By RP Staff, on Tue Sep 6, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET  This evening, No Labels will host a “Conversation with America,” featuring Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, to have a serious conversation about the problems of hyper-partisanship in Washington and the actions needed to break the political gridlock.
No Labels Co-Founder John Avlon, Maya MacGuineas, President of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and Rob Kaplan, Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, will lend their expertise to our conversation on the fiscal crisis.
Click here to RSVP for the call and obtain call-in information.
Since announcing our national telephone town hall last Friday, No Labels has created a stir in the media, capturing the attention of all the major television networks, prominent newspapers and local media outlets.
In Sunday’s New York Times a full-page ad ran from Howard Schultz announcing the call, as well as in USA Today.
 We expect even more success as the post-call analysis influences the conversation this week with the GOP presidential debate and the President’s address to a joint session of Congress about job creation.
I encourage you to invite interested friends and family members to participate. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Sarah from No Labels at 202-588-1990 or Sarah@NoLabels.org.
By Patrick Derocher, on Tue Sep 6, 2011 at 11:00 AM ET Republican New York State Senator Roy McDonald has beent target by socially conservative groups over his vote in favor of same-sex marriage. It’s been a while, but I’m back at The Recovering Politician, this time to cover the goings-on (especially the hyper-partisan and dysfunctional goings-on) of state governments around this country. This is planned to be a weekly feature on Monday mornings. Here we go!
– Within weeks of his controversial vote in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in New York, State Senator Roy McDonald is already the target of attack ads in his suburban Albany district, including a rather unsubtle billboard paid for by the National Organization for Marriage implying that the Republican may face a stiff primary challenge, or at least pushback from socially conservative groups. [Albany Times Union]
– Mayors across Ohio are doing battle with newly-elected governor John Kasich over state funding for individual municipalities. The Republican’s budget for this year cuts state funding to local government by 34 percent, reduces their share of utility taxes by about half, and, in 2013, will eliminate an estate tax that channels 80% of its revenues to towns and cities. In the states industrial northeast corner, mayors from across party lines are calling the plan “a money grab” and accusing the governor and statehouse Republicans of trying to stem the flow of money into urban centers. [The Cleveland Plain-Dealer]
– A Tampa, Fla. based Tea Party organization, The Tampa 912 Project, will begin offering Saturday morning classes for children. The Liberty School, as it is called, seeks to instruct its students in the principles of freedom and liberty in the context of the American experience and this country’s founding, and is run by an offshoot of Glenn Beck’s 912 Project, one of the first Tea Party groups. [St. Petersburg Times]
– In Wisconsin, it appears that the state court system is just as out-of-control as its legislature, as detectives investigate a physical altercation between State Supreme Court Justices David Prosser and Ann Walsh Bradley. Prosser, who recently won a hotly-contested and widely-followed race for his seat on the bench, admitted to touching Bradley’s neck, while Bradley said she went “face to face to confront him,” but claimed not to have suffered any injury in the incident. According to court documents, a dispute occurred on June 13 that involved justices “shouting, slamming doors, being physically threatening and locking their doors at night because of safety concerns.” [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
– In a bizarre but definite softening of rhetoric, California Governor Jerry Brown compared Republican legislators’ aversion to tax hikes to a fear of sexually transmitted diseases, while working to dispel the notion that taxes should be treated as such. Previously, he had likend Republicans’ stance on tax hikes to the Catholic Church’s stance on abortion. [Sacramento Bee]
– Residents of Pinellas County, Florida, home to St. Petersburg, have become increasingly angry over redistricting in that state, taking to a recent hearing to protest the fact that state legislature has refused to show anything other than informal submissions at these meetings. Democrats are particularly incensed by this process, calling the meetings “useless” while representatives of left-wing groups have caused minor fracases by refusing to cut short their speaking time and yield the floor at such meetings. [St. Petersburg Times]
By Kristen Hamilton, RP Staff, on Tue Sep 6, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
Mercedez-Benz Fashion Week begins in two days! Eek! Check out this fashion week preview: [NY Mag]
Angry Birds Halloween costumes – the best thing ever? [SHEfinds]
Snooki will soon be adding fashion designer to her ever-impressive résumé! Excited? [SHEfinds]
Thought Huggies’ denim diapers were cool? Well, it looks like there will be more fashionable diapers to come! Check it out: [USA Today]
By Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, on Tue Sep 6, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET  A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece asking whether Governor Rick Perry could call himself a Christian given his opposition to government actions to help the hungry, aged, and ill. Not surprisingly, many challengedmy view of Christianity. In letter after letter they pointed out that Christ spoke to individuals, not government. My observation that He was speaking to a conquered people, not free individuals who could use their power to make a more just state, was not convincing. My reference to the prophets Micah, Amos, Jeremiah, and Isaiah, each of whom called on governmental leaders to help the poor, was dismissed as being from the “Old Testament.”
I will surely return to the issue of Christianity again, but I devote this piece to Rick Perry’s character and the character he would nurture in American citizens. Teddy Roosevelt said, “Character, in the long run, is the decisive factor in the life of an individual and of nations alike.” So what is the character that Perry embodies? What is his view of the American citizen and the citizen’s responsibility to our country and to one’s fellows?
 First, Perry himself.
His persona evokes the rugged individualist. His warning to Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, not to come to Texas so that he can avoid being subjected to “real ugly” frontier justice evidences a character antithetical to one of the crowning achievements of the United States — a nation under law, not men. In a phrase, he dismisses the Bill of Rights — due process, trial by jury, the right to confront one’s accuser.
The real question is not what character he would make of the United States but whether he believes in America at all. He has threatened to secede. Central to his campaign is his pledge to shrink the federal government — making it impossible for our noble nation to lead the world, to serve as the “city on the Hill.”
Read the rest of…
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend: Is Rick Perry as American as He Thinks He is?
By RP Nation, on Fri Sep 2, 2011 at 8:50 PM ET
By Grant Smith, RP Staff, on Fri Sep 2, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET
Is the government’s lawsuit against the ATT and T-Mobile merger an attempt at saving jobs? [CNBC]
New study suggests that it is unlikely “King Coal” will be replaced by natural gas. [Forbes]
Pick your own business dream team: who would be your CEO, CFO, CIO, et cetera? [Fortune]
The latest victim of government austerity: The Capitol Page Program. [Washington Post]
The benefits….and costs, of the OnStar system in GM vehicles. [New York Times]
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Fri Sep 2, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET Here’s your controversial book of the week: Is Marriage for White People? [Time]
New research shows that teen marriage is actually psychologically traumatic, according to the Huffington Post. [Huffington Post]
Just in case another hurricane strikes, what’s the best food to eat when you don’t have power? [Wall Street Journal]
Can deleting some of your Facebook friends improve your life? [Psychology Today]
Here’s a look into our nation’s dark medical research past, doing experiments about venereal diseases on Guatemalan prisoners. [NY Times]
By RP Staff, on Fri Sep 2, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET Last night, the RP Family grew by one early yesterday evening, in the name of Charlie Wallace Smith, the first child of contributing RP Jeff Smith.
We here at The Recovering Politician heartily welcome Charlie to the world and hope that he inherits his father’s writing abilities and sense of humor, and his mother’s looks and height. At 8 pounds, 5 ounces, he’s well on his way to the latter.
By Artur Davis, on Fri Sep 2, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET  Michael Bloomberg is not running for president, but he is about to engage a presidential size problem -the intractable poverty and alienation of young black and Latino men in the inner city.
The New York mayor has just announced a comprehensive campaign on several fronts, including the location of job recruitment centers within public housing complexes, revamping supervised release programs to confront recidivism, establishing parenting classes for new fathers, and most controversially, the city’s Education Department will be directed to factor in the performance and graduation rates of black and Latino boys in its annual assessment of schools. A school that lags in graduating black and Latino teenagers will now be at risk of being closed.
 It is a smart strategy that is typical Bloomberg – funded two thirds by his own money and the money of his billionaire ally, George Soros, and one third by realigning public resources from less successful efforts; and unafraid to poke at some sacred cows in New York politics. As in most communities, the decision to close a school touches nerves, and Bloomberg’s accountability measures will shutter schools that can’t lift up their most vulnerable students.
Read the rest of…
Artur Davis: Bloomberg’s Campaign for Minority Men
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Sep 1, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET
It is really not looking good for Saab as the company that owns them: Swedish Automobile NV posted a $220 million second quarter loss. It is not likely that Saab will be kept afloat much longer. [Bloomberg Businessweek]
You may not have heard yet, but Formula 1 is finally making a return to America! The inaugural race has been pushed back, but the official premiere date is Nov. 18, 2012. The first race will be at the still under-construction Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. [The Austin Chronicle]
Here is an interesting story that asserts that if Dick Cheney had his way the Detroit Three would be no more. This is apparently stated by Cheney himself in his new memoir. [Detroit Free Press]
The Chevy Camaro is the most popular car on Facebook with 1.8 million fans. [Facebook]
Smaller, smaller, smaller. Auto makers are churning out more compact cars to meet demand for lower prices and better gas mileage. [Associated Press]
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This evening, No Labels will host a “Conversation with America,” featuring Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, to have a serious conversation about the problems of hyper-partisanship in Washington and the actions needed to break the political gridlock.
We expect even more success as the post-call analysis influences the conversation this week with the GOP presidential debate and the President’s address to a joint session of Congress about job creation. 
