.S. weapons sales to Bahrain until it meets stringent human rights criteria, helping to generate enough political pressure so that the Obama Administration has delayed implementation of its shameful decision last month to sell $53 million of weapons to Bahrain.

“Selling weapons to a regime that is violently suppressing peaceful civil dissent and violating human rights is antithetical to our foreign policy goals and the principle of basic rights for all that the U.S. has worked hard to promote,â€!  Wyden argued.

While this principle should apply to all U.S. weapons sales, it should be even more strictly adhered to when U.S. taxpayers are funding weapons sales through military aid. Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid, scheduled to receive $30 billion in taxpayer-financed weapons between 2009 and 2018, and also violently suppresses nonviolent Palestinian protest and commits grave human rights violations against Palestinians living under its illegal 44-year military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip.



Read more...

The morning after her straw poll victory, Bachmann argued her economic policies would attract independent and Democratic-leaning voters.

Read more...

Capitol building opens for limited re-entry, but normal business day expected Wednesday. Washington Monument closed after cracks detected.

Read more...

Several federal courts have issued differing rulings on the issue, and the Supreme Court will ultimately decide its constitutionality.

Read more...

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) is attacking Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) as he gears up for a presidential bid.

Read more...

"You're going to see all sorts of things, drudged up and made up and puffed up," Romney said Wednesday.

Read more...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) talked to former President George W. Bush last month about possibly running for president.

Read more...

Republican presidential front-runner Herman Cain clarified that he does not think smoking is cool.

Read more...

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain defended his unusual campaign ad Sunday while clarifying that he does not think smoking is cool.

Bob Schieffer, the host of CBS’ “Face the Nation,” told Cain he was offended by the ad, which showed Cain’s chief of staff, Mark Block, smoking. He said the ad sent a subliminal pro-smoking message.

“Mark Block smokes. That’s all that ad says. We weren’t trying to say it’s cool to smoke,” Cain said.

But, pressed further, he took a formal anti-smoking stance.

“It is not a cool thing to do … smoking is not a cool thing to do,” Cain said.

Cain also pushed back against the narrative that he has changed his signature 9-9-9 economic plan. As Cain has surged in the polls, his critics have said changing the 9-9-9 plan so early makes clear that Cain isn’t ready for primetime.

Cain recently referred to the plan as 9-0-9 because it would not require pe! ople at or below the federal poverty level to pay the new 9 percent national income tax. But he said Sunday that was always part of the plan.

“It was already in the analysis and it was misreported that I changed it,” Cain said.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Sunday sought to brush off questions about his deep slide in Republican primary polls.

Perry said on “Fox News Sunday” that people are just beginning to study his economic plan. Once the public studies his proposals and his record as governor, “they’re going to go, ‘You know what, Rick Perry is who needs to be leading this country,’” Perry said.

Perry has fallen to the back of the field in many polls as conservatives have embraced Herman Cain.

“This race isn’t settled at all,” he said.
Perry continued to paint himself as a “consistent conservative,” and drew a sharp contrast with GOP front-runner Mitt Romney on social issues.

“Mitt’s been on both sides of those issues,” Perry said. “He’s been for a ban on guns in Massachusetts, he’s been for pro-abortion, he’s been for supporting gay rights, and now he’s on the other side of those issues.”

Perry a! dmitted, however, that his performance in GOP debates has left something to be desired.

“Eighteen debates is way too many debates, frankly. That is an incredible amount of time and preparation and what have you,” he said.

The putative forerunner for the GOP presidential nomination will apparently push harder than expected for victory in Iowa's caucuses.

Read more...

Rep. King asks if covers have been blown or tactics compromised because of alleged White House collaboration with filmmakers.

Read more...

A high-profile Democratic lobbyist and several former congressional staffers are joining a legal battle against former Rep. Eric Massa.

Read more...

Ryan is asking for donations to buy ads responding to Democratic attacks against the GOP field and his budget.

Read more...

Bachmann said recalling Congress to Washington would send a strong signal to markets that lawmakers are serious about debt.

Read more...

Scott Olsen, Iraqi war veteran and Occupy Oakland protester, suffered a fractured skull in the group's confrontation with police Tuesday.

Read more...

The GOP presidential hopeful also attributed the Iranian plot to assassinate a Saudi diplomat to perceptions that Obama is weak.

Read more...

Lee said the police actions were not appropriate: “These are peaceful protesters who have a right to petition their government.”

Read more...

Boehner said Obama's plan to adjust regulations on student loans and mortgages and "go around the Congress is ... almost laughable."

Read more...

Paul defended his support for repealing "Don't ask, don't tell," arguing that heterosexual relationships in the military were also disruptive.

Read more...

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said all four states involved in the Republican primary calendar reshuffling will be docked half of their delegates, even though it was Florida that instigated the mad scramble.

Read more...

After the Obama campaign announced the hiring of Broderick Johnson as a senior adviser to its 2012 team, Johnson’s wife, National Public Radio host Michele Norris, informed the station she would step aside to avoid a conflict of interest.

Read more...

The Architect of the Capitol has announced plans to soon begin restoration of the Capitol dome in an effort to slow deterioration of the famous landmark.

“There is only one Capitol Dome, and we are committed to preserving it for generations to come,” AOC Stephen Ayers said Thursday in a news release.

Read more...

The Architect of the Capitol has announced plans to soon begin restoration of the Capitol dome in an effort to slow deterioration of the famous landmark.

“There is only one Capitol Dome, and we are committed to preserving it for generations to come,” AOC Stephen Ayers said Thursday in a news release.

Read more...

The Architect of the Capitol has announced plans to soon begin restoration of the Capitol dome in an effort to slow deterioration of the famous landmark.

“There is only one Capitol Dome, and we are committed to preserving it for generations to come,” wrote AoC Stephen Ayers in a statement Thursday.

Read more...

Mitt Romney may be leading or tied in the polls for the key primary states, but only 42 percent of Americans are able to identify him as a Mormon, according to a Public Religion Research Institute poll released on Thursday.

Read more...

Two leadership communication teams started a war of words through social media on Thursday.

The press offices for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) battled it out during the afternoon after Cantor's office slammed Hoyer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for "fake outrage" over the 2012 House schedule.

Read more...

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) ate crackers and peanut butter for breakfast on Friday, while Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) solicited ideas for nutritional meals under $1.50.

They and at least eight other Democratic congressmen are participating in the Food Stamp Challenge, which requires living for a week on the average food stamp allotment, according to the organization hosting the challenge, Fighting Poverty With Faith (FPF).

Read more...

A House subcommittee yesterday tried to shed light on the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. and discussed how Washington should react.

The House subcommittee on counterterrorism and intelligence got some partial answers, but more questions remain. All the expert panelists who testified agreed that even though apparently implausible, such a plot would have required the authorization of the Iranian spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei.

Read more...

An actor known for starring in the science fiction Stargate franchise tweeted seeing President Obama's motorcade on Tuesday.

"Obama just drove by me. So... that happened," actor David Blue tweeted.

Blue is most famous for starring as Eli Wallace in the recently canceled two season science fiction series Stargate Universe.

Obama was in New York Tuesday to tape an episode of the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday that she knew about former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's scrapbook filled with photos of her because he showed it to her when she visited his compound in 2008.

Rice called the scrapbook, which was discovered by Libyan rebels searching Gadhafi's compound after his retreat in August, "eerie."

The former Libyan dictator apparently had what Rice called a “strange fascination” with then-President George W. Bush's Secretary of State.

Read more...

A suicide bomber in Afghanistan killed 13 Americans on Saturday, according to the Associated Press.

The AP report says a Taliban suicide bomber attacked an armored vehicle that was traveling as part of a convoy in Kabul. Thirteen Americans and four Afghans were killed, making it the deadliest attack in the country since August, when the Taliban shot down a NATO helicopter.

The bombing "parked a fireball and littered the street with shrapnel and twisted metal hulks," the AP reported.

NATO and Afghan forced were meeting in Kabul on Saturday to discuss the transition of power from U.S.-led coalition forces to the Afghan government. The AP described Saturday's attack as a "major setbac! k" as the U.S. scales back its military presence in Afghanistan.

The wire service said the Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing as well as a separate suicide bombing in northwest Afghanistan. Only the bomber died in that attack.

Defenders of wasteful Department of Defense (DoD) spending launched an all-out assault on the truth this week. They claim the debt deal has already reduced DoD spending by $450 billion, and if spending is cut any further, a million jobs will be lost and the U.S. military will soon be no match for the unstoppable Chinese military.

Unfortunately for those spouting this “doomsday” rhetoric, the facts tell a very different story, and, as John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things.”

Read more...

President Obama’s jobs bill is getting a bad rap on several fronts, but none more undeserving than the claims that it penalizes job creators and contains nothing new or innovative.
 
Both assertions are false.
 
In fact, the American Jobs Act does what no other such legislation has done in recent memory â€" it removes penalties and provides incentives to the new and self-employed businesses that have created all of the net new jobs in this country for the last 30 years.

Read more...

House Democrat leadership on Thursday blasted the House Republicans' newly-released schedule for 2012.

House Minority Whip Steny (D-Md.) called it "more of the same" from Republicans while House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested in a hashtag that it "really makes you wonder."

“2011 Floor schedule has prevented us from getting anything done to create jobs," Hoyer tweeted, indicating the 2012 schedule looks very similar to the 2011 House schedule.

Read more...

The last full week of October 2011 marked another bad week for Greece. Earlier Monday, the Athens stock market plummeted on news that the nation’s European allies had failed to meet an agreement to keep the nation afloat.

Greece’s bank shares took a beating on news they may be forced to accept higher losses on their government’s bonds as part of the larger European deal.

And while the government seems paralyzed with inaction, the people of Greece (mostly public workers) took to the streets once again to protest.

Read more...

John Podesta is stepping down as president of the Center for American Progress, according to an official at the organization.

Podesta has led the liberal think tank since it was founded in 2003 as a way to counteract the conservative-leaning think tanks that put pressure on policy and political debates in Washington.

The former chief of staff to Bill Clinton oversaw the Center for American Progress' growth into a policy powerhouse for the left. And he and the center have been a strong ally for the Obama administration.

There was no immediate word on what Podesta would do next.

I can’t pinpoint precisely when presidential politics turned into a game, but I can tell you who owns the casino.

Flashback: Halfway through the Nixon v. McGovern campaign of 1972 â€" ancient history, but bear with me â€" Vice President Spiro Agnew arrived in Los Angeles prepared to answer reporters’ questions about the Vietnam War, Nixon’s new economic policy and a host of other major issues (including the Watergate break-in five months earlier). Instead, the first question asked by a local TV reporter was whether the vice president was planning to run for president in 1976.

Read more...

The Rick Perry campaign is encouraging its' Twitter followers to highlight position changes by Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney using the #flipflopmitt hashtag.

"With Mitt Romney finally showing a willingness to flip-flop on his liberal positions, the Perry Truth Team is encouraging Twitter users to suggest other liberal positions Mitt Romney should flip-flop on by using the hashtag #flipflopmitt," the campaign said in a statement.

The press release highlighted Romney's endorsement of an Ohio ballot measure that limits collective bargaining rights Wednesday, after refusing to endorse the initiative during a campaign stop earlier this week.

Read more...

Rick Santorum's presidential campaign on Thursday slammed Texas Gov. Rick Perry for floating the idea of skipping some upcoming presidential debates, suggesting Perry might not be "tough" enough to face the other candidates.

“I thought Texas governors were supposed to be tough,” Santorum aide J. Hogan Gidley told The New York Times. “How can Governor Perry expect anyone to trust he can take on Obama and the Democratic machine, when he thinks debating his fellow Republicans is too tough?"

Read more...

How many people in this nation have lost their jobs through no fault of their own? How many hardworking people with families have been laid off due to our poor economy, an economy bound only to get worse by continued layoffs?
 
How many are living a substandard life in comparison to the people who are on the government dole â€" free housing, food stamps, everything? If they are, what is wrong with this picture? How does someone who works hard and then gets laid off come up shorter than someone suckling on the teet of entitlement programs? Aren’t we actively incentivizing laziness and dependency?

Read more...

Jon Huntsman boycotted the Nevada debate to protest Nevada’s decision to move up its caucuses to January. Said here that Newt Gingrich’s rant at Charlie Rose at the Dartmouth debate, which boosted Gingrich into the mainstream, would have given him a Marlon Brando moment had he boycotted the Bloomberg/Washington Post fashion show altogether. Now Rick Perry says he might boycott the upcoming events. He should. Gingrich as well. Debates don’t indicate who will be a good president. They tell who will do well on the lucrative lecture and fundraising circuit after his presidency. Ask Bill Clinton, he of the 50 gold watches.

Read more...

Whether liberals, conservatives and true populists like it or not (and many do not), the most likely outcome of the nominating process is a general-election battle between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. This opens up a humongous opening for Dr. Ron Paul to run as a third-party candidate.

It has been said of Mitt Romney that he has been a liberal, a moderate and a conservative. What will the next Mitt Romney be? Is there any serious conservative who trusts him? Of course not. If Ron Paul runs for president as a third-party candidate against Obama and Romney, he changes the entire dynamic of the campaign and totally transforms the national debate.

Read more...

Jon Huntsman is ramping up his criticism of Mitt Romney as a flip-flopper with a new campaign ad. 

The video, called "Backflip," features a split-screen: On one side is Romney, making apparently contradictory statements â€" on issues like abortion and an Ohio bill curtailing union bargaining rights â€" and on the other a small wind-up toy monkey. 

"I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country," Romney says in a clip from his campaign for governor of Massachussetts. The video then cuts to Romney saying more recently he has "consistently been pro-life."

The ad, released Friday, comes the same day that Huntsman described Romney as a "perfectly lubricated weathervane."

Read more...

Republicans, including Rick Perry, should drop the “birther” issue, said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, in an interview airing Friday on Bloomberg TV’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt.”

“I’ve said from the very beginning that I think it’s a big distraction,” Priebus said. “But I think it’s an issue that’s been dropped.”

Priebus blamed the news media for badgering Republican presidential contender Perry over the issue of President Obama’s birthplace in recent interviews.

“I think he was also badgered about 20 times on the question,” Priebus said. “To be fair to him, I think that was the result of a serious peppering and continuation. And after a while, you just say, fine.”

Read more...

Rep. Barbara Lee’s (D-Calif.) office is in contact with the family of Iraqi war veteran Scott Olsen, an Occupy Oakland protester who was injured due to police action this week, and has offered assistance, Lee’s office said Friday.

Olsen, 24, was struck in the head during an incident involving the Oakland police and a demonstration against Wall Street on Tuesday in front of Oakland City Hall. He has become a rallying point for the nationwide Occupy Wall Street protest movement.

“I shared my outrage and grave concern about the police brutality in Oakland directly with the Mayor,” Lee said Thursday in a news release. “My thoughts go out to the injured and especially Scott Olsen. I strongly support the occupy movement and continue to stand with the peaceful protesters in this struggle for economic justice and equality.” 

Read more...

Herman Cain said pushes by the "so-called Palestinian people" for statehood and an Iranian assassination plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States were evidence that President Obama was perceived as weak in the Middle East in an interview with an Israeli newspaper.

"I think that the so-called Palestinian people have this urge for unilateral recognition because they see this president as weak," Cain said during an interview with Israel Hayom. "I haven’t seen all the facts but I think this whole assassination attempt was another example of seeing this president as weak, in that regard. So, weakness invites attack and I think that he has projected a sense of weakness."

The Republican frontrunner also said that the president "threw Israel under the bus" when stating support for a peace process brokered around the framework of the 1967 borders.

Read more...

The New York Times’s lead story, posted on its website Thursday night, " 'Bundlers’ for Obama Have Active Ties to Lobbying,' " makes the important point that “Despite a pledge not to take money from lobbyists, President Obama has relied on prominent supporters who are active in the lobbying industry to raise millions of dollars for his reelection bid.” Eric Lichtblau reports that “at least 15” of Obama’s bundlers, while not registered as lobbyists, seem to perform very much like lobbyists, sometimes working for consulting firms, sometimes for private companies. The loophole-ridden rules on lobbying allow them to avoid registration, he writes, and also to raise money for the president, host fundraisers and even push policie! s at White House meetings.

Read more...

As Californians, we are fortunate to enjoy some of the most breathtaking landscapes and pristine wilderness in the country, from Muir Woods in the north of our state to the Santa Monica Mountains in the south.  The continued preservation of these and many other sites of great natural beauty across California and the United States is thanks to wise investments made through the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). 

Funded by royalties paid by energy companies drilling for oil and gas on federal lands, the LWCF provides matching grants to states and local governments for the acquisition and development of public outdoor recreation areas and facilities without using a penny of tax dollars.  These grants are also an investment in our economy.  Outdoor recreation contributed $46 billion, including $28.1 million in retail sales and services, to California’s economy this year, and this economic activity supports approximately 408,000 jobs throughout the stat! e.

Read more...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) explained Americans' low approval of Congress as something that's been going on throughout the country's history. 

Pelosi added that she fell into the category of Americans who did not approve of the body's job performance lately, as well. 

"The fact is that Congress has always been the object of mockery in the history of our country," Pelosi said Friday in an interview with CNBC. "I myself would include those who are dissatisfied with the conduct of Congress. I don't know who know who is in favor of how things have gone forth because you've seen a polarization." 

Pelosi's comments come amid recent polling that finds Congress at deep approval lows. 

On Friday, a YouGov/Economist poll found that just 8 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, while 67 percent disapprove. That low disapproval number near perfectly matches findings by a New York Times/CBS News poll that ! found Congress's job performance had won a 9 percent approval rating among Americans.

Growing up in the borough of Queens in New York City, our idea of a park was a concrete pad where we played stickball with our friends. My mother and father, however, understood the importance of connecting my brother and me to nature. So every year, even though they couldn’t afford it, they would send us to a summer camp in upstate New York or in Maine. That was where I developed my love for the great outdoors â€" a place to escape, to appreciate the environmental wonders that surround us, and to play in a natural way.
 
My experience is not unique. Through the work of our family foundation, I’ve witnessed the benefits of protecting community parks and ensuring children and families have safe, close-to-home places to play. At a time when so many of our youth are facing health risks and other challenges associated with a sedentary lifestyle, parks can contribute to a healthy future for our families. These places also offer protections for our drinking water! , clean air and wildlife habitat, and enhance the economic viability of rural and urban communities.
 

Read more...

The Big 12 conference will add West Virginia University in a realignment move that is making waves in the world of college football â€" and the halls of Congress.

The conference was looking for a 10th school to replace departing Missouri, which announced earlier this week that it would be leaving the Big 12 to join the Southeastern Conference. The Big 12 had reportedly come to an agreement with WVU, but reports emerged that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was lobbying on behalf of the University of Louisville, his alma mater, throwing the process into chaos.

The potential move carried great significance for the schools, both currently members of the Big East. By defecting to the more storied football conference that includes programs like Texas and Oklahoma, the universities stood to make millions in additional revenues from television contracts. 

Further complicating the process were recent defections from the Big East by Syrac! use and Pittsburgh, threatening the conference's tie-in to the lucrative Bowl Championship Series.

Read more...

Jon Huntsman Sr., the billionaire businessman and father of the Republican presidential hopeful, said his son is only lagging in the polls because the other candidates had such a massive head start.

“One has to understand that six months ago, he was helping to resolve the problems of China, and dealing with problems or situations in North Korea and Taiwan," Huntsman Sr. said. "Then all of a sudden, your focus shifts to all of these public policy issues from the United States and it's a very different set of conditions. I think he's made a remarkable transition."

Speaking to the Deseret News in Utah before dedicating an expansion of the Huntsman Cancer Institute on Friday, Huntsman ! Sr. argued that his son was wildly popular in China after his stint as U.S. ambassador, and said it’s only a matter of time before the same happens in the United States.

"If he were running for president of China, he would have already won the election," he said. "But he's had to come here and start from scratch. Most of the other candidates had a year or two or three or four. Mitt's had six.”

Read more...

According to a report by The Associated Press, Herman Cain's chief of staff Mark Block â€" the man America came to know from his appearance smoking a cigarette in the presidential candidate's viral Web ad â€" has a troubled past that includes arrests for drunken driving and a suspension from campaigning in Wisconsin after accusations of breaking election rules.

In 1997, Block was accused of coordinating campaign activities between a state supreme court justice's reelection campaign and a special-interest group that promoted school vouchers, in violation of campaign laws. Four years later, Block agreed to a settlement that included a $15,000 fine and a 3-year suspension from run! ning campaigns in the state, but did not require him to admit guilt.

Block told the AP that during that time he was forced to take a job at Target and that his life entered a tailspin. He was arrested twice for drinking and driving, and had his home foreclosed on. He also was issued a tax warrant by the IRS and was sued separately for an unpaid bill.

Read more...

Support for the war in Afghanistan is at an all-time low, according to a new poll.

According to a CNN poll released Friday, 63 percent of Americans oppose the war in Afghanistan while 34 percent favor it. The poll’s findings are almost exactly unchanged from June, when CNN last surveyed Americans on their opinions on the war in Afghanistan. In June, CNN found that 62 percent opposed the war and 36 percent favored it. Prior to that, in May, CNN found that 52 percent opposed the war and 42 percent approved of it.

But the latest poll also found that 57 percent of Americans do not think the United States made a mistake by sending troops to Afghanistan, while 41 percent say troops should not have been sent.

On Tuesday, Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), a member of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee and its former chairman, said the United States needed to move faster in drawing down troops in Afghanistan.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday that the United States was on track to fully hand over security command to the Afghanistan government by 2014.

“As you saw in Iraq, there was a gradual ceding of security control ... to the Iraq security forces,” Carney said. “That process occurred over a sustained period of time and was very successful, we believe. And while obviously each country is different, in this case, and the circumstances are different, and the timelines are different, we anticipate that we will be able to keep the schedule outlined by the president and keep our commitments, and keep both the American people and the international community apprised of the progress we’re making and our plans for drawing down.”

The poll comes! exactly a week after President Obama announced that all U.S. forces in Iraq would be withdrawn by the end of the year.

Herman Cain's chief of staff Mark Block - the man American came to know from his appearance smoking a cigarette in the candidate's viral web ad - has a troubled past that includes arrests for drunken driving and a suspension from campaigning in Wisconsin after accusations of breaking election rules, according to the Associated Press.

In 1997, Block was accused of coordinating campaign activities between a state supreme court justice's re-election campaign and a special interest group that promoted school vouchers, in violation of campaign laws. Four years later, Block agreed to a settlement that included a $15,000 fine and a 3-year suspension from running campaigns in the state,! but did not require him to admit guilt.

Block told the AP that during that time he was forced to take a job at Target and that his life entered a tailspin. He was arrested twice for drinking and driving, and had his home foreclosed on. He also was issued a tax warrant by the IRS and was sued separately for an unpaid bill.

Read more...

President Obama’s recess appointment of Craig Becker after his nomination was filibustered by the Senate for views considered outside the mainstream set the stage for a radical activist results-oriented National Labor Relations Board (Board or NLRB).  Driven by an intense desire to turn back the clock on the decline of unionization in the private sector, the Obama Board has reached out and upended settled Board law and procedure. 

For example, the Board stripped workers of their right to challenge their employer’s voluntary recognition of a union by card check, given a green light to unions to engage in prohibited secondary boycott activity, and authorized tiny bargaining units (micro-units) of employees that threaten to balkanize the workplace. The board also proposed a rule to drastically shorten the time for board elections, which will effectively deprive employer’s of a meaningful opportunity to express their views on unionization to their employee! s, and deprive their employees of the opportunity to hear those views and make an informed choice. 

As a result, earlier this year, the Chairman of the Education and the Workforce Committee, Rep. John Kline, was forced to respond and reassert through legislation the meaning and intent of the National Labor Relations Act (Act or NLRA).  The Chairman introduced H.R. 3094, the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act, that prevents the Board from implementing its proposed “quickie election” rule and reverses the Board decision authorizing the creation of micro-units.   

Read more...

Ron Paul dismissed criticism of his proposal to close the Department of Education and reduce the number of federally-backed student loans as "reckless" in an op-ed Friday in USA Today.

"The many headlines that came out after my interview Sunday on Meet the Press exclaimed that I wanted to 'end' or 'phase out' all student loans. In the long term â€" just like Social Security for people under the age of 25 â€" this is technically true. But to portray my budget plan as immediately getting rid of student loans is simply dishonest," Paul said.

Paul emphasized that his current budget did not cut student loan programs for those who are receiving the services or would in the near future. But the Texas congressman credited government intervention in college financing for skyrocketing costs, and said that by transitioning back to private financing market forces would push college costs back down.

Read more...

Newt Gingrich said that President Obama's recently announced student loan proposal was a "Ponzi scheme."

Obama's plan would allow for easier consolidation of outstanding student loans, and would forgive outstanding balances on federal loans after 20 years of payments, rather than 25. Federal loan repayments would also be capped at 10 percent of a borrower's income, lowering payments, down from 15 percent now. The president would also begin implementing the changes next year, rather than 2014 as was currently planned.

But Gingrich says that Obama's plan lies to students "by promising to every young person, 'You won't have to pay off your student loan as a student." Instead, the former Speaker of the House says that those who benefit from the program will just "have to pay off the national debt" as taxpayers later in life.

Read more...

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton far outpaces her boss - President Barack Obama - in hypothetical matchups against top Republican candidates.

Clinton would beat Mitt Romney by 17 percentage points, with the former Massachusetts Governor trailing 55 percent to 38 percent, while Rick Perry trails Secretary Clinton by 26 percentage points. The TIME magazine poll finds Clinton winning that hypothetical matchup 58 percent to 32 percent.

Meanwhile, TIME's poll found Obama only leading Romney by 3 percent and Perry by 12 percent. The poll did not survey either Democrat against insurgent Republican contender Herman Cain, but a Rasmussen poll released last week found the former Godfather's Pizza CEO edging the president in a hypothetical matchup.

Read more...

The 40,000 American troops in Iraq are coming home â€" and so is their mail, if it is sent after Nov. 17.

Mail addressed to soldiers in Iraq postmarked after Nov. 17 will be returned to sender.

"Last call for mail: Nothing postmarked after November 17 will be delivered to Iraq," the Dept. of Veterans Affairs tweeted Thursday.

The change comes because the recipients simply will not be there anymore. President Obama announced last Friday that all American troops will be home from Iraq for the holidays. The U.S. and Iraq failed to reach an agreement to keep some troops in the country longer for training purposes.

Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio) believes that America’s Founding Fathers would be “very happy with where we are today” thanks to social media.

“They wanted a very informed populace. An uninformed populace doesn’t participate in the system,” Latta said.

Latta, who has been in office since 2007 and has 7,752 Twitter followers, spoke to The Hill fresh off a new media tour of Silicon Valley companies such as Google and Twitter.

Latta said that the ability for members of Congress to post legislation online and communicate quickly and directly to constituents not only leads to a more informed populace, it also prompts individual member offices to stay on their toes.

Read more...

Rep. James Lankford (R.-Okla.) joined Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in accusing the president of using divisive rhetoric to promote his jobs package, likening Obama’s message to the outright plundering of the wealthy.

Lankford, who sits on the House Budget committee with Ryan said he agreed with the Wisconsin lawmaker’s recent remarks that Obama was using class warfare and anger towards wealthier Americans to promote his agenda.

“I do agree â€" you go back three or four years ago and it was hope, it was change, it was an optimistic tone, and now it’s a very pessimistic tone of ‘you’re trapped’,” Lankford said Thursday on ABC’s “Top Line”

Read more...

Elizabeth Warren went up against the winged monkeys a week ago when she referred to herself as a hick, commenting on her Harvard association and how that might alienate the Fenway public. She called herself an “elite hick” and the cries of pain went up from the hick anti-defamation league. The Wonderful Whites of West Virginia were particularly offended.

But that is precisely how she got here. Warren in the anti-Palin conjured here in New England to defend against the rising life-force of the heartland these past two years; since February, 2009, precisely, when New Hampshire state Rep. Dan Itse first challenged Obamacare on a Jeffersonian (Kentucky Resolutions) defense and 29 states followed suit. All red states, all hicks.

Read more...

Herman Cain said his now-viral Web ad â€" a low-budget spot that at one point features chief of staff Mark Block taking a drag from a cigarette â€" was "hilarious" and that his staff had done a "great job" with it.

In the ad, Block extolls Cain's virtues and takes a pull from a cigarette. The ad then cuts to a shot of the candidate slowly smiling and saying he endorsed the message.

"Mark happens to be a smoker. He knows it's a bad habit, but he smokes. And so we weren't trying to send any subliminal message whatsoever. Many of us found it hilarious, because we know Mark Block," Cain said during an interview Wednesday with Fox News.

Read more...

Ron Paul appointed Michael Vasovski, a former candidate for the House who lost his primary contest to Tea Party freshman Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), as chair of his South Carolina campaign Thursday.

Vasovski, like Paul, is a longtime doctor, and founded a free medical clinic in Aiken, South Carolina.

“As a sole medical practitioner, I am also a small business owner, and know full well the burdens placed on small businesses by the federal government,” said Vasovski in a statement. “Dr. Paul is the only presidential candidate with a serious plan to reduce such regulations and cut $1 trillion from the federal budget in his first year in office. I am honored to support Ron Paul’s campaign for the Republican nomination.”

Read more...

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) on Thursday appointed Michael Vasovski, a former candidate for the House who lost his primary contest to Tea Party freshman Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.), as chairman of his South Carolina campaign.

Vasovski, like Paul, is a longtime doctor, and founded a free medical clinic in Aiken, S.C.

“As a sole medical practitioner, I am also a small business owner, and know full well the burdens placed on small businesses by the federal government,” Vasovski said in a news release. “Dr. Paul is the only presidential candidate with a serious plan to reduce such regulations and cut $1 trillion from the federal budget in his first year in office. I am honored to support Ron Paul’s campaign for the Republican nomination.”

Read more...

America is facing tough times: high unemployment, high debt, economic uncertainty, unstable relations among other nations, the list goes on. I am not composing this article to magnify the issues. I am composing it for the individuals who are dealing with these issues on a daily basis: the soldiers in the trenches and the people facing tremendous odds and see no way out. The statistics that support defeat in this current economic climate are momentous, but to inform all readers: LIFE IS NOT A STATISTICS TEST. Anyone facing hardship might not be blessed with millions, political status or whatever trivial benefit your mind can conjure up, but you are blessed with a choice. Many people think the greatness of a country lies within its tall buildings, economic exchanges or political “status.”

Read more...

The White House is losing another top woman aide, with Planned Parenthood announcing Thursday that it has hired Dana Singiser, special assistant to the president for legislative affairs, to serve as the reproductive rights organization's vice president for public policy and government relations.

Singiser had been with the president since his 2008 campaign, and was a key part in the team that shepherded his healthcare reform law through Congress.

“Dana Singiser is a highly respected advocate. We’re thrilled to have someone of Dana’s experience and caliber be a part of our team as we focus on expanding access to health care and making the new health care reform law a tangible reality for women across the country,” said Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards in a statement.

Read more...

A North Carolina judge has rejected motions from former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) to have charges stemming from his cover-up of an extramarital affair dismissed, according to multiple media reports.

Edwards stands accused of asking wealthy donors to covertly funnel nearly $1 million to his mistress, Rielle Hunter, and an aide who had falsely claimed to be the biological father of Edwards's and Hunter's child. Government prosecutors say that the payments violate federal campaign finance laws, and that the payoff should be considered a campaign expense intended to protect the senator's image during his 2008 presidential run.

But Edwards's lawyers had argued that the charges should be dismissed, claiming Edwards had no knowledge of the payoff and that it was a gift between private citizens. His attorneys also maintained that similar payouts have been recognized as legitimate campaign expenses in past, arguing even if Edwards was found to be knowledge! able of the financial transfers and they were done solely for the purpose of helping his campaign, his actions were not illegal.

Read more...

A North Carolina judge has rejected motions from former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) to have charges stemming from his cover-up of an extramarital affair dismissed, according to multiple media reports.

Edwards stands accused of asking wealthy donors to covertly funnel nearly $1 million to his mistress, Rielle Hunter, and an aide who had falsely claimed to be the biological father of Edwards's and Hunter's child. Government prosecutors say that the payments violate federal campaign finance laws, and that the payoff should be considered a campaign expense intended to protect the senator's image during his 2008 presidential run.

But Edwards's lawyers had argued that the charges should be dismissed, claiming Edwards had no knowledge of the payoff and that it was a gift between private citizens. His attorneys also maintained that similar payouts have been recognized as legitimate campaign expenses in past, arguing even if Edwards was found to be knowledgeab! le of the financial transfers and they were done solely for the purpose of helping his campaign, his actions were not illegal.

Read more...

The Occupy Wall Street protests have performed a huge service by focusing the attention of elected officials on the real frustration and real concerns felt by millions of Americans. Not only do a majority of Americans support the protests, but most agree with many protestors’ most prominent goal: greater accountability for Wall Street.
 
Unfortunately, many on the right are ignoring this stark reality, marginalizing the concerns of millions of voters by demonizing a handful of demonstrators. Nowhere is this clearer than in the Senate, where all but three Republican senators are refusing to take the simplest and easiest step toward Wall Street accountability: confirming a head for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
 
Thanks to Republican obstructionism, the CFPB, tasked with holding big banks accountable to American consumers, has been without a leader since it was created by the Dodd-Frank Act last year. Elizabeth Warren, who conceived of ! the agency and oversaw its creation, would have been the natural fit to lead it, but her unapologetic work holding financial institutions accountable put her on the bad side of Congress’s GOP leadership.

Read more...

Each October, children and families across the country engage in the time-honored tradition of knocking on neighbors’ doors and asking for candy. But do consumers really know about the tricks that are causing their treats to cost more than they should? The truth is downright frightening.
 
One of our nation’s oldest agriculture policies â€" the U.S. sugar program â€" is an outdated and tightly controlled government program that is long overdue for reform. We are glad to see that a growing number of our colleagues, including Democrats and Republicans from both the House and Senate, are working to enact a bipartisan, comprehensive reform of U.S. sugar policy.

The best forum for this much-needed debate is the Farm Bill that Congress will write next year. At the same time, several sugar reform proposals have been put before the “Super Committee,” which is charged with producing major deficit reduction by November 23. It’s not clear this panel ! will have the time needed to discuss sugar policy, but if the “Super Committee” does take up sugar subsidies, it is vital that they be thoroughly reformed.

Read more...

Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.) said Rick Perry’s flat-tax plan, which he unveiled on Tuesday in South Carolina, will reinvigorate the Texas governor’s struggling campaign.

“It’s the first time since the first California debate that I felt a lot of energy behind Governor Perry’s campaign,” Mulvaney said on MSNBC on Thursday.

Perry shot to the top of the polls after announcing his candidacy in August, but is now sitting at no better than fourth place in any of the key early-voting states, according to the latest CNN-Time-ORC polls.

“I was very excited to see him go with the flat tax,” Mulvaney continued. “It’s very similar to what we’ve been talking about in terms of the Republican study committee, the conservative group within the House Republicans, and he went a little bit further than I think we’re going to go even. I was enthusiastic about somebody actually taking some bold steps.”

The Perry plan would c! reate an alternative 20 percent flat tax, a privatized option for Social Security and a hike in the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare. Taxpayers would have a choice between keeping their current tax rates or taking the 20 percent flat tax, while all standard deductions and tax credits would be preserved.

“I look specifically back home, to South Carolina, which is a fairly conservative state and an early primary state,” Mulvaney said. “Some really big names in South Carolina politics from the Tea Party all the way over to the establishment are sort of rallying to Mr. Perry now that he’s offered real ideas.”

On Tuesday, Perry landed the endorsement of South Carolina Speaker of the House Robert Harrell. He also met with Governor Nikki Haley, although she isn’t expected to give her coveted endorsement until early next year.

Republican candidates have been looking for a way to make inroads on Herman Cain’s success. Ca! in surged to the head of the polls after his 9-9-9 tax proposa! l gained notoriety.

“One of the reasons you see Herman Cain do so well is that he’s been one of the few folks up until this week to offer specific ideas,” Mulvaney said. “And now that Governor Perry has matched that, I think you’ll see his campaign start to pick up some energy as well.”

Opponents of the flat tax have slammed it as regressive, and said it will add to the deficit by lowering taxes without opening any additional revenue streams.

I’m one of those “job creators” members of Congress profess to admire so much. Thirty-two years ago, my partner and I started a small business with $300 worth of old records and a booth at the local farmers market. We’re now the biggest independent music store in St. Louis and employ 22 people. Our annual revenue is around $2 million. We’re a classic American success story.
 
Our incomes are typical for small business owners, which means we’re not in the top tax brackets. We’ve always been at or below the 25 percent tax bracket. So we’re trying to figure out how the new tax proposal from Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is supposed to help small businesses like ours create jobs.
 
Rep. Camp wants to cut top individual and corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 25 percent. He would reward U.S. multinational corporations that have gamed the system with a 5.25 percent tax rate on U.S. profits they! have disguised as “foreign” earnings. All this will be great for gigantic multinational corporations, Wall Street and the fat cats who attend those $1,000-a-plate and up political fundraisers. It will be great for the corporate lobbyists gaming our political system every day.
 
It won’t help small business, and it won’t help America.

Read more...

No television station has signed on to broadcast the “Lincoln-Douglas” debate between presidential rivals Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich, and those hoping to attend the Nov. 5 debate will pay a steep price to see the drama unfold in-person.

General admission for the debate, which is sponsored by the Texas Tea Party Patriots PAC, costs $200 â€" although the price includes a slice of “good ole apple pie,” according to the TTPP website.

Then there’s the “Patron Ticket,” which costs $500. Patron-level purchasers will get “prime seating” and a “Nite Cap party after the debate,” as well as a chance to mingle with the candidates over drinks and hors d’oerves afterwards.

Top-level donors will pay $1,000 for “the best seating in the house,” a special room at the Woodlands Resort in Houston for the Nite Cap party, and a “p! rofessional picture” taken with the candidates.

Students can get in for $150, but those tickets are sold out.
 
Gingrich has been a long-time proponent of the Lincoln-Douglas debate style, because it gives candidates more time to have a detailed policy discussion. Gingrich has repeatedly said that if he were the Republican nominee, he would challenge President Obama to seven three-hour Lincoln-Douglas style debates.

The debates typically have a time-keeper, not a moderator, although this TTPP debate will be moderated by Rep. Steve King (R.), the Iowa Tea Party favorite.

Just as pop and country music writers’ and publishers’ livelihoods have been decimated from the growth and proliferation of illegal Web sites making copyright infringement easy, the writers and publishers from within the church and religious music publishing marketplace have been impacted just as severely.

It is often noted that digital theft is “devastating” or “bad for jobs and the economy”, and this is true.  Too often, however, the true impact of the problem on communities all across America is discounted and overlooked because the red carpets and the fancy costumes of a handful of “mega-stars” form people’s impression of the music industry. Let me paint a more realistic picture.

The Church Music Publishers Association, founded in 1926, currently represents 46 member publishers. A diverse group, our membership includes representation from the publishing houses of almost every major church denomination, the publishing companie! s or affiliates from every major contemporary Christian record label, the church music divisions of several major secular publishing houses, several independents, both small and large, as well as publishers who are involved primarily in educational markets, just to name a few.

Read more...

Mitt Romney might be leading or tied in the polls for the key primary states, but only 42 percent are able to identify him as a Mormon, according to a Public Religion Research Institute poll released Thursday.

{mosads}Forty-five percent of those polled said they didn’t know what Romney’s religion was, while 10 percent misidentified him as Protestant, Catholic or some other denomination, or said they didn’t think he was religious.

Even as the primary season heats up and the candidates have been scrutinized on nationally televised debates that have pulled in massive ratings, the number of people who can correctly identify Romney as a Mormon remains virtually unchanged from July, when 40 percent were able to do so.

According to the poll, Romney leads the other candidates, with 20 percent saying he has political views t! hat are closest to their own. Herman Cain followed with 17 percent, Ron Paul with 12 percent and Rick Perry with 10 percent.

But Romney polled the lowest when people were asked which candidate held religious beliefs that were closest to their own. Twenty percent said none of the candidates shared their religious views, while 12 percent identified with Cain, 11 percent with Perry, 9 percent with Paul and 7 percent with Romney.

While New York Republicans are against the Occupy Wall Street movement, a majority say they're okay that the anti-corporate protests are happening, according to a new poll

The Quinnipiac poll released Thursday found that 53 percent of the New York Republicans disagree with the protests while 32 percent agree. But the poll also found that 71 percent of Republicans say it's "OK that they are protesting" while 22 percent say they should not be protesting.

More generally, 82 percent of all New Yorkers are okay with the protests and 13 percent don't think the protests should be happening at all, the poll found.

Meanwhile, the poll found that 74 percent of New Yorkers agree with the protests while 12 percent do not. Among Democrats, 57 percent support the protests and 30 percent do not.

The poll comes as liberals increasingly embrace the movement. Earlier this week The Daily Beast reported that Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren said that she created a lot of the "intellectual foundation" for the Occupy Wall Street protests.

"I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do," Warren said. "I support what they do."

The Quinnipiac Poll surveyed 1,540 registered New York voters between October 18 and 24. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. Of the 1,540 surveyed, 20 percent identified as Republicans, 39 percent identified as Democrats, and 33 percent identified as independents.

While New York Republicans are against the Occupy Wall Street movement, a majority say they're okay that the anti-corporate protests are happening, according to a new poll

The Quinnipiac poll released Thursday found that 53 percent of the New York Republicans disagree with the protests while 32 percent agree. But the poll also found that 71 percent of Republicans say it's "OK that they are protesting" while 22 percent say they should not be protesting.

More generally, 82 percent of all New Yorkers are okay with the protests and 13 percent don't think the protests should be happening at all, the poll found.

Meanwhile, the poll found that 74 percent of New Yorkers agree with the protests while 12 percent do not. Among Democrats, 57 percent support the protests and 30 percent do not.

The poll comes as liberals increasingly embrace the movement. Earlier this week The Daily Beast reported that Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren said that she created a lot of the "intellectual foundation" for the Occupy Wall Street protests.

"I created much of the intellectual foundation for what they do," Warren said. "I support what they do."

The Quinnipiac Poll surveyed 1,540 registered New York voters between October 18 and 24. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. Of the 1,540 surveyed, 20 percent identified as Republicans, 39 percent identified as Democrats, and 33 percent identified as independents.

A group of mostly Republican senators is asking Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) to schedule a full hearing on President Obama's decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq.

"As you know, the complete withdrawal of our forces from Iraq is likely to be viewed as a strategic victory by our enemies in the Middle East, especially the Iranian regime," the letter, signed by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Rob Portman (R-Ohio), Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas) and David Vitter (R-La.) reads.

"While we share the desire for all of our troops to come home as quickly as possible, every senior military commander we have heard from on repeated visits to Iraq has stated that U.S. national security interests and the enduring needs of Iraq’s military require a continued presence of! U.S. troops in Iraq beyond 2011 to safeguard the gains that we and our Iraqi partners have made," the letter continues.

The senators ask for a full committee hearing as soon as possible "to understand the rationale for" the troop withdrawal.
 
"We request a hearing of the full committee as soon as possible to understand the rationale for this decision that apparently ends negotiations between the United States and the Government of Iraq on a long-term training and stability force of sufficient size to protect both U.S. and Iraqi enduring national security interests," the letter continues. "We note that on the same day the President made his announcement Secretary Panetta stated that the United States could negotiate with Iraq about future training assistance. We therefore also need to understand how any proposed number of U.S. forces involved with the training of Iraqi security personnel after Dec. 31 would be able to effectively accomplish that cru! cial mission without legal immunity and other protections rout! inely ex tended to U.S. military personnel under status of forces agreements worldwide."

The letter comes roughly a week after President Obama announced last Friday that all U.S. combat troops would be fully out of Iraq by the end of the year. A number of Republicans, including some who signed the letter, strongly criticized the plan. McCain called the decision "a serious mistake."

Read the letter below:

10 27 11 Joint Ltr to Chairman Levin Req Iraq Hearing