Friday, May 24th
Last update12:55:07 AM GMT
Political Glance
Sick of partisanship in Washington? Blame science.
A growing body of experimental research is finding evidence suggesting that, to some degree, political inclinations and ideological leanings may be tied to innate factors like a person’s biology, physiology and genetics. In fact, Al Gore recently raised the thorny issue when he spoke about political differences in “human nature.”
On Tuesday, the Hill published a story noting that the organizers of the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the preeminent national confab for politicians and activists of the right, are responding to the last November's election by using the event to "showcase the movement's 'diversity.'"
Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and Sarah Palin will be headlining, but 20 percent of the panelists this year will be African American, according to CPAC bean counters. And the CPACers proudly point to the prominent role of Latinos and women on various panels. Yet the CPAC organizers have neglected one important task as they attempt to appeal to minorities: staying away from white nationalists.
Conservative activist James O’Keefe has agreed to pay $100,000 to a former employee of ACORN in National City, Calif., in order to settle a lawsuit, according to media reports and federal court documents.
In the documents, O’Keefe says he “regrets any pain” he caused Juan Carlos Vera, who was surreptitiously interviewed by O’Keefe in August 2009, according to the Los Angeles Times. The video appears to show Vera agreeing to help O’Keefe and another activist, Hannah Giles, smuggle young girls into the Untied States to work as prostitutes.
The US Senate has confirmed John Brennan as the Obama administration's next director of the CIA.
The Senate voted 63-34 in favor of Brennan, overcoming Rand Paul's attempt to slow the White House counter-terrorism adviser from becoming the next head of the CIA.
Paul, who spent nearly 13 hours speaking on the Senate floor on Wednesday, was irate about the reluctance of President Barack Obama's administration to declare that "targeted killings" of American citizens on US soil were unconstitutional.
At first glance it seemed as though Republican Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri had broken with the majority of her fellow conservatives in the House of Representatives last week to renew an expanded version of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which funds programs to assist survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse.
A statement from her office proclaimed: "Hartzler votes to protect women from acts of violence."
“Violence against women, in all its forms, is unacceptable,” Hartzler said in the statement.
Two employees of a company once aligned with the Republican Party of Florida admitted to law-enforcement authorities that they forged voter registration forms.
It's the first result in a far-reaching voter fraud investigation that was launched last fall - and initiated at the urging of the party after election supervisors started flagging questionable applications.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported Tuesday that the two ex-employees were charged with a third degree felony. But prosecutors back in January decided to place both of them on probation because neither has a criminal history.
Senate Democrats’ latest attempt to break the filibuster of Caitlin Halligan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit failed Wednesday morning with a vote of 51-41.
Halligan, who faces strong opposition from Republicans because of her work on a case that attempted to hold gun manufacturers liable for their products, was appointed by President Barack Obama three times to the seat.
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