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Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins is defending the Boy Scouts of America's policy banning gay members by saying the organization wanted to "make good citizens" by encouraging scouts to be "morally straight."

In a letter earlier this week, Perkins had blasted UPS CEO D. Scott Davis after the shipping company decided to stop funding the Boy Scouts over its anti-LGBT stance.

"Apparently, the company isn't interested in true diversity but in strong-arming anyone who disagrees with their extreme agenda -- including a century-old youth development program, whose only crime is instilling character into millions of American boys," a statement on FRC's website said. "As for their longstanding policy on homosexuality, the Boy Scouts are doing what every parent would want them to: putting children's safety first."

CNN host John Berman on Friday, invited Perkins, who founded the designated hate group, to explain why his organization was boycotting UPS.

"Well, the Boy Scouts for over 100 years, as part of their moral code, has challenged boys to be straight and to be upstanding citizens," Perkins opined. "That's their code, morally straight, that they not engage in sexual behavior, that they keep themselves morally conditioned and mentally sharp, and that's been their code."

"What have you is you have a few corporations, major corporations, who are saying, look, unless you abandon a century old value set, we're not going to give you money," he continued. "And the -- some things don't change with time. The Boy Scouts are one that have laid down a marker and said we will continue with what's worked for our boys. We're going to continue to produce young men who make good citizens."

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I still can't understand why David Gregory has a job, when it takes another reporter from another network to show the hypocrisy Gregory's own guests are displaying right at his Meet The Press desk.

Fareed Zakaria argued on February 4 that the budget Obama inherited was completely broken in the first place, first by the Bush tax cuts and secondly by the prescription drug plan for the elderly and two wars that were "off budget." The Bush Administration set the next several generations up with a massive budgetary mess that will not go away with politics running the governmental show.

But Zakaria points out that even those who are NOT elected officials, including Hank Paulson and Alan Greenspan, are so subservient to the corporate overlords that they will not hear of rescinding the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy even after they wail over the horrible-ness of the deficits.

Until some grown-ups run the show in Washington, our Federal financial house will be a condemned hovel.

November 23, 2009 ABC NIGHTLINE

Part 1

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Part 2

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In the "Nightline" interview, Hampton provides astonishing new details about the affair and its many repercussions, including the end of a close 20-year friendship between the two families and the loss of the Hamptons' jobs.

"Lost my job. Lost my best friend. Nearly lost my wife," he said on the ripple effect of Ensign's affair.

Hampton makes allegations of hypocrisy, hubris -- cover-ups and maybe even crimes -- that have destroyed lives and could destroy Ensign's political career.

"It's hard to comprehend what's still taking place, what's going on this moment, with regards to the unraveling of the choices and the decisions that John's made," Hampton said.

Hampton said he's finally speaking out because he wants Ensign held accountable.

"I think there are missing pieces to what's been reported," he said. "Important for people to understand what the senator has done. ... The truth needs to come out."

Ensign Once the Rising GOP Star

Ensign was a rising star in the Republican Party. During his second term, there were already rumblings that the junior senator from Nevada might be the party's next best hope for president.

Ensign was an attractive candidate: good-looking, from a wealthy Las Vegas family, with impeccable conservative credentials. "Born again" in college, Ensign was a loud and leading voice for lawmakers adhering to strict Christian family values. He argued passionately for the Federal Marriage Amendment and publicly condemned President Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, when he was accused of propositioning another man in a public restroom.

Read more at NIGHTLINE

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I was saying that Chris Matthews should have read Janis Karpinski's book when he was trying to rebut Michael Smerconish the other day. Well it looks like someone else at MSNBC has. Keith Olbermann talks to former Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski about how the torture at Abu Ghraib was a direct result of policies which were crafted by the higher ups in the Bush administration.

Olbermann: What does the Levin tell us about this prison and what happened there.

Karpinski: It basically says there's a direct line from these memorandum, the policies and the permissions and the directives included in those memorandum through Gen. Miller at Guantanamo Bay Cuba, migrated directly with Gen. Miller and his Tiger Team of about twenty four people who came to advise the military intelligence interrogators of these harsher interrogation techniques. Straight line.

She has a few words for Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld and the rest of the Bush administration that let the soldiers take the fall for their decisions.

Karpinski: This is one of the most shameful aspects of these memos and the knowledge that people at the highest levels of our government had about these memos, actually sat together and wrote them and rewrote them and crafted them to meet the requirements of these techniques they wanted to use.

They were well aware, these people, Rumsfeld, Sanchez, all of them and were well aware of these policies and these memorandums while these soldiers were being accused....five years ago. And if it was okay Mr. Former Vice President, if you're saying that this was necessary today and that it produced good intelligence..where were you five years ago stepping up to the plate and saying hold on, we can't discuss this because this is classified information, but these soldiers did not design these techniques? Where were all of those heros then to step up to the plate and defend these soldiers and to defend me? These were soldiers that were serving in a combat zone that were good Americans and remain good Americans and that were so unfairly blamed. Five years this month to get these memos released, declassified and released and people still trying to say that what happened at Abu Ghraib was different than what these memorandums were directing. No! It is not!

The Republicans have been desperate to put distance between what happened at Abu Ghraib and Gitmo and are barking that all over the airways the last few days. Janis Karpinski is the best spokesperson to blow a hole in that argument since she was right in the middle of it and I was glad to see Keith have her on.