Harry Reid Short on Votes for ‘Nuclear Option’ to Change Filibuster Rule

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photo credit: fightingforourhealthDemocrats don’t have the 51 votes they need in the Senate to change filibuster rules that could make it harder for the GOP minority to wield power in the upper chamber.

Lawmakers leading the charge acknowledge they remain short, but express optimism they’ll hit their goal.

“I haven’t counted 51 just yet, but we’re working,” said Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a leading proponent of the so-called constitutional or “nuclear” option, in which Senate rules could be changed by a majority vote.

“We’re building the momentum right now,” Udall said. “It’s hard to say at this point, but I think it’s looking very good. The last two years have really helped coalesce people’s minds around the idea that we need to change the way we do business.”

The problem for Udall and other supporters of filibuster reform is that many veteran Democratic senators remember when the filibuster was a useful tool in their years in the minority.

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Probe Widens: Petraeus Scandal Leads to Investigation of Commander in Afghanistan

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KABUL—U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Tuesday asked the Senate to put on hold the confirmation of the top commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John Allen, as the new NATO supreme allied commander for Europe following the discovery of allegedly inappropriate communications between the general and a Tampa social planner.

The planner, Jill Kelley, is at the center of a scandal involving Gen. Allen’s predecessor as the top coalition commander in Kabul, Gen. David Petreaus, who resigned as CIA director last week after acknowledging an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation began probing the matter earlier this year, after Ms. Kelley complained about harassing emails that, according to officials, were eventually traced to Ms. Broadwell. Both women are married, as are Gens. Petreaus and Allen. As part of this inquiry, the FBI also uncovered some 30,000 pages of emails between Ms. Kelley and Gen. Allen, a senior defense official told reporters traveling with Mr. Panetta.

Mr. Panetta said in a statement that the Pentagon received the information concerning Gen. Allen from the FBI on Sunday, and has opened its own investigation. Adultery is a crime under the military code of justice. Gen. Allen’s spokesman declined to comment on the matter and referred all queries to the Pentagon.

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FBI Reportedly Searches Home of Petraeus Mistress

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FBI agents raided the Dilworth, North Carolina home of Paula Broadwell, the woman accused of having an affair with former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus Monday night. Petraeus resigned last Friday, citing his infidelity.

Local stations WSOC, WCNC, and WBTV reported the FBI confirmed its agents were inside Broadwell’s home, but nearly a dozen agents on scene “would not confirm what they were looking for” as they were “carrying boxes and taking photographs inside the home.” Several reporters relayed what they saw at the home through Twitter as it happened.

Broadwell was Petraeus’s biographer and may have started her affair with him while embedded with the general in Afghanistan. Broadwell allegedly sent threatening emails from a dummy account to a Florida woman, Jill Kelley, which Kelley reported to the FBI. An FBI investigation discovered Broadwell was having an affair with Petraeus after the menacing emails were traced to accounts associated with her. Broadwell had supposedly suspected Kelley was romantically involved with Petraeus and was apparently jealous of her.

Broadwell may have had access to classified information. She revealed last month during a speech at the University of Denver that terrorists may have attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi to take back prisoners detained at a secret CIA prison. The CIA has denied Broadwell’s allegations.

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Where’s the Beef? No Media Outrage Over Mitt Romney Getting Shut Out in 59 Philadelphia Precincts

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photo credit: kiskeacityIt’s one thing for a Democratic presidential candidate to dominate a Democratic city like Philadelphia, but check out this head-spinning figure: In 59 voting divisions in the city, Mitt Romney received not one vote. Zero. Zilch.

These are the kind of numbers that send Republicans into paroxysms of voter-fraud angst, but such results may not be so startling after all.

“We have always had these dense urban corridors that are extremely Democratic,” said Jonathan Rodden, a political science professor at Stanford University. “It’s kind of an urban fact, and you are looking at the extreme end of it in Philadelphia.”

Most big cities are politically homogeneous, with 75 percent to 80 percent of voters identifying as Democrats.

[But] was there not one contrarian voter in those 59 divisions, where unofficial vote tallies have President Obama outscoring Romney by a combined 19,605 to 0?

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Likely House Judiciary Panel Chairman Strong Opponent of DREAM Act

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The Republican lawmaker who is expected to take over the House Judiciary Committee has been a strong critic of immigration reform plans such as the DREAM Act.

That could pose problems for Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who this week called for “comprehensive immigration reform.”

Hard-line immigration reform lawmaker Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) is expected to take the gavel of term-limited Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas). The panel has primary jurisdiction on immigration matters.

Goodlatte opposes efforts to create guest-worker programs, or grant amnesty to illegal aliens. He spoke out against the DREAM Act when the House voted on the measure in December of 2010, calling it “unfair” and “ripe for fraud.”

Goodlatte said that “the DREAM Act could mean mass amnesty for 2.1 million illegal immigrants…same thing occurred after the 1986 amnesty bill, the Immigration and Control Act, was enacted. Everyone said that was going to end illegal immigration. It opened the doors to more. This is going to do exactly the same thing.”

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White House Website Deluged With Secession Petitions From 19 States

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photo credit: beverly and packHow would Old Glory look with 31 stars instead of 50? As far-fetched as it may sound, the White House might soon be forced by its own rules to examine the question.

On Nov.7, the day after President Barack Obama was re-elected, the White House’s website received a petition asking the administration to allow Louisiana to secede.

If 25,000 people sign the petition by Dec. 7, it will “require a response” from the Obama administration, according to published rules of the White House’s online “We the People” program.

The Louisiana petition has collected more than 12,000 signatures in four days. A separate effort from Texas has 14,000 supporters.

Similar petitions from 17 other states began arriving Nov. 9, bringing the total to 19.

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Gay-rights Groups Push Obama for Executive Order Banning ‘Discrimination’

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photo credit: mark fowlerGay rights advocates plan to push President Obama to go big on their agenda in his second term.

Buoyed by the approval of same-sex marriage in several states on Election Day, lobbyists for gay rights groups plan to prod the president to sign an executive order that would ban discrimination by federal contractors against gay and transgendered people.

The White House shelved the executive order earlier this year, but it remains a top priority for gay rights groups. They argue that if Obama signs the order it could encourage Capitol Hill to pass broader legislation that would extend a similar ban to employers.

Allison Herwitt, legislative director for the Human Rights Campaign, said gay rights supporters want to see movement from the president soon.

“The push is to have them do it sooner instead of later,” Herwitt said. “I do think it helps pave the way for a fully inclusive [Employment Non-Discrimination Act]. … It is the way that the government puts its imprimatur on what’s important and makes a difference in people’s lives. The president would be saying it’s important not to discriminate.”

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Mysterious Explosion Kills Residents, Destroys Homes in Indiana

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photo credit: APA massive explosion sparked a huge fire and killed two people in an Indianapolis neighborhood, authorities said Sunday. The powerful nighttime blast shattered windows, crumpled walls and could be felt at least three miles away. Officials say as many as 31 homes were damaged so badly they may need to be demolished.

Seven people were taken to a hospital with injuries after the explosion and fire, Deputy Fire Chief Kenny Bacon said.

Bacon also told reporters Sunday investigators haven’t ruled out any possible causes of the late-night blast that was heard miles away.

But a congressman who represents the Indianapolis neighborhood says investigators have ruled out a bomb or a meth lab.

U.S. Rep. Andre Carson said he had received that report from Homeland Security officials during a tour of the devastated middle-class subdivision.

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Media Ignore New Emails Detailing Obama Energy Dept. Corruption

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One week before the presidential election, a Congressional committee released Obama administration emails that showed a pattern of political pressure from President Barack Obama and others in his administration. The emails indicate favoritism toward Democrat politicians and donors in the awarding of federal energy loans.

The mainstream media chose not to report on the emails, even though just days before their release, Obama had flatly stated in an interview that politics played no part in awarding the loans.

In the old days of hard-nosed journalism, i.e., before the Age of Obama, if the president was caught lying about his involvement in a government payola scandal, it would have been front page news and led the evening newscasts of the broadcast networks.

Not anymore. Even with the release of an email in which an official says what, in a different media era, would become a catch phrase for administration corruption: “What’s a billion, anyhow?”

Even with the release of emails showing President Obama personally involved in awarding loans.

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FBI Whistle-Blower Told Eric Cantor About Petraeus Affair in October

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An FBI whistleblower told House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in late October that ex-CIA Director David Petraeus had been involved in an extramarital affair and was potentially putting national security at risk, the New York Times reported Saturday.

Cantor reportedly knew about the affair for at least a week and a half before Petraeus resigned Friday.

“I was contacted by an F.B.I. employee concerned that sensitive, classified information may have been compromised and made certain Director Mueller was aware of these serious allegations and the potential risk to our national security,” Cantor said in a statement to the Times.

According to the Times, Cantor learned through Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.) “that a whistle-blower wanted to speak to someone in the Congressional leadership about a national security concern.” Cantor’s chief of staff called the FBI afterward on Oct. 31 to inform them about what Cantor had learned.

A Cantor spokesman confirmed the report to CNN on Sunday.

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