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Friday, June 22, 2012
Senate Votes To Defund 'Hallelujah' Political Party Conventions
WASHINGTON -- The Senate voted Thursday to shut off public funding for the two biggest taxpayer-backed parties in the country, the Democratic and Republican national conventions, backing an amendment that would stop future funding and ask for this year's money back.
The amendment from Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) passed overwhelmingly, 95 to 4.
The measure does not require the conventions to give back the money they've already received, and the House would have to pass similar legislation for the measure to go into effect.
Although the mass shindigs to nominate the parties' White House candidates are funded for the most part with private donations, Uncle Sam has shelled out $36.8 million out of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund, which comes from the $3 check-off box on tax returns.
Security costs are paid separately, so this money can all go to lodging, food, booze and logistics for the nation's political elite as they celebrate their presidential champions. At the same time, lobbyists, corporations and deep-pocketed interest groups will swarm the sites -- in Tampa for the Republicans and Charlotte, N.C., for the Democrats -- offering plenty of other entertainments and fundraising opportunities.
The 2008 conventions attracted some $118 million in private donations, most of it from wealthy individuals, corporations and unions. The latter organizations had spent $1.6 billion lobbying the federal government over the previous four years, according to a report from the Campaign Finance Institute.
The Democrats are turning it down a notch this year, capping contributions at $250,000 and barring corporations. But that does nothing to stop the extravaganza that will go on around the main event.
It all makes the much-maligned $830,000 Las Vegas bash of the Government Services Administration look like a PTA potluck.
Coburn spoke up for his amendment on Tuesday at the start of the debate over the $1 trillion farm bill.
"We're borrowing money from the Chinese to fund a hallelujah party in both Tampa and Charlotte this year, each one of them getting $18.4 million. It's time that kind of nonsense stops," he said.
"We don't have $18.4 million to spend on a Republican convention or a Democrat convention. The nominees of both parties are known," said Coburn. "What we have done, besides spending $100 million in security for both of those events, $50 million apiece, we sent $18 million to both of those heads of those parties to spend it any way they want to spend it. What is wrong with us?"
At the time expecting to lose the vote, Coburn pointed out the irony of his colleagues' outrage when it was the GSA spending money.
"I want you to look in that realm of the universe in America where all the politicians reacted with disdain with the GSA conferences spending [$830,000] in what was said to be a foolish way," Coburn said. "If they made any comment about the excesses of government agencies on conferences and parties, how can they not apply the same standard to their own political party?"
"Everyone who comes and lobbies us says, 'Yes, I agree there's a problem, but please don't take anything away from me,'" Coburn said, arguing that his fellow lawmakers were essentially putting themselves in the same position. "There's no way we should ever again send any money to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party" for a convention.
Supporters of the convention-funding system have argued that it helps limit the influence of outside groups and donors and have said that the national party conventions are essential parts of the American democratic process.
"If we can't do this little, simple thing of leading by example, then our country is doomed because that means the very significant problems in front of us we can't solve either," Coburn said Thursday in brief remarks before the vote.
No senators spoke in opposition to the amendment.
Michael McAuliff covers politics and Congress for The Huffington Post. Talk to him on Facebook.
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Thursday, June 21, 2012
Aid team to evacuate hundreds from Syria's Homs
Red Cross aid teams stood ready on Wednesday to enter the contested Syrian city of Homs to evacuate people trapped and wounded by 10 days of fighting between rebels and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.
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Both sides had agreed to a temporary truce, the International Committee of the Red Cross said from Geneva.
Teams from the ICRC and its partner the Syrian Red Crescent were ready to go into Homs as soon as possible, pending final arrangements.
"Fighting has been raging for more than 10 days between the Syrian Army and armed opposition groups in several neighborhoods of Homs city," said B?atrice M?gevand-Roggo, the ICRC's regional head of operations.
"Hundreds of civilians are stuck in the old city of Homs, unable to leave and find refuge in safer areas, because of the ongoing armed confrontations."
Pro-opposition Homs residents said rebels and troops were still locked in fierce battles on Wednesday evening in the neighborhoods the ICRC wanted to enter.
"They are still firing mortars and missiles into the city and there is heavy fighting in al-Qusour, al-Qarabis and al-Khalidiya," said activist Abu Yazen.
Russian shipment of attack helicopters for Syria halted off Scotland
Homs has been at the center of the 15-month revolt against Assad and became the focus of world concern in February and March, when opposition-held neighborhoods endured weeks of government bombardments and sniper fire in which hundreds of people were killed.
A Homs resident said a similar evacuation agreement was reached a few days ago but collapsed when shots were fired by Assad's forces. The government said on Tuesday it was trying to evacuate civilians and blamed rebel fighters for obstructing efforts to get people out safely.
In other action, rebels stormed an army barracks in the northwestern province of Latakia overnight and killed at least 20 soldiers, the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The rebels had captured some soldiers, including a colonel, and seized machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, it said.
Latakia, a Mediterranean coastal province and home to Syria's main port, was relatively free of warfare until the past month.
As the action unfolded in Syria, world leaders aired their differences over the conflict at the G20 Summit at the Mexican resort of Los Cabos.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Assad, whose family have ruled Syria for four decades, had lost all legitimacy and that it was impossible to conceive of any solution to the violence that left him in power.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters at the end of the summit: "We believe that nobody has the right to decide for other nations who should be brought to power, who should be removed from power."
Alarmed but apparently impotent to resolve the crisis, the outside world is deeply divided in its response to the increasingly sectarian conflict that threatens to become a proxy war for regional powers.
Western nations and their Sunni Muslim allies in the Gulf and Turkey seek Assad's overthrow but are wary of intervention, while Russia, China and Shi'ite Iran - Assad's strategic ally - have protected Assad from a tough international response.
The United Nations says more than 10,000 people have been killed by government forces during the conflict, while Syria says at least 2,600 members of the military and security forces have been killed by what it calls foreign-backed "Islamist terrorists".
What began as a peaceful protest movement has developed into a civil war between the armed factions, marked by a campaign of repression by Assad's forces that has been internationally condemned for its ferocity.
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(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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PHOTOS: 'Jersey Shore' Stars Cool Off at the Beach!
Ronnie, Deena and Pauly D show off their tans at the beach! Plus, see more of your favorite celebs on the scene!
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Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Ex-Rutgers student in webcam case leaves jail
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Ex-Rutgers student in webcam spy case released from jail
Chip East / Reuters
Dharun Ravi, right, convicted of a hate crime for using a webcam to spy on his roommate's gay tryst, leaves Middlesex County jail with his attorney, Steve Altman left, Tuesday in North Brunswick, N.J.
By msnbc.com news services
NORTH BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- Former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi, convicted of bias crimes for using a webcam to spy on his gay roommate's sexual encounter, was released from a New Jersey jail on Tuesday after serving 20 days of his 30-day sentence.
Ravi, 20, clean-shaven when he entered prison, left looking unshaven when?his lawyer, Steven Altman, picked him up from?the Middlesex County jail shortly after 8:30 a.m. ET. They left from a side exit and avoided a throng of media awaiting his release. Ravi did not comment as he left.
Ravi?began his jail term on May 31 after being convicted March 15 of bias crimes for using a computer-mounted dorm room webcam to spy on his roommate, Tyler Clementi, 18, and an older man Clementi?met online. Days after learning that Ravi had snooped on him and used social media to urge others to watch as well, Clementi jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge in September 2010.
Ravi automatically was given five days off for good behavior and five for working, allowing him to leave after serving 20 days of his 30-day sentence imposed by Judge Glenn Berman, who could have given him a 10-year prison sentence. Ravi still faces three years of probation, plus more than $11,000 in fines and assessments, 300 hours of community service, and counseling.
AFP - Getty Images
Tyler Clementi in one of his Facebook profile pictures obtained Sept. 30, 2010.
Prosecutors are appealing the sentence, arguing that Ravi should have to serve more time for his actions. Ravi is appealing the conviction, saying he is not guilty.
Ravi?will?start paying off the fines and begin working on the community service part of his sentence, his lawyer said.
His time in jail was nearly as long as his time as a Rutgers student. He could have sought to stay out of jail during his appeal.
On Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said they would not seek to deport Ravi, an Indian citizen who has lived most of his life in the United States.
See earlier coverage of the Dharun Ravi-Tyler Clementi case
The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart talks with msnbc's Alex Wagner about the sentencing of Dharun Ravi for spying on his roommate's gay tryst.
The Associated Press and Reuters contibuted to this report.
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