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Harry Reid: Obama’s Pick for Labor Secretary Will Get a Vote Soon

by muistenam Posted on May 15, 2013

Mother Jones

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Much news has been made of the dozens of judicial slots left vacant due to the constant roadblocks set by Senate Republicans. But Republicans have also blocked or delayed an unprecedented number of cabinet-level presidential nominees during the Obama administration, including most recently labor secretary nominee Thomas Perez, the assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Justice Department, a progressive whose confirmation vote Republicans have repeatedly derailed.

“Now they’re double-teaming him,” Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid complained during a Wednesday morning meeting with reporters at the Capitol. “They’re holding hearings in the House as to how he’s doing in his present job.”

House Republicans have scrutinized Perez’s alleged role in preventing a St. Paul housing discrimination case from reaching the Supreme Court, and his use of a personal email address to conduct official business. That, Reid said, was done “just to deflect attention from the fact that he’s being held up in the Senate.”

To push back, Senate Democrats plan to force committee votes on three cabinet-level nominees, including Perez. Reid’s office expects Perez to be voted out of committee on Thursday, after which Reid plans to schedule a confirmation vote in the near future. Senate Democrats, including Harry Reid, have also floated the possibility of using the nuclear option, which would change Senate rules through a simple majority vote to prevent filibusters on nominees.

The only cabinet-level nominee who has arguably faced harsher resistance from Republicans was former Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican himself who was confirmed as secretary of defense in February after facing a filibuster unprecedented for his cabinet position.

Republicans have also been using procedural maneuvers in the Senate to block two other cabinet-level nominees: Obama fundraiser Penny Pritzker as commerce secretary, and Gina McCarthy as head of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Reid also said he planned to schedule a vote soon for Richard Cordray, an uncontroversial lower-level nominee picked to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If Republicans block his nomination, Talking Points Memo reports, it could strengthen the case for filibuster reform.

“I’m going to make sure he’s going to have a vote next week, and we’ll see what happens after that,” Reid said of Cordray. “But my point is, this obstruction can’t go on. This is not good for the country.”

Earlier this year, Reid disappointed allies craving real filibuster reform when he declined to pursue major Senate rules changes. He said he has no current plans to take on filibuster reforms, such as one that would weaken Senators’ ability to block nominees, but is considering doing so “very closely” as Republicans continue to threaten filibusters against Obama nominees.

“Whether it’s Jeb Bush or Hillary Clinton that’s the next president, I don’t think they should have to go through what we’ve gone through here,” Reid said.

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Harry Reid: Obama’s Pick for Labor Secretary Will Get a Vote Soon

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Daring Greatly – Brené Brown

by muistenam Posted on March 19, 2013

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Daring Greatly

How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

Brené Brown

Genre: Self-Improvement

Price: $12.99

Publish Date: September 11, 2012

Publisher: Penguin Group US

Seller: Penguin Group (USA) Inc.


Researcher and thought leader Dr. Bren&eacute; Brown offers a powerful new vision that encourages us to dare greatly: to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives. “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” —Theodore Roosevelt Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable, or to dare greatly. Whether the arena is a new relationship, an important meeting, our creative process, or a difficult family conversation, we must find the courage to walk into vulnerability and engage with our whole hearts. In Daring Greatly , Dr. Brown challenges everything we think we know about vulnerability. Based on twelve years of research, she argues that vulnerability is not weakness, but rather our clearest path to courage, engagement, and meaningful connection. The book that Dr. Brown’s many fans have been waiting for, Daring Greatly will spark a new spirit of truth—and trust—in our organizations, families, schools, and communities.

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Daring Greatly – Brené Brown

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Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man – Steve Harvey

by muistenam Posted on March 19, 2013

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Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man

Steve Harvey

Genre: Self-Improvement

Price: $5.99

Publish Date: October 6, 2009

Publisher: HarperCollins e-books

Seller: HarperCollins


Steve Harvey, the host of the nationally syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show , can't count the number of impressive women he's met over the years, whether it's through the &quot;Strawberry Letters&quot; segment of his program or while on tour for his comedy shows. These are women who can run a small business, keep a household with three kids in tiptop shape, and chair a church group all at the same time. Yet when it comes to relationships, they can't figure out what makes men tick. Why? According to Steve it's because they're asking other women for advice when no one but another man can tell them how to find and keep a man. In Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man , Steve lets women inside the mindset of a man and sheds lights on concepts and questions such as: Sometimes funny, sometimes direct, but always truthful, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man is a book you must read if you want to understand how men think when it comes to relationships.

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Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man – Steve Harvey

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Rand Paul’s Long Road to Immigration Moderation

by muistenam Posted on March 19, 2013

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UPDATE 03/19/2013 3:26 PM PST: It appears Paul does support a path to citizenship, he just doesn’t want to call it that.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) endorsed a path to legalization—but not citizenship*—for unauthorized immigrants in the United States at a speech before the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Tuesday, another step on Paul’s short, steep journey to moderation on immigration reform.

“If you wish to work, if you wish to live and work in America, then we will find a place for you,” Paul said Tuesday. “Somewhere along the line Republicans have failed to understand and articulate that immigrants are an asset to America, not a liability.”

Though early reports indicated Paul would endorse a path to citizenship, his speech mirrors a Washington Times column Paul made in February, when he endorsed legalization for undocumented immigrants but equivocated on the issue of citizenship.

“Would I hope that when they become citizens, these new immigrants will remember Republicans who made this happen? Yes,” wrote Paul in February, while later referred to “normalizing” or “legalizing” undocumented immigrants rather than granting them citizenship. “But my support for immigration reform comes not from political expediency but because it’s the right thing to do.” Paul also wrote that undocumented immigrants eligible for the DREAM Act—those brought to the US as children who are poised to go to college or join the military—should be legalized first. “I would start with Dream Act kids, children brought here illegally as minors.”

Paul has come a long way on immigration. In 2008, he was a believer in the “Amero” conspiracy—the secret plan to merge Canada, the United States, and Mexico and create a “borderless mass continent” under a single currency called the “Amero.” During his 2010 Senate run, when he campaigned as a tea party insurgent, he struck a hard line on immigration. “We shouldn’t provide an easy route to citizenship,” Paul said in 2010 during an interview with Russia Today. In the same interview, Paul rejected the guarantee of birthright citizenship in the 14th Amendment: “We’re the only country that I know that allows people to come in illegally, have a baby, and then that baby becomes a citizen. And I think that should stop also.” Another reason Paul opposed immigration reform and birthright citizenship? “A lot of this is about demographics,” Paul said during the RT interview. “If you look at new immigrants from Mexico, they register 3-to-1 Democrat, so the Democrat Party is for easy citizenship and for allowing them to vote.”

Here’s the video:

In 2011, Paul followed up on his opposition to birthright citizenship by cosponsoring a bill with Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) to end it.

On his campaign website in 2010, Paul endorsed making English “the official language of all documents and contracts.” He wanted “an underground electric fence, with helicopter stations to respond quickly to breaches of the border.” He supported Arizona’s harsh anti-immigration law, part of which was struck down by the Supreme Court. Paul insisted in his speech Tuesday that security must be a component of comprehensive immigration reform, abandoning the electrified fence idea but insisting on “drones, satellite, and physical barriers, vigilant deportation of criminals, and increased patrols” to help secure the border. (Prior security benchmarks have largely been met, and border crossings are way down, but on the right it’s an article of faith that nothing has been done.)

The significance of Paul’s shift shouldn’t be understated. While fiscal issues were the catalyst for the tea party, according to a study by Theda Skocpol, a Harvard political scientist, its adherents are also united by hostility towards undocumented immigrants. Liberals might have dismissed Paul’s 13-hour filibuster of Obama’s nominee for CIA director over drones as grandstanding, but Paul’s shift on immigration is, at least in part, an act of defiance towards the movement that put him in office.

Still, legalization without citizenship is a nonstarter for comprehensive immigration reform supporters, who say it would create a large permanent group of second-class citizens.

Paul has yet to join the GOP’s big stars in supporting path to citizenship a group that includes Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), and Jeb Bush (R-Fla.). Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who joined Paul during his drone filibuster, still opposes a path to citizenship.

Passage of an immigration reform bill that guarantees a path to citizenship for the nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States depends on how many GOPers in the House and Senate decide to follow the path of Marco Rubio, rather than that of Cruz. Although he’s come along way from his original hardline positions, Paul remains somewhere between the two.

Correction: An earlier version of this post erroneously stated that Paul now supports a path to citizenship; he does not.

Mother Jones
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Rand Paul’s Long Road to Immigration Moderation

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Colorado wildfires get an early start this dry year

by muistenam Posted on March 18, 2013

Colorado wildfires get an early start this dry year

By Susie Cagle

USAFColorado on fire in 2012.

An early start to wildfire season took northern Colorado residents by surprise late last week. Two fires broke out on Friday, fanned by unusually high temperatures, low humidity, and strong winds, which forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes. And the state has been suffering from epic, epic drought, so that’s really helping with the burning.

Reuters reports:

The early-season wildfires could be a bad omen for drought-stricken Colorado, which had one of its worst ever wildfire seasons in 2012.

All of Colorado is experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Snowpack levels in the Colorado mountains are below the annual average. The state’s high-population urban corridor and farmers on the eastern plains rely on melting mountain snow for drinking water and irrigation.

As local fire captain Patrick Love told the Los Angeles Times, “the drought that we have been in, in this portion of the state, has somewhat played a role in the dryness of all the fuels.”

The two wildfires were contained over the weekend, but the unseasonable blaze really freaked out Colorado residents who were hit with hundreds of wildfires last year, which ultimately burned out tens of thousands of acres.

Two Colorado state senators are now pushing for the state to bankroll its own aerial fleet of fire-fighting planes, as the federal fleet is aging, depleted, and often slow in responding. ”We are pushing our luck when we think that the federal government will come flying in to save Colorado when it’s burning,” Sen. Steve King (R) told 7NEWS.

Not that King is wrong per se, but we’re missing the big picture if we think that more fire-fighting airplanes and helicopters are the answer to a scorched Western landscape.

Susie Cagle writes and draws news for Grist. She also writes and draws tweets for

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Colorado wildfires get an early start this dry year

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