Nearly 300 Bills Have Passed in House Since Current 111th Congress Took Office Nearly 14 Months Ago — Many With Broad Bipartisan Support — Only to be Tied Up by Unprecedented Brick Wall of Republican Filibusters in Senate; Minority Party Has No Constitutional Authority to Hold All Legislation Hostage by forcing 60-Vote ‘Super Majority’ in 100-Member Chamber

To say that the Republicans in the U.S. Senate are engaging in an unconstitutional abuse of power by blocking virtually all legislation proposed by either the Obama administration or the Democratic majority in Congress is not just political grandstanding. Nearly 300 bills that have passed in the House since the current 111th Congress took office 14 months ago have been blocked in the Senate by Republican filibusters. There is nothing in the Constitution that gives the minority party in the Senate any authority to hold these bills hostage by forcing a 60-vote “super majority.” (Chart courtesy McClatchy Newspapers)

Full Story: The ‘Skeeter Bites Report: Letter From the Editor: Solid Evidence of GOP’s Unconstitutional Abuse of Power.

Fox Nation: The seedy underbelly of Rupert Murdoch’s evil empire?

Media Matters for America.

He’s called former Vice President Al Gore an “evil enabler” for speaking at Netroots Nation — an annual conference that draws thousands of progressive blog enthusiasts. He’s likened Markos Moulitsas, founder of the progressive blog powerhouse Daily Kos, to white supremacist David Duke. He’s even accused The Huffington Post of using the “same exact tactics that the Nazis used.”

To say that Fox News golden boy Bill O’Reilly is no fan of progressive blogs is an understatement akin to claiming the Hatfields and McCoys were mildly displeased with each other.

In fact, just last week, O’Reilly hosted a panel of lawyers who attempted, in vain, to explain that the conservative host’s “rights” aren’t violated by private criticism.

Back in March, while promoting its newly launched website TheFoxNation.com, Fox News ran advertisements telling viewers that it was “time to say ‘no’ to biased media and ‘yes’ to fair play and free speech.”

In short, Fox News was jumping headfirst into the blogging world with just the snake oil necessary to cure what ailed O’Reilly — a fair, honest, bias-free version of what he sees the left serving up.

via Fox Nation: The seedy underbelly of Rupert Murdoch’s evil empire? | Media Matters for America.

Will Luntz’s strategy of misdirection derail true health care reform?

Earlier this week, a memo written by right-wing message guru Frank Luntz was leaked instructing the Republican Party on how to frame the health care debate in order to defeat progressive reform. Since his pivotal role in helping craft Newt Gingrich’s Contract with America, Luntz has had an impressive record of cloaking regressive and conservative policies with carefully poll-tested language. For instance, Luntz is credited with persuading Republicans to use the intentionally misleading term “death tax” to describe the estate tax.

According to CQ, Republicans are enthusiastically embracing Luntz and his health care memo. At a private workshop organized by the House leadership, Luntz was welcomed with applause and cries of “Welcome home!” Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) gushed, “We look to him for how do we express the things that we believe in ways that are effective.”

Luntz’s health care memo urges Republicans to denounce progressive reforms as ideas based upon a “committee of Washington bureaucrats.” The memo then calls for Republicans to strongly emphasize the “protection of the personalized doctor-patient relationship” because this approach allows Americans to believe that the GOP is doing something to “protect and improve something good“:

via Think Progress » VIDEO: GOP Wastes No Time In Embracing Frank Luntz’s Vapid ‘Patient-Doctor’ Health Care Rhetoric.

The faux right-wing pundit is laughing and crying in the backseat of his stretch limo, all the way to the bank.

Fox News host Glenn Beck has done all the necessary spadework to position himself at the center of a brewing and increasingly paranoid right-wing insurgency. From challenging Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison to prove he isn’t working with Al Qaeda, to taking tearful stands against Barack Obama’s Democratic Reich, the self-described “rodeo clown” is pushing his televised tirades and skits closer to the angrier, more unhinged fare of his daily talk radio show, now ranked third nationally, where he has been honing his confessional Molotov-throwing shtick for a decade.

Glenn Beck is deft at making himself an elusive and slippery target. As media watchdogs and satirists step up their attacks on Beck’s blubbering baboonery, the host has countered with well-practiced public relations Aikido. He has embraced comparisons between himself and Network‘s Howard Beale, who rode an on-air crack-up to record ratings. On his shows and in print, he has claimed at turns to be “crazy,” “borderline schizophrenic,” and “just a clown.”

But is he really? After all of the Comedy Central satires, the studious cataloging of falsehoods and outrages, and the public back-and-forth about his mental state, the big questions about Beck — Who the hell is this guy? And is he for real? — remain largely unanswered and even unasked in any serious way.

via Glenn Beck: A Savvy Fraud Who Knows Just How to Please His Audience of Conservative Suckers | Media and Technology | AlterNet.

WASHINGTON — If you’ve been overcharged by Medicare’s prescription drug program, don’t count on getting your money back any time soon, if at all.

And don’t count on Medicare to help you, either.

The government-run elderly health care program appears to have washed its hands of any responsibility for mistakes that have cost subscribers and taxpayers several billion dollars.

That was the message contained in Medicare’s response this week to questions about problems with the prescription drug program posed earlier this year by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo.

“I was shocked at this answer because it basically said, ‘Tough. We’re not worried about them (seniors),’” McCaskill said at a Senate hearing today.

via Medicare says it won’t help seniors overcharged by prescription program | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press.

Here is the first paragraph and a box on the left side of the page:

“Clean coal is a dirty lie,” says environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who calls President Barack Obama and other politicians who commit taxpayer money to develop it “indentured servants” of the coal industry.

The reader is left with the distinct impression that Robert Kennedy Jr. called President Obama an indentured servant to the coal industry today. RFK has been calling politicians “indentured servants” for years. One problem: he didn’t actually say it about President Obama. Essentially, ABC pulled together a collection of old quotes and mashed them together out of context to create tension in their story.

Here’s RFK on July 7, 2007 at Live Earth:

Now we’ve all heard the oil industry, and the coal industry, and their indentured servants in the political process telling us that global climate stability is a luxury that can’t afford -that we have to choose now between economic prosperity on the one hand, and environmental protection on the other – and that is a false choice. In 100% of the situations, good economic policy is identical to good environmental policy.

And here he is on December 12th, 2008, referring to President Bush, testifying before the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming:

via ABC News Intentionally Misleading Viewers with RFK-Obama Clean Coal Story : EnviroKnow.

Yesterday on the Senate floor, Sen. James Inhofe announced that he intended to filibuster Obama’s nomination of U.S. District Judge David Hamilton to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Inhofe’s announcement comes nearly three weeks after the Republican membership of the Senate Judiciary Committee boycotted Hamilton’s hearing claiming that “they had not been given sufficient time to prepare for the hearing.” Inhofe’s filibuster is surprising given the fact that Hamilton is generally viewed as representing “some of [Indiana's] traditionally moderate strain.”

Inhofe does not appear to have explained his decision to filibuster in front of his colleagues on the floor of the Senate. But in statements that he entered into the Congressional Record, Inhofe cited a 2005 ruling in Hinrichs v. Bosman in which Hamilton found that the Indiana House of Representatives may open proceedings with “non-sectarian prayers” only. Inhofe called it “insane” that the ruling would allow payers to invoke the name of “Allah” but not “Jesus”:

via Think Progress » Inhofe Will Filibuster Judicial Nominee For Ruling Against Sectarian Prayers In Indiana Legislature.

Ever wonder why Rush “Boss” Limbaugh’s syndicated radio show is all over the place like the proverbial cheap suit?

If you do much driving in rural areas — e.g. between cities — “Boss” Limbaugh’s bloviations are often the only thing you can pick up on a car radio. Hey, that’s what CD players are for.

Did Rush accrue hundreds of local radio affiliates across the country because his political views are mainstream? That’s obviously not it. OK, so why IS his show so “popular?” Why do hundreds of stations around the country carry his show, the most widely syndicated talkfest in the country?

Glad you asked.

The real story is not generally well-known. The only reason I know is through my covering the business of radio for years for several major daily newspapers and also, for industry trade magazines like Radio World.

It’s because — ready for this? — Rush’s show was, and presumably still is, given away for free to many local radio stations.

via Bill Mann: Limbaugh’s Dirty Little Secret of Radio “Success”.

OPS:  When does this crap cross the line and become sabotage and Treason?

Just another day and just another conservative scandal. I thought the organization around Rick Santelli’s rant was a little too smooth, a little too perfectly orchestrated for something not to be very, very wrong about it. That’s why I’ve been so vocal about it and that’s why it infuriated me so much, but I had no idea how deep this deception went.

The right wing moneychangers tried once again to control the message and lie to the American people to push their agenda that only hurts America. The right wing elite hated FDR because he turned on his own class of people and put the average American worker ahead of them. They were shocked that he would care about the state of our nation over the vested interests in a very small few. I did write that Rick’s behavior was indicative of most talking heads that appear on the Wall Street shows because they are slaves to the very wealthy. These same people are terrified that Barack Obama may indeed reach America in the same way that FDR reached into the hearts of a depressed and hopeless American population that was beat down by the the depression back in 1929.

Rick Santelli is a traitor to this country and he should be fired immediately along with all those that participated in this fraud. The rest should be exposed and made to answer for this charade.

What a great job of reporting by Mark Ames and Yasha Levine of Playboy:

via Rick Santelli’s rant was a preplanned right-wing scam to torpedo Obama’s economic agenda | Crooks and Liars.

The “leader of the Republican Party” question has been thoroughly analyzed and debated. And after many days and many cable news roundelays, I think we can all agree that, yes, the GOP has been inextricably grasped within the meaty, sweaty mitts of that familiar planetoid of addiction, racism and self-indulgence known as Rush Limbaugh.

And that’s just fine and dandy.

But contrary to what Drudge and Politico are reporting today, this isn’t some sort of wicked conspiracy cooked up by Rahm Emanuel and Robert Gibbs from within the same underground war room where they keep the president’s madrassa diploma and his secret Kenyan birth certificate.

This Limbaugh situation is entirely the fault of the Republican Party. The White House is merely exploiting it — and rightly so.

Throughout the last several decades, the Republican Party has been careening willingly towards this destiny. Year after year, the Republicans have been magnetically drawn ever closer to the simplistic worldview espoused by far-right talk radio: a segment of American society that’s perhaps a little too comfy with laughing at a racial or sexist joke, or repeating nearsighted bumper sticker slogans like, “Your mortgage is not my problem.”

via Bob Cesca: The Dittohead Party: Why the GOP is Screwing Itself.

GOP may try to ‘turn’ conservative Dems to block Obama budget

David Edwards and Muriel Kane

When President Barack Obama announced his budget for next year, Congressional Republicans were quick to condemn its proposals to greatly expand domestic programs while increasing taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), the ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, suggested, “A $1.4 trillion tax hike is not the solution to our economic woes.” Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-WI), the ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee, complained, “This is really big government.”

via The Raw Story | GOP may try to ‘turn’ conservative Dems to block Obama budget.

WASHINGTON — Industries from health care to agribusiness to mining that stand to lose under President Barack Obama’s policy agenda are ramping up lobbying campaigns to derail or modify his plans.

The day after Mr. Obama formally laid out his policy goals in his first address to Congress, the former chief executive of HCA Inc. unveiled a $20 million campaign to pressure Democrats to enact health-care legislation based on free-market principles.

“What you see is when the government gets involved, you run out of money and health care gets rationed,” former CEO Richard Scott said Wednesday, after announcing the creation of Conservatives for Patients Rights.

A BUZZFLASH GUEST CONTRIBUTION
by Greg Palast

Damn that Abe Lincoln. When Louisiana and Mississippi seceded from the Union, a sensible president would have sent them a box of chocolates with a note, “Goodbye and good riddance.”

Tonight, following Barack Obama’s budget presentation to Congress, effectively the president’s first State of the Union Address, the Republicans have chosen to give their party’s response, the governor of the state that wanted to leave the Union, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal.

Jindal’s going to tell us that Barack Obama is a terrible President because Obama wants to require states such as Louisiana to extend unemployment insurance to — get this — the unemployed! (Technically, the federal government would pay 100% of the cost of reforming Louisiana’s and Mississippi’s Scrooge-sized benefit requirements.)