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• October 1, 2009 ‘Socialism’ and Sham in the Senate

Migration Is a Win-Win-Win
An independent report commissioned by the U.N. has found that migration is simply good economics for everyone involved. The world’s billion migrants actually boost employment in their destination communities while improving conditions back home. Countries that yield to xenophobia are only hurting their own economic fortunes, the report argues. It’s worth reading the full release, linked below, which refutes many long-held myths about immigration.  —PS UN News Service: Nearly 1 billion people are migrants, according to the report, with the overwhelming majority – 740 million – moving internally within their own countries. Less than three out of every 10 trans-national migrants move from a developing country to a rich one. The report says the facts defy widely held beliefs about the economic impact of migrants, demonstrating instead that they typically enhance economic output in their new communities, give more than they take and have only a small effect on public finances. Read more READ THE WHOLE ITEM

An independent report commissioned by the U.N. has found that migration is simply good economics for everyone involved. The world’s billion migrants actually boost employment in their destination communities while improving conditions back home.

Countries that yield to xenophobia are only hurting their own economic fortunes, the report argues.

It’s worth reading the full release, linked below, which refutes many long-held myths about immigration.? —PS

UN News Service:

Nearly 1 billion people are migrants, according to the report, with the overwhelming majority – 740 million – moving internally within their own countries. Less than three out of every 10 trans-national migrants move from a developing country to a rich one.

The report says the facts defy widely held beliefs about the economic impact of migrants, demonstrating instead that they typically enhance economic output in their new communities, give more than they take and have only a small effect on public finances.

Read more

READ THE WHOLE ITEM

Related Entries

• October 5, 2009 The Missing Health Care Debate
• October 5, 2009 Obama Pressures Senate on Public Option
• October 4, 2009 War Kills Off Great Reform Movements
• October 4, 2009 Pox Americana: The Real Cost of Bailing Out Wall Street
• October 1, 2009 ‘Socialism’ and Sham in the Senate

Ed Schultz Slams Bill Kristol, GOP For Cheering Chicago’s Defeat: “Flat-Out Anti-American” (VIDEO)
Conservatives have been reveling in the defeat of Chicago’s Olympic bid this weekend, and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol was right there with them, crowing…

Nebraska Dems Put Nelson On The Spot On Public Option
The Nebraska Democratic Party put the state’s senior senator, Ben Nelson, in an awkward spot on Saturday by passing a resolution making support for a…

Tom DeLay Samba VIDEO: Dancing With The Stars
Tom “The Hammer” DeLay got is groove on tonight in another episode of Dancing with the Stars. Despite being diagnosed with stress fractures in both…

Hannity continued to push “statutory rape” smear even after Fox reporter questioned story’s accuracy

On October 1, Fox News writer Maxim Lott acknowledged that he did not know whether the former student at the center of Fox’s smear campaign against Kevin Jennings was in fact only 15 years old when — 21 years ago — that student told Jennings of his involvement with an “older man.” But despite Fox’s own reporter’s questions about the accuracy of the story, Fox host Sean Hannity subsequently repeated the false allegation that Jennings failed to report to authorities the “statutory rape” of a 15-year-old.

Former student was 16 years old — the MA age of consent — at time of conservation with Jennings

Driver’s license confirms former student was 16 at the time. Media Matters for America exclusively obtained the Massachusetts driver’s license of “Brewster,” the former student of Jennings, confirming that at the time of the conversation, he was 16 years old — the legal age of consent in Massachusetts.

Former student says he was “a sixteen year-old” and was the age “of legal consent at the time.” In an October 2 statement obtained by Media Matters, Brewster said:

Since I was of legal consent at the time, the fifteen-minute conversation I had with Mr. Jennings twenty-one years ago is of nobody’s concern but his and mine. However, since the Republican noise machine is so concerned about my “well-being” and that of America’s students, they’ll be relieved to know that I was not “inducted” into homosexuality, assaulted, raped, or sold into sexual slavery.

In 1988, I had taken a bus home for the weekend, and on the return trip met someone who was also gay. The next day, I had a conversation with Mr. Jennings about it. I had no sexual contact with anybody at the time, though I was entirely legally free to do so. I was a sixteen year-old going through something most of us have experienced: adolescence. I find it regrettable that the people who have the compassion and integrity to protect our nation’s students are themselves in need of protection from homophobic smear attacks. Were it not for Mr. Jennings’ courage and concern for my well-being at that time in my life, I doubt I’d be the proud gay man that I am today.

October 1, 5:03 p.m.: Fox’s Lott questions accuracy of “rumors” that student was 15

Lott asks former student whether “rumor” that he was 15 is “accurate.” As Media Matters for America exclusively reported, Lott sent a Facebook message to Brewster with a timestamp reading, “October 1 at 5:03pm.” Lott wrote: “Please give me a call or e-mail me if you’d like to clear up any of the rumors out there. In particular, in one speech Jennings said that you were 15 when he gave you advice. Is that accurate?” Lott had written two prior stories for FoxNews.com discussing Jennings’ 1988 conversation with Brewster and has claimed as fact that Brewster was 15 at the time — despite that fact that significant publicly available evidence suggested that Brewster was actually 16. (Lott’s stories now contain an editor’s note stating, “Since this story was originally published, the former student referred to as ‘Brewster’ has stepped forward to reveal that he was 16 years old, not 15, at the time of the incident described in this report.”)

Later on October 1: Hannity continued to push “statutory rape” of 15-year-old smear

October 1, 9:04 p.m.: Hannity repeats “statutory rape” smear. Following Lott’s message questioning the accuracy of “rumors” that Brewster was 15 at the time of his conversation with Jennings, Hannity said on his Fox News show:

HANNITY: So will Kevin Jennings follow in the footsteps of Van Jones and all of the others that have been forced out of the Obama administration?

I’m joined now by the author of the New York Times bestseller, Guilty, Ann Coulter, and Fox News contributor, Kirsten Powers.

Guys, welcome aboard. Here’s where this gets to be a big problem, Ann, because he even admitted in 2000 himself that this sophomore, who he said — he said — is 15 years old, came to him and said that he was having a relationship with an adult male.

His advice was — not to tell the authorities, because by definition that would be, as The Washington Times said, statutory rape. His advice was to ask if he was wearing a condom. [Fox News’ Hannity, 10/1/09]

October 1, 9:32 p.m.: Hannity alleges “statutory rape” of “15-year-old kid.” Later on his Fox News show, Hannity said:

HANNITY: All right, so we have, you know, another czar in trouble. And many of them. All right, the latest one, this guy Kevin Jennings. You know, here’s a guy. You’re a pastor. And a 15-year-old kid goes into his office, seeks advice. He’s having a relationship with an older — with an adult, which, by the way, he said he was 15. That would be statutory rape. [Fox News’ Hannity, 10/1/09]

APF Deal Let Shady Firm Provide Law Enforcement For Hardin
The contract signed by American Private Police Force and the economic development agency for the city of Hardin, through which APPF took over the city’s prison, also gave the security firm the option of taking a role in law enforcement for the town.

Florida Doc Who Sent Obama Witch-Doctor Email Still Helping Lead Anti-Reform Fight
David McKalip, the Florida neurosurgeon exposed by TPMmuckraker after forwarding a racist picture of Obama, is back in the thick of the anti-healthcare-reform effort — despite saying in July that he’d stop making media appearances on the issue thanks to the scandal.

Taitz Alleges Judge Secretly Met With Holder — And Cites Coffee Shop Sighting To Prove It
In a 24-page filing littered with all-caps, bold, and underlined text Birther attorney Orly Taitz is demanding that a federal judge recuse himself in a case that has morphed from a soldier’s attempt to resist Barack Obama’s orders to what Taitz sees as a prosecution of herself.

Dick Cheney’s Startling New Memoir

Corzine Inches Ahead in Close Race
A new Fairleigh Dickinson-PublicMind Poll finds New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine (D) edging ahead of Chris Christie (R), 44% to 43%, within the poll’s margin of error. Another 4% volunteer they will vote for independent Chris Daggett and 5% say they are undecided.

When Daggett’s name is read in an interview along with Corzine’s and Christie’s name, Corzine leads Christie 38% to 37% and Daggett gets 17% of the vote. 

Key finding: It’s clear independent candidates could be the deciding factor in this race. Even when another independent candidate’s name is read — such as Gary Steele — the effect is similar. Steele gets 12% of the vote while Corzine and Christie tie at 38%.

The Fight for the Public Option Hits Home Stretch — Is Obama Hiding?

Pressure from progressives led the White House back to the public option. But will it be in name only?

Has Berlusconi Created Titillating TV ‘Fascism’ in Italy?

An interview with Erik Gandini, director of the documentary Videocracy, an account of how Berlusconi's sex-obsessed media empire has shaped the country over the past 30 years.

Has Berlusconi Created Titillating TV ‘Fascism’ in Italy?

An interview with Erik Gandini, director of the documentary Videocracy, an account of how Berlusconi's sex-obsessed media empire has shaped the country over the past 30 years.

The Truth About Jobs That No One Wants To Tell You
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FDR and Marcy Kaptur Star in Michael Moore’s Teriffic “Capitalism” A Love Story”
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The United States Forces Palestinians To Kill Goldstone Gaza Report ++ Remembering Marek Edelman, Hero of Warsaw Uprisings
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McCaughey cites tea party doctor who spread picture of Obama as a witch doctor.
In July, TPMmuckraker’s Zachary Roth reported that, on a listserv associated with the tea party movement, Florida neurosurgeon Dr. David McKalip, the founder of anti-reform group Doctors For Patient Freedom, sent out a racist picture of President Obama dressed as a witch doctor. McKalip eventually apologized, claiming that the image had “nothing to do with […]

In July, TPMmuckraker’s Zachary Roth reported that, on a listserv associated with the tea party movement, Florida neurosurgeon Dr. David McKalip, the founder of anti-reform group Doctors For Patient Freedom, sent out a racist picture of President Obama dressed as a witch doctor. McKalip eventually apologized, claiming that the image had “nothing to do with my feelings or thoughts on any race or culture.” Roth reports today that McKalip is still helping to lead the anti-reform fight, telling a fellow conservative that he had recently met with “freedom fighters for health system reform” like Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), and Betsy McCaughey. Apparently, McKalip’s meeting with McCaughey had an impact on her since she quoted him in her anti-reform New York Post column today:

The law establishing Medicare in 1965 barred the federal government from interfering in doctors’ treatment decisions. Slowly, Medicare regulations have begun unraveling that protection. Now the Cantwell amendment finishes the job.

This is the most extreme change to Medicare ever. Dr. David McKalip, a Florida neurosurgeon and a board member of the Florida Medical Association, predicts: “The only doctors left in Medicare will be those willing to ration care and practice cookbook medicine.”

McKalip’s influence with anti-reform conservatives is widespread. Greg Scandlen, a senior fellow at the conservative Heartland Institute, recently defended him against criticism over the racist image. “Dr. McKalip is a rock solid patriot,” wrote Scandlen. “I for one encouraged him to get back in the battle. And he has.”

In Michigan, Granholm Looks to Green Industries to Provide Jobs
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Some Criticize SEIU for Its ACORN Connections
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Obama Team Says Zazi Case Illustrates Balanced Approach to Terror Threat
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Civil-Rights Groups Launch Health-Care Ad Blitz
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