Daily Archives: July 28, 2010

July 28, 2010 · 10:39 PM

Late Night Blog Roundup 7-29-2010

My wireless network has been acting up for the past week, thanks to Charter Communications.  I haven’t been able to post at the usual pace.  Hopefully, I will soon.

GOP leaders fight 9/11 aid bill

Arizona Immigration Law: Sections BLOCKED By Federal Judge

Bush Memoir Release Has Republicans Concerned

Michele Bachmann’s Roy Blunt Endorsement Sparks Tea Party Fury

GOP Lawmaker Slips Up, Says Tax Cuts Will ‘Increase The Debt’

Iowa GOP Supports Amendment To Strip Obama’s Citizenship Because He Won The Nobel Peace Prize  (WTF?)

Cantor opposes Bachmann’s tea party caucus, says the movement should be kept ‘outside of Washington.’

Brewer builds her national plan

Rangel to Dems: Cut me off if you must

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· 3:53 PM

Memo to Media: Obama is not “the first sitting president to appear on a daytime talk show”

More right-wing whining…

Media Matters

Media outlets have run with the false claim that President Obama’s upcoming interview on The View will mark the first time a sitting president has appeared on a daytime talk show, when in fact, President Bush appeared on Dr. Phil in 2004. Right-wing media have seized on this false claim and his appearance in general to attack Obama’s “priorities.”

President Bush appeared on Dr. Phil in 2004

In 2004, Bush appeared on daytime talk show Dr. Phil. In 2004, President Bush and his wife appeared on Phil McGraw’s daytime talk show, Dr. Phil. The Washington Post reported on September 29, 2004, that “[w]ith ’Family First’ the title of McGraw’s most recent book, he has promised both candidates the questions would be limited to family-oriented topics” and noted that the segment would air during the afternoon hours.

Right-wing media seize on false reports, attack Obama over View appearance

CNSNews: “Obama Won’t Speak In-Person at Boy Scouts’ 100th Anniversary Celebration But Will Appear on ABC TV’s ‘The View.’ “ In a July 26 article, CNSNews.com stated that Obama “will not speak in-person before the [Boy Scouts] group on Wednesday at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, as part of the organization’s 100th anniversary celebration. However, the president is sending a videotaped message to the scouts for Wednesday, the same day he will be in Manhattan to tape an appearance for ABC TV’s talk show ‘The View.’ ” CNSNews further stated that “ABC said it would be ‘the first time in history a sitting United States president has visited a daytime talk show.’ ” The article also reported that past presidents–including conservative hero Ronald Reagan–did not address a Boy Scouts jamboree in person, that Obama would be addressing the Boy Scouts via a taped message, and that the Boy Scouts just visited the Oval Office two weeks ago.  

Hoft: Obama “skip[ping]” Boy Scout Jamboree to appear on The View. In a July 26 Gateway Pundit post, Jim Hoft wrote: “Barack Obama will skip the Boy Scout 100 year Anniversary Jamboree… Instead he will travel to New York City to appear on ‘The View.’ ” Hoft also linked to the CNSNews article.

 Continue reading…

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· 3:25 PM

Breaking News: Judge Blocks Portions Of AZ Immigration Law

News Hounds

As The New York Times reports, “A federal judge, ruling on a clash between the federal government and a state over immigration policy, has blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona’s immigration enforcement law from going into effect.”

The Times continues,

In a ruling on a law that has rocked politics coast to coast and thrown a spotlight on the border state’s fierce debate over immigration, United States District Court Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix said some aspects of the law can go into effect as scheduled on Thursday. But Judge Bolton took aim at the parts of the law that have generated the most controversy, issuing a preliminary injunction against sections that called for officers to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws and that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times.

Judge Bolton put those sections on hold while she continues to hear the larger issues in the challenges to the law.

 So far, Fox News is not sensationalizing the news that key portions of the Arizona immigration law have been blocked. But Shannon Bream was guest hosting America Live today when the news broke and the show is still going on. Bream is far less inflammatory than regular host Megyn “I love to hate people of color” Kelly.

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· 6:09 AM

Watch candidate and his wife stealing opponent’s lawn signs

Huffington Post – Jason Linkins

Politico’s Jonathan Martin brings us news of how hectic the election season is getting in Florida. Campaign signs are being stolen – by actual candidates! And other candidates are dispatching people to sit by themselves in the woods at night to catch them with infrared cameras.

Here’s the back story: Greg Brown and Doug Broxson are both vying for the GOP nomination for the State House of Representatives, serving Florida’s District 1. Jason Broxson, son of Doug, put up some campaign signs on the side of the road. He then trained a camera on the signs and went to hide in the bushes. At least someone in District 1 had something fun planned that evening!

Lo and behold, who should arrive on the scene but Greg Brown and his wife, who immediately began pulling up signs and taking them away. Jason Broxson got it all on tape, and now the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office has launched an investigation.

[...]

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· 5:36 AM

National Organization For Marriage Activist Sign: The ‘Solution To Gay Marriage’ Is Lynching Same-Sex Couples

It’s one thing to be against gay marriage for ideological reasons.  However, it’s downright nefarious to call for hanging same sex couples!  What the hell is wrong with the far right fringe?

Think Progress

The National Organization For Marriage (NOM) has embarked on a disastrous 23-city “Summer for Marriage Tour 2010,” spreading the gospel of one-man-one-woman marriage to tens of supporters and encountering well organized counter protests in almost every city. Yesterday, the The Bilerico Project’s Bil Browning attended a NOM rally in Indianapolis, Indiana and found that while “over 250 LGBT and allied folks protested the rally,” “only 40 fundies showed up.” Among the small crowd of so-called traditional marriage supporters was a man holding a sign reminiscent of the Jim Crowe era. It showed two yellow nooses and a bible passage suggesting that gay couples should be put to death:  

Over NOM’s objections, a NOM tour tracker from the Courage Campaign interviewed Larry Adams, the man holding the sign, who revealed that he had struggled with homosexual tendencies before discovering the bible:

NOM STAFFER TO ADAMS: We don’t want anything inflammatory, we’re here in love. [...]

ADAMS: If homosexuality was punished like it was supposed to be, there wouldn’t be so much homosexuality out here….

COURAGE CAMPAIGN: Have you ever had that temptation?

ADAMS: Oh yea…I know it is from the devil so I avoided it….I was all confused myself until about 40 years old and started reading the bible…and now I know what’s right and what’s wrong. The bible says, then I believe it.

Ironically, NOM has been portraying itself as a victim of LGBT activists who claim that the group’s supporters are bigoted or intolerant. During an interview on the Lars Larson show on Thursday — before the Indiana rally — former NOM CEO Maggie Gallagher said she was “really proud of our supporters.” ” If you look at the tape, they remain very peaceful and prayerful and respectful of the law, because that’s who our people are.” LGBT activists “want us treated like racists in the public square and it’s wrong and it should stop.”

Gallagher also criticized LGBT leaders for failing to condemn the counter protesters’ “disruptive” tactics. “I mean, what kind of people do that, first of all, and what kind of movement doesn’t step up and say, ‘No, this isn’t what our movement is about.’

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· 4:54 AM

Morning Roundup 7-28-2001

GOP, “The Party Of No (Ideas),” Wants To Continue Saying No To The Am..
There are “… already rumblings that the GOP would try to repeal significant portio..

Islam-Bashers Adopt New Canine Strategy
As we noted last week , opposition to the so-called Ground Zero Mosque is just the

Now a Blue Dog Democrat gets caught talking chickens for checkups!
Chickens for checkups is back! Only this time, the culprit isn’t a Republican. It’s ..

Fox News’ long history of race-baiting
Howard Dean and Joan Walsh recently called out Fox News, criticizing what they calle..

O’Reilly falsely claims that Sherrod story marks “first time..
On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno , Bill O’Reilly falsely claimed that his apology t..

Mixed message: Beck spews violent rhetoric, but tells audience to rej..
Glenn Beck routinely admonishes his audience to reject violence, but he himself has ..

Consumer Confidence Falls As Corporate Profits Rise
NEW YORK — The disconnect between Wall Street and Main Street is growing. Amer..

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· 4:17 AM

$7 Million Awarded in the Sean Bell NYPD Shooting

This incident happened in 2006.  The police officers accused of firing over fifty shots in the incident were acquitted.  The United States Department of Justice has declined to file charges of violating the victim’s civil rights, against the officers involved.  This incident happened in Queens.  I grew up in Queens after moving to the New York City suburb, Hollis, Queens in 1963.  I know the neighborhood.  I know the prejudices.  I had hoped by 2006, things would have changed dramatically.  Unfortunately, it didn’t.

The victim, Sean Bell was killed in the early morning hours on the day of his wedding.  He was just leaving his bachelor party that his friends threw for him.

Wikipedia  summarizes the incident:

The Sean Bell shooting incident took place in the New York City borough of Queens on November 25, 2006, in which 3 men were shot a total of fifty times by a team of both plainclothes and undercover NYPD officers, killing one of the men, Sean Bell, on the morning after his bachelor party, and severely wounding two of his friends.[1] The incident sparked fierce criticism of the police from some members of the public and drew comparisons to the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo.[2] Three of the five detectives involved in the shooting went to trial[3] on charges ranging from manslaughter to reckless endangerment, and were found not guilty.[4]

Black Voices

The city of New York reached a settlement today on the shooting of Sean Bell by police. The Bell estate will receive $3.5 million and the remainder will go to the families of Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield, who were with Bell on the night of the shooting.

Bell was shot on the night before his wedding in 2006.

“The Sean Bell shooting highlighted the complexities our dedicated officers must face each day. The City regrets the loss of life in this tragic case, and we share our deepest condolences with the Bell family,” Corporation Counsel Michael A. Cardozo said when the deal was announced.

The settlement frees the city from having to admit any wrongdoing. The money will go to Bell’s two children, and his fiancee Nicole Paultre-Bell. Three of the five officers involved in the shooting, where 50 bullets were fired, were tried and acquitted of manslaughter in a 2008 trial. The officers claim that they believed Bell and his friends were armed on the night of the shooting, but it turned out that they were not.

If Barack Obama wants to speak on an issue related to race, he can speak on the Sean Bell incident. The Henry Louis Gates case is not a solid prototype for racial injustice, but the Bell case certainly is. The shooting of Sean Bell is one of the rare cases in which black men who are harassed by police actually find a way to receive justice (even though Bell himself paid the ultimate price). In most cases, justice is not served. Instead, victims are served with long prison sentences and a label of guilt that precludes them from ever being a part of our society again. That is something to think about.

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