New Hampshire's new Republican state House speaker is pretty clear about what he thinks of college kids and how they vote. They're "foolish," Speaker William O'Brien said in a recent speech to a tea party group.
"Voting as a liberal. That's what kids do," he added, his comments taped by a state Democratic Party staffer and posted on YouTube. Students lack "life experience," and "they just vote their feelings."
New Hampshire House Republicans are pushing for new laws that would prohibit many college students from voting in the state - and effectively keep some from voting at all.
One bill would permit students to vote in their college towns only if they or their parents had previously established permanent residency there - requiring all others to vote in the states or other New Hampshire towns they come from. Another bill would end Election Day registration, which O'Brien said unleashes swarms of students on polling places, creating opportunities for fraud.
The measures in New Hampshire are among dozens of voting-related bills being pushed by newly empowered Republican state lawmakers across the country - prompting partisan clashes akin to those already roiling in some states over GOP moves to curb union power.
Backers of the voting measures say they would bring fairness and restore confidence in a voting system vulnerable to fraud. Many states, for instance, do not require identification to vote. Measures being proposed in 32 states would add an ID requirement or proof of citizenship, according to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
The Ohio Senate just passed a bill that Republican supporters claim is essential to balancing the state’s budget. The bill, which now goes on to the House, limits collective bargaining rights for unions of state and local employees, including police and firefighters. It also includes this indispensable and essential component for balancing the state’s budget:
Sec. 3101.01 of S.B. 5: … A marriage may only be entered into by one man and one woman. Any marriage between persons of the same sex is against the strong public policy of this state. Any marriage between persons of the same sex shall have no legal force or effect in this state and, if attempted to be entered into in this state, is void ab initio and shall not be recognized by this state. The recognition or extension by the state of the specific statutory benefits of a legal marriage to non-marital relationships between persons of the same sex or different sexes is against the strong public policy of this state. Any public act, record or judicial proceeding of this state, as defined in section 9.82 of the Revised Code, that extends the specific statutory benefits of legal marriage to non-marital relationships between persons of the same sex or different sexes is void.
Ohio already passed one of the nation’s most draconian constitutional amendments prohibiting marriage equality in 2004. This bill goes further by stripping LGBT workers (mostly of state universities and a handful of municipalities) of their domestic partnership benefits. It’s a good thing the Tea Party only cares about fiscal matters.
The Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said budget cuts to port and transit security that the GOP majority approved last month are “wrong” and “dangerous.”
“I think that a number of the cuts Republicans have made in the continuing resolution are wrong,” Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” They cut port security by two-thirds, they cut transit security by two-thirds.”
“We cannot afford those cuts, they are too dangerous,” King said. “And one attack on subway train or one attack in one port will cost us more money going into the future years than any amount, any small amount they're saving.”
King voted in favor of the seven-month spending bill that included those cuts, and he did not explain his decision to do so on Sunday.
Haley Barbour doesn’t have many nice things to say about Medicaid these days.
The potential 2012 president contender says he hates having to come to Washington to “kowtow and kiss the ring” whenever he wants to adjust eligibility or coverage.
He says he’s frustrated with “people [who] pull up at the pharmacy window in a BMW and say they can't afford their co-payment.”
And, he says, “Forgive me if I think people who work two or three jobs to pay for health care for their families shouldn't be forced to pay for health care for people who can work, but choose not to.”
What he doesn’t say: As the governor of Mississippi, Barbour runs one of the most expansiveMedicaid programs in the nation.
Mississippi’s Medicaid program covers 22 percent of the state’s population, far above the 16 percent national average. That puts it among the top five states in terms of Medicaid’s reach into the population, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. “I do think the one thing that stands out most in my mind, about our Medicaid program, is we cover such a large percentage of our population already,” says Therese Hanna, executive director of the Mississippi Health Policy Center.
And while Barbour opposed the Democrats’ health care reform law, Mississippi actively sought out new programs made available under it, applying for voluntary grant opportunities under the Affordable Care Act that have the potential to bring new money and coverage opportunities into the state.
With the entitlement program playing such a crucial role in the state’s health delivery system—and, more practically, its providers’ salaries—it has traditionally offered a higher match rate of about 15 percent above the national average.
“We have a very high match rate because we have such a large population, so it has a tremendous impact on how doctors are paid,” Hanna said. “From the provider standpoint, Medicaid is a very important payer. In some areas like the Mississippi Delta, where there’s a higher concentration of low income residents, those providers are very dependent.”
The state has also disproportionately relied on federal funding to bolster the program, with approximately 83 percent of the state’s Medicaid funds coming from Washington.
Even Barbour admits that the state has no intention or interest in leaving the federal entitlement program.
“I can’t imagine Mississippi opting out,” he said at a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday. “We’re a poor state, and it’s an important program. We want to run it better for taxpayers and beneficiaries. … I am not an opt-out advocate and I’m just being forthright about that.”
Instead, Barbour said he wants federal government ought to butt out of Mississippi’s Medicaid program, back off of the federal health reform law’s onerous bureaucracy, and leave the state to run the program as it pleases.
Some say that message is a clear signal to Barbour’s potential 2012 base.
“If you’re in a focus group with a bunch of white, male Southerners, Medicaid means poor, black people who are getting a free ride,” said Democratic analyst John Anzalone. “He is not speaking to all voters; he’s speaking to hard core Republicans. With eight or nine candidates [in a primary race], he’s speaking to that universe of people.”
The turning point came when I watched Fox News on Feb. 11. A banner flashed on the screen: "FOX NEWS ALERT." Dramatic music played. Stuart Varney, in for Neil Cavuto, delivered the bulletin: "Sarah Palin has issued a tweet."
This was news?
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the Westboro Baptist Church's protests of military funerals are protected under the First Amendment. In addition to funeral protests, members of the church—known for signs reading "God Hates Fags"—maintain a busy schedule of demonstrations at colleges and political conventions. Like all incorporated churches in the United States, the WBC conducts the majority of its activities tax-free under the 501(c)(3) provision—which is rather odd, when you think about it, since part of the 501(c)(3)/nonprofit deal is that churches must accept restrictions on political engagement. This raises the question: Why is the Church tax-exempt?
Because they avoid direct advocacy. Nonprofits are allowed to hold opinions on public issues, of course. Only overtly political activities (electioneering, for example) are forbidden. The easiest way to lose 501(c)(3) protection is to contribute to a candidate's campaign, whether through funding, stated support, or the contribution of office space. But the WBC has never made such mistakes. While Phelps and company do target specific political figures such as Hillary Clinton and Al Gore, they keep their criticisms ad hominem (Gore is apparently a "famous fag pimp").
Likewise, although a church may devote only an "insubstantial amount" of time or resources to lobbying, the WBC is careful to eschew pronouncements on specific legislation. They stick to "we hate homos" as opposed to "we support Prop 8." Moreover, because calls to vote a certain way are subject to IRS scrutiny, the Church's statements are almost always declarative ("AIDS cures fags"), not coercive or persuasive ("AIDS cures fags; elect John Smith").
The WBC has not escaped taxation entirely. In 2008, a Kansas State Board of Tax Appeals ruled that their truck, a 2002 Ford F-150 used to transport signs to protests, was too involved in their "political activities and secular philosophy, which constitute a significant part of [the church's] picketing activities" to be tax-exempt. If an IRS lawyer really wanted to go after the WBC, he could point out that most of the 100 or so congregants are members of the Phelps family, and that a number of them work for the family's successful law firm—which makes them seem more like a home-grown activist group with a vested financial interest in political outcomes than a religious organization. If a church seems to operate for mostly nonreligious purposes (i.e., political work or personal profit), the IRS can revoke 501(c)(3) status.
If a church seems to operate for mostly nonreligious purposes (i.e., political work or personal profit), the IRS can revoke 501(c)(3) status.
Oddly enough, it may be easier to get the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) into tax trouble than Westboro. The Mormon Church exhorted its members to use their time and resources to support the 2008 anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 campaign in California, arguably crossing the 501(c)(3) line. Though Prop 8 protesters have organized a number of petitions demanding an investigation, the IRS has not yet moved against the LDS.
Gov. Nikki Haley started her statewide tour with a town hall in her home of Lexington on Thursday. During the meeting, she discussed her report cards for legislators and ideas about trimming benefits for new state employees.
Mike Huckabee has been pretty well worked over (e.g., by our own Amy D) for his “Obama grew up in Kenya” foray into birtherism, but the context has not been given sufficient attention.
Via the invaluable Media Matters, here is said context, from a transcript of an interview conducted last week by Steve Malzberg, a typically repellent “host” on WOR, New York’s No. 2 (behind WABC) ultra-right talk-radio station:
MALZBERG: Don’t you think it’s fair also to ask him—I know your stance on this—how come we don’t have a health record, we don’t have a college record, we don’t have a birth cer—why, Mr. Obama, did you spend millions of dollars in courts all over this country to defend against having to present a birth certificate? It’s one thing to say, I’ve, you’ve seen it, goodbye. But why go to court and send lawyers to defend against having to show it? Don’t you think we deserve to know more about this man?
MALZBERG: Of Winston Churchill.
HUCKABEE: —the bust of Winston Churchill, a great insult to the British. But then if you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather.
MALZBERG: He despises the west, he despises the Brits, and I think he could take it all out on Israel and that’s why he despises Israel. He’s not too thrilled with our history either. But let me just try to get an answer from you. Would you say to him, or at least ask him in a debate, why did you go to court and spend millions of dollars on lawyers to prevent from having to show your birth certificate. If you have one and it’s there, why not show it?
Huckabee replied that “the only reason” he’s not “confident” that Obama is lying about his birthplace is that “the Clintons” must have oppo-researched the question thoroughly during the 2008 primary campaign and that “if there was anything that they could have found on that they would have found it, and I promise they would have used it.”
Note that Huckabee took no exception to his interviewer’s assertions that Obama has (a) spent millions on lawyers to prevent the release of his oft-released birth certificate, (b) is likewise covering up something nefarious about his health and his college days, and (c, d, e, and f) hates the West, Britain, America’s history, and Israel.
Undaunted, the Huckster then hit the daily double by twinning his opening meme (Obama = Mau Mau; i.e., dangerous black terrorist) with an equally deft followup (Obama = madrassas; i.e., dangerous Muslim terrorist).
Now Huckabee is going for a trifecta: “HUCK RIPS PORTMAN’S PREGNANCY” is the headline at Politico. It seems Huckabee has gone on yet another right-wing radio show to accuse Natalie Portman, who is expecting a baby with her fiancé, of being among those who “glorify and glamorize the idea of out-of-wedlock children.”
Huckabee has not extended his disapproval of bastardy and its enablers to Sarah Palin, mother of Bristol and grandmother of little Tripp. Perhaps it is a question of worker solidarity with a fellow toiler in the Fox News sweatshop. That seems more probable than that it’s simply because the Palins are Christians, whereas the Portmans, er, aren’t.But you, know, as I was reading the lastest about tis crapulous mendacity today, a little cog from the recesses of my mine, circa 1970.
, which is the trail sign for "Going home", or "I have gone home":[41] When his wife Olave died, her ashes were sent to Kenya and interred beside her husband. Kenya has declared Baden-Powell's grave a national monument.[42]
New Hampshire’s Legislature is likely to hold a vote to repeal the state’s law permitting same-sex marriage next January, a development that would force the GOP presidential field to confront the issue on the eve of the first-in-the-nation primary.
It’s a debate that so far has left Republican candidates squirming and could shatter any notion of a GOP “truce” on social issues designed to keep the primary focused on the economy.
A quick Google (Barack Obama boy scout) suggests that Obama may have grown upOn that note, Snopes knocked down an email rumor that Obama "refuses to sign Eagle Scout certificates." And of course there was the Jamboree uproar. Another reader:going to Boy Scout meetings, contrary to Huckabee's suggestion. I don't have time to research further - that's your job - but the initial evidence ishere and here.
It goes without saying that Scouting, like Rotary, is an international movement. The purple badge on every scout's uniform, the "World Crest", is a reminder of this. It is worn on the left, over the scout's heart. From Scouting.org: "It is still worn by 28 million Scouts in 216 countries and territories and is one of the world's best-known symbols."
Huckabee might be interested to know that Indonesia boasts over 17 million registered scouts, according to the world scouting movement [pdf], compared to the roughly 7.5 million in the US. Even Kenya has nearly half a million.Of course, this is to take Huckabee literally. What he clearly meant to say is that someone called Barack Obama is not a real American. He's Palin without the figure.
As Jay Newton-Small and Amy Sullivan reported yesterday, Mike Huckabee made a toxic fool of himself on the subject of Barack Obama's upbringing and heritage:
“If you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather."
Huckabee was never an entirely plausible candidate for President--could we actually ever elect a man who has his doubts about evolution? whose comments about Israel seemed to indicate a literal interpretation of the Bible and the Rapture myth?--but he always struck me as a good guy, more concerned about working-class America than most of his rivals. These comments, however, and his subsequent lie that he really meant Indonesia not Kenya, really show a demented, perverse sensibility, and they demonstrate some of the ugliness at the heart of Obama hatred.
I'm talking about the Mau Mau comment, especially. When I was growing up, Mau Mau was shorthand for: Extremely Scary Black People. The brutality of the Mau Mau rebellion was legendary (and, who knows, perhaps even accurate). It became a term of art in the sixties: to mau-mau was to intimidate white people. (As a young reporter in Boston, I covered a would-be black militant group that called itself, with brilliant irony, De Mau Mau.) To associate Barack Obama with the Mau Mau rebellion is to feed all the worst, paranoid fears of Glenn Beck's America--and, as any sane person knows, completely ridiculous.
But with Newt Gingrich--who endorsed Dinesh D'Souza's obscene theory that Obama had internalized his father's alleged view of the world even though he met his father only once, briefly, when he was a child--about to enter the presidential race, the question of where and how Barack Obama grew up should be a bright line test for every Republican candidate. If a candidate is willing to endorse, or equivocate, on these racist fantasies, we of the wildly powerless Mainstream Media Priesthood should shun and shame him or her. At the very least, a candidate who seeks to run against Obama should know where and how Obama grew up: in Hawaii, with a four-year detour to Indonesia, raised mostly by his white, Republican, Kansan grandparents.
