by Caryn Freeman
Weekly Wrap-up: Cut, Cap & Balance, Amnesiac Testimonies & Who Got Served!
It’s Friday, the week is winding down but temperatures are going up as and so is next month’s utility bill. The clock is still ticking on the debt ceiling and passage of the Cut, Cap and Balance Act in the House obviously doesn’t mean much in the overall scheme of things. So let’s take a quick look back at the week starting across the pond with the Murdoch’s amnesiac testimony in the House of Commons…
Tuesday: Rupert Murdoch claimed in his testimony Tuesday that it was only eight days ago that he heard of the pandemic corruption at News of the World. When questioned specifically on conversations that may have taken place as early as January of this year in relation to hacking, Murdoch Sr. said he didn’t remember exact dates. The committee also asked Murdoch Sr. if he was ultimately responsible for what took place at News of the World as CEO of News Corp. “No,” Murdoch answered. “Who is responsible?” “People that I trusted, I worked with them for 25 years I trusted them with my life,” he replied.
James Murdoch, son of the media mogul, had by weeks end been caught in another lie surrounding statements he made to Parliament regarding a settlement to footballer Gordon Taylor. James Murdoch told the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee that he settled with Taylor without knowing why he was doing so. Two former News of the World employees, one of them being the attorney that handled the settlement, released a statement Thursday stating that Murdoch Jr. had full knowledge of why News. Corp was settling. How so, you ask? James Murdoch had been shown an email that cataloged thirty-five of Gordon Taylor’s phone messages. Murdoch Jr., I’m afraid that equals knowledge of hacking buddy. Hopefully he’ll have time to rest up this weekend and work on his lying to Parliament skills.
Back on Yankee soil, in Tuesday’s Senate hearing on U.S. Policy in Yemen, Christa Capozzola, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance discussed how projects at the community level have been found to mitigate conflicts in the region. She also revealed to the committee that USAID has been branding their aid throughout Yemen making it clear where they aid is coming from, this been critical to the State Departments messaging campaign and an important element in building a positive public image of USAID in Yemen. The State Department hopes efforts like these will help avert what the U.S. has experienced in Pakistan, in terms of low public approval, despite billions of dollars of aid sent to the country over the past decade.
Wednesday in the DOMA hearing Senator Al Franken (D-MN) served Thomas Minnery, Senior Vice President for Public Policy for Focus on the Family, the “Best Verbal Smack Down of the Week” when he took aim at Minnery’s opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Minnery cited a 2010 Department of Health and Human services study to make the argument that “children living with their own married biological or adoptive mothers and fathers were generally healthier and happier, had better access to health care, less likely to suffer mild or severe emotional problems, did better in school, were protected from physical, emotional and almost never live in poverty, compared with children in any other family form.”
Sen. Franken kindly told Minnery he had, “checked the study out.” “It actually doesn’t say what you said it says,” Sen. Franken explained, “It says nuclear families, not opposite sex married families, are associated with those positive outcomes.” Sen. Franken then asked Minnery’s definition of nuclear family, “I would think that the study when it cites nuclear families it would mean a family headed by a husband and wife.” It didn’t, the study actually defined a nuclear family as one or more children living with two parents that are married to one another and are each biological or adopted parent to all of the children in the family.” “I frankly don’t know how we can trust the rest of your testimony if your reading studies this way.” Sen. Franken.
Thomas Minnery, you’ve been served by the Senator from Minnesota.
Thursday, winding it down and bringing it home, literally, is the space shuttle Atlantis. Atlantis made its final landing at Kennedy Space Center following a 13-day mission. The inter-galactic star of the space program and loyal friend to the Russians has been, “a work horse of the space shuttle fleet over the years,” said Mike Sarafin, lead STS-132 shuttle flight director. “The shuttle program history is pretty complicated, but I think it will show that Atlantis is a remarkable vehicle.”
Finally, the Senate began debate Thursday on the House-passed “Cut, Cap and Balance Act,” which would increase the debt limit by $2.4 trillion and require amending the Constitution to require a balanced budget. As we all well know this bill is “dead on arrival” in the Senate and the president has said he would veto it, so I won’t dwell on these shenanigans.
Thanks again for reading Quorum Call. Have a great weekend and don’t blow out the AC. I’m back Monday when hopefully cooler heads prevail, literally and figuratively.
Not sure that Al Franken did much “serving” — he’s just trying to re-define nuclear families. That said, I think they’re both wrong.