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Meet Lawrence A. Hunter, the executive director of the Alliance for Retirement Prosperity, senior fellow at the Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP) and the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI). He might sound more familiar to you as the director of the Social Security Alliance, a 501(c)(4) group with the following mission statement (from their 2008 990 filing):

Working to promote the retirement security of today's seniors and the seniors of tomorrow. SSI's top policy priorities are to stop the raid on Social Security trust funds, prevent cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits, and protect seniors from health care rationing and other limitations on their access to health care.

SSI was a recycle of an organization originally launched in 2004 at the time of the Great Social Security Privatization Debate. That organization was also known as the "Alliance for Retirement Prosperity", and was spun off by Jack Kemp and Dick Armey from Citizens for a Sound Economy, known today as FreedomWorks, and Kemp's Empower America. The IPI That organization's stated purpose was as follows:

Advocacy and lobbying activities aimed at reforming Social Security by dedicating a substantial portion of the payroll tax to large personal accounts.

The newest incarnation of the "Alliance for Retirement Prosperity" is a bit different, as Hunter indicates in the video. For starters, it's a for-profit group, purporting to be a "true alternative to the AARP". To that end, it offers members the opportunity to "ensure a prosperous, enriched and secure retirement" for the low, low price of $60 per year for the premium membership, and just $16 for an individual membership.

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On Washington Journal Wednesday, Tom Coburn appeared to spend a few minutes smacking down the unemployed again.

COBURN: now that we're running $1.4 trillion deficits every year. it's high time we start paying for them. I understand. That's the problem with Washington. We're going to do it the way we've always done it. That's what's gotten us in severe financial difficulty and really mortgaged our future.

[Aside: No, Senator Coburn. Our future was mortgaged when we let the rich get big, big tax cuts with no pay-for. But continue on...]

HOST: If the Democrats continue to put forward legislation that doesn't cut programs to pay for unemployment benefits, and the unemployed do not get this -- these money in their pockets, some have said, Ezra Klein of the "Washington Post" said the unemployment numbers will continue to swell and that the problem really right now is not that these people refuse to look for work or settle for lesser-paying jobs, but just that for every one job, there's five people unemployed and that will continue to be the problem. And we're just going to leave them without incomes and job opportunities and money to end? That's making it harder for those economies to generate jobs? That's the -- --

COBURN: Well, all that is, is a strong-man argument. We're not saying don't do that. We're just saying it's important now, if you look at the scheme of things, that if we're going to do that now, we pay for it.

COBURN: I live with Congressman Heath Shuler. He told me yesterday he had a job fair in North Carolina. High unemployment. I was talking to Congressman Shuler, He worked hard to get every major company there. Filled the whole room. Had over 500 jobs available. Three people showed up. Three people showed up for 500 jobs in an area that had unemployment above 10%. His explanation is they are not going to do it until the benefits lessen.

So and that may not be an exact interpretation of what his words were.
But the fact is there was a negative aspect to continuing unemployment.

Gosh, only three people showed up? Only three people? Coburn goes on to claim that the jobless just aren't going to hunt for jobs when they're on the dole. Maybe the best part is how he segues from this sly bashing right into an argument for tax cuts for corporations and the rich to stimulate the economy, but I digress. Back to the job fair...

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It's a little weird to be posting a video that features me as a guest on Washington Journal (not the least of which is that it feels really creepy to be writing headlines about myself), but here goes: On the whole, I'm happy with my segment. (Except for the part where I missed it that a caller said he was reading the Drudge Report to find out what was going on. Arggh. I missed a real opportunity to educate him.) You can see Parts 2 and 3 here. (Thanks, Heather!)

My favorite part is when I call Glenn Beck "a nut, we all know he's a nut".

Among the other issues addressed: Netroots "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" Syndrome; healthcare reform; network news "analysts," and much more. Enjoy!

And as I mention in the closing segment, I was interested to note that the Republican and Democratic callers all expressed similar concerns.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Heather)

I'm a big CSpan fan, don't get me wrong, but there are moments like this one from Washington Journal that chap my hide, because the nature of the program doesn't allow for anything but the uninterrupted and unchallenged spewing of unmitigated bovine excrement. Of course, that's the format that Hugh Hewitt works best in, and this is a prime example of Hewitt's fact-free hackery.

Caller: Good morning. Hugh, they used to carry your show here in Jacksonville, 50,000 watt station that the circumference of that station attract 2 million voters or 2 million listeners, I should say and they dropped you and Michael Medved the same day. And they...we refer to it down here as "hate radio" that station is just...they never attract over 2,000 listeners at one time at any given moment. They eventually put you on over time delay at night. And you had less than 200 listeners, according to ratings done in the paper. But you know, you right-wing radio people days are over with the average person. We're well aware of your hate-spewing you do against strictly Democrats, strictly Democrats. And it's all over but the crying. Read the polls. Read the polls, [croons] it's all over but the crying....good morning, Hugh.

Hewitt: Good morning to you. I do regret that they had a format change in Jacksonville and we lost our Jacksonville audience. You can still pick me up in Orlando, Tampa, Sarasota, Pensacola and 120 stations across the United States. They're all listed at HughHewitt.com. And the good news for the people of the great city of New York is that we go up in New York in August. It's the 6th or 7th most listened to radio show in the United States. I'm glad that it's growing-not falling-and I think that in fact, center-right conversation of the sort I do, for example, eight consecutive weeks with EJ Dionne, the wonderful left-of-center liberal columnist for the Washington Post, about his book Sold Out, isn't hate talk at all. It's conversation about the most important issues. And in fact, the characterization of conservative talk radio as "hate talk" is always a giveaway that the left doesn't really want to engage in the issues, because if you talk about these issues, if you talk about the appeasement policies of Senator Barack, if you talk about the "don't drill" Democrats and their indifference to the cost of gasoline and the toll it's taking on middle-class America. Americans note this, it's a fundamentally center-right country, and I do not doubt for a moment a lot of the left wing wants to silence conservatives on the radio, they want to silence...they don't exist in network television, so they don't want them to go there. But it's not going to work, because I think ultimately the folks who listen and hear and are persuaded by a comprehensive, collegial, civil conversation as such that happens on conservative talk radio every single day want to keep it there.

Cowardly Lion say what? There are no conservatives on network television? It is to laugh. When you have Charlie Gibson near in tears over the unfair advantage of being a candidate that many people want to donate to in lieu of his man McCain and Brian Williams tossing softballs over Bush's reading list while ignoring that he ignored Katrina victims and all the networks refusing to admit complicity in light of Scott McClellan's revelations, are we really expected to believe the "liberal media" meme?

And let's talk about that wonderfully "civil" conservative (which is, by definition, not center-right, you genius) talk radio: You know, the kind where Ingraham berates a caller, Sussman tells a caller to prove he's not a Muslim by saying "Allah is a whore.", advocating death for the editor of the NY Times, or calling for riots at conventions. And that just took 15 seconds of site searching. Yeah, you guys are incredibly civil.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Logan)

Obviously, the Republican leadership has gotten to Sen. Kit Bond with the message: You're. Not. Helping. Our. Cause. by likening waterboarding to swimming. So Bond goes on C-Span's Washington Journal and tries to clarify his comment with increasing incoherence.

Apparently, he meant that there was as much variety in waterboarding techniques as there are swimming strokes--still not helping, Senator Bond. The kind of waterboarding the Japanese did to our soldiers in WWII--bad...the kind we did (?--have we stopped?) to our soldiers in training--fine. Not particularly sure that's helpful either, Sen. Bond. Unfortunately for those of us who actually understand the issue at hand, he doesn't specify which kind we've done to detainees like Maher Arar, or if it's acceptable. That glaring omission is certainly helpful to the Republicans torture apologist platform.

However, he does feel a blanket banning on waterboarding--such as the one in the Geneva Conventions that we signed--is bad, because it then prevents us from using it in an extreme national emergency--the Jack Bauer scenario raising its ugly head again. Bingo, Sen. Bond! You found the party line. How amoral of you.

A Tiny Revolution: Why did Australian wheat executives know we were going to invade Iraq 13 months before American citizens did? Was it because AWB was paying miIliions of dollars in kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime in exchange for securing wheat contracts under the UN's oil-for-food contract in a direct breach of UN sanctions?

For The Record: Interview with the Consortium News', Robert Parry.  A man who a friend calls one of the wisest and most knowledgeable voices in the nation.  Also, go watch Thomas Schaller, author of "Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South", on the Nov.22 edition of Washington Journal (slide the timer to 46:25). Schaller is an unapologetic democrat who stuffs wingnut talking points back down their throats. (h/t CW)

Daily Howler: If he wanted to, President Bush could change the tone in Washington with a single syllable: He could just say "ic." That is, he could stop referring to the opposition as the "Democrat Party" and call the other side by it's actual name: the Democratic Party

Red State Son: Usually a source of thoughtful, well written commentary, Mr. Perrin takes the holiday off and offers instead a few visual treats which remind us what TV talk shows used to be like -- creative people having intelligent conversations that lasted more than five minutes.

Progressive Blog Digest: Is composed of clips and links from other progressive blog and news sites, accompanied editorial observations and opinions.  Nick's mission is, "to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can."

HOLY CRAP: Student tapes Christianist teacher proselytizing in class--and the Christianist lies about it! ...Dobson: I Want To Cure Ted Haggard of Being Gay But Don’t Have Time...People refuse to believe in God because...? One in a sixteen-part series on the rise of the Catholic Right

Christy Hardin Smith (aka) Reddhedd from FireDogLake, was on the Washington Journal today with Paul Mirengoff from Powerline-discussing a variety of topics including Scooter Libby.
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Give her some props...

Glenn has a preview of Sen. Kennedy's questions.

He'll also be on CSPAN's Washington Journal at 7:45-8:30 a.m EST debating the NSA scandal with University of Virginia Professor Robert Turner.

AmericaBlog has a few more questions for Gonzales and some info from a new report in the Financial Times.

John Gizzi, editor of Human Events was on the Washington Journal promoting the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries.

He kept referring to the panel as educators and said he had no idea what their views are. Hmmm, he doesn't know anything about Phyllis Schlafly ?

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A caller from NY (moderate Republican) asked him about the make-up and religious background on the panel that put together the list.

Gizzi: I don’t look at their religion anymore than the clubs they belong to. It’s a panel of educators and public policy experts.

The next call

Caller from N. Carolina (Democrat): They are all neo-conservatives, you are not being forthcoming sir.

Gizzi: I would certainly say the people are conservative, but neo-conservative denotes something entirely different. The degrees of the conservatism of the people on that list are indeed very different.

So in a one call he has no idea about the makeup of his own panel of experts that voted on this article, yet in the very next call he knows precisely that they are conservatives. It took all of 3 minutes to flush him out of his spider hole. What this points out is how low he sinks in the depths of chicanery. Everyone knows all about the values that Human Events preachers, so why lie about it? It's like the old saying that you have to be more afraid of the thief who would steal a nickle because he's capable of stealing anything.

Jesse has more on this called: #11 was Pandagon

Washington Journal: John Conyers on DSM forum and Patriot Act

This morning, John Conyers appeared as a guest on C-SPAN's Washington Journal.

Conyers answered questions about the Patriot Act as well as Rep. Sensenbrenner's abrupt closing of last Friday's hearing.

Conyers focused on this afternoon's hearing that is centered around the leaked "Downing Street Minutes". He answered questions about the latest leaked British documents and much more.

-Real Audio only

David sent me this video and only had it in this format. It is a 30 minute segment so if you have Real Audio you'll be able to check it out.