Two More Service Chiefs Urge Slow Change to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

The chiefs of the Marine Corps and the Navy on Wednesday added their opposition to any quick repeal or relaxation of the ban on openly gay men and women serving in the military.

Their comments to lawmakers make it unanimous among the top officers in the military branches that a Pentagon review should be completed before any changes are made to the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=cqmidday-000003297844

Support for Israel in U.S. at 63%, Near Record High

Near-record-low 30% optimistic about Arab-Israeli peace

PRINCETON, NJ -- For the first time since 1991, more than 6 in 10 Americans -- 63% -- say their sympathies in the Middle East situation lie more with the Israelis than with the Palestinians. Fifteen percent side more with the Palestinians, down slightly from recent years, while a combined 23% favor both sides, favor neither side, or have no opinion.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/126155/Support-Israel-Near-Record-High.aspx

Via Gateway Pundit:

This is from Washington University in St. Louis student newspaper:

How to Give a Textbook Bl*w Job

By Lucy Moore
Sex Columnist

So, here goes my knowledge collected from interviewing men and women, and my observations (including those drawn from porn), which I will organize into a list of tips to be used at one’s own discretion. Remember: all men—and their penises—are different. These are not rules. Also, remember, STDs are transmitted from oral sex, too!

So…

Boehner Names Health Care Summit & “Truth Squad” Participants

Washington, Feb 24 -

            House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today announced the House Republican participants for the White House health summit on Thursday, as well as members of the House GOP’s Health Care “Truth Squad” – a team of Republicans ready to fact-check misstatements from Washington Democrats and highlight Republicans’ better solutions to lower health care costs – while the Republican summit team participates at the Blair House.  Boehner issued the following statement:

            “The American people want Washington to scrap this job-killing health care bill and start over with a step-by-step approach that will lower health care costs.  That is not the ‘Republican’ view; it is the view of the American people.  We’ve assembled a team of individuals who understand this, because they’ve been listening to the people they were sent to Washington to represent.  We’ll be ready to remind our Democratic colleagues of this and discuss the alternative, step-by-step approach Republicans have offered when we go to the White House summit on Thursday.”

            Following are House GOP members participating in the White House summit:

• Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
• Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA)
• Energy & Commerce Committee Ranking Republican Joe Barton (R-TX)
• Ways & Means Committee Ranking Republican Dave Camp (R-MI)
• Education & Labor Committee Ranking Republican John Kline (R-MN)
• Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
• Dr. Charles Boustany (R-LA)
• Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL)
• Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)

           Following are members of the House GOP’s Health Care “Truth Squad”: 

• Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN)
• Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
• Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX)
• Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL)
• Dr. Paul Broun (R-GA)
• Dr. Michael Burgess (R-TX)
• Dr. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
• Dr. John Fleming (R-LA)
• Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE)
• Dr. Phil Gingrey (R-GA)
• Dr. Parker Griffith (R-AL)
• Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
• Dr. Tim Murphy (R-PA)
• Dr. Tom Price (R-GA)
• Dr. Phil Roe (R-TN)
• Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI)
• Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ)

http://republicanleader.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=173278

Va. Republican Leader Takes on Boucher

By JANIE LORBER

For the first time since 1984, Representative Rick Boucher of Virginia will face a serious Republican challenge, possibly jeopardizing his 28-year Democratic stronghold on the Appalachian district and sending his office into campaign mode earlier than ever before.

Republican Morgan Griffith, the majority leader of the state House of Delegates, made his campaign official Tuesday as state Republicans went live with RetireRick.com, a Web site highlighting Mr. Boucher’s early support for President Obama and the administration’s policies. Already, two Web advertisements slam Mr. Boucher for his support of the auto bailouts and the House cap-and trade-bill.

“Rick Boucher went to Washington 27 years ago to fight for us,” one post reads. “How’s he doing lately? Is he fighting for southwest Virginia, or for the agenda of President Obama?”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/va-republican-leader-takes-on-boucher/

Exclusive: Ex-Bush adviser Dan Senor weighing run against Gillibrand as Republican

1:56 PM, February 24, 2010 ι By MAGGIE HABERMAN and FREDRIC U. DICKER

Dan Senor, the husband of CNN's Campbell Brown and a former Bush administration foreign policy adviser, is eyeing a run as a Republican against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, The Knickerbocker has learned.

Senor has been meeting with people recent weeks around the state - including "political people and money types," said one source.

Senor has already spoken with state GOP chairman Ed Cox, The Knickerbocker confirmed.

Senor is the founder of Rosemont Capital LLC, and brings to his resume the fact that he was among the civilian officials who served the longest in Iraq as the post-Saddam Hussein government was being established.

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/knickerbocker/exclusive_republican_bush_adviser_T930L2paj5grGJUA0dKRdK

Ft. Hood Attack Publicly Called “Terrorism”

February 24, 2010 - 2:07 PM | by: Mike Levine

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has become the first Obama Administration official to publicly describe last year's deadly shootings at Ft. Hood, Tex., as a terrorist act, according to a search of news clips and transcripts.

"Violent Islamic terrorism ... was part and parcel of the Ft. Hood killings," Napolitano told the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday morning. "There is violent Islamic terrorism, be it Al Qaeda in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen or anywhere else, [and] that is indeed a major focus of this department and its efforts."

In the months since an Army psychiatrist -- who had been in contact with a radical Muslim cleric in Yemen -- opened fired inside the Army base, many on Capitol Hill have urged administration officials to publicly identify the attack as terrorism.

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/02/24/ft-hood-attack-publicly-called-terrorism/

Kucinich: Obama's Plan Makes "Unacceptable" Senate Bill Even Worse

"It's a much better bill for insurance company investors than it is for the American people."

BY John McCormack

Conrad: Reform "dead" unless House passes Senate bill first

If congressional Democrats decide to pass fixes to the Senate health care bill through reconciliation, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) is one of the most important people to bring on board with the plan.

But Conrad threw some doubt Wednesday on the plan that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been pushing, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has indicated he could accept -- to pass the sidecar reconciliation bill with the fixes before the House takes up the Senate bill, as a way to mollify House members who strongly oppose the more conservative Senate measure.

Conrad, who has been open to reconciliation as long as the fixes are limited, said the order must be reversed. The House must pass the Senate bill first -- before either chamber considers the reconciliation package, he said.

"I don't know of any way, I don't know of any way where you can have a reconciliation bill pass before the bill that it is meant to reconcile passes," said Conrad, who would be a central figure on the Senate floor if Democrats embark on the complicated process. "I don't know how you would deal with the scoring. I don't know how I could look you in the eye and say this package reduces the deficit. It's kind of got the cart before the horse."

When reminded that House Democrats don't want to do health care in that order, Conrad said bluntly: "Fine, then it's dead."

http://www.politico.com/livepulse/0210/Conrad_Reform_dead_unless_House_passes_Senate_bill_first.html?showall

Equal Protection Is for Flakes   [Peter Kirsanow]

As noted by Kathryn, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act, a.k.a., the Akaka Bill, passed the House last night, 245–164. The more intriguing vote, perhaps, was the vote on an amendment to the Akaka bill proposed by Rep. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.).

The Flake amendment would've clarified that nothing in the Akaka bill could be interpreted to exempt the Native Hawaiian Governmental Authority from complying with the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Flake amendment failed 177–233 (Democrats voted 18 for 225 against; Republicans voted 159 for 8 against).

The salient portion of the Fourteenth Amendment as pertains to the Akaka bill is as follows: "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Constituents of those congressmen who voted against the Flake amendment may wish to ask their respective representatives to identify with particularity the clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment they believe should have no application to the Native Hawaiian Governmental Authority.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ODM3M2UyMTgyMTFjOWFiZjJkNTdlYWFkYjAwN2MzZDg=

Via Jim Gerahty at the Campaign Spot: Interviewing McCain Challenger J.D. Hayworth

Written by Joe Wolverton, II

Monday, 22 February 2010 18:00

Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth of Arizona stopped by the John Birch Society booth at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference in Washington, D.C. last week and spoke with The New American’s William F. Jasper. Mr. Hayworth recently announced his candidacy for Senator from Arizona and will challenge 23-year incumbent, John McCain, in the upcoming primary. Hayworth told Jasper that he was persuaded to run by “so many Arizonans” who are tired of John McCain “campaigning as a conservative, but legislating like a liberal.” This sentiment swept the electorate in light of Senator McCain’s support of an amnesty bill that would afford legal immigrant status to millions of immigrants who entered this country illegally.
 
Hayworth, who quit as job as a talk-show host to re-enter the political fray, reckons that what happens in Arizona will have long-term implications for the conservative movement nationwide. Rob Haney, Chairman of the Maricopa County Republican Party, agrees, “J.D. is our great hope. McCain has been a thorn in our side for years. A dagger in our backs, really,” he said.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/politics/2998-interviewing-mccain-challenger-jd-hayworth

Via Gateway Pundit:

Republican Eric Cantor says Pelosi doesn’t have the votes for health care

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor doesn’t believe the buzz in Washington that Democrats will successfully use reconciliation to ram health care reform through Congress.

“House Democrats are farther away from securing the votes to pass a government health care bill today than they have ever been,” Cantor, Virginia Republican, said in a memo to the Republican caucus Wednesday morning.

Cantor says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “will not be able to muster the votes needed to pass a Senate reconciliation bill in the House.”

He estimates that House Democrats will likely only be able to attract 202 votes out of the 255-member caucus, 15 votes below the 217-vote threshold they need to pass the bill.

http://dailycaller.com/2010/02/24/republican-eric-cantor-says-pelosi-doesnt-have-the-votes-for-health-care/

Via Allahpundit:


As for the Florida Senate race to be decided this year, Bush said he has not decided yet whether he will endorse either of the two Republican candidates in primary, Gov. Charlie Crist or former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio.

Bush said Crist is a “talented guy” and “about the nicest guy I’ve ever met in politics.” But he added that the stimulus bill is “a massive spending bill that is not related to stimulus, it is related to trying to carry out a liberal agenda,” and said that, as a Republican, Crist’s support for the bill was “unforgivable.”

http://newsmax.com/Headline/jebbush-obama-dangerous-course/2010/02/23/id/350707

From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby

Washington (CNN) - Another prominent Republican is lining up behind Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, in his primary fight against former Rep. J.D. Hayworth.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said Tuesday he is "proud" to support McCain, calling him "a leader of character, courage and principle."

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/24/mccain-gets-re-election-support-from-mcdonnell/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%2Brss%2Fcnn_politicalticker%2B(Blog%3A%2BPolitical%2BTicker)&fbid=klqiG1DNp4m