Inflammatory Language Has Not Ceased and Should Not be Banned by Government; New Car for Harry Reid; We Pay Congressional Interns' College Loans; Termination of Taxpayer Financing of Presidential Campaigns; Former SEIU Attorney Now on Labor Relations Board, Another OBama Radical Appointment

Newsbusters opines: What's with the New York Times and its inability to practice what it preaches when it comes to avoiding gun-filled images and rhetoric?  A few days ago I noted how the Times had placed a bullet-riddled ad for a violent video game right on its online op-ed page.
Now comes this Times headline: "Republicans’ Budget Man Draws Fire".  That is of course a metaphorical invocation of someone who by his actions invites an enemy to shoot at him.  The article's subject was Republican congressman Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman and budget hawk who will be giving the GOP response to Pres. Obama's SOTU.  To complete the martial metaphor, the article, by Jennifer Steinhauer and David Herszenhorn, also describes Ryan as "the Republican point man" on budget cuts.  A point man is of course the soldier at the lead of a patrol, hence most likely to be shot.

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2011/01/25/new-york-times-uses-violent-gun-metaphors-republican-ryan-point-ma#ixzz1C4BO0vIg

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Conservative Outpost writes about those who are decrying "inflammatory" language: They are the same people who had entire organizations dedicated to spreading hate and violence filled rhetoric about George W. Bush and said nothing while supporters publicly fantasized about his assassination. They had no comment about pictures (for sale by Getty Images) of a gun pointing at the head of a Sarah Palin cutout, or
comments among their supporters wishing she were gang raped.

There was no national hand wringing when Montel Williams suggested that Republican congresswoman Michelle Bachmann should slit her wrists, or even cut her own throat. Or when the New Black Panther
Party produced a rap song with the lyrics “bang for freedom”, “put the bang right into a cracker’s face”, etc. Or when pro-gay marriage demonstrators vandalized eighteen businesses in Santa Cruz.
  http://www.conservativeoutpost.com/tea_party_activism_our_free_ebook
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Some emails making the circuit are just too good not to share: New car for Senator Reid

Sen. Reid goes to a local GM dealer in Washington , D.C. with the intention of buying a brand new vehicle. Harry looks around and finds one he likes. After going back and forth with the salesman, Harry settles on a price of $45,000. 

Harry and the salesman go back to the office to complete the paperwork. Harry works out a 4-year payment plan, and signs on the bottom line.  The salesman shakes Harry's hand and says, "Thanks Senator Reid, the car will be ready for pickup in 4 years."
                  
Harry says, "What are you talking about?  Where are the keys to my new car?"

The salesman replies, "No, you don't understand Senator. You make payments for 4 years... THEN we give you the car.  You know, just like your health plan".
 
Harry, with a choking voice, says to the salesman, "But that's not fair". 
                    
And the salesman says, "No kidding!"

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From FactCheck.org: [While denying that Congressional family members do not have to pay their student loans, this organization revealed another fact:] Some full-time congressional staffers participate in a student loan repayment program that helps pay back a portion of student loans. No more than $60,000 in the House and $40,000 in the Senate can be forgiven and only if the employee stays on the job for several years.  [Wow!  Now we know how to get for our children a free college education - get them a job in Congress for just 2 years of work at inflated salaries!  This is what we are now going to be doing, I presume, for the American Idol contestant who just graduated from Harvard and is now a White House intern who adores Barack Obama.  Well, perhaps this perk does not go to a White House intern.....]
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The resolution to reduce Federal spending and the deficit by terminating taxpayer financing of presidential election campaigns and party conventions has passed the House, 239-160. Find out how your representative voted here: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2011/roll025.xml

House Chamber The resolution Reducing Non-Security Spending to Fiscal Year 2008 Levels or Less has passed the House, 256-165. http://www.facebook.com/#!/HouseChamber

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Freedonmist.com writes:In his few months at the National Labor Relations Board [an appointment by our President after Congress refused to approve his appointment], Mr. Becker, former associate general counsel for the Service Employees International Union, has refused to recuse himself from most cases involving his former employer. This despite the fact that Mr. Becker signed the Obama Administration’s vaunted ethics pledge, in which he promised to refrain for two years from participating in “any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer.”
In true lawyerly fashion, Mr. Becker is now running for the loopholes, arguing that the SEIU proper is a “distinct legal entity” that is different from local SEIU unions. Having liberated himself from that legal barrier, Mr. Becker says he intends to continue judging disputes that feature local SEIU shops. He even convinced the NLRB’s inspector general—who was asked to investigate one of the failure-to-recuse cases—to buy the separate legal entity line. http://freedomist.com/2010/08/19/craig-becker-obama%E2%80%99s-appointed-labor-relations-board-member-refuses-to-recuse-himself-from-seiu-related-cares-obama-watch/

The Wall Street Journal slammed Obama recess appointee Craig Becker last August for participating in cases before the National Labor Relations Board involving his former employer, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU):
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The Hill writes: The Senate kicked off a series of stacked votes that would alter the Senate rules for the 112th Congress with a 92-4 vote to end the practice of secret holds.
“This legislation deals with a sweeping, almost unparalleled power,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said on the floor prior to the vote. “If you want to exercise that extraordinary power, you ought to do it in the sunlight.”
Secret holds allowed a senator to anonymously object to legislation or the approval of a nominee. [The four no votes were from Republicans Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Jim DeMint (R- S.C.), and John Ensign (R-Nev.)  http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/140811-senate-ends-practice-of-secret-holds
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