Telling Fortune Cookie?

"Your career is moving more and more towards service to others"

Power Elite, here I come!

Dem. Homeland Chair: Peter King a Republican Hack

Q&A: New homeland security chairman gets tough with Bush administration

Q. Will you expect the committee to be more active than it was under your predecessor, New York Republican Rep. Peter King?

A. Absolutely. I think that what I saw former chairman King subjected to was a micro-managed chairmanship by the Republican leadership. He couldn’t really bring any legislation forward without being told, chapter and verse, what it had to include.

New Homeland Security Committee Chair Bennie Thompson makes public something we've all suspected for some time: for all his rhetoric about being an independent-minded Congressman, when push comes to shove, Peter King takes his marching orders from George W. Bush and Co. When Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer came to campaign for Dave Mejias last fall, he claimed that as Homeland Chair, a Democrat from Mississipi (Thompson) would do a better job protecting New York than Peter King:

In response to a question posed by a Newsday reporter about whether New York would be better off with a chair from another state, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said that King (R-Seaford) hasn't done enough to make sure that security-related dollars are directed to cities based on threat.

Let's connect a few dots here. Despite his frequent allusions to the tragedy of September 11th, King was strangely unable to prevent 40% cuts in funding to NYC and D.C., two prime terrorist targets:

The announcement that the two cities targeted on Sept. 11, 2001, would suffer 40 percent reductions in urban security funds prompted outrage from lawmakers and local officials in both areas, who questioned the wisdom of cutting funds so deeply for cities widely recognized as prime terrorist targets.

Of course, King acted outraged at these cuts, for one because they made him look irrelevant. But really, he had very little say in the matter. The Bush Republicans prefer to divvy up Homeland Pork to all their red state friends and corporations, consequences be damned. Peter King, with his record of siding with Bush 85% of the time, is a willing foot soldier of Bush-Cheney. Too bad it's already cost NY BILLIONS in Homeland Security dollars.

McCain to Peter King: Wise Up!

Via Irish Abroad:

One of the questioners asked McCain about Congressman Peter King, co-sponsor of the House bill that would also turn the undocumented into felons, and those who aid them.

King and McCain are long-time political allies; King was one of the first to lend support to McCain’s campaign for the presidency in 2000. The Long Island representative has been a steadfast supporter of all Irish issues during his time in Congress, but has parted ways when it comes to immigration reform.

“Peter is a fine man and a fine representative,” McCain said of King, who was elected chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee last year. “I think the people in this room ought to provide him with a better education on the matter.”

First half of this quote? The delusional McCain, the one who has replaced all sense of integrity with an unceasing drive to win the presidency. Second half? The Maverick we all know and love. Given his general leap to the far right, McCain's critique of Peter King is noteworthy. When it comes to immigration, McCain's guest-worker approach has its merits. Peter King's "I don't trust immigrants" attitude is beyond the pale, even for the newly right-wing McCain.

What's more, it's clear that radical-winger Peter King no longer speaks for the Irish people; A long time supporter of Irish immigrants, King is so afraid of "terrorists", (aka let's racially profile all Muslims at airports) that he's lumped all the benevolent immigrants, Irish included, into the "STAY OUT" group. No Irish Need Apply to Peter King's America.

More to come on King's xenophobia..

Now on Lefty Blogs!

Welcome, visitors who clicked this link off Lefty Blogs. I'm beside myself with this syndication.. it just.. means a lot to me..

First, I'd like to thank Rep. Peter King (NY-03), for being a zany wingnut, and the primary topic of this blog.. And I'd like to thank Long Island, for being my home island, nice beaches, strip malls, the works... and Ned Lamont and Deval Patrick, whose candidacies made me realize I HAVE THE POWER... MWHAHA

Sensible posts in the immediate future. Right now, I'm just gonna watch the hits roll in.(5, 6? who knows?!) Hooohaa. In the words of DNC Chair Howard Dean "HYAAAA!!"

Peter King a RINO?

The good folks over at the conservative Town Hall are calling Peter King a RINO (Republican in Name Only). Well, he's plenty Republican for my liking...

Warmonger King: Deny Him Communion?

My Letter to William Cardinal Keeler

"The RC Bishops in the U.S. are against abortion. Most of the RC laity is against it, too. They get the message from the Bishops on that issue. Yet, these same Bishops, and the Pope, too, are also, on moral grounds, against the war in Iraq. Nevertheless, that idea, strangely, hasn’t gotten down to most of the faithful. William Hughes asks Cardinal William Keeler why."

"I can’t help but notice how antiabortion Bishops occasionally bark about not giving Holy Communion to an elected RC politico because he doesn’t like his or her pro-Choice position. But, you never hear any Bishop taking that same hard line against a pro-Iraqi War politico, like the insufferable Rep. Peter King (R-NY); or against a media-based warmonger, such as windbag Bill O’Reilly."

This guy raises a good point. If a bishop publicly refused to give John Kerry communion for his pro-choice beliefs, shouldn't King be treated similarly for his pro-death warmongering? The church ought to speak out on the war, as it has on abortion and gay marriage. Were they to take a stance against King's Iraq boosterism, it would not be without previous instances of provocation from King:

LI congressman takes a controversial stance

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has been particularly critical of a provision in his bill making it a felony for undocumented workers to remain in the United States and another clause that might make it a crime for church workers to assist or encourage illegal aliens.

"Denying aid to a fellow human being violates a law with a higher authority than Congress - the law of God," Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony wrote last month in The New York Times. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said "Jesus himself" might be arrested under King's legislation...

The Seaford Republican raised eyebrows last week by calling the nation's Catholic establishment "liars" and "hypocrites," urging it to stop playing politics and "spend more time protecting little boys from pedophile priests."

King, 62, said his comments were spur of the moment, but added: "I consider myself a blue-collar Catholic, and we're kind of a silent majority. It's quite possible this could end up helping me politically. Maybe it shows that God's on my side."

In summation, King got mad when the Catholic Church opposed legislation he co-sponsored, legislation that would've made it a crime to give a sandwich to a starving human being. So he called them liars and hypocrites, with the belief that perhaps he, Peter King, had the backing of God on this one. Hmmm.. I'll have to think about that one, Peter.

Before he tried to criminalize Good Samaritans, King defended torture at Abu Ghraib thusly:

In 2004, King dismissed the Vatican's criticism of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, saying they were "nothing compared to what nuns and priests did to Catholic kids for decades."

Hmm.. last time I checked they didn't make naked human piles in Catholic schools.. And what to make of this:

And despite his anger at Catholic leaders who attack his immigration bill, King doesn't mind every church foray into politics. He supports the right of priests to deny communion to elected officials favoring abortion rights.

I'm so glad to have a "pro-life" Congressman; someone who supports the Church denying communion to elected officials as they see fit. So Peter, how's about you sign up to sign out of the Communion line? The lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of Americans have been lost in a war you've supported all the way. Don't you think it's only fair that the Church should promote a pro-life agenda? Good! So I guess I won't see you in Church anymore, then?

AHHHHH

e-day mojo for mo o'co

Maureen's Osama whopper

How desperate is the GOP to hold onto the Nassau County Senate seat that's up for grabs Tuesday? Desperate enough to drag Osama Bin Laden into a race that has nothing to do with terrorism...

Maureen O'Connell makes the laughable claim that she's just the woman to defend New York from terrorists. Tel Aviv, too. She also cites "security expertise" not evident from her résumé as a nurse, lawyer, Assembly seat-warmer and county clerk.

But why would a terrorist-fighter of O'Connell's talents want to waste her time in Albany, anyway? Surely the world would be safer with O'Connell, Maureen O'Connell, Clerk 007, working for the CIA. Or maybe Mossad.

Let's make sure Maureen ends up "fighting terrorists". She could even falsify a CIA badge or something..

GOTV!

King on the TV! Go Team Xenophobe! (First Installment)

For those not familiar with King's most recent reelection effort, the mosque featured in this segment was a long-time donor to King, and in fact the guy in the video had met with King on numerous occasions. Then King gets the idea to label the mosque as extreme and bashes his Democratic opponent, Dave Mejias, for taking money from the mosque. Of course, he neglected to mention that he took SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS MORE from said mosque. As Mejias put it during the campaign, King loves to practice "the politics of hate and fear".

HOMELAND SECURITY: O'Connell Broke the Law (*"arguably")

On a post at The Albany Project I asked whether the O'Connell ad featuring Osama and Balboni was at all legal, given its use of an image bearing the DISTINCT likeness of the NYS Homeland Security seal. Well, courtesy of Capitol Confidential, it looks like the answer is an emphatic NO:

http://blogs.timesun...

State Homeland Security Office spokesman Dennis Michalski slammed GOP 7th SD candidate Maureen O'Connell for using a "falsified state seal" in her campaign mailer, saying the move was "inappropriate" if not outright illegal.

"It is completely inappropriate for a political candidate to use a falsified state seal in the context of a political campaign. Politicizing state security issues is inappropriate and trivializes the law enforcement efforts of New York's office of Homeland Security," Michalski said. "We direct the campaign and candidate to the following passage from New York's penal law that identifies such actions as arguably illegal."

Here's the passage in question:

§ 190.25. Criminal impersonation in the second degree

A person is guilty of criminal impersonation in the second degree when he:

1. Impersonates another and does an act in such assumed character with intent to obtain a benefit or to injure or defraud another; or

2. Pretends to be a representative of some person or organization and does an act in such pretended capacity with intent to obtain a benefit or to injure or defraud another; or

3. (a) Pretends to be a public servant, or wears or displays without authority any uniform, badge, insignia or facsimile thereof by which such public servant is lawfully distinguished, or falsely expresses by his words or actions that he is a public servant or is acting with approval or authority of a public agency or department; and (b) so acts with intent to induce another to submit to such pretended official authority, to solicit funds or to otherwise cause another to act in reliance upon that pretense.

Criminal impersonation in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.

(emphasis t/o mine)

Great work from CapCon. Now, I'm no lawyer here, but it looks like Maureen O'Connell's campaign has broken the law.. so let's do a little side by side to make some sense of things. First the real thing, from the real deal, NYS Homeland Security:http://www.security....

Next, O'Connell saving the day:

OOOH, now I get it. She didn't ACTUALLY break the law, since her eagle is BIG, and it's flying to the left, not the right, silly. (Evidently the O'Connell eagle prefers the Southern Tier to the North Country...)

She also omits the state seal we find on the flag. So TECHNICALLY, she didn't STEAL the logo per se. She did however use the basic shape, a circle, with two stars, the likeness of an eagle, and the American flag overlaying the image of NYS.

Again, haven't gone to law school yet, but boy, I'd love to see them defend this in copyright court..

It rather looks like Maureen has "falsely expressed by her words or actions that she is a public servant or is acting with approval or authority of a public agency or department".. among other indiscretions. The average New Yorker has not memorized the Homeland Security seal, and could easily be mislead into believing O'Connell is attached to the Department.

O'Connell Campaign Lit

obligatory Link:

More O'Connell campaign lit discovered

everyone following the senate race needs to see these. great work by Bouldin at Daily Gotham, and a prime example of the sort of guerilla techniques which the netroots excel at. Judging by the amount of sites linking to these pics, this could have much the same effect as the "Kiss Float" that followed Joe Lieberman all over CT last summer. let's keep at it and use our collective voice to amplify issues and media that serve to define the opponent, build a buzz, etc. while the netroots are inherently underfunded, we have the know-how and the nimbleness to shake things up in unexpected ways.

King Keeps it KLASSY

9/11 Cop Dies Just as His Son, Clinton's Guest, Faces Bush

A former New York policeman died late Tuesday in a Manhattan hospital, just as his 21-year-old son prepared to appear at the State of the Union speech to symbolize the desperate health problems of his father and other sick Sept. 11 workers...

"9/11 is not over. It didn't end in 2001. It is still affecting my father and numerous other first responders," he said. "My father is an extreme example of what can happen and what may and will happen in the future."

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes the site of the 2001 terror attacks, had the strongest language for Bush and the New York mayor.

"The villains are no longer the terrorists. The villains live in the White House and in Gracie Mansion," said Nadler, referring to the official home of the mayor of New York.

Rep. Peter King, a Long Island Republican who has signed on to the mayor's gun effort, said Nadler's comments crossed the line.

"That's the kind of rhetoric that doesn't help anybody," King said. "I agree that more should be done for 9/11 victims, but to be using language like that serves no purpose."
***
I won't defend Nadler's assertion outright, though it's clear that he was speaking passionately in defense of a poised and courageous young man (let's get that kid to run for office in a few years!).

Still, Peter King is the LAST guy who should be chiding others on divisive and inflammatory rhetoric. As Peter King Watch catalogues, King is the guy who personally refutes his constituents with letters calling them "politically, intellectually and morally bankrupt", for instance. That was over Social Security, mind you. Clearly a pretty rational debate, until King flew off the cuff.

Oh, and then there was the time he went on national television and said that "Karl Rove.. should get a medal" and all those criticizing him "should be shot." Karl Rove, mind you, might still end up in jail if Patrick Fitzgerald's prosecution of Scooter Libby gets Libby to squeal and throw Rove under the bus. So, to summarize, over the top rhetoric is defensible when it comes to sleazeballs like Rove, but not when it comes to doing what's right for the heroes of September 11th..
Yeah, Peter King Logic.