D.C. Report: Inhofe, Coburn lend names to Akin fundraiser
BY RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer
Sunday, October 07, 2012
10/07/12 at 2:50 AM
U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn lent their names to a fundraiser last week for Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin of Missouri.
Inhofe and Coburn were listed along with South Carolina's U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint as "honorary hosts" of the event, which was held on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
Inhofe's office said he did not attend the event and believes Akin's statement in August that women cannot become pregnant as the result of "legitimate rape" was "inexcusable."
"However," said Inhofe spokesman Jared Young, "Akin is the Republican Senate nominee in Missouri, and Sen. Inhofe supports him as the nominee."
Coburn's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Akin's remark about "legitimate rape" not causing pregnancy was followed in recent weeks by a claim that abortion providers routinely perform the procedure on women who are not pregnant and the revelation that for the past 10 years he's failed to report income from his state of Missouri pension on his federal financial disclosure form.
"Fusion centers" blasted: A Senate investigation initiated by Sen. Tom Coburn found that a highly touted component of the Department of Homeland Security has produced no significant counterterrorism information, Coburn said last week.
"It's troubling that the very 'fusion' centers that were designed to share information in a post-9/11 world have become part of the problem," he said.
"Instead of strengthening our counterterrorism efforts, they have too often wasted money and stepped on Americans' civil liberties."
Homeland Security describes fusion centers as "focal points within the state and local environment for the receipt, analysis, gathering and sharing of threat-related information between the federal government and state, local, tribal, territorial and private sector partners."
The report released last week says the country has about 70 of the centers and that the federal government has spent between $289 million and $1.4 billion on them.
Inhofe rejects Iran offer: Sen. Jim Inhofe dismissed Iran's "nine-step plan" for cooling nuclear threats in the Middle East, calling it a "delay tactic" while the country continues to develop atomic weapons.
"Iran's offer is a mirror image to the ... hollow offers by North Korea," Inhofe said. "Iran and North Korea are the pariahs of the community of nations because they lie, plain and simple, and are bent on the destruction of all who oppose their perverted and deadly ideology."
Inhofe wants EPA hearing: Inhofe asked for a hearing on charges the Environmental Protection Agency has conducted "illegal human experiments" involving dust and diesel exhaust.
"EPA has repeatedly said that these substances can cause cancer and lead to death. So if these allegations of human experiments are true, it just validates the problem that the Obama EPA's mission is not about public health," Inhofe said.
"I am calling on Sen. (Barbara) Boxer to hold hearings on this matter immediately when Congress returns. As the committee of oversight over EPA, it is crucial that we get to the bottom of this and hold EPA accountable."
Debaters over the top: If it seemed like moderator Jim Lehrer had trouble getting a word in edgewise during last week's presidential debate, it's because he did.
Researchers at George Mason University found President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney talked over Lehrer three times as often as Obama and John McCain did in 2008's first presidential debate.
They said Lehrer was cut off 30 times during the 90-minute debate, compared to 10 times four years ago.
