February 28, 2014

Tea Party Is 5! No More Tantrums?

The movement’s most-ardent followers whooped and hollered in Washington, flattered, fawned over, and urged by luminaries of the far right to never, ever stop.

Mardi Gras came a few days early to Washington, as Tea Party Patriots from around the nation gathered to celebrate the movement’s fifth anniversary.
The press release touting the event promised a rollicking good time: “Tea Party Rocks Washington.” Admittedly, it wasn’t the sort of party that anyone outside of politics would consider fun: The day’s schedule consisted of eight hours of speechifying, largely confined to meeting rooms in the basement of the Capitol Hill Hyatt Regency. But for Tea Party die-hards, the lineup was enough to get hearts a’ thumping: Sens. Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Ted Cruz; Reps. Michele Bachmann, Raul Labrador, Steve King, Matt Salmon, Jim Jordan, and Louie Gohmert; the Heritage Foundation’s new chief economist, Stephen Moore; Tea Party Patriots President Jenny Beth Martin, and radio gas-bag extraordinaire Mark Levin. There was even a former Reagan administration official in the mix!

And that was just the formal entertainment. In between speeches, striving Tea Party candidates rubbed elbows with potential supporters, political reporters chatted up impassioned celebrants about government run amok, and some guy who’d made a documentary about the evils of the IRS kept button-holing folks about attending a one-night-only, limited-release showing of his film on April 15th. (Tax day. Get it?) Best of all, Breitbart radio had set up shop just outside the general session hall, drawing a parade of Tea Party luminaries, who, in turn, drew a crowd of gawkers and photographers. (When I arrived mid-morning, Bachmann was patiently explaining to Breitbart listeners how she had managed to be so successful in Washington.) Not even the announcement that a family emergency had forced Sean Hannity to cancel as the keynote speaker at dinner was enough to dim the carnival feeling in the air.

The program itself was part celebration and part encouragement to keep on fighting the good fight. Martial language flowed thick, and variations on the word “tyranny” were hot, hot, hot. Speaker after speaker lauded the crowd of 300—maybe even 400—patriots for their perseverance in the face of unrelenting abuse by the usual rogues’ gallery of detractors: liberals, establishment Republicans, and the lamestream media.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/28/tea-party-is-5-no-more-tantrums.html

February 28, 2014

New Jersey lawmaker: Chris Christie ‘needs to think about resigning’

Source: NJ.com

By NJ.com
Thursday, February 27, 2014 21:48 EST

Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, a 12th District congressional candidate and a member of the committee investigating the George Washington Bridge scandal tonight called on the governor to consider resigning over his staff's role in the controversy.

Watson Coleman was discussing newly released text messages between former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey official David Wildstein and Bridget Kelly, former deputy chief of staff in which the pair disparage a rabbi and jokingly discuss creating traffic problems outside his house.

"And this really is what they're all about, transactional deals, dismissiveness, remarks that are totally, totally unacceptable in a civilized society, Watson Coleman said during an appearance on MSNBC. "And you know what? The governor needs to think about resigning, and he needs to take all his friends with him because this is sickening."

Asked by host Al Sharpton why the governor should go when there has so far been no smoking gun to implicate him in the scandal, Watson Coleman said the governor is responsible for the actions of his staff.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/27/new-jersey-lawmaker-chris-christie-needs-to-think-about-resigning/

February 28, 2014

COURT: SCHOOL BAN OF US FLAG SHIRTS ALLOWED

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A Northern California high school's decision to order students wearing American flag T-shirts to turn the garments inside out during a celebration of the holiday Cinco de Mayo was appropriate, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the school officials' concerns of racial violence outweighed students' freedom of expression rights. Administrators feared the American-flag shirts would enflame the passions of Latino students celebrating the Mexican holiday. Live Oak High School, in the San Jose suburb of Morgan Hill, had a history of problems between white and Latino students on that day.

The unanimous three-judge panel said past problems gave school officials sufficient and justifiable reasons for their actions. The court said schools have wide latitude in curbing certain civil rights to ensure campus safety.

"Our role is not to second-guess the decision to have a Cinco de Mayo celebration or the precautions put in place to avoid violence," Judge M. Margaret McKeown wrote for the panel. The past events "made it reasonable for school officials to proceed as though the threat of a potentially violent disturbance was real," she wrote.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCHOOL_CLOTHING_FLAP_?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

February 28, 2014

U.S. to expand healthy food assistance to women, infants and children

Source: Reuters

By Reuters
Friday, February 28, 2014 7:56 EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some 9 million poor women and young children who receive federal food assistance under the U.S. government’s so-called WIC program will have greater access to fruits, vegetables and whole grains under an overhaul of the program unveiled on Friday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture hailed the revamping of its Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children as the first comprehensive revisions to WIC food voucher allowances since 1980.

The list of foods that recipients could pay for with WIC vouchers was long limited to such basics as milk, infant formula, cheese, eggs, cereals, bread and tuna fish.

But many of the changes finalized by the USDA on Friday were instituted on an interim basis in 2007, including the introduction of fresh, frozen or canned fruits and vegetables to the list of WIC-covered foods.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/28/u-s-to-expand-healthy-food-assistance-to-women-infants-and-children/

February 28, 2014

US economy expanded at 2.4 percent in 4th quarter

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. economy grew at a 2.4 percent annual rate in the October-December quarter, significantly slower than first thought, reflecting slower consumer spending than initially estimated.

The severe winter weather is expected to slow growth further in the current quarter, but as the snows melt, economists believe growth will rebound.

The Commerce Department says the downward revision from an initial 3.2 percent estimate for the fourth quarter primarily reflected a downgrade in consumer spending, which is now estimated to have expanded at 2.6 percent rate, still the best showing in nearly two years. But it is below the previous 3.3 percent estimate.

For all of 2013, the economy grew at a lackluster 1.9 percent, but analysts expect growth will rebound in 2014, possibly as high as 3 percent.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/02/28/us_economy_expanded_at_2_4_percent_in_4th_quarter/

February 28, 2014

Tea party insists it’s alive and kicking

WASHINGTON (AP) — The foot soldiers of the tea party movement dismiss the chatter about its demise and stand ready to use their unbending political force against both President Barack Obama and the Republican establishment this election year.

The Tea Party Patriots, one of the major grass-roots groups, marked the fifth anniversary of the movement Thursday, attracting hundreds of members and plenty of speakers to a Washington celebration in which they directed their animosity at the Washington establishment.

Keli Carender, national grass-roots coordinator, said the strength of the group was reflected in the $1.2 million and counting that it raised in 10 days.

To the “establishment and permanent political class,” Carender said, “we don’t need their millions, we’ve got our own.”

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http://www.salon.com/2014/02/28/tea_party_insists_its_alive_and_kicking/

February 28, 2014

THE RIGHT'S AYN RAND HYPOCRISY

The right’s Ayn Rand hypocrisy: Why their “religious” posture is a total sham

Conservatives booted atheists from CPAC, but love a raging anti-Christian. The reason has to do with economic greed

ELIZABETH STOKER

Earlier this week, CNN reported that American Atheists, an advocacy group for atheists and atheism, would have a booth at the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference. The idea behind the booth was to build bridges between historically faith-motivated conservatives and their politically aligned but religiously different atheist counterparts. David Silverman, the president of American Atheists, called the booth “one of many steps” his organization would take in its “outreach effort” targeted at political conservatives.

But the Atheists’ attempt to extend an olive branch was evidently ill-received by the organizers of the CPAC, who have now disallowed the group from sponsoring its planned informational booth. Apparently most conservatives weren’t amused by Silverman’s comments to CNN concerning the Christian right: ““I am not worried about making the Christian right angry. The Christian right should be angry that we are going in to enlighten conservatives. The Christian right should be threatened by us.”

So much for American Atheists’ short-lived liberation effort, which seems to have been aimed as much at bringing to light already-existing atheist sentiments on the right as in inculcating them into current believers. But if the American Atheists’ goal is to make public quiet inklings of atheism in seemingly faith-saturated conservative circles, an incendiary conversion attempt based out of a booth at CPAC is likely the worst tack to take. After all, a much more successful war against religion on the right has been waged by none other than perpetual philosophical train wreck and failed film critic Ayn Rand.

Rand is perhaps the only virulently anti-Christian writer that Republicans nonetheless routinely feel comfortable heaping praise upon. In a charming 1964 interview with Playboy, Rand described the crucifixion of Jesus in terms of “mythology,” and submitted that she would feel “indignant” over such a “sacrifice of virtue to vice.” That Christians are called to care for the most vulnerable of God’s people was, to Rand, manifest proof that the religion has nothing constructive to add to human life: After all, in her philosophy, “superiors” have no moral obligations to those weaker or more vulnerable than they. According to Rand, the Christian moral imperative to serve the needy is a “monstrous idea.”

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http://www.salon.com/2014/02/28/the_rights_ayn_rand_hypocrisy_why_their_religious_posture_is_a_total_sham/

February 28, 2014

The Week The 'Religious Freedom' Movement Hit Its High Water Mark

DYLAN SCOTT – FEBRUARY 28, 2014, 6:00 AM EST

If the events of the last week are any indication, the anti-gay movement personified in the Arizona bill vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer Wednesday has already hit its high-watermark.

At the beginning of this month, by TPM's count, bills had been introduced in at least eight states that would legitimize discrimination against LGBT people. The Arizona bill advanced the farthest, clearing the state legislature before Brewer rejected it with her veto stamp. The rest are dead or dying.

Though they expect future fights, gay rights advocates portrayed this week as a "turning point" in the debate.

"I suspect the bright spotlight that’s been put on the broad potential adverse consequences means that a great many legislators and most governors now will think much harder about these bills and be reluctant to endorse them," Jenny Pizer, senior counsel at Lambda Legal, a gay rights organization, told TPM. "I do believe we’ve just witnessed a turning-point moment against these bills. But I also don’t expect the folks who hold this worldview to give up their political goals without further popular repudiation.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/anti-gay-religious-freedom-bills-burned-out

February 28, 2014

Jason Collins Visits Matthew Shepard's Parents, Brings Gifts

ARNIE STAPLETON – FEBRUARY 28, 2014, 8:31 AM EST

DENVER (AP) — Jason Collins had plenty of gifts for Matthew Shepard's parents: a basket, a blowout, an autographed No. 98 jersey that he wears in honor of their son.

They also shared some laughs.

Collins played the final eight minutes of the Brooklyn Nets' 112-89 romp over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night, and although his three points and four fouls weren't much to look at in the boxscore, rarely has the 35-year-old center been this proud of a performance.

"I got them a bucket," the center said.

After his cameo in Brooklyn's recovery from a 44-point loss against the Trail Blazers 24 hours earlier, Collins, the first openly gay athlete in America's four major sports, met with the parents of the slain Wyoming college student who was tortured and murdered in 1998 because he was gay.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/jason-collins-visits-shepard-s-parents

February 28, 2014

Poof! The GOP's Disappearing Promise To Vote To Replace Obamacare

SAHIL KAPUR – FEBRUARY 28, 2014, 6:00 AM EST

House Republican leaders are gradually backing away from their promise to vote on legislation to replace Obamacare in 2014.

"House Republicans will rally around and pass an alternative to Obamacare this year," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said on Jan. 30, at the annual GOP conference retreat.

It seemed like a huge step after Republicans spent four years campaigning on "repeal and replace" without putting forward a health care alternative of their own. But one month later, GOP leaders are singing a different tune, downplaying the prospect of a vote in 2014 and insisting they're just beginning the conversation.

"We're going to continue to have conversations with our members about tax reform and continue that discussion. The same kind of discussion has to continue to go on with regard to replacing Obamacare," Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told reporters on Thursday. "And so, we're going to continue to go through a lot of ideas. You can see our members -- they've introduced 126 different ideas about how to fix Obamacare, how to replace Obamacare."

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-disappearing-promise-to-replace-obamacare