'Pro-Science' Democrats Reject Biotechnology

I crush GMOs!

Imagine if Congress voted on whether or not to teach evolution and climate change in school. And imagine that 73% of Republicans voted against it. The backlash would be easy to predict: The national media, and science journalists in particular, would spend a week making somber declarations of impending educational and scientific collapse that would reverberate across the cosmos.

As it so happens, Congress did just vote on something of tremendous scientific importance: Biotechnology. And, as it so happens, 73% of Democrats voted against the bill. Yet, the national media remained deafeningly and hypocritically silent. 

On July 23, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill, H.R. 1599, that, among other things, would block states from requiring foods containing genetically modified ingredients to carry special labels. From a scientific viewpoint, this is the correct policy. Yet, the Democratic Party, which has branded itself the "pro-science" party over the last two decades, overwhelmingly opposed it.

Why? Well, it's hard to say, though the fact that places like the GMO-hating Whole Foods tending to be located in counties that voted for Barack Obama might have something to do with it.

In the final vote tally, 94% of House Republicans supported the bill, while a stunning 73% of Democrats voted against it. Even Democrats who represent districts with a large biotechnology constituency voted against the bill: Nancy Pelosi (CA-12), Jackie Speier (CA-14), Mike Honda (CA-17), and Anna Eshoo (CA-18) -- all from the Bay Area -- as well as Boston's Michael Capuano (MA-7) and Stephen Lynch (MA-8) and Seattle's Jim McDermott (WA-7).

The vote pattern made it abundantly clear: On the needlessly hot-button issue of genetic modification, Democrats sided with fearmongers and organic foodies, while Republicans sided with the medical and scientific mainstream.

And yes, just like vaccines, evolution, and anthropogenic climate change, GMOs are mainstream and non-controversial in the scientific community. Indeed, the American Medical Association (AMA) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (PDF) -- organizations that represent our nation's finest doctors and scientists -- reject GMO labels.

But don't just take their word for it. A massive literature review published in 2013 in the journalCritical Review of Biotechnology, which examined 1,783 papers on the topic, found that GMOs were safe for humans and the environment. In other words, the scientific community is solidly united behind the science of genetic modification; in fact, the toxic C-word, "consensus," is entirely appropriate.

Unfortunately, Democratic politicians aren't the only ideologues who are opposed to GMOs. The $72-billion organic food industry is, too. And anti-GMO activists, such as Gary Ruskin, use the legal system to harass academic scientists. His group, U.S. Right to Know, abuses FOIA requests in order to smear the reputation of honest biotech scientists. And who serves on hisBoard of Directors? None other than former Democratic Party apparatchik, Lisa Graves, who is now Executive Director of the far left-wing propaganda outlet, Center for Media and Democracy.

Our food is precious. Labels are meant for nutritional and health purposes, not for scoring political points against Monsanto or buttressing Luddite protests against biotechnology.

Let us hope that President Obama and the U.S. Senate can unite behind a bipartisan victory for science and approve the House bill.

Via: Real Clear Science

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DEMS STRUGGLE TO FIND UNTAINTED REP FOR APPROPIATIONS COMMITTEE

House Minority Leader 

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

9%

 is replacing embattled Democratic 

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA)

11%

 (D-PA), who’s held a leadership position on the House Appropriations Committee.

Yet, the man who is slated to replace him, Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), is the subject of a substantial investigation into ethical wrongdoing of his own, which allegedly involves a “pay-to-play” scheme discovered out of a probe into his official congressional and re-election committee’s improper mixing of government and campaigning business.

Fattah, for his part, was indicted this week on 29 counts of racketeering, fraud, and conspiracy, along with four of his associates,

The Office of Congressional Ethics was created by then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2008 in what she called an attempt to “drain the swamp” of rampant corruption by officials in Washington, D.C. Yet Pelosi has not done anything to prevent her fellow Democrat Honda from rising to this powerful committee position.

Pelosi’s creation of this committee had a large founding in her personal targeting of former Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX), who after eight long years of trial was exonerated last Octoberafter a Texas court found that the evidence in the case was “legally insufficient to sustain DeLay’s convictions.”

Will Pelosi live up to her founding office’s ethical standards and prevent Honda from representing a committee which stands to eliminate ethics violations in the nation’s capital?

Honda’s troubles were amplified this past week when a binder dubbed “1,000 cranes” emerged listing 1,000 of the embattled congressman’s top donors who were pawns in an alleged showing of pay to play politics in which Honda sought to “fast track” the acquisition of $1 million — $1,000 from 1,000 people — in exchange for having his team complete transactional work and provide prioritized treatment for constituents who were interested in acquiring visas or other services in a more expeditious manner.

The binder reportedly emerged last week during the House ethics announcement that they would extend their probe into Honda’s alleged misconduct, which involved the mixing of government work and campaigning. The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer Carla Marinucci points out that Honda’s binder was named “1,000 cranes” after an ancient Japanese tale that sees cranes as a symbol of luck and good fortune. Honda’s top donors were reportedly identified either as “cranes” or “friends of MH.”

The investigation into the ethics matter was prompted after allegations surfaced suggesting Honda’s Chief of Staff, Jennifer Van der Heide, had blurred the lines between her official government duties and Honda’s reelection campaign by coordinating with Honda’s campaign staff for a State Department event which targeted the congressman’s fellow South Asian constituents.

The perceived ethics violation surfaced during his 2014 reelection campaign against fellow Democratic rival, and former Obama trade official, Ro Khanna. However, it did little to dissuade voters from reelecting Honda for an eighth term, which he won by a slight 5,000 vote margin.

Khanna, who is a Yale law graduate, author, and university lecturer, announced in May that he will again seek the 17th Congressional district seat which Honda now occupies.

Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz and on Facebook.

Via: Breitbart

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Pelosi: Obama's agreement with Iran is a 'diplomatic masterpiece' (HAS SHE READ IT YET?)

House Democrats will provide the necessary support to finalize President Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) predicted Thursday.

 

Asked if the Democrats could sustain a promised veto of the Republicans' expected disapproval measure, Pelosi didn't hesitate.

 

"Yes," she replied. 

 

Pressed about the reason she's so confident, she said: "Because of the nature of the agreement."

 

GOP leaders in both chambers, who have hammered the agreement as essentially an endorsement of Iran's nuclear weapons program, are expected to vote in September on legislation disapproving it — resolutions Obama has vowed to veto.

 

That scenario sets the stage for Republican attempts to override the veto — votes that would require Democratic support to reach the two-thirds majority needed for passage.

 

A number of liberal Democrats, such as Pelosi, have come out in strong support of the agreement, saying it presents the best opportunity for the U.S. and its allies to prevent Iran from building nuclear arms. 

 

"There is simply no acceptable alternative to this deal," Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) wrote this week in an op-ed in The Hill. 

 

A handful of others have already announced their opposition, warning that the deal simply doesn't go far enough to ensure that Iran doesn't build weapons or use the influx of cash from sanctions relief to fund terrorism abroad.

 

"[T]he deal before us now is simply too dangerous for the American people," Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday in a statement. "I have every confidence a better deal can be realized."

 

Most House Democrats have not played their hand, saying they want to use the 60-day window to talk to experts and constituents about the agreement. 

 

Pelosi on Thursday hailed Obama for keeping the global negotiators at the table, characterizing the deal as "a diplomatic masterpiece." She said House Democrats are lining up behind the deal in numbers sufficient to uphold a veto of the expected Republican effort to sink the deal.

 

"So where does my confidence spring from? First of all, from the quality of the agreement. Second of all, to the seriousness and thoughtfulness with which my colleagues have approached this," Pelosi said. 

Via: The Hill

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Pennsylvania Democrat indicted on federal racketeering charges

Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) has been indicted on dozens of federal charges surrounding his unsuccessful run for Philadelphia mayor in 2007, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Wednesday.

The 11-term Democrat, along with four associates, was indicted on 29 federal counts, including bribery, money laundering, falsification of records and multiple counts of bank fraud, among other charges.

Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell said Fattah and the others "embarked on a wide-ranging conspiracy involving bribery, concealment of unlawful campaign contributions and theft of charitable and federal funds to advance their own personal interests.”

“When elected officials betray the trust and confidence placed in them by the public, the department will do everything we can to ensure that they are held accountable," Caldwell said in a statement. "Public corruption takes a particularly heavy toll on our democracy because it undermines people’s basic belief that our elected leaders are committed to serving the public interest, not to lining their own pockets.”

The DOJ identified the other four facing charges as Herbert Vederman, 69, a lobbyist based in Palm Beach, Fla.; Bonnie Bowser, 59, Fattah’s Philadelphia-based district director; Robert Brand, 69, of Philadelphia; and Karen Nicholas, 57, of Williamstown, N.J.

The DOJ alleges that Fattah borrowed $1 million from a wealthy donor during his 2007 mayoral bid, returning $400,000 in unused funds and devising a scheme to repay the remaining $600,000 using charitable and federal grants filtered through a non-profit — the Educational Advancement Alliance — created and headed by Fattah.

The DOJ also alleges that Fattah used funds from both his mayoral and congressional campaigns to pay down his son's student loan debts. The repayments, totaling roughly $23,000, were paid by a political consulting company that had received the money directly from the campaign, the DOJ alleged.

Fattah's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.

The Pennsylvania Democrat, a senior appropriator who's ranking member of the committee's Commerce and Justice departments subpanel, stepped down from that position within hours of the announcement Wednesday.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) issued a brief statement praising Fattah's commitment to the middle class and characterizing the charges as "deeply saddening." "Congressman Fattah has been a tireless and effective advocate for America’s hard-working families across more than 20 years of distinguished service in the House," Pelosi said. 

“Congressman Fattah has rightly stepped down from his position as Ranking Member on the House CJS Appropriations Subcommittee pending the resolution of this matter.”

Via: The Hill

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Pelosi urges DOJ probe into group targeting Planned Parenthood

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday joined calls for a federal investigation into the California-based anti-abortion group that sparked the Planned Parenthood hidden camera controversy.

“Let’s have an investigation of those people who were trying to ensnare Planned Parenthood in a controversy that doesn’t exist,” Pelosi said Thursday in her first public remarks about Planned Parenthood since the first undercover video surfaced last week.

A long-time abortion rights champion, Pelosi dismissed accusations that Planned Parenthood has raked in profits from its fetal tissue donation program.  

“Planned Parenthood has said that they have done nothing illegal,” she said. “They do not ever charge, which would be illegal, for fetal tissue. They have only defrayed the cost of mailing that to someone, which is not breaking the law.”

She also criticized the selectively edited videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, pointing to the “disparities" between actual film and edited versions.

Her remarks come one day after White House press secretary Josh Earnest also defended the women’s health provider.

Planned Parenthood, which receives several hundred million dollars in federal funding, is now facing new attacks from Republicans, who say they have more momentum than ever to defund the group.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has also ordered congressional investigations into Planned Parenthood’s practices, as well as a half-dozen governors.

Pelosi dismissed the GOP’s attacks against Planned Parenthood, which she said “has been going on for a long time.”

She said government investigators should, instead, focus on the legality of the Center for Medical Progress’s political activity, backing an effort by several House Democrats who have called for a Department of Justice probe.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch said Wednesday that she would review “all information” available before deciding to launch a full investigation.

Via: The Hill

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[VIDEO] Pelosi: ‘No, No,’ Release of 4 U.S. Hostages Held by Iran Should Not Be Part of Nuke Deal

(CNSNews.com) – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the four American hostages being held in Iran should not have been released as a pre-condition to the Iran nuclear deal.

At a Capitol Hill press conference, CNSNews.com asked Rep. Pelosi, “Do you think the four American hostages being held in Iran should have been released as a pre-condition to any deal made about Iran’s nuclear program?”

Pelosi answered: “No, no. It would have been good. But it’s just, no, this is a nuclear deal. This is a nuclear agreement. And I think that we have to--I appreciate the fact that since we have a nuclear negotiation and now we have a nuclear agreement that a much brighter light is being shone on the prisoners of conscience in Iran.”

 “Again, I just took a trip in the spring with my colleagues on the subject of trade and we brought up these issues with the government of Vietnam, we brought up these issues with the administration about what was happening in Malaysia in terms of trafficking,” said Rep. Pelosi.  

“So, again,” she said, “any issue that shines a brighter light enables us to say: Are we consistent with what we believe? Or is it changed depending on our economic and commercial relationships with the country.”

“Security to protect and defend--that’s our first responsibility,” said Pelosi.  “Who we are as a nation, that we respect the dignity and worth of every person and that we want those prisoners released and the more attention that is paid to it the better.”

Pelosi continued, “The worst, most cruel and excruciating pain that can be inflicted on a prisoner of conscience -- and again I’ve been working on these issues on China, as you know, since I arrived here -- is that they tell the prisoners ‘nobody remembers you’re here, they don’t know why you’re here. You’re wasting your time, you might as well confess,’ or convert or whatever it is they want them to do. And this will shine a very bright light and I’m very optimistic.”

“I know that the administration has this as a very high priority,” said the Democratic leader.  “There’s so many prisoners of conscience throughout the world in so many countries that we do have dealings with. Hopefully this will  serve as a model, a bridge to  a better understanding of who we are as a nation and why that is important to us.”    

President Obama answered questions yesterday as to why the four American hostages were not part of the Iran nuclear agreement. He responded that the issue of the detained Americans and that of the nuclear agreement were “not connected.”

Via: CNS News

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PELOSI USES MURDER BY ILLEGAL TO TOUT GUN CONTROL

Democrats held a press conference yesterday pushing for more gun control after the Charleston shooting and Pelosi made sure to mention the murder of Kate Steinle, calling it another example of ‘gun violence’, suggesting it’s why we need more gun control:

The gun used in Kate’s murder was stolen from a federal agent which means the gun was obtained criminally and there’s not a single law in this nation that would have prevented that.

As a side note, the murderer in Charleston also obtained his gun legally as well. LEGALLY.

More to the point though, it was an illegal who committed the murder and if he hadn’t been here Kate would still be alive!

We don’t need more gun control, we need more ‘illegal’ control!

But Pelosi has an agenda to push so to hell with the facts.

Via: The Right Scoop

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Nancy Pelosi’s Life As a 0.1 Percenter

Nancy Pelosi may be one of the most liberal members of the U.S. House, where she runs the Democratic caucus, railing against income inequality and the avarice of the 1 percent. But she also happens to be one of the body’s wealthiest members: In Washington, she lives in a multimillion-dollar Georgetown condo; she owns a 16-acre vineyard in Napa Valley and a 3,700 square-foot house in San Francisco’s tony Pacific Heights, according to her May 2015 financial disclosure statements.

Her May 2015 financial-disclosure statements,showing income that places her in the top one-tenth of the 1 percent of Americans, may surprise some in light of the concern she’s expressed about income equality and the distribution of wealth.

“We’re talking about addressing the disparity in our country of income, where the wealthy people continue to get wealthier,” Pelosi said in 2010 at a United Steelworkers’ event. “That disparity is not just about wages alone,” she added. “That disparity is about ownership and equity. It’s all about fairness in our country.” But even as she’s publicly bemoaned the rich getting richer, Pelosi’s fortune has grown. RELATED: With Harry Reid Gone, Why Is Nancy Pelosi Hanging On?

 Though financial-disclosure forms list only ranges of assets and liabilities, Pelosi listed between $42.4 million and $199.5 million in assets in 2013, which was enough for Bloomberg Business to deem her the richest member of House leadership from either party. By 2014, she and her husband, investment banker Paul Pelosi, were doing even better: She reported between $43.4 million and $202 million in assets. (Pelosi’s husband, in fact, has done so well that he tried the quixotic hobby of investing in an alternative to the National Football League, losing between $100,000 and $1 million in 2014.)

Via: National Review

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EXCLUSIVE — TED CRUZ: OBAMATRADE ENMESHED IN CORRUPT, BACKROOM DEALINGS

Breitbart Texas Photo/Bob Price

by SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX)23 Jun 20152346

The American people do not trust President Obama.  And they do not trust Republican leadership in Congress.  And the reason is simple: for far too long, politicians in Washington have not told the truth.

Both President Obama and Republican leadership are pressing trade promotion authority, also known as TPA, or “fast-track.” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) both oppose it.

As a general matter, I agree (as did Ronald Reagan) that free trade is good for America; when we open up foreign markets, it helps American farmers, ranchers, and manufacturers.

But TPA in this Congress has become enmeshed in corrupt Washington backroom deal-making, along with serious concerns that it would open up the potential for sweeping changes in our laws that trade agreements typically do not include.

Since the Senate first voted on TPA, there have been two material changes.

First, WikiLeaks subsequently revealed new troubling information regarding the Trade in Services Agreement, or TiSA, one of the trade deals being negotiated by Obama.

Despite the administration’s public assurances that it was not negotiating on immigration, several chapters of the TiSA draft posted online explicitly contained potential changes in federal immigration law. TPA would cover TiSA, and therefore these changes would presumably be subject to fast-track.

When TPA last came up for a vote, both Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and I introduced amendments that would have barred fast-track treatment for any trade agreement that attempted to impact immigration law. Two other Republican senators objected, and we were both denied votes on our amendments. Instead, the House inserted substantially weaker language in related legislation.

Via: Breitbart

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Trade Promotion Authority hits a new roadblock: Barack Obama

Ever since the House rejected the Trade Adjustment Authority (TAA) bill, the House GOP leadership has been scheming for a way to pass the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) without the accompanying TAA.

House GOP leaders seeking to rebound after a surprise floor defeat on trade are zeroing in on a new strategy to grant President Obama fast-track authority.

The plan is to vote as soon as this week on the fast-track bill approved by the House on Friday but to leave aside a second part of the original package that was torpedoed by House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 18% (D-Calif.) and other Democrats.

Decoupling fast-track from a separate program granting aid to workers displaced by trade would put pressure on the Senate to pass the legislation, a top priority for Obama that would allow him to complete negotiations on a sweeping trans-Pacific trade deal.

If the House is successful, it will be up to Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) 67% (R-Ky.) to get the bill through the upper chamber.

This was always going to be a tough sell. Allowing a trade agreement to be negotiated with low wage, state controlled, and utterly opaque economies without some protections for US businesses destroyed and workers made unemployed wasn't going to play well in attack ads in future campaigns.

There is little margin for error after last week’s stunning events in the House. Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 18%, moved to block a program they support — TAA — in order to prevent the fast-track trade bill from landing on Obama’s desk. But TAA is a bottom-line demand for the 14 Senate Democrats who voted last month to pass the fast-track bill, and Obama can only afford to lose two of those votes if he wants to see his priority enacted.

That makes the decision on how to sequence the votes in Congress a key consideration. Some top Republicans believe it makes sense to enact the fast-track bill first, prompting House Democrats to let TAA pass since it would be much harder at that point to use as leverage. But it’s no sure bet that Senate Democrats would go along with a vote on fast-track without immediate consideration of the worker aid package.

And Democrats were left a little puzzled as to how Boehner's strategy would work:

As rumors swirled about Boehner being ready to move forward with a stand-alone TPA bill, House Democrats initially scheduled an emergency caucus meeting for Wednesday morning, where pro-TPA Democrats were expected to try to garner support for the Republican strategy. That meeting was abruptly canceled late Tuesday after it was clear that the Rules Committee wasn't meeting to set up a vote on a clean fast-track bill. The panel isn't expected to meet until next week to set up the vote.

Boehner's strategy, according to Democratic and Republican aides, is to pass the clean TPA bill and send it to the Senate, where lawmakers would then attach TAA to a separate trade bill for African countries, the African Growth and Opportunity Act. The strategy behind the approach is to pressure members of the Congressional Black Caucus to support TAA this time around, since the controversial funding would now be tied to AGOA, which they support.

If House Republicans do pursue a stand-alone TPA bill, it won’t necessarily make matters better for the president’s trade agenda. Passing a clean bill would be far more difficult in the Senate. Obama has vowed to veto a fast-track bill unless TAA is also passed or attached. Obama’s trade package made it through the upper chamber last month, but TAA was attached.

These machinations may now be moot. Major Garrett is reporting that the President will not sign a TPA bill unless it is accompanied by a TAA bill.

Via: Red State

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