POTUS News: The 2.1 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) voted last night to endorse President Barack Obama for re-election in 2012. The endorsement is part of a broader “99 percent strategy” to create good jobs now; end devastating cuts to Medicare and Medicaid and other critical programs; require everyone to pay their fair share in taxes; and create a fair path to citizenship for immigrant workers. Today’s announcement culminates a six-month conversation among SEIU members and leaders that evaluated the candidates, identified members’ priorities, and ultimately led to a final endorsement. Read more here.
Pray For The Saftey Of The First Family News: Federal law enforcement authorities on Tuesday arrested a 21-year-old Idaho man suspected of shooting with a semiautomatic rifle at the White House on Friday night, as the Secret Service reported finding that at least one bullet had indeed struck the presidential residence. Read more here.
Kids Around The Country Rejoice News: Never mind the obesity crisis: US lawmakers prodded by the frozen food industry have moved to protect schools’ ability to count pizza sauce as a vegetable in lunches for students. In an annual spending bill covering the US Department of Agriculture, which has oversight over subsidized school meals, a joint House-Senate panel voted to prevent the agency from restricting pizza, fries, and starchy vegetables. Read more here.
Republicans Are Stupid News: Acknowledging a growing list of unintended consequences stemming from the implementation of the nation’s toughest anti-illegal immigration law, key Alabama Republicans are gathering ideas for how to tweak the legislation to make it less onerous on Alabamans and less dehumanizing for illegal immigrants. Read more here.
No More Fake LV Bags & Bootleg DVD’s For You News: Many lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee expressed support Wednesday for new legislation aimed at cutting off funding to foreign websites offering pirated movies or counterfeit goods, despite opposition from Silicon Valley companies. At a hearing, the committee debated the Stop Online Piracy Act, which would give the U.S. attorney general new authority to shut down U.S. financial support to “rogue” foreign websites that sell pirated movies, music or other counterfeit goods. The Justice Department could ask for a court order to compel U.S. search engines and other sites to block domain names or search results. Read more here.
Bloomberg To OWS: You Ain’t Gotta Go Home, But You Gotta Get The Hell Up Outta Here You Dirty Fucking Hippies News: Less than two dozen Occupy Wall Street protesters stayed overnight Wednesday in a downtown park that had been home to hundreds before the city cleared the site and banned tents, sleeping bags and lying down. A predawn police raid Tuesday reduced the contingent to its smallest since the movement started two months ago, days before it planned to launch a major new demonstration outside the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday. Read more here.
Ho, Have A Seat News: Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich acknowledged on Wednesday that he had received consulting fees from troubled mortgage giant Freddie Mac for providing “strategic advice.” Campaigning in Iowa, Gingrich said he did not believe he was contracted by the government-owned housing finance giant as a friendly voice who would avoid criticizing it. Read more here.
Happy Humpday POU family! Check out the links and come back to discuss. Here’s your Whining Wednesday track….