links for 2009-03-11

A Connecticut group says it is the first in the nation to register to raise money to draft Sarah Palin for president.

Paul Streitz of Darien says the Federal Election Commission has confirmed the "2012 Draft Sarah Committee" is the first to file papers.

Streitz says all donations collected by the committee will be used for grassroots organizing to build support for the Alaska governor and John McCain's running mate last year.

Streitz says the committee so far has collected about $3,000. He says donations will be shared with Palin's organization once she declares her candidacy, which she has not so far done.

President Barack Obama's lifting of restrictions on federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research puts him at odds with Pope Benedict and the American Roman Catholic Church.

After Obama signed the order on Monday, the Vatican and U.S. Church leaders condemned the move. One commentator said the test of "a real democracy" was its defense of the most defenseless.

Obama's executive order reversed and repudiated restrictions placed on the research by his predecessor, George W. Bush, freeing labs across the country to start working with the cells, which can give rise to any kind of cell in the body.

Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' committee on pro-life activities, called Obama's decision "a sad victory of politics over science and ethics."

Halfway through his first 100 days in office, ace communicator Obama has struggled to find the right tone in talking about the economy, twinning bleak warnings with optimism about the future.

On the campaign trail, Obama said a president must be able to do more than one thing at a time, and his White House has been doing that.

He and his aides have interspliced comments about the economy while launching theme-of-the-day initiatives on healthcare, stem cell research and on Tuesday, education.

Last week the White House spent some time accusing conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh of being leader of the Republican Party.

But Obama, together with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, White House economic guru Lawrence Summers and others have so far failed to explain how they plan to rescue American banks, some of which are teetering on the brink of collapse.

Key Senate Democrats are wavering in their support of legislation that would give more power to labor unions, dealing a setback to labor's top priority as businesses warn of the damage the bill would cause.
The battle over the "Employee Free Choice Act" — expected to be introduced Tuesday — is seen as a power struggle among labor unions and businesses, as well as a test of whether moderate Democrats and Republicans will push back on Democratic congressional leaders and the Obama administration.

At least six Senators who have voted to move forward with the so-called card-check proposal, including one Republican, now say they are opposed or not sure — an indication that Senate Democratic leaders are short of the 60 votes they need for approval.

Sen. Arlen Specter says the nation's economic situation is more dire than the public has been told.
The Pennsylvania Republican told reporters that the nation is on the "brink of a depression." He says he thinks the nation would have "gone right off the edge" if no economic stimulus package had passed.

Specter cast one of only three Republican votes for the stimulus package that President Barack Obama signed last month. That drew flak from members of his party, particularly conservatives. It increases the likelihood that he will face a primary challenge from Pat Toomey, a conservative former congressman from the Lehigh Valley.

The looming Toomey candidacy is a product of multiple, interlocking factors that have altered the Republican Party inside and outside of the candidate’s home state. Specter’s brand of liberal, pro-labor, pro-choice Republicanism has become less and less tenable in the Republican Party; indeed, many conservatives blame the party’s Republicans In Name Only (RINOs) for hurting their brand and paving the way for Barack Obama’s victory. This has happened in part because of the fundraising and organizational strength of conservative political groups like Toomey’s own Club for Growth, which has defeated two moderate Republican congressmen in primaries since Toomey took charge in 2005. And in Pennsylvania, more than 100,000 of the moderate, pro-choice Republicans who made up Specter’s victory margin in 2004 have responded to this by switching parties.

"The deteriorating situation in the region poses a security threat not just to the United States but to every single nation round this table," Biden told representatives of the 26-country military pact during a visit to Brussels.

"We are not now winning the war, but the war is far from lost," he told a news conference after three hours of talks.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called on NATO to boost efforts before Afghan elections due in August. "It is important that this alliance delivers in the short-term," he told the same news conference.

Local governments impose hugely disproportionate taxes on hotel rooms, rental cars and other commercial transactions that will be paid mostly by those who don't live in the city, can't vote, and/or will recoup the levies via expense accounts.

The newest ploy to soak out-of-towners is being promoted by an Indiana company called Emergency Services Billing Corp., which is telling local governments with fire departments and other emergency services that they can extract a lot of money from visitors who have accidents and need those services.
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Governments will tax anything they can. When will it stop?

The fallout from the state budget mess continues for Republican lawmakers.

Two more GOP legislators are being targeted for a recall by fellow Republicans, not because the lawmakers voted for the budget that included tax increases (they didn't), but because they didn't support the attempted ouster of the Republican Assembly leader who helped broker the deal.
The Republicans are mad at Assemblymen Jeff Miller of Corona (Riverside County) and Jim Silva of Huntington Beach (Orange County) because they wouldn't go along with the bouncing of Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines of Clovis (Fresno County).