Alabama Politics
HUNTSVILLE TIMES: Dramatic police dashboard video shows traffic stop that led to Huntsville officer’s firing
The city has released a copy of a dramatic dashboard video that shows a former Huntsville police officer, Phillip Lee Jr., jerking a female driver from her car and then throwing her to the ground.
The Dec. 13, 2011, incident in the Blossomwood neighborhood led to Lee’s firing in late May. He is also accused of roughing up a handcuffed suspect last October. Read More…
National & International Politics
MEDIAITE: Rapper Ice-T Defends Gun Rights After Colorado Shooting: ‘The Last Form Of Defense Against Tyranny’
In light of Friday morning’s Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting that left 12 people dead and dozens more injured, the issue of gun control has come roaring back into the public’s mind. From NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg to Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) to pretty much every left-leaning personality on MSNBC, many people reacted in a predictably knee-jerk fashion and blamed lax gun control laws (in addition to violent video games or a “culture of violence“) for the actions of a person who was clearly hell-bent on murdering.
Others have come out in defense of gun rights, many cautioning that we shouldn’t be so quick to blame lax legislation for a crime for which we’ve yet to discover a motive. Interestingly, one of the more succinct explanations for why the connection between gun laws and this particular massacre might be tenuous came from… rap legend and actor Ice-T.
POLITICO: Showdown over Bush tax cuts Wednesday
The Senate showdown over the Bush tax cuts is expected on Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) filed cloture on the Senate Democrats’ tax plan Monday, which sets up a key procedural vote on the bill on Wednesday morning unless an agreement is reached with Republicans for an earlier vote.
The Democrats’ plan would only continue existing tax rates for household income under $250,000. For the top 2 percent of earners, income above $250,000 would be taxed at a higher, 39.6 percent rate.
Two members of the Senate Democratic Caucus have said they would oppose the bill – Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), both of whom are retiring after their current term. Senate Republicans have called for extending all tax rates for an additional year.
Senate Democratic leaders dropped a provision last week that would have taxed wealthy estates – an attempt to win over support from wavering senators in their caucus.
The Republican-led House is expected to vote next week to extend all expiring tax rates.
YAHOO! NEWS: A brief history of Obama going negative
A recent study of a 2-week period ending in July found that about 89 percent of Obama’s ads carried an anti-Romney message and 94 percent of Romney’s ads an anti-Obama message; 2012 is on pace to become the most negative campaign cycle ever.
But just how far back does Obama’s negative campaigning go? And how down and dirty were the ads of 2008 compared with today’s? Check out the video below to find out.
THE DAILY CALLER: Elton John, conservative lover?
First he played Rush Limbaugh’s wedding (albeit for an estimated $1 million), now Elton John is going around praising George W. Bush. TheDC’s Nicholas “Hot Mic” Ballasy reports:
“Elton John praised former President George W. Bush and ‘conservative American politicians’ for pledging millions of dollars to ‘save the lives of Africans with HIV.’ … ‘We’ve seen George W. Bush and conservative American politicians pledge tens of billions to save the lives of Africans with HIV. Think of all the love. Think of where we’d be without it, nowhere, that’s where. We’d be nowhere at all,’ John said at the International AIDS conference in Washington on Monday.”
What next? Play a Romney fundraiser?
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