January 2012

Newt Gingrich spends a lot of time denying he is a racist yet his own words tell a different story.

At the height of his career in Congress, Newt Gingrich used to tell audiences that renewing American civilization was "the central challenge of the rest of our lives."

But before Gingrich could deliver his grand new theory of American civilization to the public in a 1993 speech, his deeply divisive racial stereotypes would need to be removed.

"For poor minorities, entrepreneurship in small business is the key to future wealth," Gingrich wrote by hand in a first draft. "This is understood thoroughly by most of the Asians, partially by Latinos, and to a tragically small degree by much of the American black community."

If it wasn't for staffers, Gingrich would have gone out there and spewed his typical racist sounding rhetoric. If this the kind of man we want sitting in the Oval Office? People think we are divided now, but just imagine what a President Gingrich would do to this country with his hate filled rhetoric. And this is they guy the GOP is gathering behind right now. Talk about tragic.

This is a truly disgusting story:

Last night, I got the most chilling phone call I have ever received. It was Jake Burris, Ken Aden’s campaign manager. Last night, Jake and his four kids had come back to their Russellville home. As they were getting out of the car, one of his children discovered their family cat dead on the front porch. One side of the animal’s head had been bashed in and an eyeball was hanging out of its socket. But there was something even more horrifying to be found on the corpse.

Written across the animal’s fur in black marker was the word “LIBERAL“.

Ken Aden is a Democrat running for Congress in Arkansas. This story can only be described as terrorism and it is the kind of crap that must stop.

(You can view the very graphic image here)

Awesome!

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) announced today that the House Judiciary Committee, which he heads, "will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution." Smith added that he has taken critics' concerns "seriously."

"It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products," Smith said in today's statement.

The decision to wave the white flag on SOPA comes just hours after U.S. Senate leaders announced they had postponed their vote on the Protect IP Act (PIPA) scheduled for Tuesday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said that the recent criticism on both SOPA and PIPA forced his hand, but Reid did acknowledge that he hopes to reach an agreement with the bill's foes "in the coming weeks."

This is what happens when the people speak and democracy takes action. Or, if you're Chris Dodd, it's an "abuse of power" by we the people.

The following statement was just released by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid:

“In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act.

“There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved. Counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs each year, with the movie industry alone supporting over 2.2 million jobs. We must take action to stop these illegal practices. We live in a country where people rightfully expect to be fairly compensated for a day’s work, whether that person is a miner in the high desert of Nevada, an independent band in New York City, or a union worker on the back lots of a California movie studio.

“I admire the work that Chairman Leahy has put into this bill. I encourage him to continue engaging with all stakeholders to forge a balance between protecting Americans’ intellectual property, and maintaining openness and innovation on the internet. We made good progress through the discussions we’ve held in recent days, and I am optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks.”

This is a good start, but we still must work to make sure there are significant changes to both PIPA and SOPA. The problem with these bills is that they were written by the music/movie industry. I don't have problems with interest groups suggesting what goes into bills, but for them to write them is a slap in the face to our democracy. Congress should act as a filter between what is right and what shreds the foundations of our democracy. In this case they failed.