FOX News Accused of 'Deliberately Avoiding Covering the Hacking Scandal' - NOTW Phone Hacking *NEW* GOP Budget Aim: Cut $4 Trillion From Spending. The Truth About Climate Change, Still Inconvenient. The Washington Monthly. PATRIOT ACT CLEARS ITS HOUSE SPEED-BUMP.... Last week, the House Republican leadership brought up the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, assuming it would quickly clear the chamber. It didn't go well -- a contingent of Republicans balked and the bill fell short of the two-thirds majority it needed at the time. Late yesterday, the House GOP had more success. The House on Monday voted to reauthorize and extend through Dec. 8 three ways in which Congress expanded the Federal Bureau of Investigation's counterterrorism powers after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Last week, an effort to extend these provisions of the so-called Patriot Act and a related intelligence law failed to pass after falling just short of the two-thirds' majority needed under a special rule.
On Monday, however, the bill was able to pass with only a simple majority -- and it did so, 275 to 144. Looking at the roll call, 27 Republicans broke party ranks and opposed the measure, and 65 Democrats did the opposite. RgOmL.jpg (500×684) Estate Tax Repeal Update - Count 'Em Up, Five Bills Already Introduced to Permanently Repeal Federal Estate Taxes. Executive order: Gov. Haslam throws out income disclosure rules.
NASHVILLE — Republican Gov. Bill Haslam has signed an executive order that eliminates a requirement for the governor and top aides to disclose how much they earn. Under the order signed after Haslam took office on Saturday, the disclosure rules applying to himself and senior administration officials will be the same as those for members of the General Assembly. Those only requires them to list sources of income, but not how much they make. The move wipes off the books former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen’s first executive order of 2003, which required the top executive branch officials to make annual reports about their total earnings. Haslam was heavily criticized during the campaign for refusing to say how much he earned from family owned Pilot, a national truck stop chain with annual revenues of about $20 billion.
More details as they develop online and in Monday’s News-Sentinel. Tax cuts: The party that says no does it again - Taxes. On Tuesday, President Obama said a bunch of high-minded things about a new era of bipartisan cooperation between Republicans and Democrats. On Wednesday, all 42 Republican senators signed a letter declaring that they would block Congress from any action at all until tax cuts for the wealthy have been safely extended. (Thanks to Steven Benen for the tip.) …We write to inform you that we will not agree to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to any legislative item until the Senate has acted to fund the government and we have prevented the tax increase that is currently awaiting all American taxpayers. With little time left in this Congressional session, legislative scheduling should be focused on these critical priorities. While there are other items that might ultimately be worthy of the Senate’s attention, we cannot agree to prioritize any matters above the critical issues of funding the government and preventing a job-killing tax hike.