Conservative Astroturf and the Health Reform Debate: Let's Follow Some Plastic Roots

ThinkProgress.org and MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann have recently reported that powerful, well-funded conservative political organizations with ties to the Republican party and corporate interests are coordinating conservative volunteers to harass public officials and disrupt public town hall meetings across the country.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Organizations like FreedomWorks, a 501c4 activist group chaired by former House Majority leader, Republican Dick Armey, and Americans for Prosperity, a group (chaired by David H. Koch, founder and current Executive Vice President of the notorious environmental law breaking megacorporation, Koch Industries) that has previously advocated on behalf of the tobacco industry and campaigned against legislation to slow climate change, are organizing and promoting anti-health reform protests that are designed to look like spontaneous grassroots uprisings.

As ThinkProgress notes, "A leaked memo from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress."

Go Watch It: Rep. Anthony Weiner on Government-Run Health Care

New York Congressman Anthony Weiner gave Republicans in the House the chance to put their votes where their mouths are on government-run health insurance plans Thursday by introducing an amendment to eliminate our best-known government-run health care program, Medicare, and inviting them to vote yes.

"I double dare you. Vote yes on it," he said. "And then go home and explain to your constituents how you're so philosophically opposed to publicly-funded health care that you voted to eliminate Medicare on its 44th anniversary."



Unsurprisingly, the House Republicans did not take Representative Weiner up on his challenge. The amendment to repeal Medicare did not pass.

He's Back! Former VP at Monsanto To Advise FDA Commissioner on Food Safety

Michael R. Taylor, the former Vice President for Public Policy at Monsanto has returned through Washington's revolving doors and will now advise FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg on food safety.

We learn of this discouraging connection on the same day the White House announced its new commitment to upgrading the country's food safety system.

Much hope had been held out for a change in FDA perspective due to Commissioner Hamburg's lack of industry ties. Her career has consisted of public health research and policy positions. Prior to her appointment as FDA commissioner, she worked as the New York City health commissioner. Unfortunately, it appears that with the addition of Taylor, the FDA has remedied that problem.

It seems Taylor is just the man you'd want on the job, if you're concerned about unwanted industry regulation and corporate representation of toxic hormones in your dairy. But, examining bad industry practices that lead to salmonella and E. coli tainted foods? Not so sure about that.

According to a release Tuesday on the agency's website, Taylor will now serve as senior advisor to the FDA head. In the announcement, Hamburg, said of Taylor:

"I am pleased to welcome Mike Taylor back to the FDA," Commissioner of Food and Drugs Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D., said in announcing Taylor's appointment. "His expertise and leadership on food safety issues will help the agency to develop and implement the prevention based strategy we need to ensure the safety of the food we eat."

Taylor's "long and distinguished career" is noted therein without mention of his 7 years of work as an attorney for Monsanto, the giant agricultural biotech corporation.

A few months ago, I posted a story on The Huffington Post highlighting the insidious way rBGH (the bovine growth hormone) made it into our country's food supply, with the help of Michael R. Taylor. I wrote about the dangerous effects of the addition of rBGH to our dairy supply:

In humans, studies indicate milk from cows treated with rBGH may contain elevated levels of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IFG-1), which can increase the risk of breast cancer and other types of cancer.

Here is a portion of what I detailed about Taylor's connections in that story:

"An excerpt from a 1998 article in The Ecologist magazine details Taylor's journey and its significance:

"In March 1994, Taylor was publicly exposed as a former lawyer for the Monsanto corporation for seven years. While working for Monsanto, Taylor had prepared a memo for the company as to whether or not it would be constitutional for states to erect labeling laws concerning rBGH dairy products. In other words. Taylor helped Monsanto figure out whether or not the corporation could sue states or companies that wanted to tell the public that their products were free of Monsanto's drug."

So, just what will Taylor's duties be?

As Senior Advisor to the FDA Commissioner, he will be expected to:

* Assess current food program challenges and opportunities
* Identify capacity needs and regulatory priorities
* Develop plans for allocating fiscal year 2010 resources
* Develop the FDA's budget request for fiscal year 2011
* Plan implementation of new food safety legislation.

See this page to read more on Taylor's industry and political connections.

-Christine

Carly Fiorina poised for hostile takeover of Barbara Boxer's Senate seat

Citing it as a Tough Choice, but not book fodder, today Carly Fiorina announced that she is eyeballing Barbara Boxer's senate seat as her next acquisition.

"I hope to make it the new most successful public offering," she said with a laugh, referring to her past Lucent spinoff, which to date holds the record for most successful public offering, "In the end, of course, I am my own only competition. What has Barbara Boxer ever achieved? Protected California from glassy-winged sharpshooter and the Asian long-horned beetle? Beetles, really? How can you call killing poor little beetles an accomplishment, even if they do devour all the crops? I, on the other hand, rose from Kelly Girl temp to the most powerful campaign adviser to ever tank a Presidential race. Plus, I have never even stepped on an ant. I reserve my stepping on for humans."

Fiorina dismissed Boxer's active work on the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Committee on Environment and Public Works, and the Committee on Foreign Relations. She also pooh pooh'd Boxer's support of protecting public land, efforts to remove arsenic from drinking water, and blocks of offshore oil drilling.

"Air pollution is a myth, you've got to have oil to grease the coffers, err, I meant wheels, and nobody needs to interfere with commerce. Clearly a free for all in capitalism is successful," Fiorina said, sounding closer to the modern Republican line than ever before.

Fiorina said she "learned a lot" about what does and doesn't work during John McCain's unsuccessful bid for President in 2008.

"My tax records are wide open to the public for review, as soon as every single citizen gets a court order, and my accountant returns from the Cayman Islands. Also, I know exactly how many houses I have," she said.

Fiorina clarified that she preferred the label moderate to maverick, and that she would not stand for a single Tina Fey or Saturday Night Live joke about her or her campaign.

"I have substance," she said, "And any mention of my $21 million golden parachute or the dramatic rise of HP stock after I was fired is sexist commentary."

Fiorina denied allegations by Robert Cihra, an analyst with Fulcrum Global Partners, that nobody liked her leadership and that people lack faith in her, "I'm very likable, and expert at being bossy."

She dodged questions about her stance on choice and redirected the conversation to education of schoolchildren in California.

"Boxer thinks every kid deserves an education, and is spending over a billion annually for afterschool programs. I say let the kids get street smart. As a businesswoman, I know how competition and incentives work. If those kids want to be in school, let them compete for the desk," Fiorina said.

She claimed she was still finessing the details of how children would compete for a spot in schools, but said it might involve reciting a full book from the Bible, although she denied that had any connection to the $4 million donation she received from a right-wing evangelical Protestant group called Stand Tall Under Protestant Instituitionalized Divinity.

Fiorina said she'll let the citizens of California know "soon" if this is an April Fool's joke.

Although Fiorina might make a fool of herself and/or the citizens of California with a race against Boxer---for real---this entire article has been a big joke. Happy April Fool's Day!

Making an NSA Spy's Job That Much Easier

Former National Security Agency Analyst Russell Tice recently reported to MSNBC that, under intelligence directives issued during the Bush Administration, the NSA has been spying extensively on American citizens, and has specifically targeted American journalists:

Some journalists who have written critically about domestic spying programs have come forward to say they believe they have been placed under government surveillance in retaliation. New York Times reporter James Rise suspects he has been deliberately targeted, because Bush Administration officials recently revealed copies of James' Rise's phone records to a grand jury investigating government leaks.

And even government officials who have expressed doubt about the usefulness or constitutionality of government domestic spying programs, including Deputy Attorney General Comey and former Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith, have also reported they were subsequently targeted with surveillance.

I've written about government spying programs that target American citizens. I'm not a journalist; I'm a blogger, but the difference is blurring these days. And heaven knows, certain Republican friends of mine have made it pretty clear to me that they consider MOMocrats to be a radical leftist organization. Have I been under government surveillance? If the Obama Administration has not yet shut these domestic spying programs down, could I still be?

I Knew I Liked Nancy Pelosi For a Reason

She likes cats. They meander around her Speaker of the House office in DC.

And she has her own official YouTube channel.

Check it out, for at least 40 seconds:

McCain Oopsapalooza Tour 12: 0 for 3 Presidential Debate Edition

Pretty is as pretty does. Oops.

John McCain Caught Pallin' Around with ACORN

John McCain was the keynote speaker at a pro-immigration reform rally sponsored by ACORN in 2006. Oh yes, he was.

Now, why would a fine, upstanding Senator like John McCain involve himself with a group of, ahem, community organizers like ACORN?

Who can say? Maybe he appreciated their commitment to registering voters in impoverished communities. Maybe he supported their drive to improve the quality of urban public schools. Or maybe he thought the parts of their action plan stating their goals to "eliminate predatory financial practices by mortgage lenders" (they have a whole web page about that, actually) and provide "first time homeowner mortgage counseling and foreclosure prevention assistance" were good ideas, you know, given that worsening of the mortgage crisis all those economists were warning about in 2006.

Jaelithe likes to register voters, supports affordable housing, and wants to stop predatory lenders, too. Does this mean she's a community organizer? 

BREAKING: TrooperGate Report Released, Palin Abused Powers

There's an extensive DailyKos diary with updates here. Take a look at the pdf file itself here.

In short, the bipartisan report found that Palin abused her office to intervene in the firing of a person once married to her sister. The NYT has this front-page story:

Gov. Sarah Palin abused the powers of her office by pressuring subordinates to get her former brother-in-law, a state trooper, fired, a investigation by the Alaska Legislature has concluded.

A committee investigating Gov. Sarah Palin found that she unlawfully abused her authority in firing Walter Monegan, the state’s public safety commissioner.

A report on the bipartisan inquiry that was released Friday by lawmakers in Anchorage, however, concluded that she was within her right to dismiss her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, who was the trooper’s boss.

The public portion of the report concluded that Ms. Palin violated the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act by allowing pressure to be exerted to get State Trooper Michael Wooten, her former brother-in-law, dismissed.

In the 263 pages that were released, the independent investigator, Stephen E. Branchflower, a former Anchorage prosecutor, said that Ms. Palin wrongfully allowed her husband, Todd, to use state resources as part of the effort to have. Trooper Wooten dismissed.

More on MOMocrats as the story develops.

Cynematic blogs at P i l l o w b o o k.

If "Palin knows more about energy than anyone in the US" we're officially...past tense of that word that starts with f.

At a town hall meeting yesterday, a concerned voter asked that great energy expert, Sarah Palin, whether it was true that 75% of Alaska's oil was shipped overseas. Her answer?

No, "It's not 75%...because Congress is pretty strict on, um, export bans of oil and gas especially."

Hm.