Townhall.com's Washington Beat March 15, 2011 Greg Hengler gives us a tale of two Schiller’s for this edition the Washington Beat . KING TAKES ON RADICAL ISLAM Despite protests from some in the American-Muslim community and the Council on American Islamic Relations, New York Rep. Pete King pushed ahead with a Homeland Security Committee hearing on Capitol Hill this week to better understand the radicalization of American Muslims and what that community is doing to prevent it. CAIR was at the center of the hearings as Rep. King and Rep. Frank Wolf of Viriginia called for the American-Muslim community to distance themselves from the radical organization, saying they are counterproductive to counter-terrorism investigations. CAIR has ties to the terrorist group Hamas and has advised American-Muslims not to co-operate with law enforcement. NPR BUSTED...AGAIN NPR got punked again this week. James O’Keefe released taped phone conversations between NPR Senior Director of Institutional Giving Betsy Liley, revealing Liley planned to accept a $5 million check from a group within the Muslim Brotherhood while giving advice about how the donation could be hidden from the government to avoid audit. The audio came just days after NPR President Ron Schiller was caught on video tape calling members of the tea party “racist, racist people.” In a planned statement, Liley claimed that NPR never planned to accept the $5 million donation and that she personally had repeatedly refused to accept it. The audio reveals otherwise. Ron Schiller was immediately fired and the next day NPR CEO Vivian Schiller, the woman responsible for firing Juan Williams, was forced out. Liley has also been fired. ATF STILL IN THE HOT SEAT The investigation into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms keeps getting uglier as new details emerge about “Project Gunrunner”. This week, Eric Holder boasted that in his opinion, ATF does a good job at keeping guns from flowing across the border into Mexico, in spite of a steady stream of accusations about ATF allowing thousands of weapons to be purchased by known drug cartels. Meanwhile, ATF and Border Patrol are supposed to be working together to stop violence caused by Mexican drug cartels by order of the President. When asked about Project Gunrunner, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said she was unaware of the operation as ATF falls under the Justice Department. BUDGET BATTLE RAGES ON Democrats are refusing to cut anything from the proposed budget and are now pushing for another (three week) continuing resolution. They claim that it will allow for debate to take place on moving forward with America’s dire fiscal situation. Conservatives in Congress, including the majority of tea party freshman, are not impressed, calling the budget dance ridiculous and declaring they will not vote to pass another continuing resolution that will only result in more useless inaction from Democrats. OBAMA FAILING TO LEAD The Middle East is burning and Japan is drowning and dealing with the possibility of a nuclear meltdown, U.S. gas prices are at an all time high, unemployment is still at 9 percent, Washington has yet to pass a budget for the year, the National Debt is scheduled to hit $15 trillion this year. So what's our President doing? Golfing and filling out his bracket for the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament. Democrats and Republicans alike have been looking to the White House for leadership on pressing issues both domestically and for foreign policy options and have been met with nothing. “They want him leading the country; they don't want him serving as a cable commentator for the issue of the day,” said White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer when pressed about Obama’s passive move. PALESTINIANS MURDER SLEEPING BABY IN THE NIGHT A three month baby girl, two other children 3 and 11 years-old and both of their parents were brutally murdered as Palestinians allegedly broke into their home in the middle of the night and slit their throats. Gaza residents took to the streets to celebrate the murders. Israel responded to the atrocity by declaring their commitment to continuing settlements in the West Bank. The U.S. State Department and the world responded by condemning the actions of Israel building in their own country, rather than focusing on the blatant disregard for life the Palestinians have shown over and over again through suicide bombings and now the grisly murder of three child and their parents. QUOTE OF THE WEEK Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee speaking at the Homeland Security Committee hearing on radical Islam in the American-Muslim community: “The Constitution is a living, breathing, document and it is in pain.” -Katie Pavlich is a Townhall.com Assistant Editor Be sure to check Townhall.com and our blog frequently for other updates.