Archives for August 2011

On Tuesday, acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson was reassigned to a lower position within the Justice Department.  What does this say about the Justice Department’s approach to the ongoing controversy over Operation Fast and Furious?  Where does the investigation stand?  How cooperative has the DOJ been in this probe?  How did the botched operation impact Arizona?  And what was the real purpose of this gun smuggling scheme?  We get some surprising answers from Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

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President Obama will address a Joint Session of Congress next week to outline his jobs proposal and pressure to Congress to get on board with his agenda.  All of the details are not known, but Obama is already making big pushes for extending payroll tax reductions for workers and investing heavily in infrastructure projects.  Will this trigger more job creation?  Can Republicans embrace any of this?  What is their alternative?  We ask Georgia Rep. Phil Gingrey.

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Over the past week, President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner have sparred over the number of new Obama administration regulations and the impact they would have on businesses.  So what regulations would Republicans like to roll back?  Why are conservatives especially frustrated with the actions of the Environmental Protection Agency?  Why could some of the rules ‘devastate’ West Virginia?  We discuss it all with Georgia Rep. Phil Gingrey, a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

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Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review cheer the mayor of Wausau, Wisconsin, for demanding that labor unions allow Republicans in the Labor Day parade or pay for the parade themselves.  We also excoriate Indiana Rep. Andre Carson for saying conservatives want to see black people hanging from trees.  And we get a good laugh out of the Romney campaign contending its troubles with Jewish donors are because those donors think Michele Bachmann is one of them.

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Since the passage of the president’s health care plan, scores of businesses have received waivers from key provisions of the new laws – at least until the program takes full effect in 2014.  What answers do Republicans want from the Department of Health and Human Services about the granting of waivers?  What suspicions do members of Congress and others have about a process that granted a disproportionately high percentage of waivers to businesses in Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s California district?  What reasonable explanation might there be for it?  Radio America’s Lauren Scirocco investigates.

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On Tuesday, acting Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Kenneth Melson was reassigned to a lower position inside the Department of Justice.  How significant is this move to the ongoing Congressional probe into the government’s Mexican gun-smuggling operation known as “Fast and Furious”?  What are the latest casualties connected to the guns the feds allowed to fall into the hands of violent criminals?  Do we have any better idea of what Attorney General Eric Holder knew about this operation?  How far along is the House probe led by Rep. Darrell Issa?  We discuss these questions with Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official now with the Heritage Foundation.  He also writes for Pajamas Media.

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Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are encouraged by news that 27 percent of Democrats want someone else to be the party’s nominee in 2012.  We also document how our Libyan ‘allies’ are looking more radical by the day.  And we discuss Obama’s illegal immigrant uncle who managed to get a valid Social Security card and driver’s license.

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Rep. Walter Jones represents nearly all of North Carolina’s Atlantic coast.  What was the impact of such a huge storm moving through the state so slowly on Saturday?  What kind of damage did he witness today on a helicopter tour of his district?  How well have the people in his district come together to help one another?  What kind of help is coming in federal aid?  And why does Rep. Jones see this hurricane as an argument to end the war in Afghanistan?  We discuss it all with North Carolina Rep. Walter Jones.

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Earlier this month, a small group of psychologists met in Baltimore to discuss the importance of removing the ‘stigma’ from pedophilia.  Why do they think the stigma is misplaced?  Why do they think some sexual relationships between adults and children are fine?  How large or small is the percentage of psychologists holding this position?  And will pedophilia be removed from the list of what psychologists consider mental illnesses?  We discuss it all with Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council.

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Greg Corombos of Radio America and Jim Geraghty of National Review are pleased to see a new Gallup survey shows 55 percent of Americans are not happy with Obama’s performance.  We also criticize New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his heavy-handed style in banning clergy from the 9-11 remembrance at Ground Zero and in how he ordered hurricane evacuations.  And we document Al Gore’s latest step into pathetic hysteria.

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