House passes hate-crimes bill, 249-175
Jewish groups are hailing House passage of hate-crimes legislation.
The House passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act by a vote of 249-175 on Wednesday. The legislation would permit greater federal involvement in investigating hate crimes and expand the federal definition of such crimes to include those motivated by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.
The Anti-Defamation League, Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism all lauded the vote. In a statement, ADL national director Abraham Foxman and national chair Glen Lewy said it was an "essential and necessary step forward in the national effort to counter hate crimes."
"Hate crimes tear at the fabric of our society and fragment communities," they said. "It is crucial that mechanisms are in place for law enforcement to respond effectively when they occur, and for federal authorities to provide assistance when appropriate."
Supporters have been pushing the measure for a decade. Majorities in both houses of Congress have approved the bill in previous years, but it has been eliminated in conference committees when attached to larger bills -- under the threat of a possible veto by former President George W. Bush.
With Obama backing the legislation, however, chances for final passage appear stronger.
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Obama on Israel’s independence
President Obama has released a statement on the 61st anniversary of Israel's independence. Here it is:
On behalf of the people of the United States, President Obama congratulates the people and government of Israel on the 61st anniversary of Israel’s independence. The United States was the first country to recognize Israel in 1948, minutes after its declaration of independence, and the deep bonds of friendship between the U.S. and Israel remain as strong and unshakeable as ever. The President looks forward to working with Israel to advance our common interests, including the realization of a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, ensuring Israel’s security, and strengthening the bilateral relationship, over the months and years to come.
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Condi to speak to D.C. Jewish day school
Condoleezza Rice will speak to students and supporters of a Washington, D.C. Jewish day school in her first public appearance in the nation's capital since leaving the State Department.
The former secretary of state will visit the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation's Capital on Sunday afternoon to speak to and take questions from fourth, fifth and sixth graders. That evening, she will speak to supporters of the school on the topic of "Perspective on Peace and War" as the keynote speech of the institution's annual Rabin Lecture. Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic and a parent at the school, will moderate the dicussion at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington.
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Obama urges passage of hate-crimes bill
President Obama urged the House yesterday to pass the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, legislation favored by numerous Jewish groups. The measure would expand federal involvement in investigating hate crimes and expand the federal definition of such crimes to include those motivated by gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. Here's his statement:
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON H.R. 1913, THE LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT HATE
CRIMES PREVENTION ACT OF 2009
This week, the House of Representatives is expected to consider H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance - legislation that will enhance civil rights protections, while also protecting our freedom of speech and association. I also urge the Senate to work with my Administration to finalize this bill and to take swift action.
The legislation is likely to pass the House by a comfortable margin -- in a conference call sponsored by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs on Tuesday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) projected it should get upwards of 250 votes -- and it has previously won majorities in the Senate. But the bill, which has been pushed by supporters for about a decade, has been eliminated in conference committees when attached to larger bills -- under the threat of veto from former President George W. Bush. But with Obama backing the legislation, chances for it achieving final passage appear stronger.
Nadler and Michael Lieberman, Washington counsel for the ADL, said on the conference call that some opposition to the bill has come from critics who claim that it would criminalize religious speech, such as criticism of gays and lesbians. But Lieberman emphasized that's not true, and there's specific language in the bill to make sure of it.
"This bill cannot punish mere speech," said Lieberman.
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Power Ranger Jane
The Daily Show finally pins down the essence of l'Affaire Harman - it's about weaning your kids off the Power Rangers:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Your Government Not at Work - Jane Harman Scandal | ||||
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And Jeff Stein at CQ realizes that Harman has a sense of humor - the running enthusiast's team in today's 3-mile Capital Challenge is called "Tapped Out."
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Tidbits: Keeping tabs on the Specter switch
From JTA:
- For the first time in decades, there will be no moderate Jewish GOP voice in the Senate with Arlen's Specter's switch.
- And Montgomery County Democratic Party head Marcel Groen says he'll do everything he can to keep the Democratic primary field clear for Specter.
- Republican Jewish Coalition head Matt Brooks says he was disappointed and surprised by Specter's announcment, considering he had spoken to the senator last week about attending the annual RJC meeting in June.
- The RJC pointed out an 2003 press release the National Jewish Democratic Council wrote ripping Specter for failing the "principle test."
- Pa. Rep. Josh Shapiro, a rumored Democratic candidate for Specter's seat before yesterday, says he now won't be running.
From elsewhere around the Web:
- Who will be the new ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee? Brian Beutler of Talking Points Memo examines the candidates.
- Sen. Joe Lieberman welcomes "another independent minded Democrat" to the caucus, notes TPM.
- M.J. Rosenberg says Specter's defection is "partial payback to the GOP for what they have done to America in recent years."
- Commentary's Jonathan Tobin, former editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponnent, calls Specter "the quintessential opportunist" and says he's "bound to be as feckless and faithless a Democrat as he was a Republican."
- David Frum says "it is better for conservatives to have 60% sway within a majority party than to have 100% control of a minority party. And until and unless there is an honored place made in the Republican party for people who think like Arlen Specter, we will remain a minority party."
- This is an amazing find. In 2001, reacting to Jim Jeffords leaving the GOP, Specter proposed a rule change to prevent senators from switching parties in midsession, reports Ramesh Ponnuru of the National Review.
- Appearing with the president this morning, reports Jake Tapper, Specter said Obama approached him during his presidential campaign and said: “Tell me, Arlen, if a Jewish kid from Kansas can carry Pennsylvania, how can a black kid from Kansas carry Pennsylvania?”
- Specter recently wrote a piece for the New York Review of Books on "The Need to Roll Back Presidential Power Grabs," outlining legislation that would strengthen the place of the courts and Congress in the system of "checks and balances."
From the video file:
The Obama-Biden-Specter press conference...
Specter's Tuesday press conference...
From 2001, on why he left the Democratic Party...
Joe Lieberman on Arlen Specter...
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Harman hires Lanny Davis
I just filed this brief, based on this terrific story by Laura Rozen at FP:
WASHINGTON (JTA) -- U.S. Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) hired a top Democratic lawyer as a media handler in her pushback against allegations that she intervened on behalf of two pro-Israel lobbyists.
Harman hired Lanny Davis, who once served as a special counsel to former President Bill Clinton, The Cable, a web publication of Foreign Policy magazine, reported late Tuesday.
Former and current security officials have leaked to various media in recent weeks details of a wiretapped phone call that took place between 2004 and 2006 in which Harman allegedly agrees to a request from an “Israeli agent” to intervene on behalf of Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, former senior staffers for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee who were charged – or were facing charges, depending on the timing of the call – in a classified information leaks case.
In exchange, the “Israeli agent” was to ask entertainment magnate Haim Saban, an Israeli American and a major donor to the Democratic Party, to lobby for Harman's continued status as senior Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.
Saban did lobby for Harman – unsuccessfully – but there is no evidence that Harman intervened on behalf of Weissman and Rosen, and Harman has called on the Justice Department to release transcripts of the tape, unredacted.
Rosen and Weissman, indicted in August 2005, are slated to go to trial on June 2, although Justice Department officials are reportedly reconsidering the case.
Davis has most recently served as a spokesman for the pro-Israel project, The Israel Project.
Laura's is the clearest narrative yet of how this case appears to have more to do with internecine warfare at the spy agencies and on the House intelligence committee - and with spooks obsessed with Israel - than it does with any alleged impropriety by Harman.
See how she delicately suggests a role in the current mess for David Szady, the former counterintelligence specialist at the FBI who headed the Rosen-Weissman investigation, precisely because he shows up claiming he knew of no wrongdoing by Harman:
Former FBI counterintelligence official David Szady, who led the investigation that targeted the AIPAC figures, told the New York Times in an interview last week that he was confident Harman had never sought to intervene in the case. "In all my dealings with her, she was always professional and never tried to intervene or get in the way of any investigation," Szady told the Times. The remark, while exonerating, is still perhaps puzzling. Why would an official who had been involved in a sensitive counterintelligence investigation yet to go to trial comment about the actions of someone who the government has not acknowledged was a subject of investigation in the case? How would he know who Harman had or had not lobbied on the matter? The Justice Department, for its part, denied comment. Szady could not be reached.
Laura elsewhere has noted the Iago-like practice among some sources of dishing dirt on a powerful target off the record on the condition that they are quoted on the record praising the target to the Gods.
She also wonders why FBI boss Robert Mueller didn't want to touch this with a ten foot pole. She notes the central role of Porter Goss, the former CIA director who had an unhappy history with Harman dating to their joint service on the intel committee:
Goss's decision to authorize a FISA warrant that would tap a former fellow lawmaker and rival seems potentially troubling. What's more, it raises the question of why FBI Director Robert Mueller was unavailable -- or perhaps made himself unavailable -- to sign off on the FISA warrant himself. A report this week by CQ said then Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte also tried to shut down what became a seeming rogue effort to pursue investigation of Harman.
One final thing: she notes a recent, unrelated victory for the "Harman camp."
Meantime, in the seemingly low level proxy war between competing factions, the Harman camp has scored perhaps one under the radar victory. A former top Harman aide and minority general counsel on the House intelligence committee, Jeremy Bash, has become chief of staff to Obama's new CIA director, Leon Panetta.
Not only that, I have it on good authority that Bash - most recently a senior official of the Obama transition - is a former AIPAC staffer.
As we say in this neck of the woods, David Szady must be shpritzeh naches.
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