The Water Cooler is written by Washington Times staffers.
By Kerry Picket — Published February 9, 2010 Comments
Today's Water Cooler lineup of off the beaten path online stories are: First Lady: President Obama has had a "phenomenal first year, Nelson to support filibuster on Becker, and Econuts now insist third-hand smoke is bad for you. Real Clear Politics: First Lady: President Obama has had a "phenomenal first year" In an interview broadcast Tuesday on ABC's "Good Morning America," she said getting things accomplished in heavily politicized Washington is "a constant struggle." Hot Air: Nelson to support filibuster on Becker One of the holds involved Craig Becker, the nominee for the National Labor Relations Board, opposed by Republicans for his strong ties to the unions and the suspicion that Becker might try to push the limits on behalf of Big Labor. Gateway Pundit: Econuts now insist third-hand smoke is bad for you You know smoking is bad for you. You know inhaling someone else’s smoke is bad for you. Now a US study ...
by Kerry Picket — Published February 8, 2010 Comments
Updated Governor David Paterson’s spokespeople are denying any possible-career ending scandal that will push him out of office as a result of a bombshell story The New York Times is said to have on him. Unconfirmed rumors relating to sex, drugs, and women appear to be the most brought up topics surrounding the story. However, Mr. Paterson seems intent on running for office, as reports say he plans to announce his campaign for governor next week. Serving as Eliot Spitzer’s Lieutenant Governor, Mr. Paterson came to New York’s Governor’s mansion after Mr. Spitzer resigned in disgrace amid a sex scandal involving a prostitute. “I think its going to have to be something really bad for him to resign. He admitted to past drug use. I don’t think anybody would be surprised or necessarily all that shocked if he and his wife had an understanding. It would have to be something beyond ...
by Kerry Picket — Published February 8, 2010 Comments
The late Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha passed away today at age 77. Mr. Murtha was caught up in a number of controversial issues over the past few years, some of which were caught on video (all below) like ABSCAM, calling U.S. Marines "murderers, accusing his own district for being "racist", and using federal taxpayer money to fund a Pennsylvania airport with his name. The first video below is of Mr. Murtha making a deal with a fictitious Arab sheik whom Murtha thought was bribing him.
by Kerry Picket — Published February 8, 2010 Comments
Former New York Congressman Republican Rick Lazio has sent a letter to The New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller demanding to either put up or shut up about a possible bombshell story surrounding New York Governor David Paterson (D). Elizabeth Benjamin of the New York Daily News posted the letter: Dear Mr. Keller, Your paper has generated a media firestorm that is directly hurting the Governor of the State of New York, David Paterson. This is not because of a story you have published, but because of the hype surrounding an unconfirmed story that has grown larger than the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Your paper has a responsibility to report the truth, and the public expects nothing less. End the shroud of secrecy surrounding your potential story. If the New York Times is working on or has a story, then you should confirm or print it. If you do ...
by Kerry Picket — Published February 8, 2010 Comments
America saw Focus on the Family’s Pam and Tim Tebow Super Bowl TV ad that contained a pro-life message, and the world continued to turn as NFL fans watched the New Orleans Saints win their first Super Bowl. While the much talked about TV spot was denounced by pro-choice groups who demanded that CBS not air the ad, the harmless nature of the content, which included a short re-cap of Ms. Tebow explaining why she is happy today that she chose to give birth to son Tim, now a college football star for the Florida Gators, instead of aborting him, as she was being pushed by doctors in 1987 who said he would be a stillborn as a result of a life-threatening infection Ms. Tebow had. Since the Tebow ad failed to up the ante of outrage pro-choice feminists were hoping for, The National Organization of Women decided to ...
by Kerry Picket — Published February 8, 2010 Comments
Today's Water Cooler lineup of off the beaten path online stories are: Public-sector unions bleed taxpayers to help Dems, and Geithner says U.S. will ‘never’ lose its top AAA debt rating. Townhall: Public-sector unions bleed taxpayers to help Dems Last month, the Labor Department reported that private-sector unions lost 834,000 members last year and now represent only 7.2 percent of private-sector employees. That's down from the all-time peak of 36 percent in 1953-54. Business Week: Geithner says U.S. will ‘never’ lose its top Aaa debt rating Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the U.S. isn’t in danger of losing its Aaa debt rating even though the Obama administration has predicted a $1.6 trillion budget deficit in 2010. WCAX: Vermont tax repeal effort draws controversy As the Vermont legislature struggles to find $150 million worth of budget cuts this year, an attempt to roll back two tax increases is running into opposition. At issue are ...
by Kerry Picket — Published February 7, 2010 Comments
UPDATE #3: 9:49 PM 2/7/10 - AP: NY Gov. Paterson meets with lawmakers over future: Paterson campaign spokesman Richard Fife said the weekend calls had nothing to do with the accusations but were "routine re-election campaign calls." "The governor started making calls two weeks ago to step up his campaign effort and get ready to officially announce his re-election campaign," Fife said. "The calls were - and are - going well ... And then look what happens - a coordinated effort to stop him and spread rumors." A Democrat close to the situation, though, said the meetings included discussions about whether Paterson would resign or announce he will not run. The Democrat spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. UPDATE #2: 9:00 PM 2/7/10 - Gawker expands on Paterson's denial to the allegations about his coming resignation and a scandal:Gov. David Paterson Spokeswoman Denies NYT ...
by Kerry Picket — Published February 6, 2010 Comments
It appears Joe "the Plumber" Wurzelbacher is not impressed with former vice presidential GOP candidate Sarah Palin. He attacked her Tea Party Convention speech this weekend. Mr. Wurzelbacher posted messages to his Twitter account with the following tweets.: "Palin's speech does not represent the 'Tea Party Movement' it was a 'GOP' stump speech" "The 'Tea Party' is an AMERICAN movement! Not party politics as usual!!" Gaining fame in 2008 for asking then-candidate Barack Obama an on-camera question that elicited Mr. Obama's famous "spread the wealth" comment, Mr. Wurzelbacher took jabs from various media personalities on the left. Mrs. Palin also received a large portion of media attacks during her time on the 2008 campaign trail. The Wurzelbacher vs. Palin issue is not the only infighting happening around the Tea Party convention. David Weigel at the Washington Independent captured a dustup between Breitbart.com's Andrew Breitbart and World Net Daily's Joseph Farah: I told ...
by Kerry Picket — Published February 5, 2010 Comments
Danny Tarkanian, a Republican candidate vying for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's Nevada seat, is reminding voters in an online ad that Ronald Reagan's last campaign pitch ever was in November of 1986. The iconic Republican President visited Las Vegas to warn Nevadans about Mr. Reid's liberal agenda. Mr. Tarkanian is currently in a primary with three other Republican candidates. The video is a moving tribute to Mr. Reagan and is sure to fire up Nevadans, when they see the Gipper going after Senator Reid. With almost 12,000 hits and counting since January 25, the video appears to be gaining online popularity. A number of Reagan quotes about Mr. Reid are highlighted on a Tarkanian campaign site called reaganslastcampaign.com: "Harry Reid is a tax and spend liberal who is against a balance budget amendment." "Harry Reid voted against me and the things I was proposing more often than Ted ...
by Kerry Picket — Published February 5, 2010 Comments
It looks like it just does not pay for a Senator to go on an ill-subscribed diatribe about opponents of the Democrats' health care reform. The Providence Journal is reporting that Rhode Island Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse's 2012 re-election prospect is looking dour these days. Pollster Joseph Fleming attributes Mr. Whitehouse's vitriolic floor remarks about opponents of health care reform as part of the reason: Just 33 percent approved of Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s job performance, down 11 points from a mid-December Brown University poll. Fleming said a factor may have been the senator’s controversial December statement that floor opponents of health-care reform were fueled by fanatics, “right-wing militia” and Aryan support groups that hate President Obama. This new polling information comes on the heels of a recent poll about Rhode Island Democratic congressman Patrick Kennedy, who is looking at some pitiful numbers for his re-election bid in 2010.
by Kerry Picket — Published February 5, 2010 Comments
Today's Water Cooler lineup of off the beaten path online stories are: Junior high student arrested for doodling in class, How a “nice American girl” became a Jihadist, and Daily presidential tracking poll. The Gothamist: Junior high student arrested for doodling in class On Monday 12-year-old Alexa Gonzalez was "doodling" her little heart out on her desk in Junior High School 190 in Forest Hills when she got busted, handcuffed, and escorted to the police precinct across the street, where she was detained for several hours. Pajamas Media: How a “nice American girl” became a Jihadist Like a small but increasing number of “westernized” Muslim women, Aafia Siddiqui joined her local mosque (in her case, the Roxbury, MA mosque) and started to veil, and as she did, her ambitions became aggressively jihadic. Rasmussen: Daily presidential tracking poll The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 28% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve ...
by Kerry Picket — Published February 5, 2010 Comments
*Updated 2/5/10 12:45 PM The Boston Herald is reporting that Rhode Island Democratic Congressman Patrick Kennedy could very well be in some 2010 trouble of his own: The WPRI-12 poll showed the Rhode Island Democrat with a 56 percent unfavorability rating in his district - a negative that grows to 62 percent statewide. Only 35 percent of voters in Kennedy’s district said they would vote to re-elect him. Another 31 percent said they’d consider a different candidate and 28 percent said they would vote to replace him, according to the poll. Republican John J. Loughlin II, a veteran state lawmaker, formally announced his campaign yesterday against Kennedy... Mr. Kennedy just told The Hill recently that the election of Senator Scott Brown, a Massachusetts Republican, to the seat his father, Ted Kennedy, previously held was "way overblown" and that Brown's "candidacy was a joke." The Rhode Island Democrat went as far as ...
by Kerry Picket — Published February 4, 2010 Comments
If there was any clue that the Democrats wanted one last opportunity to pump their last hours of super majority muscle, it happened on Thursday, immediately before Sen.-elect Scott Brown, a Massachusetts Republican, was finally sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden at 5 PM. While the GOP grew antsier over when Mr. Brown would be seated in the Senate, Democrats managed to squeeze in one last vote for labor nominee Patricia Smith just hours before Mr. Brown became an official U.S. senator. Senate Democrats confirmed Ms. Smith to the Solicitor of Labor on a party-line vote 60 to 37. Ms. Smith's May 2009 testimony to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee caused GOP Sen. Mike Enzi from Wyoming to ultimately request documents from New York State under its Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) concerning the Wage and Hour Watch Program that Ms. Smith was asked about. The Wage Watch ...
by Kerry Picket — Published February 4, 2010 Comments
One of the biggest confusions about this year’s decennial census is whether or not the census asks individuals about their citizenship status. When this issue appears, some will point to the American Community Survey, an on-going Census questionnaire sent to individuals within the United States. According to the Census Bureau website, the ACS acts as the following: is an on-going survey is sent to a sample of the population tells us what the population looks like and how it lives helps communities determine where to locate services and allocate resources The ACS is comprehensive and asks further questions beyond the decennial census (including citizenship), but the questionnaire is not counted towards Congressional apportionment. This means the data received from the decennial ultimately decides how many Congressional districts should exist based on responses. Certain states that have more illegal immigrants than others may stand to gain more representation. This is where lawmakers in both ...
by Anath Hartmann — Published February 4, 2010 Comments
The embattled chairman of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, is refusing to relinquish a post he no longer has any business holding. Pachauri was told on multiple occasions late last year by a science reporter that the IPCC's prior claim of total Himalayan glacier disappearance by 2035 had been refuted. But Pachauri refused to amend a 2007 IPCC report to say so because the Copenhagen climate change conference was right around the corner--and he didn't want his agency looking foolish. Pachauri reportedly said the matter would have to wait until the next report was issued in 2013 or 2014, a negligible four or five years. But now that even Pachauri's former ally John Sauven, director of Greenpeace UK, is calling for his resignation, the chances that the data denier will be able to cling to his title are looking slim. Perhaps in a last-ditch attempt at regaining credibility, Pachauri engaged in a little conspiracy ...
