AirCongress The Online Voice Of Capitol Hill

Sen. Evan Bayh, a Democrat, criticized the Supreme Court for its Monday decision to uphold a voter-identification law in Bayh’s home state of Indiana.

The law requires voters to present photo identification at their polling places. Bayh told PBS talk-show host Tavis Smiley that the requirement, which the court supported on a 6-3 vote, will disenfranchise too many minority, disabled and elderly voters.

Bayh rejected the notion that the law is necessary for security reasons. “[I]n the absence of voter fraud, I just don’t see the reasoning for this,” he said.

Categories: Indiana, Producer's Picks, Evan Bayh, Civil Liberties, Government Reform, Courts, Voting Rights

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Federal income-tax returns are due to the Internal Revenue Service, making this week a politically opportune time for Congress to debate tax issues.

The House today debated a “taxpayer assistance” bill that would end the private collection of federal taxes, strengthen taxpayer protections from identity theft and tax fraud, stop federal contractors from using foreign subsidiaries to evade Social Security and other employment taxes, simplify the reporting of cellular telephone taxes, and expand tax help for low-income taxpayers.

Democrats who spoke in favor of the bill included Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, Brad Ellsworth of Indiana and Rahm Emanuel of Illinois.

Categories: Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Oregon, Producer's Picks, Technology, Brad Ellsworth, Taxes, Earl Blumenauer, Crime, Rosa DeLauro, Rahm Emanuel

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Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has been under fire for days because of his statement that small-town Americans “cling” to guns, religion and bigotry because they are “bitter” about their economic circumstances. But other candidates may be tested by Obama’s “bitter” comments, too.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is trying to attach Obama’s words to Democratic Senate candidates Al Franken of Minnesota and Mark Warner of Virginia. The NRSC issued a video press release that all but dares them to endorse Obama.

The video releases also target Democratic convention “superdelegates” John Kerry of Massachusetts, Mary Landreiu of Louisiana, Mark Udall of Colorado and Tom Udall of New Mexico.

Categories: Virginia, Colorado, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Producer's Picks, Gun Rights, Politics, John Kerry, Mary Landrieu, Religion, Tom Udall, Race, Mark Warner, Al Franken, Mark Udall

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On the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. this week, members of the House and Senate took time to remember his impact in American history.

Lawmakers featured in this video include: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C.; Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.; and Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, a Michigan Democrat who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus.

Categories: California, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Nevada, Producer's Picks, Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Race, James Clyburn, History, John Lewis, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Martin Luther King Jr.

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It has been almost two weeks since I posted here at AirCongress, and the few regular readers I have may be wondering where I’ve been. It’s time for a long-overdue explanation.

A few weeks before Christmas last year, I learned that my job as the editor of National Journal’s Technology Daily was ending due to a layoff. I spent the next several works looking for work and was fortunate enough to land a sweet job as the executive producer of Eyeblast.tv, a video-sharing site and online social network for young conservatives.

I stayed at Tech Daily until we ceased publication Jan. 31 and began my new gig at Eyeblast, a product of the Media Research Center, on Feb. 4 — the last day I posted content to AirCongress. Eyeblast is a work in progress, and my role is to help the MRC finish editorially what it started technologically several months ago.

We did a soft launch at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington last weekend. I spoke as part of a new media panel there and spread the word to fellow conservatives who visited our booth. In short, I’ve been rather busy since Feb. 4.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t been blogging, but I’ve been dedicating my off-hours writing to another blog I launched in January, Taxation With Representation. For the next year, I’m tracking every penny our family pays in taxes in an effort to help Americans better understand the tax burdens on them.

I’ll get back to work here at AirCongress eventually. In the mean time, I hope you’ll visit Eyeblast and my anti-tax blog. As much as I’ve loved working in the mainstream media, it is very liberating to be out of the conservative closet and speaking and writing exactly what I think, without the objectivity restraints of the modern journalistic world.

AirCongress, however, will stay true to its original mission. This site will not be pushing a conservative agenda, and the best online audio and video will be posted here regardless of the political views espoused within it. If you think I’m failing in that effort, by all means register your complaints via the contact form at the top of the page.

I’ve also updated the “About” page for this site and my bio page to reflect the nature of my new job. The readers of AirCongress deserve to know my political leanings, especially while I am serving full time in a role where my goal is to further the cause of conservatism.

Also consider this entry a disclosure that I will embed video from Eyeblast time to time on this site. My goal is to solicit compelling content from users for that site and to eventually produce some of my own, and I fully intend to showcase it here. When I do, I will include disclosures within each entry to that effect. I will be embedding my first video from Eyeblast momentarily.

Categories: AirCongress, Producer's Picks, Technology, Media, Eyeblast

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