Oil spill

Mission Impossible: Obama Taps Crack Team Of Scientists To Do The Job BP Can't

Zachary Roth | May 14, 2010, 5:36PM

Scientists tapped by the Obama administration to help fix the Gulf Coast oil spill. From left to right: Richard Garwin, Tom Hunter, Alexander Slocum, Jonathan Katz and George Cooper

President Obama's new plan to fix the Gulf oil spill is so crazy it just might work...

As BP's high-priced industry experts flail, the president last week turned to a rag-tag band of big-think scientific renegades, and sent them on a mission to somehow MacGyver a way to stop up the leak -- before it's too late.

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Iraq War

Is Obama's Iraq Pullout Deadline Still Possible? (CHART)

Justin Elliott | May 14, 2010, 3:14PM

In order for President Obama to meet his pledge to get Iraq troop levels down to 50,000 by August, the military will have to exit the country at a rate of about 14,000 troops per month -- a difficult but doable task, military observers tell TPMmuckraker.

The number of U.S. troops in Iraq currently stands at 94,100, according to the Pentagon.

Unless Obama changes his policy, the military must get at least 44,000 troops out of Iraq by August. The Pentagon said recently that it expects to get down to 91,000 by the end of May, at which point an accelerated pullout will begin. (See chart below.)

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Immigration

Tea Partiers Riding To Arizona's Rescue

Zachary Roth | May 14, 2010, 1:17PM

At a tea party in Washington, D.C. in 2009

Tea Party activists are riding to Arizona's rescue in the state's time of need.

Conservative activists recently launched a "Buycott", urging people to support and do business with several Arizona-based companies, including US Airways, Best Western, and U-Haul.* And others are planning a rally to "Stand With Arizona."

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

BP CEO: Gulf Coast Oil Spill Is Relatively 'Tiny' Compared To 'Very Big Ocean'

Ben Frumin | May 14, 2010, 11:36AM

BP Group CEO Tony Hayward

BP CEO Tony Hayward isn't just off message -- he's way off message.

In an interview with the Guardian, Hayward declared that the giant oil spill in the gulf (still gushing thousands of gallons of oil a day into the sea) and the hundreds of thousands of gallons of "dispersant" BP has pumped into the water to combat the slick are "tiny" compared to the "very big ocean."

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David McKalip

Doctor Who Sent Racist Email Hosting Fundraiser For Black GOP Candidate

Zachary Roth | May 14, 2010, 11:17AM

Dr. David McKalip

Florida neurosurgeon David McKalip -- who was in hot water last year after we published an email he sent that showed President Obama dressed as a witch doctor -- will host an event for an African-American GOP candidate for Congress. The candidate says he didn't find the witch doctor image offensive.

McKalip will co-host a fundraiser at a St. Petersburg sports bar next weekend for Eddie Adams Jr., who is seeking the GOP nomination to take on Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL) this fall, reports the St. Petersburg Times.

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Lisa Murkowski

Murkowski, Oil Lobby Block Effort To Make Industry Fully Pay For Spills

Zachary Roth | May 14, 2010, 10:01AM

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)

Even in a Washington as dominated by corporate money as today's, it's not often that you see a lawmaker side with financial backers over the public interest as brazenly as Alaska's senior senator did yesterday.

In the wake of last month's catastrophic Gulf Coast oil spill, Sen. Lisa Murkowski blocked a bill that would have raised the maximum liability for oil companies after a spill from a paltry $75 million to $10 billion. The Republican lawmaker said the bill, introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), would have unfairly hurt smaller oil companies by raising the costs of oil production. The legislation is "not where we need to be right now" she said.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Scientists: Rate Of Oil Spill May Be Far Worse Than Thought

Justin Elliott | May 14, 2010, 9:09AM

A screenshot from BP's oil spill video

For the second time in the short life of the Gulf oil spill, we're learning that the scope of the disaster may be drastically worse than previous estimates by the government.

Following the release of underwater video by BP, NPR asked scientists to analyze the footage to try to come up with an estimate of the flow rate:

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Arizona

The Man Behind Arizona's Anti-Ethnic Studies Law

Justin Elliott | May 13, 2010, 4:09PM

Arizona state Superintendent Tom Horne

Arizona's new law restricting ethnic studies is the brainchild of the state's ambitious top education official, Tom Horne, who is locked in a Republican primary for Attorney General against a prominent ally of hardline Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

Horne, the state's superintendent of public instruction since 2002, has long sought to kill the Tucson school district's ethnic studies classes, including La Raza studies -- and he wrote the bill to target that single program. "It's just like the old South, and it's long past time that we prohibited it," he has said of ethnic studies classes that, he claims, teach Hispanics to resent whites.

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Immigration

Phoenix Says Immigration Law Boycott Is Causing 'Near Economic Crisis'

Zachary Roth | May 13, 2010, 3:02PM

Illegal immigrants are searched before being deported

The City of Phoenix -- a convention hot-spot -- is facing a "near economic crisis" caused by lost revenue stemming from organizations canceling events in response to Arizona's controversial immigration law, according to its mayor.

In the wake of the bill's passage last month, immigration rights leaders, including Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), have called for a nationwide boycott of the state. This week, at the request of Mayor Phil Gordon, a study was presented to the city council on the potential economic impact of canceled trips.

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Rick Berman

Complaint Spotlights 'Dr. Evil' Campaign Against Drunk-Driving Protections

Zachary Roth | May 13, 2010, 11:35AM

Rick Berman

Not too many people oppose efforts to keep drunk drivers off the road. But then, not too many people are known to enemies and friends alike as "Dr. Evil," and revel in their role as the poster boy for deceptive astroturf corporate lobbying.

We're talking, of course, about TPMmuckraker favorite Rick Berman, who has built a lucrative business by creating a string of industry-funded front groups that have fought efforts to fight smoking, drinking, and obesity without revealing their corporate clients.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Report: Criminal Charges Likely Over Oil Spill

Justin Elliott | May 13, 2010, 8:59AM

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig

Environmental law experts tell McClatchy it's likely the Justice Department will ultimately bring criminal charges against the companies involved in the oil spill, potentially under the Clean Water and Air Acts.

McClatchy reports:

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Health Care Reform

Justice Department Offers First Response To Health-Care Reform Challenge

Zachary Roth | May 13, 2010, 8:46AM

Attorney General Eric Holder

The Justice Department has offered its first response to one of the lawsuits filed recently challenging the constitutionality of health-care reform. And it offers a strong indication of what the government's legal strategy will be as it seeks to defend against the spate of similar lawsuits.

In a filing in U.S. District Court in Michigan today, reports Main Justice, DOJ lawyers wrote that the Thomas More Law Center, a conservative legal group in that state, lacked standing to challenge the law, because the individual mandate -- the provision at issue -- won't go into effect until 2014. "They bring this suit four years before the provision they challenge takes effect, demonstrate no current injury, and merely speculate whether the law will harm them once it is in force," wrote the government's attorneys.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Dem Rep Grills Transocean CEO On 'I'm Not Injured' Forms Signed By Rig Workers (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 12, 2010, 6:41PM

Transocean President Steven Newman

At a congressional hearing today, Rep. Bruce Braley (D-IA) went after Transocean CEO Steven Newman over why forms were presented to rig workers right after the accident stating they were not injured.

As TPMmuckraker explained earlier, rescued rig workers were asked by Transocean officials to sign forms saying both that they were not hurt, and that they were "not a witness to the incident requiring the evacuation and have no first hand or personal knowledge regarding the incident."

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Terrence Lakin

Hearing Set For Court Martial Of Birther Army Doc

Justin Elliott | May 12, 2010, 6:00PM

Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 11 in the court martial of Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, the Birther Army doctor who refused to obey orders, the group representing him announced today.

Charges were brought against Lakin April 22, and a commanding officer appointed of what is known as an Article 32 pre-trial investigation, which has similarities to a grand jury investigation in a civilian case.

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Vito Fossella

Does Embezzlement Scandal Explain Fossella's Missing FEC Reports?

Zachary Roth | May 12, 2010, 3:32PM

Former Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY)

Two-family man Vito Fossella is said to be mulling a bid to recapture his old House seat -- but he hasn't filed FEC reports, as required by law, in over a year. Could a Republican embezzlement scandal help explain why?

The commission recently wrote to Fossella -- a New York Republican who left Congress under a cloud in 2009 -- to inform him that his campaign committee had failed to file a quarterly report for the January-March 2010 period, as required by law. This was the fourth "failure to file" notice Fossella has received from the committee over the last year, according to online records examined by TPMmuckraker. The former lawmaker didn't file reports for any of the second, third, or fourth quarters of 2009.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Transocean To Workers After Rig Explosion: Sign The Waiver Here, Please! (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 12, 2010, 2:34PM

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig sinks; the Transocean form presented to survivors (inset)

When rescued workers were brought ashore following the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig last month, officials with drilling giant Transocean presented them with forms stating they had not been injured and that they had no first-hand knowledge of what happened. Lawyers for the workers are now crying foul about what they say is an all too common industry practice to impeach workers' credibility in future legal proceedings.

Some workers are saying they were coerced into signing the form, a charge Transocean denies. But the episode is reminiscent of reports that BP presented Alabama fishermen with contracts that included a no-sue clause in exchange for $5,000.

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George Rekers

Rekers, In Resignation: 'I Am Not Gay'

Rachel Slajda | May 12, 2010, 1:09PM

George Alan Rekers

Yesterday, TPMmuckraker reported that George Rekers had resigned from the board of NARTH, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, over a gay escort scandal. In the announcement of his resignation, posted today on the NARTH web site, Rekers asserts that he is not, and has never been, gay.

"I am immediately resigning my membership in NARTH to allow myself the time necessary to fight the false media reports that have been made against me," he said in a statement. "With the assistance of a defamation attorney, I will fight these false reports because I have not engaged in any homosexual behavior whatsoever. I am not gay and never have been."

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Fundraising

Donor Beware: A Guide To The Scammiest Conservative Direct Mail Shops

Jillian Rayfield | May 12, 2010, 12:44PM

It's become a significant siphon on conservative fundraising, intensified amid grassroots anger on the right in the age of Obama: direct mail or direct email outfits hit up conservatives around the country for small donations to beat the liberal agenda, or to support an unknown but exciting new right-wing candidate.

But the vast majority of the money goes to the group's favorite vendors, or in some cases to enriching the group's leaders.

So, for the conservatives out there, here's a guide to some of the questionable groups TPMmuckraker has encountered -- it's probably best to send your money elsewhere:

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Judicial Nominations

Progressives To Dems: Get Moving On Judicial Nominations

Zachary Roth | May 12, 2010, 12:26PM

As the Senate gets set to take up Elena Kagan's nomination to the Supreme Court, the slow pace of confirmation for lower-court nominations is creating vacancies that are gumming up the system and could even pose a long-term threat to President Obama's agenda. In response, some who follow the process are calling on Democrats to get tougher on GOP obstructionism. "We need a Nancy Pelosi in the Senate," said one progressive activist.

After yesterday's confirmations of Jon DeGuilo and Timothy Black to district court judge-ships, the Senate has now confirmed 26 of President Obama's nominees -- compared to 52 at this point in President Bush's tenure. Forty-two nominations are pending -- 20 in committee, and 22 on the Senate floor. Meanwhile, there are currently 102 court vacancies. That's an unprecedented backlog, observers of the process agree.

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Alan Mollohan

Dem Who Was Subject Of Ethics Probe Loses Re-Election Bid

Ben Frumin | May 12, 2010, 9:59AM

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV)

Fourteen-term incumbent and longtime TPMmuckraker character Alan Mollohan lost his congressional re-election bid last night.

Rep. Mollohan (D-WV) lost to a more conservative Democrat in a year where incumbents seem particularly vulnerable. Mollohan's opponent repeatedly slammed him over a recently concluded ethics investigation into the congressman's financial disclosures and earmarks. No charges were filed, and the case was recently closed.

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AmeriPAC

Perpetual Money Machine: Conservative PAC Raises Millions In Order To Raise More Millions

Justin Elliott | May 12, 2010, 9:07AM

AmeriPAC President Alan Gottlieb (c-span.org/ameripac.org)

The fundraising emails from AmeriPAC stream in with subject lines designed to give a conservative a heart attack: "Obama Plays 'Russian Roulette' With Supreme Court" ... "Illegals March Terrorizing American Cities" ... "Stop Reid's Extreme Left-Wing Agenda."

In lurid prose sprinkled with bold and underlined capital letters, the emails highlight the outrage du jour and ask like-minded people to help fund the fight against President Obama's agenda: "We need you to donate regularly every week or month with the same commitment to candidates that are listening and help AmeriPAC give the maximum support we can to every candidate that will pledge to take back America," a typical pitch goes.

But despite promises to spend donor money on conservative candidates, a review of AmeriPAC's campaign finance reports by TPMmuckraker shows the outfit has used just $1,300 on campaign-related spending out of nearly $1.3 million raised in the 2010 election cycle. Meanwhile, about 85 percent of the money -- which was raised in $20, $50, and $100 dollar increments from individuals around the U.S. -- has gone back into fundraising expenses, with nearly $1 million going to a single Pennsylvania-based email marketing firm with a history of controversy.

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John Yoo Emails

Watchdog Group Sues DOJ Over Missing Yoo Emails

Derek Hawkins | May 11, 2010, 2:35PM

John Yoo

The good-government group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department, contending that the group's requests for records related to missing emails in the torture memo investigation have gone unfulfilled.

In February, an internal report from the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility noted that key emails from John Yoo, the former Bush Justice Department official and one of the authors of the memos, had been deleted and could not be recovered.

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George Rekers

Rekers Resigns From Board Of Ex-Gay Group NARTH

Rachel Slajda | May 11, 2010, 12:32PM

George Alan Rekers

George Rekers resigned this morning from the board of NARTH, the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality, amid a gay escort scandal.

NARTH vice president of operations David Pruden tells TPMmuckraker that Rekers first offered his resignation last Thursday, and officially resigned today.

NARTH is a group that promotes the idea that homosexuality can, and should, be cured.

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Ken Cuccinelli

UVA Suggests It May Not Comply With Cuccinelli Climate-Gate 'Witch Hunt'

Zachary Roth | May 11, 2010, 11:31AM

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

The wrangling over Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's investigation of a climate scientist continues...

After indicating last week that it would comply with a subpoena sent by the AG, demanding documents relating to the work of former University of Virginia climate scientist Michael Mann, the university is now equivocating. "Our intention is to comply but we are looking at some options," a UVA spokeswoman told the Washington Post yesterday.

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George Rekers

McCollum Personally Pushed To Hire Rekers For Anti-Gay Testimony

Rachel Slajda | May 11, 2010, 10:51AM

George Rekers and Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum personally pushed to hire George Rekers to testify in defense of the state's gay adoption ban in 2008, even when the Department of Children and Families balked at the cost, according to letters obtained by the Florida Tribune.

But with Rekers now embroiled in a scandal involving a gay escort, McCollum said he wouldn't do it again.

"We've been defending the constitutionality of the state law and we've been representing the Department of Children and Families, who hired him and paid him and needed expert witnesses and he was available and credentialed," McCollum told the Tribune. "I wouldn't do it again if I knew what I knew today but I didn't know that then and neither did anybody else."

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Miranda rights

Axelrod: Obama 'Open To' Changing Miranda Rule (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 11, 2010, 9:50AM

David Axelrod

President Obama is open to changing the decades-old Miranda rule that bars prosecutors from using information from interrogations of suspects before they are informed of their right to remain silent, top White House political adviser David Axelrod told CNN Monday night.

"I think the president is open to looking at that issue," Axelrod told Wolf Blitzer. "The question is whether the public safety exception that allows a delay in administering those rights is -- how elastic is that and do we need to make any sort of adjustment to it."

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Bailout

Bailout: Best Program Evaaah?

Zachary Roth | May 11, 2010, 9:26AM

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson

As unpopular government initiatives go, the financial bailout would seem to rank somewhere up there between Prohibition and the Stamp Act.

In the political sphere -- and not just in far-right circles -- it's something close to a consensus view that the bailout was a corrupt giveaway of taxpayers dollars to Wall Street that will leave us deep in the red for decades. As Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) put it after TARP passed: "Only two things are certain: the bill will provide hundreds of billions of dollars to investors who made bad decisions and Wall Street executives; and our children and grandchildren will now face a national debt that is hundreds of billions of dollars higher." Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT) was just ousted by state Republicans, who cited his vote for the TARP and derisively nicknamed him "Bailout Bob." And Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has taken to claiming, implausibly, that he only supported the bailout because he was misled about the fact that it was targeted at the financial sector (seriously).

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Times Square Bomb

Ex-ATF Agent: Shahzad 'Was Not The Valedictorian Of The Bomb School'

Justin Elliott | May 11, 2010, 8:34AM

A timer clock used on the failed Times Square bomb and Faisal Shahzad.

With top Obama Administration officials now saying that alleged Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad was trained in Pakistan, the natural next question is: what kind of terrorist training results in what was by all accounts an extremely crude bomb that not only failed to go off, but also included 250 pounds of nonexplosive fertilizer?

TPMmuckraker put the question to explosives expert James Cavanaugh, who recently retired after more than three decades with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

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Gulf Coast Oil Spill

Oil Execs To Face Senate For First Spill Hearings Tuesday

Justin Elliott | May 10, 2010, 6:23PM

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon rig

On Tuesday officials from some of the major companies involved in the Gulf oil spill will face senators for the first in a long series of congressional hearings.

First up, at 10 a.m. ET, the presidents of BP and Transocean, the rig owner, as well as a top official with cementing services provider Halliburton, will appear before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.

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George Rekers

Florida Paid Rekers $120K For Anti-Gay Adoption Testimony

Rachel Slajda | May 10, 2010, 4:36PM

George Alan Rekers

The state of Florida paid George Rekers -- the anti-gay leader recently caught with a male escort -- $120,000 to testify against allowing gay couples to adopt children, testimony that was deemed not credible by the judge.

Rekers was paid a $60,900 retainer. He also received a $59,793 payment for hourly billing, according to document provided to TPMmuckraker by the Department of Children and Families. That comes out to 402 hours at about $150 per hour. The payments were made by the office of the Florida attorney general, Bill McCollum, which was defending the DCF's policy.

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Fred Malek

VA Gov Taps Nixon's 'Jew Counter' To Help Shrink State Gov't

Ben Frumin | May 10, 2010, 12:40PM

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Frederic Malek (inset)

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) needed someone to reform his state's government and shrink its budget. So who's he turning to? Fred Malek: right-wing insider and former President Richard Nixon's "Jew counter."

On Friday, McDonnell released a list of 31 names -- the members of his "Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring," which, according to the Washington Post, "will consider closing some of the state's 130 agencies" and will "consider selling the state's 350 liquor stores."

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Debbie LeHardy

Could RNC Finance Official Fired After Purchases At Luxury Boutique Be In Legal Jeopardy?

Zachary Roth | May 10, 2010, 12:32PM

RNC Chair Michael Steele and RNC Deputy Finance Director Debbie LeHardy

A Republican fundraising pro who was fired from the RNC after putting purchases at a high-end jewelry boutique on the party's tab, could potentially wind up in more hot water.

Debbie LeHardy was terminated Friday as the RNC's deputy finance director. Last month, reporters for Alternet and other outlets, combing through the RNC's FEC filings in the wake of the recent scandal over a night out at a bondage-themed night-club, found that LeHardy was reimbursed for a $450 purchase from Henri Bendel, a Manhattan jewelry and accessories boutique that touts itself as a "girls' playground for trendsetting young women from around the world." Though the store has no restaurant, the expenditure was listed on the FEC report as a meal.

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Stephen DeMaura

GOP Operative Behind 'Despicable' Anti-Halter Ad

Zachary Roth | May 10, 2010, 10:23AM

Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter (D)

A hard-hitting TV ad that has been widely denounced as offensive could have an impact in next week's hard-fought Democratic primary election in Arkansas. The group behind the ad is run by an up-and-coming GOP operative, but won't say who's funding it.

The GOP-tied conservative advocacy group Americans for Job Security has said it's spending $900,000 -- a hefty sum in the state's relatively inexpensive media market -- to run a TV ad that accuses Lt. Gov. Bill Halter of shipping jobs to India when he helped run a tech company. On top of stereotypical "Indian" images and music, actors playing Indians thank Halter. The candidate has called the ads "despicable," and even his opponent, Sen. Blanche Lincoln, has labeled them "offensive."

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Terrence Lakin

Anderson Cooper Spars With Birther Army Doc And His Attorney (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 10, 2010, 9:18AM

Attorney Paul Rolf Jensen and Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin

Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, the Birther Army doctor being court martialed for refusing to follow orders, went on CNN with his attorney Friday night and argued with Anderson Cooper for eight minutes.

Most of the time was spent with Cooper posing questions to Lakin and Attorney Paul Jensen interrupting to debunk the anti-Birther premises of the questions.

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George Rekers

Male Escort, Hired By Rekers, Talks To CNN (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | May 10, 2010, 9:13AM

"Lucien" speaks with a CNN reporter

"Lucien," the young male escort hired by George Rekers to carry his luggage and give him erotic massages on a trip to Europe, spoke on Anderson Cooper 360 Friday night.

Lucien says that, although the massages were sexual, the two did not have sex. He also said that Rekers -- a leader of the ex-gay movement who has testified in favor of banning gay couples from adopting children -- maintains that he is not gay.

Watch:

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Miranda rights

Holder: Obama Admin Seeks Changes To Miranda Rule (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | May 9, 2010, 6:29PM

President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder

Appearing on the Sunday shows for the first time today, Attorney General Eric Holder said the Obama Administration wants to change the Miranda rule -- the requirement that police inform suspects of their right to remain silent and to a lawyer before interrogation -- in terrorism cases to "something that is flexible and is more consistent with the threat that we now face."

Holder said on Meet The Press that the Administration wants to work with Congress to make the public safety exception to Miranda -- in which information from questioning before reading the Miranda warning can be admitted in court, in certain situations in which public safety is a concern -- "more flexible."

As TPMmuckraker reported Friday, experts believe the Administration is already pioneering a robust use of the public safety exception to Miranda. In the case of Faisal Shahzad, the man who allegedly tried to set off a crude bomb in Times Square, FBI agents reportedly questioned him for three or four hours before reading him his rights. Much more on the back story here.

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