This store is about a quarter mile from my house - I won’t be shopping at Lowe’s again. - Editor

Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) Calls Out Lowe’s Bigotry

Murphy doesn't mince words here. He'll be a welcome addition to the U.S. Senate next year when he replaces the awful Joe Lieberman.

via The Hill:

"This is a major American company rubber-stamping basic foundational bigotry against a major American religious group," Murphy said. "Lowe's pulled these ads because one right-wing anti-Muslim group in Florida said that the show hides the 'true agenda of Islam,' which according to this group is to destroy America," he added. "It's one thing when a fringe group or a radical, unhinged pastor is doing it. It's quite another when a fortune 100 company is endorsing this nonsense."

Murphy, who is running for the Senate, rejected Lowe's statement that said some of its customers have "strong political and social views."

"Congratulations to Lowe's for acknowledging that there are some really bigoted people in the world," Murphy said. "That doesn't mean that Lowe's or any other company should acquiesce to this kind of behavior. For instance, there are, unfortunately, a lot of people out there who still hold racist views about African-Americans, but I don't think that means Lowe's is going to be pulling its ads from television shows featuring African-Americans."

UPDATE: John Amato:

After Scarce posted this yesterday on Video Cafe, it's taken off in the main stream media. Greg Sargent writes: Turning up the heat on Lowe’s and anti-Muslim bigotry

By now you may have heard that retail behemoth Lowe’s Home Improvement yanked ads from TLC’s “All-American Muslim” reality show after a single conservative Christian group complained that the show is “propaganda” that endangers “American liberties and Christian values.”

That one of the “American liberties” we hold to be important is freedom of religion was an irony lost on the group — and on Lowe’s — and the decision has been widely pilloried. Lowe’s subsequently offered a strikingly weak justification for the move, arguing that the program had triggered “strong political and societal views” and insisting that it is “best to respectfully defer to communities, individuals and groups to discuss and consider such issues of importance.” Lowe’s, of course, is only “deferring” to the bigoted views that one conservative group holds about millions and millions of Americans.

Now Dem Rep. Chris Murphy — who’s running for Senate in Connecticut — has given a wonderful speech on the House floor lambasting Lowe’s over the decision, mocking the company’s justification for it, and vowing that Congress will turn up the heat on Lowe’s to reverse course. Murphy says to Lowe’s: “You’re better than this”

Bernie Sanders Confronts Defense Contractor Fraud

Eric Dolan Raw Story

Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Senate floor Wednesday urged lawmakers to make the Pentagon fight against defense contractor fraud as they debated the National Defense Authorization Act.

“This country has a record breaking deficit and a $15 trillion national debt,” he said. “What many people do not know is that one of the reasons our deficit is as high as it is, is because there is a significant amount of fraud from defense contractors who sell their products to the Department of Defense.”

The Pentagon paid more than $1.1 trillion during the past decade to 37 contractors that had defrauded the Department of Defense, according to a report released in October. Another $255 million went to 54 defense contractors convicted of hard-core criminal fraud in the same period.

“I think the American people are very clear that when we pay a dollar for a product that goes to our military, we want to get a dollar’s worth of value,” Sanders continued. “That we do not want to see the taxpayers of this country or the Department of Defense ripped off by fraudulent contractors.”

Sanders has proposed an amendment to the annual defense bill that would require the Pentagon to step up its efforts to fight fraud and submit annual reports.

“What this amendment does is tell the DOD, ‘get your act together,’” he said.

Now The Republicans Are Going After AARP. Do We See A Pattern Here?

By Susie Madrak

My, they really are hypocrites of the highest degree, aren't they? After all the water they carried for the insurance industry for Medicare Part B, and during the health care debate, they're going to try to pin AARP with making money on insurance? What happened to their much-loved free market? Guess it only works when the businesses support the Republicans!

I'm not always a fan of AARP (they do provide affordable insurance to people who otherwise couldn't get it). They did a lot of work to push the Affordable Care Act, and they stand up for consumers on a wide variety of issues.

Bottom line? Even if I didn't like them at all, the fact that the Republicans have targeted them would make me want to defend them. After all, sometimes the enemy of my enemy is my friend!

Newly empowered House Republicans are getting ready to renew their attacks against AARP over its support for the healthcare reform law, The Hill has learned.

The Ways and Means health and oversight subcommittees are hauling in the seniors lobby's executives before the panel for an April 1 hearing on how the group stands to benefit from the law, among other topics. Republicans say AARP supported the law's $200 billion in cuts to the Medicare Advantage program because it stands to gain financially as seniors replace their MA plans with Medicare supplemental insurance — or Medigap — policies endorsed by the association. More...