Shock jock informant
The arrest of New Jersey blogger and shock jock radio talker Harold “Hal” Turner took a strange turn when court records revealed that he worked as a paid FBI informant who monitored white supremacist and other racist groups for the government.
Mr. Turner was charged in June for posting death threats against three federal appeals court judges in Chicago. “Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed,” he wrote on his blog. “Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty.”
He later updated his post with photos of the judges, their work addresses and their phone numbers as well as a map to their Chicago courthouse modified with arrows and labels signifying where “anti-truck bomb barriers” were located. He also noted that court was the same one that convicted Matt Hale, a white supremacist who solicited the murder of a U.S. District Court judge.
But Mr. Turner says he was paid to engage dangerous communities as a part of his work with the FBI. His code name was “Valhalla,” and he said received specialized instruction to target dangerous communities, although the FBI has denied giving him such training to the press.
The Bergen Record newspaper in New Jersey reviewed Mr. Turner’s court documents and found the FBI had admonished Mr. Turner in July 2007 for his rhetoric and “the potential of it inciting acts of violence” but continued to use him. The FBI also paid Mr. Turner to meet with a wealthy, white supremacist in Brazil.
Now, Mr. Turner says he’s been double-crossed by the FBI. His trial will begin Tuesday. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison and given a $250,000 fine.
’Escalation response’
The anti-war protest group Code Pink is urging supporters to participate in “escalation response” events to President Obama’s Tuesday night announcement that he will send tens of thousands of more troops to Afghanistan.
“This is not the hope you voted for!” reads one fuchsia-toned poster prepared by Code Pink that features Mr. Obama’s likeness above the slogan “Hopeless Escalation.”
Meanwhile …
The liberal left’s top grass-roots fundraising operation, MoveOn.org, is focusing on health care reform. Although MoveOn has strong ties to the anti-war movement, it has placed much more emphasis on health care than on anti-war efforts since Mr. Obama was elected president.
While the White House was preparing Mr. Obama’s Afghanistan address, MoveOn sent out an e-mail on Tuesday asking for donations for their “million-dollar campaign” to push conservative Democrats into supporting health care expansion plans.
MoveOn is currently showcasing five of its campaigns on the landing page of their Web site and only one of them is about war; the other four are health-care-focused. Under those campaigns, MoveOn is asking supporters to write letters to their local papers to make sure abortion is covered under government-approved insurance plans; thank Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, for including the public option in the Senate’s version of the health care bill; support a primary challenge to any Senate Democrat who votes against the bill; and lobby the American Medical Association to resign from the Chamber of Commerce.
The only call to action against the war is a blurb titled “An exit strategy for Afghanistan.” But it doesn’t contain a link to a MoveOn-drafted petition or donation solicitation like the other campaigns. It’s a direct link to www.WhiteHouse.gov/contact, the Obama administration’s page for sending any message to the White House. The only three options in the White House’s drop-down subject line are “Message of support, “I have a policy comment” and “I have a non-policy comment.”
No mention is made of the war in Iraq on MoveOn.org’s home page at all, a central issue in the 2006 and 2008 elections.
Nursing breaks
If the Senate health care bill is passed, employers will be required to give new moms special work breaks and a private area to pump their breast milk, referred to in medical terms as “expressing,” for one year after giving birth.
A portion of the Senate health care bill titled “Reasonable Break Time for Nursing Mothers” says employers shall provide: “a reasonable break time for an employee to express breast milk for her nursing child for 1 year after the child’s birth time each time such employee has need to express the milk; a place, other than a bathroom, that is shielded from view and free from intrusion from coworkers and the public, which may be used by an employee to express breast milk.”
An employer, however, will not be required to pay employees for time spent nursing. Also, employers with less than 50 employees will not be required to provide private nursing areas and breaks “if such requirements would ipose an undue hardship by causing the employer significant difficulty or expense.”
Before being inserted into the Senate bill, this provision was known as the Breastfeeding Promotion Act, championed by Sen. Jeff Merkley, Oregon Democrat. It was folded into the Senate bill because of studies showing children who are breast-fed are healthier, which could help reduce health care costs over time.
• Amanda Carpenter can be reached at acarpenter@ washingtontimes.com.
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