When Sen. Rubio (R-Florida) first endorsed the bipartisan immigration reform bill being touted by the so-called congressional “Gang of Eight,” the up-and-coming lawmaker’s approval was signaled as a sign that conservative colleagues on Capitol Hill would soon follow suit. Rubio has since warned that the bill isn’t guaranteed to get all the way to US President Barack Obama’s desk, though, and the immigration act has found an opponent in Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky).Speaking before the Senate Homeland Security Committee Hearing on Tuesday this week, Sen. Paul said that not only does he have his doubts the bill will pass but that he’s concerned over with what the act would actually do.“It may pass the Senate [but] may not pass the House,” said the senator. “I want to be constructive in making the bill strong enough that conservatives, myself included, conservative Republicans in the House will vote for this because I think immigration reform is something we should do.”“In this bill I am worried, though, and this is similar to what Senator [Ron] Johnson (R-Wisconin) said, that it says, well, you have to have a plan to build a fence, but you don’t have to build a fence,” he continued. “And if you don’t have a plan to build a fence, then you get a commission. I don’t know what happens if the commission doesn’t do anything. That’s the story of Washington around here.”Sen. Paul previously lashed out at fellow lawmakers for failing to read the bills they’re elected to vote on, insisting “Congress has a 10 percent approval rating and one of the reasons is that we don’t even obey our own rules.” On Tuesday, though, he condemned the latest efforts at immigration reform as being all too like another controversial bill that was disputed in Congress.“To me, it’s a little bit like Obamacare,” Paul said at this week’s hearing. “I hate to bring that up, but 1,800 references to the secretary shall at a later date decide things. We don’t write bills around here. We should write the bill. We should write the plan. We should do these things to secure the border whether it be fence, entry, exit, we should write it, not delegate it. What’s going to happen in five years if they don’t do their job — maybe not even them, maybe somebody else who doesn’t do their job in five years, and the border is not secured? We will be blamed for the next 10 million that come here illegally.”Just days before those remarks, the immigration effort came under fire over other concerns. A Heritage Foundation study released on Monday accused the Gang of Eight’s efforts as costing a minimum of $6.3 trillion over the lifetime of the estimated 11 million aliens currently residing in the US illegally.According to the New York Times, Heritage alleged that the bill, if enacted, would not consider the comparably meager $3.1 trillion in taxes those immigrants would pay under a path-to-citizenship plan, all the while receiving an estimated $9.4 trillion in government benefits and services.“Heritage, I think, is the king of dynamic scoring, and in many respects we’ve advocated for dynamic scoring here because of the positions that they’ve taken,” Rubio, a chief author of the legislation, told the Times. “They are the only group that’s looked at this issue and reached the conclusion they’ve reached. Everybody else who has analyzed immigration reform understands that if you do it, and we do it right, it will be a net positive for our economy.”One week earlier, Sen. Rubio told radio host Mike Gallagher, “The bill that’s in place right now probably can’t pass the House.” Foreshadowing Sen. Paul’s warning this week, Rubio said at the time of the bill he co-wrote that “It will have to be adjusted because people are very suspicious about the willingness of the government to enforce the laws now.”Both Rubio and Paul were at one time considered likely running mates for former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney during his unsuccessful bid for president in 2012. Both lawmakers were also elected to respond to Pres. Obama’s 2013 State of the Union: Rubio on behalf of the GOP, and Paul as a representative of the Tea Party faction. They have since each been rumored to be potential Republican Party nominee for a White House run in the next presidential election. … Read More
Larry Flynt promises to ‘stand erect’ in support of ‘sex pioneer’ Mark Sanford
Republican congressional candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford (R), who abandoned his post in 2009 to visit Argentina with his mistress, received an unexpected endorsement from porn publisher Larry Flynt on Tuesday. That might be good grist for his Democratic opponent, Elizabeth…
Confused anti-gay marriage politicians accidentally vote in favor of gay marriage
France’s National Assembly voted to approve a measure extending equal marriage and adoption rights to gay couples with a 100-vote margin of victory on Tuesday. But, it seems, the process didn’t go smoothly for everyone involved.According toBusiness Insider, right wing lawmaker and gay marriage opponent Henri Guaino voted in favor of the bill legalizing gay marriage despite his opposition to the measure, blaming the electronic voting system for his mistake. Three other members of his party ran into the same problem, reports France’s Le Point.Guaino blamed the “activity” in the Assembly and the flashing lights of the voting system for his momentary confusion, according to a statement: “You saw the mess that was? I’ve never seen such a mess in the Assembly! There were three buttons flashing, yes, I [pushed] the wrong button!”But rest assured, he adjusted his vote, even if it didn’t change the eventual outcome: “I went to the services of the Assembly to correct my vote,” he said. Continue Reading… … Read More
Poll: Sanford trails Colbert-Busch by nine points
A new poll from the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling finds that Mark Sanford is now trailing his Democratic opponent Elizabeth Colbert-Busch by nine points, by a margin of 50-41 percent.From the poll:Colbert Busch’s lead is on the rise for several reasons. She has a 51/35 advantage with independents. She’s winning over 19% of Republicans, while losing just 7% of Democrats. And it also seems that after last week’s revelations about Sanford that a lot of GOP voters are planning to just stay at home- while the district supported Mitt Romney by 18 points last fall, those planning to turn out for the special election voted for him by only a 5 point spread.Last week’s revelations involve the reportedly multiple complaints filed by Jenny Sanford, Mark Sanford’s ex-wife, accusing him of trespassing and violating the terms of their divorce.Continue Reading… … Read More
Primal Scream lead singer says Thatcher is dead but her policies live on in Cameron government
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher may be dead but her conservative policies have never been in better health, Primal Scream lead singer Bobby Gillespie has said. Left-wing Gillespie, 51, the Scottish son of a union official and a bitter opponent of “Thatcherism”, also said…
The wonderful world of Warhammer workshops
Among the plethora of burger joints and clothing stores on 8th Street in the East Village, the Games Workshop hobby center sits inconspicuously on the ground floor of a residential building. Look past the colorful plastic figurines posed for battle in the glass display cases, past the game tables down the center of the store manned (yes, they’re all men) by players intently measuring their opponent’s next move. Way in the back is where the action is. This is where the hardcore gamers spend their days chatting about technique and preparing for battle. But they’re not clutching controllers or mesmerized by a glaring screen. They are holding paintbrushes — one of the essential weapons of Warhammer. Armed with paper towels and bottles of paint, each gamer painstakingly crafts their own army of twenty-eight millimeter models, figurine by figurine. Continue Reading… … Read More
Kansas abortion crackdown: New bill says life begins at fertilization
The Kansas House of Representatives voted 90-30 for the bill, while the Senate approved it 28-10. Both the chambers have Republicans in majority. The bill is now sent to the State Governor Sam Brownback, a strong abortion opponent, who is expected to sign it into law quickly. Thus, the new laws could be in force on July 1. Among the bill’s 40 provisions, one denies doctors who perform abortions, as well as their patients, the use of public funds or tax preferences, ensuring no state money is used in the practice of terminating pregnancies.The bill also demands abortion clinics provide all sorts of information on fetal development to the pregnant woman, as well as on implications the abortion might have.The most controversial of all things stated in the bill is the declaration that life begins “at fertilization.” The victorious bill proponents explain it does not mean abortions are banned altogether, but describe the declaration as “a statement of principle.””This fulfills the legislative intent to create a pro-life state,” said Kathy Ostrowski, legislative director of Kansans for Life, as cited by Reuters.However, abortion rights advocates describe tax provisions as appalling and discriminatory and see the Kansas bill as a fresh challenge to the 40-year-old US Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized a woman’s right to an abortion.”It’s probably, if not definitely, unconstitutional and it’s incredibly mean-spirited,” AP cites Jordan Goldberg, state advocacy counsel for the New York City-based Center for Reproductive Rights.The last two years have seen a dozen states coming up with their own abortion limits.The most recent before Kansas and the toughest on abortions so far was North Dakota. Its lawmakers passed a resolution, according to which next year’s state ballot will decide whether life begins at conception. If people vote ‘yes’, abortions will be outlawed statewide.Current North Dakotan legislation is already the toughest in US. It bans abortions as early as the sixth week of pregnancy. A similar restriction is enacted in Arkansas, which prohibits most abortions after the 12th week. … Read More
