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Keith Olbermann talked to ThinkProgress' Faiz Shakir who helped author a new report from the Center for American Progress -- REPORT: $42 Million From Seven Foundations Helped Fuel The Rise Of Islamophobia In America:

Following a six-month long investigative research project, the Center for American Progress released a 130-page report today which reveals that more than $42 million from seven foundations over the past decade have helped fan the flames of anti-Muslim hate in America. The authors — Wajahat Ali, Eli Clifton, Matt Duss, Lee Fang, Scott Keyes, and myself — worked to expose the Islamophobia network in depth, name the major players, connect the dots, and trace the genesis of anti-Muslim propaganda.

The report, titled “Fear Inc.: The Roots Of the Islamophobia Network In America,” lifts the veil behind the hate, follows the money, and identifies the names of foundations who have given money, how much they have given, and who they have given to [...]

The money has flowed into the hands of five key “experts” and “scholars” who comprise the central nervous system of anti-Muslim propaganda:

FRANK GAFFNEY, Center for Security Policy – “A mosque that is used to promote a seditious program, which is what Sharia is…that is not a protected religious practice, that is in fact sedition.” [Source]

DAVID YERUSHALMI, Society of Americans for National Existence: “Muslim civilization is at war with Judeo-Christian civilization…the Muslim peoples, those committed to Islam as we know it today, are our enemies.” [Source]

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The mainstream media in Ohio (specifically around Cincinnati) seem to have latched onto the story that ThinkProgress broke by showing the lengths some Congressmen will go to avoid looking bad on YouTube. Well, Steve Chabot just made himself look a whole lot worse with these sleazy tactics. They seized citizen journalists' cameras in front of news cameras.

Now Chabot is accusing ThinkProgress of having organized the protest to make him look bad. TP has found an unlikely defender in the form of that other TP, the tea party.

Chabot didn’t just take flak for his filming crackdown from the left. Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips discussed the matter in an article entitled “America’s dumbest Republican Congressman“:

I don’t know any other way to put this. Chabot is a moron. First, you cannot confiscate the property of a private citizen without a warrant or some other due process. Second, and I will type this slowly just in case Chabot is reading this so he will understand this. PHOTOGRAPHY IS NOT A CRIME.

If you go in public, you can expect to be photographed and recorded on video. Perhaps Chabot should go back and read the Constitution.

Here is the report and video from WLWT in Cincinnati. Below the fold are the original YouTube videos by ThinkProgress and ProgressOhio which have caused this commotion, and that Chabot will likely regret.

(WLWT) NORTH AVONDALE -- A meeting between Rep. Steve Chabot and constituents on Monday included confrontations over cameras at the event.

Two protesters had their cameras taken from them by a Cincinnati police officer at the event at the North Avondale Recreation Center. When one pulled out a camera phone to shoot a photo, he was escorted to the back of the room.

The officer pointed out that a sign had been placed at the door to the meeting stating that cameras weren't allowed, while the protesters said that it was a public meeting space and they had a right to use cameras.

Protesters complained that unlike previous Chabot events, the public was not allowed to speak, but had to submit questions in writing that Chabot would answer.

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It appears it's not only Pat Buchanan and the right-wing noise machine over at Fox who are delusional enough to pretend that if we just asked the rich more nicely, they might volunteer to pay higher taxes.

It was nice to see another one of these Republican Reps treated the way they deserve to be at their town hall meetings by their actual constituents, who are rightfully upset with the class warfare they're waging on the poor and middle class, instead of loads of screaming "tea partiers" being bused in by the Koch brothers and their rich buddies.

From Think Progress -- GOP Rep. Hultgren Draws Laughs At Town Hall With Plan To Beg, Not Require, Rich To Pay More Taxes:

Earlier this week, Rep. Randy Hultgren (R-IL) held a town hall in Sandwich, Illinois, where constituents angrily denounced his right-wing policies. During one particularly amusing moment, Hultgren tried to defend his stand against raising taxes on the wealthy, drawing a round of laughs from the audience.

“I’m not out there trying to coddle anybody,” he defensively claimed. He then went on to explain that, instead of raising taxes on the wealthy, Congress could adopt a bill that would allow the rich to make voluntary donations to the Treasury and have them count as charitable contributions:

HULTGREN: I’m not out there trying to coddle anybody. In fact, I support a bill that allows the super rich if they want to give more money to the federal government it could be a charitable contribution.

(audience laughs)

HULTGREN: I think that makes sense! Use it as a charitable contribution.

From Think Progress -- How The Bush Tax Cuts Blew Up The Deficit And Debt:

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the first of President George W. Bush’s two tax cuts, which have played a disproportionate role in blowing up the deficit and debt. As the Center for American Progress’ Michael Ettlinger and Michael Linden found, the federal debt would be at a sustainable level today — even with the wars and the financial crisis — were it not for the Bush tax cuts. ThinkProgress has assembled this short animation showing how the Bush tax cuts drove the deficit and debt up and are still ruining the budget picture today.

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Anderson Cooper and his producers apparently think that something mentioned in a post by the liberal web site Think Progress that was not the main topic of the post that they took issue with somehow is equal to what hatemonger Michelle Malkin does day in and day out on her blog, and these two websites somehow are equal in spreading misinformation to the public. All I can say after watching this is: Shame on Anderson Cooper and his producers, and shame on the supposed liberal on the panel, Maria Cardona, for letting this pass without defending the work that Think Progress has done week after week on their site.

Here is the post that was being criticized by Cooper -- Gohmert Warns Of ‘Reverting’ To Era Of Congressional Duels — While Pushing Bill To Arm Congressmen. The main substance of that post was that it is pretty well insane for Gohmert to be pushing for handguns to be allowed on the House floor. They mentioned that his argument that there was a handgun ban in DC was not true.

Here's Cooper's criticism of that.

COOPER: Well, the liberal blog ThinkProgress jumped all over Gohmert's idea, mocking it, calling it -- quote -- "harebrained." Their main point was this, though. "Gohmert" -- and I'm quoting -- "Gohmert explained the need for his bill by falsely claiming that Washington, D.C., has a gun ban. The Roberts Supreme Court did away with D.C.'s handgun ban in 2008."

Well, there's only one problem with that statement. It's wrong. Even after that Supreme Court decision, ordinary citizens cannot carry a registered -- registered handgun in D.C. You can keep a handgun in your home if you have a permit, but you can't carry one.

Now, you can say what you want about Louie Gohmert's idea of lawmakers carrying guns in and around the Capitol, but you should criticize it based on actual facts, not made-up ones, which is just what ThinkProgress did.

Handguns may not be entirely banned in DC, but you still can't go walking around with one on the streets or bring one into the halls of Congress. I think Cooper's splitting hairs here with the language in the Think Progress post.

This just looks like an excuse to me for CNN to play the "all sides are equally bad" game and take a shot at Think Progress. Those folks actually have one of the few liberal think tanks out there behind the research they're doing, unlike Malkin, who just makes crap up to be outraged about. And one last note here: If Think Progress does end up realizing they made a mistake in their reporting, we're likely to get a retraction from them. You're never going to see that from the likes of Michelle Malkin.

In the meantime, we get to hear more of the "all sides do it" bulls**t from the Villagers who would not recognize an honest conservation about anything if it bit them on the nose.

Transcript below the fold via CNN.

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Liz Trotta attacks Think Progress for their reporting on the US Chamber of Commerce and their foreign funding. Trotta reads two lines from a New York Times op-ed that Think Progress has already thoroughly debunked as her proof that their reporting isn't to be trusted because they're a "far left" blog. Sadly Liz Trotta wouldn't know what a real journalist looked like if one bit her on the nose.

Here is the response from Think Progress to that NYT's op-ed.

GRAPHIC: How The Chamber Gets Its Foreign Money:

After consulting with the Chamber of Commerce’s chief lobbyist Bruce Josten, the New York Times and the Washington Post publish articles today largely dismissing concerns about the Chamber’s foreign sources of funding as a means to raise money to air political attack ads. Both the Times and the Post articles fail to appreciate the scope of the Chamber’s foreign sources of funding, focusing instead too narrowly on independently-run, foreign-based “AmChams.” The Times casually disregards our report as part of a “Washington spin cycle” (which apparently also involves the New York Times editorial board). [...]

In fact, as ThinkProgress has noted, “AmChams” are only a small piece of the puzzle. Most of the Chamber’s foreign sources of funds come from large multi-national corporations which are headquartered abroad, like BP and Siemens. Direct contributions from foreign firms also are accepted under the auspices of the Chamber’s “Business Councils” located in various foreign countries. [...]

Neither the Times nor the Post appear to have pressed the Chamber to answer two critical questions:

1) How many foreign sources of funding does the Chamber have? The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent received this statement from a Chamber spokeswoman: “[Of] the Chamber’s 300,000 members, a relative handful are non-U.S. based companies.” How many is a “relatively handful,” and how much do they contribute?

2) Are the foreign funds being directed into the same general account that is used to pay for partisan attack ads? Again, the Post’s Greg Sargent pressed on this point. The Chamber, which is running more than $10 million in political advertising just this week (the largest expenditure in one week by an outside group), said, “We are not obligated to discuss our internal accounting procedures.”

You can read all of their recent posts on the US Chamber of Commerce here. Full transcript of Liz Trotta's hackery below the fold.

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Keith Olbermann talked to Think Progress' Faiz Shakir about his recent article on the US Chamber of Commerce.

GRAPHIC: How The Chamber Gets Its Foreign Money:

After consulting with the Chamber of Commerce’s chief lobbyist Bruce Josten, the New York Times and the Washington Post publish articles today largely dismissing concerns about the Chamber’s foreign sources of funding as a means to raise money to air political attack ads. Both the Times and the Post articles fail to appreciate the scope of the Chamber’s foreign sources of funding, focusing instead too narrowly on independently-run, foreign-based “AmChams.” [...]

In fact, as ThinkProgress has noted, “AmChams” are only a small piece of the puzzle. Most of the Chamber’s foreign sources of funds come from large multi-national corporations which are headquartered abroad, like BP and Siemens. Direct contributions from foreign firms also are accepted under the auspices of the Chamber’s “Business Councils” located in various foreign countries. [...]

Neither the Times nor the Post appear to have pressed the Chamber to answer two critical questions:

1) How many foreign sources of funding does the Chamber have? The Washington Post’s Greg Sargent received this statement from a Chamber spokeswoman: “[Of] the Chamber’s 300,000 members, a relative handful are non-U.S. based companies.” How many is a “relatively handful,” and how much do they contribute?

2) Are the foreign funds being directed into the same general account that is used to pay for partisan attack ads? Again, the Post’s Greg Sargent pressed on this point. The Chamber, which is running more than $10 million in political advertising just this week (the largest expenditure in one week by an outside group), said, “We are not obligated to discuss our internal accounting procedures.”

Go read the whole article for the graphic and more.

Faiz Shakir also did a great job reminding everyone of Karl Rove's past after his carping about being put on an "enemies list" this weekend.

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From Think Progress, something that I've been wondering myself as I've watched this disaster go on in the Gulf, why are we letting the criminals run the show with the effort to fix this thing? As I've said before, the only thing it looks like they're doing is as much damage control as possible for future law suits and trying to salvage as much oil as possible from the well as they can before someone stops them. I don't feel any differently as their latest attempt at the "top kill" maneuver failed.

The above video is Doug Brinkley's disgust with the entire situation which I know everyone from that area is feeling and here's some of what Think Progress's Wonk Room had to contribute on why BP should not be running the show on getting this gusher of oil stopped.

Yes, We Can Push Out BP:

The latest attempt by BP to shut down its apocalyptic oil gusher — the “top kill” maneuver — has failed, despite BP CEO Tony Hayward’s assurance yesterday that it had a 70 percent chance of success. There’s no question that the federal government, if the president so decides, can take over the challenge of mitigating the damage of BP’s oil to the shores and waters of the Gulf of Mexico. But can President Obama take charge of stopping the wellhead gusher from the foreign oil giant? The administration argues it’s keeping BP in charge of the attempts to shut down the blown out well because government doesn’t have the equipment or expertise to solve this engineering problem without BP.

...The administration has been keeping an ecological criminal in charge of the crime scene during a national crisis. Seventeen nations have offered assistance — but “the final decision is up to BP” to accept it, according to the State Department — and only Canada, Mexico and Norway have been allowed to help so far. The law — Title 33, Section 1321 — mandates that President Obama “shall direct all Federal, State, and private actions to remove the discharge,” using any means necessary. There are not any resources — people or equipment — that Obama doesn’t have the authority to seize and put into service.

...In fact, the president has the authority to nationalize BP America and seize all of its assets, rendering the question of reliance on BP moot. If Obama does not believe that the Clean Water Act’s “spill of national significance” provisions give him sufficient authority, he can rightly declare a national emergency, or demand that Congress deliver him necessary legislation. Or there’s an easier option: BP is on the hook for all costs of this apocalyptic disaster. Obama can simply buy BP America and send the bill to its foreign parent company.

Go read the whole post. I don't think too many people would disagree with their points, including Doug Brinkley. BP cannot be trusted to clean up the disaster they created and the administration needs to come to grips with that. Yesterday would not be soon enough. They need to be removed from the decisions on how to fix this and criminally prosecuted for how they've handled this disaster, along with Halliburton and Transocean.

As Brinkley noted BP has constantly been in cover up mode and they've had to be called to Washington to get any information released. They should not be trusted to fix this. I hope he's wrong that the country is not paying attention to this disaster.

From The Uptake--Ed Schultz "I'd Kick Their Ass" If I Ran For US Senate:

Talk show host Ed Schultz says he's not running for US Senate in North Dakota but if he were he'd "kick their ass" referring to Republicans. Schultz also says " We need to get the people who have infiltrated the Democratic-Progressive movement and get them the hell out" and "We need to get rid of Michele Bachmann" (wild applause)

Schultz spoke at AM950's Blue State Bash in Minneapolis. Distributed by Tubemogul.

And Think Progress--Ed Schultz Tells Robert Gibbs He’s ‘Full Of Sh*t’ And ‘You’re Losing Your Base’:

Last night, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz spoke at Minnesota progressive talk radio AM950’s Blue State Bash at the Minneapolis Convention Center. During his remarks, Schultz revealed that he recently had a testy confrontation with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs (Gibbs appeared on Schultz’s show this past Thursday). “Mr. Gibbs and I had quite a conversation off the air the other night,” he revealed:

SCHULTZ: I told him he was full of sh*t is what I told him. … And then he gave me the Dick Cheney f-bomb. … I told Robert Gibbs, I said “And I’m sorry you’re swearing at me, but I’m just trying to help you out. I’m telling you you’re losing your base. Do you understand you’re losing your base?”

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Give 'em hell big Eddie. Somebody needs to tell them what they don't want to hear. This isn't all that surprising after watching them the other night. The interview was already pretty heated before they got off the air.

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Glenn Beck makes Ed Schultz's Psycho Talk segment for this nonsense--Beck: We Should ‘Just Abolish Medicare’:

Yesterday, Senate Democrats working on health care reform reached a compromise on the public option that will create a network of nonprofit insurers and allow Americans between the ages of 55 and 64 to buy into Medicare. The right has hypocritically opposed a government-run public-option while simultaneously defending Medicare. On his radio show today, Fox News host Glenn Beck called Medicare what it is — a “government-run health care plan.”

Beck attacked the new compromise and proposed a simple solution of his own — “abolish Medicare”.

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Digby had this to say about it--Why Don't They All Get Jobs?:

You have to wonder if Beck is aware of the average age of his audience demographic? [...]

Update: Attatuk thinks it probably doesn't matter --- and he's probably right.