Another Republican Rebukes Cantor: Chris Christie Demands Hurricane Aid Without Offsetting Cuts

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reacted angrily to a fight brewing in Washington over whether Hurricane Irene disaster aid may need to be offset by federal spending cuts. “Our people are suffering now, and they need support now. And they [Congress] can all go down there and get back to work and figure out budget cuts later,” the Republican governor told a crowd in the flood-ravaged North Jersey town of Lincoln Park.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/01/309789/christie-cantor-disaster-aid/

Rick Scott’s Economic Advisers Manipulate Research To Claim Unemployed Are Lazy And Don’t Try To Find Jobs

Rick Scott, the corrupt and fraudulent former health care executive who is soon to be Florida’s next Governor, received a report from his economic transition team this week that recommended he needs to crack down on the unemployed. Scott’s economic team, headed by the state’s most affluent business leaders, quoted research by former Obama administration official Alan Krueger to claim that the unemployed are lazy and need to be driven off unemployment benefits:

“According to [former U.S. Assistant Treasury Secretary Alan] Krueger’s research, the amount of time people on UC spent looking for a job averaged only 20 minutes a day! Within 2 weeks of UC ending, that increased but to only 70 minutes a day,” states the document, noting that the median duration of unemployment benefits receipt has increased nationally from 10 weeks to 18.7 weeks.

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/12/25/rick-scott-unemployed-lazy/

Judge Smacks Down Cuccinelli’s Global Warming Witchhunt

What a dumbas_!

Think Progress � Judge Smacks Down Cuccinelli’s Global Warming Witchhunt: "An Albemarle County Circuit Court judge has set aside a subpoena issued by Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to the University of Virginia seeking documents related to the work of climate scientist and former university professor Michael Mann."

Obama Calls For Math, Science Push -- Education -- InformationWeek

Obama Calls For Math, Science Push -- Education -- InformationWeek



Former NASA astronaut Sally Ride and Intel chairman Craig Barrett have signed on to recruit private sector leaders to advocate science and math education, scale out innovative science and math education efforts, and raise public awareness of the importance of science and math education.

As part of the five partnership efforts:

Discovery Communications, in partnership with research universities and federal agencies, will spend $150 million over five years on new educational content as part of its "Be The Future" campaign.
Time Warner Cable, FIRST Robotics, and the Coalition for Science After School will link up students with opportunities that exist in their areas
PNC Bank and Sesame Street which will invest money in math and science for young children and create 20 Sesame Street episodes focused on math and science in its Early Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Literacy Initiative
A number of non-profits will fund a nationwide science play day, upgrade science labs and create communities of science and math teachers on "National Lab Day"
Sony, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Entertainment Software Association will award children and adults who create innovative science and math games with their National STEM Game Design Competitions

Jacksonville Tea Party Protest Features Signs Comparing President Obama To Hitler

What's up with conservatives and Hitler?

During July 4th celebrations last weekend, anti-Obama protesters again assembled for tea parties across the country. The Washington Independent has noted that the tea party movement has lost steam since April, and that the protests last weekend were sporadic. In Jacksonville, FL, attendance was estimated to be 4,500 people for the April protest, but last week drew only 1,000.

The Duval County Republican Party, one of the organizers of the Jacksonville protest, has been engulfed in controversy because of numerous posters featured at the rallydepicting President Obama as Adolf Hitler:

Right-wing’s false claims that Obama will take away guns ‘has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms.’ (from Think Progress)

Right-wing’s false claims that Obama will take away guns ‘has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms.’

In Pittsburgh today, a gunman wearing a bulletproof vest opened fire on police officers who were responding to a domestic disturbance call, killing three of them. Many bloggers have noted that the shooter, 23-year old Richard Poplawski, irrationally feared for “the Obama gun ban that’s on the way” and “didn’t like our rights being infringed upon.” In a presciently-timed op-ed, Charles Blow warns of the disturbing escalating rhetoric of right-wingers like Chuck Norris, Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck, and others:

Lately I’ve been consuming as much conservative media as possible (interspersed with shots of Pepto-Bismol) to get a better sense of the mind and mood of the right. My read: They’re apocalyptic. They feel isolated, angry, betrayed and besieged. And some of their “leaders” seem to be trying to mold them into militias. […]

At the same time, the unrelenting meme being pushed by the right that Obama will mount an assault on the Second Amendment has helped fuel the panic buying of firearms. According to the F.B.I., there have been 1.2 million more requests for background checks of potential gun buyers from November to February than there were in the same four months last year. That’s 5.5 million requests altogether over that period; more than the number of people living in Bachmann’s Minnesota.

Coincidence? Maybe. Just posturing? Hopefully. But it all gives me a really bad feeling. (Where’s that Pepto-Bismol?!)

John Cole wrote, “Sure, crazy people do crazy things. But that doesn’t make it responsible to encourage them, which is what a lot of really foolish people are doing right now for purely political reasons.”