One day before Grover Norquist heads to Capitol Hill for a closed-door meeting with members to discuss his organization’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” No Labels is renewing its calls for an end to special-interest pledges in Congress. In doing so, No Labels is joining a growing and bipartisan list of lawmakers seeking to reduce the influence of special interest pledges.
“In recent weeks, we have seen Sen. Lindsay Graham and Tom Coburn decry the Americans For Tax Reform pledge, and it’s not hard to see why,” said No Labels Co-Founder and former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker. “Pledges to the ideological right and left put a straitjacket on elected officials. They prevent them from thinking for themselves and from working across the aisle to reach reasoned and reasonable compromises. And ultimately, these pledges serve special interests a lot more than the longer-term interests of the American people.”
Walker added, “The proliferation of pledges has gotten out of control. Right now, over 80% of Congress has signed a pledge to either never raise taxes or never reduce Social Security benefits. What that basically means is that Congress has signed away its ability to ever seriously address our country’s fiscal problems. They are elected to solve problems not to stonewall solutions.”
By Patrick Derocher, on Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
Governor Andrew Cuomo is once again coming to blows with New York’s union leaders over proposed education reforms.
With a teacher evaluation plan, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo finds himself once again at odds with some of the same unions that helped get him elected two years ago. The governor is facing off with Democrats in the state legislature over a provision that would allow parents to see their children’s teachers’ evaluations, including the teacher’s name. Names, however, would be withheld on the publicly available evaluation database. If the governor and legislature don’t come to an agreement by the time an evaluation system is agreed upon (which may not be any day soon), then all information will be visible in the state databases. The only person pushing for that setup? Mayor Michael Bloomberg. [NY Daily News]
Here is some interesting insight into the state of Florida’s Republican Party. The subject of the piece is former Pinellas County Sheriff Everett Rice, who is running for his old job in the large, politically moderate, suburban Tampa county. Rather than running on his record, Rice has embraced some of the furthest right of the far right wing, questioning President Obama’s citizenship, declaring ObamaCare a socialist plot, and entertaining the notion of Agenda 21 as a move toward World Government. All this for a sheriff’s seat. [Tampa Bay Times]
The Virginia GOP finds itself in an interesting position, as evidenced by its underwhelming convention in Richmond last week. To be sure, it got the business of the convention done, but without any of the usual pageantry such events normally entail – none of the state’s highest-profile Republicans, including Governor Bob McDonnell and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, was in attendance. One interesting piece of news came out of the meeting: Next year’s gubernatorial nominee will be selected at convention, a maneuver that places firebrand Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli at an advantage over Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling. [Washington Times]
A California Assemblyman has found a novel way of fundraising in an era of austerity – for the low price of $1,000, he will shine your shoes. Das Williams, a Santa Barbara Democrat in his first term, is hosting a 38th birthday fundraiser at Russo’s Shoe Repair, across the street from the California State Capitol. Tickets start at $1,000 and go for as much as $3,900, the state limit for a general election campaign, but Williams has said he will let invitees attend for less. [Sacramento Bee]
In recent months, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has received some criticism for the $43 million in tax incentives it is providing for “Ark Encounter” — a theme park offering a full-size recreation of Noah’s Ark developed by Answers in Genesis, a “Young Earth” fundamentalist Christian group that also hosts the “Creation Museum” — dedicated to the proposition that the Earth is less than 6000 years old.
Joe Sonka, a local liberal blogger, now with Louisville’s LEO Weekly alternative magazine, has been perhaps Ark Encounter’s loudest, most vociferous, and downright funniest critic. Click here and here and here to read some of his columns.
In this week’s “Fake Issue” of LEOWeekly, Sonka writes about a new project coming to Kentucky, Koran Kountry:
MUHLENBERG COUNTY, KY — Gov. Steve Beshear attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday for the opening of Koran Kountry, the radical Islamic theme park that could receive up to $75 million in tax incentives from the state.
“We are excited to be here for the grand opening of Koran Kountry,” Beshear said. “This park will bring almost 1,000 jobs to this region and give a vital boost to our economy, with millions of tourists visiting the commonwealth.”
The controversial park is the creation of Answers in Koran, LLC, who seek to bring visitors to the “family-friendly attraction that celebrates the truth of the Koran, and the power of the global jihadist movement to liberate Muslims from the oppression of the infidels and Jews. We also have roller coasters.”
The $300 million park, built on top of a reclaimed surface mining site in Muhlenberg County, was constructed with the help of unnamed international investors from Pakistan and Iran. Their feasibility study projects millions of tourists from the Middle East and South Asia will come to the park in its first three years of operation.
“This day would not be possible without the great help we received from the Beshear administration,” said Kenwal Hamza, CEO of Answers in Koran. “Muhlenberg County is now truly the closest thing to Paradise on Earth.”
In addition to potentially $75 million in tax rebates from the state if the park meets its attendance projections, the state also spent $27 million on infrastructure improvements to the Wendell Ford Parkway and the Muhlenberg County Airport to accommodate the influx of tourists.
Koran Kountry contains a dozen thrill rides, including the Dead Sea Water Safari and the “Paradise Sling Shot,” which flings riders 400-feet straight up into the air, “recreating the ascension of the prophet Muhammad into the heavens.” There are also carnival-type games, including one in which people throw rocks at a female mannequin wearing a bikini in order to win a prize. The park also contains several high-tech multimedia shows in the “Martyrs Exhibit Hall,” celebrating the history of such groups as Hamas and Hezbollah, and attacking “the Zionist and Christian crusaders who occupy our homeland.”
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET
I can’t tell you how many people have complemented me for the design of this site. And I have to humbly admit, it is pretty cool.
I say “humbly” because I had very little to do with it. My Webmaster Justin Burnette is responsible for the orderly and sharp manner in which all of our posts are presented.
But my greatest contribution was asking my sister, Jennifer, for a recommendation of an artist to deisgn the heading. And her suggestion, John Lackey, was outstanding. The design at the top of the page was John’s inspiration and his execution. And I can’t imagine The Recovering Politician without it.
John Lackey happens to be a rising star artist. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky, but his work is getting international notice.
If you agree, I urge you to join me in voting for him to win a gallery show in New York City and a $10,000 grant. And it is SO easy to do so.
Simply click here and then once at the click on “Collect Me”
If you want to learn more about John’s incredible work, click here.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Jun 20, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Got Clout? I mean the other kind–with a “K”
I’m fascinated with analytics.
Not in how they work. I don’t really understand that.
But how they can be used as a tool for better assessment and prediction purposes. And, of course, better decision making.
But analytics may be the new statistics–in the sense of being a mysterious new numbers logic that because of its air of inaccessibility to lay people carries with it an air of irrefutably.
It won’t be long until some says “There are 4 kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, statistics, and analytics.”
OK. I guess technically speaking someone just did…but that’s beside the point.
My recent questioning of exuberant uses of analytic tools is with the website Klout. I’m sure they are on to something…but have a long way to go. True, you must find a way to measure something to fully understand it. But some things are more amendable to metrics than human relationships. Workflow processes, controlling inventory and related business tasks come to mind. How trustworthy, reliable, persuasive, likeable, etc a person is within a functional network is much harder to measure with numbers.
It’s still worth a try….but we have to realize the results are more of a fun sideshow compared to more serious analytics work.
I see it like the difference between standing on a scale for weight data versus putting on a mood ring to measure my “mood.” Sure, it’s something…but not enough to bother too much with. Otherwise eHarmony and other such metric driven dating sites would be called “marriage tools” instead of a dating tool. They may help recommend a first date…but don’t base an important decision on it.
Analytics are incredibly useful where they are truly applicable.
And by the way, Klout has so far helped me in only two measurable, concrete outcomes. It caused me to waste several hours trying to understand the new vanity meansure. And it’s provided a topic for this Facebook status update. A really useful analytics tool would have predicted that outcome in advance and saved me the trouble. ; )
The Israel Project Conference Call: Jonathan Miller TODAY @ 12:00 P.M. EDT
Author, public servant and Huffington Post contributor Jonathan Miller spent nearly two decades in politics before joining the private sector last year.
A former two-term elected Kentucky State Treasurer, he is the author of the recently released book “The Liberal Case for Israel: Debunking Eight Crazy Lies about the Jewish State,” in which he highlights deep factual misunderstandings, media disinformation, and the perpetuation of “Eight Crazy Lies” by those who seek the Jewish State’s total destruction.
Anytime you’ve got an R after your name, and you’re running in the most Republican state in the country with the best political name in the nation (from a Utahn perspective) topping your ticket, you have a chance.
But it’s just wishful thinking to say that she’ll garner more black GOP support. Allen West and Tim Scott haven’t done so; Michael Steele didn’t do so last cycle.
Mia Love
Data suggests that someone a lot higher profile (Rubio) has been unable to do so for Latinos.
Although, I’m sure the Republicans will have her onstage 12 hours a day in Tampa. Of course, that will be targeted at suburban white women more than at blacks; they’re smart enough to realize that Obama is going to get 90 percent of the black vote regardless.
And as long as there are state Republican parties hosting conventions where bullet-riddled outhouses decorated as Obama presidential libraries are seen as funny jokes, that will never change.
By Jonathan Miller, on Tue Jun 19, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
Is it possible that the Man in Black was America’s first Christian Zionist? So says Professor Shalom Goldman in this article from the Jerusalem Post excerpted below:
Way before the modern-day Christian Zionist movement became a bastion of American support for Israel, there was the Man in Black.
Johnny Cash, the all-American country music great whose career spanned six decades, carried on an ardent love affair with Israel for most of that time. Cash, a devout Christian who died in 2003 at the age of 71, visited the country five times from 1966 through the mid-1990s along with his wife June Carter Cash and their children. And it wasn’t only with his footsteps that he he demonstrated his connection to the country – he recorded complete albums of inspirational hymns about the holy land and made films about his journeys to Biblical sites.
Cash’s ties with Israel have long fascinated Shalom Goldman, a professor of religion at Duke University. The author of the book Zeal for Zion: Christians, Jews, and the Idea of the Promised Land, Goldman theorized that Cash symbolized American Christian enthusiasm for Israel before it became labeled as a far-Right movement.
For the last year, he’s been giving a presentation mostly on college campuses: In The Holy Land with Johnny Cash: Christian Zionism and American Popular Culture, a lecture about the religious aspects of Cash’s life and work – including his baptism in the Jordan River – augmented by slides of his pilgrimages to the holy land and live performances of a selection of his Zion-flavored gospel songs.
“Cash was a Christian Zionist for at least a decade before the Christian Right moved into a place of political power in the late 1970s,” said Goldman, speaking from a summer cabin in Georgia last week before heading to Israel, where he’ll give his Cash presentation on Tuesday evening at the Tmol Shilshom bookstore in Jerusalem, accompanied by local folk singer Hila Tam.
One day before Grover Norquist heads to Capitol Hill for a closed-door meeting with members to discuss his organization’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” No Labels is renewing its calls for an end to special-interest pledges in Congress. In doing so, No Labels is joining a growing and bipartisan list of lawmakers seeking to reduce the influence of special interest pledges.
