BS: Popular Views: the Obama Administration

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 05:59 PM

Do you think shaving her head would help?

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: akenaton
Date: 30 Jan 09 - 07:12 PM

:0)

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 31 Jan 09 - 10:03 PM

21 Jan 2009 ... The executive order on ethics I will sign shortly represents a clean break from business as usual. As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any -- under any other administration in history.

If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years. When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am president.

Two days later, back to business as usual:

23 Jan 2009 ... The Obama administration has waived its ethics rules to allow William Lynn to serve as the deputy secretary of Defense.


So now we have two tax dodgers and a lobbyist in the Obama administration.

How long before the Mudcat Awakemimg?

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 12:40 AM

IDiot child.

A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 08:54 AM

Yeah - Looks like it's business as usual!

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 09:45 AM

?...We also now know conclusively that the larger Bush tax cuts, besides running up record deficits and exacerbating income inequality, were also at best a placebo on our road to ruin. In a January survey of economists, including former McCain advisers like Douglas Holtz-Eakin and Mark Zandi, The Washington Post determined that the job growth the Bush administration kept bragging about ("52 straight months!") was a mirage inflated by the housing bubble. Job growth — about 2 percent — was in fact the most tepid of any eight-year period "since data collection began seven decades ago." Gross domestic product grew at a slower pace than in any eight years since the Truman administration.

But even if tax cuts alone could jump-start a recovery, they couldn't do the heavy lifting that Obama has promised and the country desperately needs: a down payment on a new economy to replace our dilapidated 20th-century model and bring back long-term growth. The Republicans don't acknowledge the need for this transformation, or debate it in good conscience, preferring instead to hyperventilate over the contraceptives in a small family-planning program since removed from the stimulus bill. All it takes is the specter of condoms for the party of Vitter, Foley and Craig to go gaga.

The Republicans' other preoccupation remains Rush Limbaugh, who is by default becoming their de facto leader. While most Americans are fearing fear itself, G.O.P. politicians are tripping over themselves in morbid terror of Rush.

These pratfalls commenced after Obama casually told some Republican congressmen (correctly) that they won't "get things done" if they take their orders from Limbaugh. That's all the stimulus the big man needed to go on a new bender of self-aggrandizement. He boasted that Obama is "more frightened" of him than he is of the Republican leaders in the House or Senate. He said of the new president, "I hope he fails."

Obama no doubt finds Limbaugh's grandiosity more amusing than frightening, but G.O.P. politicians are shaking like Jell-O. When asked by Andrea Mitchell of NBC News on Wednesday if he shared Limbaugh's hope that Obama fails, Eric Cantor spun like a top before running off, as it happened, to appear on Limbaugh's radio show. Mike Pence of Indiana, No. 3 in the Republican House leadership, similarly squirmed when asked if he agreed with Limbaugh. Though the Republicans' official, poll-driven line is that they want Obama to succeed, they'd rather abandon that disingenuous nicety than cross Rush.

Most pathetic of all was Phil Gingrey, a right-wing Republican congressman from Georgia, who mildly criticized both Limbaugh and Sean Hannity to Politico because they "stand back and throw bricks" while lawmakers labor in the trenches. So many called Gingrey's office to complain that the poor congressman begged Limbaugh to bring him on air to publicly recant on Wednesday. As Gingrey abjectly apologized to talk radio's commandant for his "stupid comments" and "foot-in-mouth disease," he sounded like the inmate in a B-prison-movie cowering before the warden after a failed jailbreak.

"It's up to me to hijack the Obama honeymoon," Limbaugh soon gloated, "and I've done it." In his dreams. He has hijacked what's left of the Republican Party; the Obama honeymoon remains intact. The nightmare is that we have so irrelevant, clownish and childish an opposition party at a moment when America is in an all-hands-on-deck emergency that's as trying as war. To paraphrase a dictum that has been variously attributed to two of our most storied leaders in times of great challenge, Thomas Paine and George Patton, the Republicans should either lead, follow or get out of the grown-ups' way.".(NYT)

---

SO far the OA has been working hard to do the right thing.

Rush Limbaugh is a national embarassment.


A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 01 Feb 09 - 10:36 PM

Washington 6 Jan2009

President-elect Barack Obama pledged Tuesday that he will not allow lawmakers to insert any "earmarks," or Congressional pet projects, into his massive economic recovery package proposal.

    Renewable energy and new energy infrastructure will figure prominently in the program estimated $850 billion or more and also expected to include $330 billion in individual and business tax cuts.

    "We're not having earmarks in the recovery package. Period," Obama told reporters following a meeting with his top economic advisers. He added that the move will increase transparency and that he will also allow the public to track how tax dollars are being spent in an online database.

    Earmarks, which are member-requested projects not limited to energy spending, are common in energy and other appropriations bills.

    Obama sat down with his economic advisers, including Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner, National Economic Adviser Lawrence Summers and Peter Orszag, Obama's pick for director of the Office of Management and Budget.

    Obama said that he wanted to create an Economic Recovery Oversight Board made up of administration officials and independent advisers to oversee that those funds are used wisely.

Where is this "Economic Recovery Oversight Board"?

According to No Pork Obama, these are not earmarks:

$   34 million For remodeling the Department of Commerce headquarters
$ 150 million Spent on honey bee insurance
$    20 million For removal of small to medium-sized fish passage barriers                
$ 650 million For digital TV coupons
$ 335 millionfor STD prevention
$    50 million in funding for the National Endowment of the Arts.
$    44 millionfor repairs to U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters.
$    21 million for sod for the National Mall
$ 4 BILLION assistance for "nonprofit entities including ACORN, currently under criminal investigation for paying people to fill out registration forms for Donald Duck
$    87 million for 1 new icebreaker ship to be used in the Arctic. Where is the ice anyway?
$   4.8 million polar bear exhibit at the Providence, Rhode Island, zoo.
$   1.5 million for a water ride at the Grapeland Water Park in Miami Fla.
$   20 million minor league baseball museum in Durham, North Carolina
$   6.1 million for corporate jet hangars at the Fayetteville, Arkansas, airport
$   20 million for renovations at the Philadelphia Zoo
$   1.5 million program to reduce prostitution in Dayton, Ohio.
$ 376.5 million for aquatic centers, museums, bike paths, zoos, skateboard parks, dog and equestrian parks, police department stun guns, tree planting and murals.

Change we can believe in

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: akenaton
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 04:57 PM

Oh well at least it's still alright to torture folks

No change there then!!

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 02 Feb 09 - 10:02 PM

Sawz:

If you cannot state things accurately, it is a real wonder to me why you bother stating them at all. Is your intention just to vent your vapors? Stir up discontent by misrepresentation? Or just flap your wings and cluck?


A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 09:51 PM

So what is in particular is inaccurate? Got any facts?

Where are your numbers are do you operate on rhetoric alone?

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 10:01 PM

MSNBC was trying to make the case that Zoe Baird's(sp?) case was the same as Daschel's, because they both owed taxes. They said if Daschel's nomination went forward, the Democrats would be guilty of sexism.
          Baird was found guilty of employing an illegal alien and not paying the payroll taxes. Of course she couldn't pay the taxes if she wanted to, because that would expose the fact that she was harboring a criminal. The blind extremists couldn't see the difference, apparently, so it's "bye bye Daschel."

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 10:14 PM

Amos:

Here is the exact wording cut and pasted for one item. What the hell is this going to do to get people back to work and get mortgages paid? Just tell the broadcaster to continue broadcasting analog until things straighten out.

These damned converter boxes are made in China anyway.

8 Box Program, $650,000,000, to be available until Sep9
tember 30, 2009: Provided, That these funds shall be
10 available for coupons and related activities, including but
11 not limited to education, consumer support and outreach,
12 as deemed appropriate and necessary to ensure a timely
13 conversion of analog to digital television.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 10:51 PM

Sawz:

You aren't even making complete statements about who is suggesting what!!! Just lists of odd categories.

Are you taking these out of the house version of the current bill, or somewhere else altogether? Why don't you learn that a simple proposition has a predicate and a subject with a verb in between? Why won't you cite sources? I am of the mind you are but a troll.


A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 03 Feb 09 - 11:13 PM

Where is the MSM on this? Heckuva job there Barry.

Ice-battered Kentucky pleads for help from storm

By BRUCE SCHREINER MARION, Ky. (AP) —

A crippling winter storm has plunged about a million customers into the dark from the Midwest to the East Coast, and thousands of people in ice-caked Kentucky have sought refuge in motels and shelters.

Dozens of deaths have been reported and many people are pleading for a faster response to the power outages. Some in rural Kentucky ran short of food and bottled water, and resorted to dipping buckets in a creek.

Thousands fled frigid, powerless homes for hotels and even a heated auditorium at Murray State University that was converted into a shelter following Monday's storm that left some areas in up to 1 inch ice.

Utility workers hoped to speed up efforts Saturday to turn the lights back on. Still, rural communities feared it could be days or even weeks before workers got to areas littered with downed power lines.

Temperatures were expected to rise just above freezing Saturday for the first time in days.

At least 42 people have died in the icy arc of destruction that began in the Midwest. At least nine deaths were reported in Arkansas, six each in Texas and Missouri, three in Virginia, two each in Oklahoma, Indiana and West Virginia and one in Ohio. Most were blamed on hypothermia, traffic accidents and carbon monoxide poisoning from generators.

In Kentucky, where 11 people had died, a man and two women were the latest victims after they were found dead in a southwestern Louisville home. One woman was found in a bed; the other two were found in the garage with a generator, police spokesman Phil Russell said.

Meanwhile, the uncertainty of when power might be restored had many appealing for help. Officials urged those in dark homes to leave.

"We're asking people to pack a suitcase and head south and find a motel if they have the means, because we can't service everybody in our shelter," said Crittenden County Judge-Executive Fred Brown, who oversees about 9,000 people, many of whom spent a fifth night sleeping in the town's elementary school.

Local officials grew angrier at what they said was a lack of help from the state and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

In Kentucky's Grayson County, about 80 miles southwest of Louisville, Emergency Management Director Randell Smith said the 25 National Guardsmen who have responded have no chain saws to clear fallen trees. He said roads are littered with fallen trees and people shivering in bone-chilling cold are in need.

"We've got people out in some areas we haven't even visited yet," Smith said. "We don't even know that they're alive."

Smith said FEMA was still a no-show days after the storm.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 02:14 AM

Jesus. What the hell is going on here?

This is a grim picture.

About 1 per cent of the relief package from the House of Representatives is proposed for weird shit. That's still too much. Obama should have trimmed Daschle back three days ago at the lates, and done some razor work on the fat, even though it is only one percent.. Come on, Barry!!

I appreciate he is in his first thirty days, and he probably had no idea how fast and how deep the shit was going to hit.

But he's got the plan, and he needs to keep it sharp and start using those elbows, or he'll be in a mess. That we do NOT need.

And, Sawz, do me a favor and stow the useless empty-headed schadenfreude. You and Limbaugh; wodda pair o' maroons.

S



A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 10:24 AM

He's suspending the E-Verify program. Our wors fears are being realized.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 01:32 PM

"E-Verify (formerly known as the Basic Pilot/Employment Eligibility Verification Program) is an Internet based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration (SSA) that allows participating employers to electronically verify the employment eligibility of their newly hired employees.

E-Verify is free and voluntary and is the best means available for determining employment eligibility of new hires and the validity of their Social Security Numbers."
___________________________________________________

Oh, horrors. You mean the gardener might end up being illegal?

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 01:51 PM

Yes, and all of his children will end up in our underfunded schools, and the hospital will have to shut down because the emergency room will be overflowing with illegal patrons, and California will end up with a huge budget short-fall.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 02:17 PM

updated 1 hour, 25 minutes ago

   Commentary: Obama's press office needs diversity

Story Highlights
Roland Martin: White House press office shows very little diversity

He says Barack Obama needs to be accountable for diversity on his staff

Martin: Jobs on that staff are steppingstones to future success in Washington

He says diversity is very important to the future of the country

By Roland S. Martin
CNN Contributor
   
Editor's note: A nationally syndicated columnist, Roland S. Martin is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives on Faith" and "Speak, Brother! A Black Man's View of America." Visit his Web site for more information.


Roland S. Martin says Barack Obama should be accountable for ensuring diversity on his staff.

(CNN) -- A lot of media outlets made a big deal out of the mostly white White House press corps covering the first black president, and those stories were worth pursuing.

Any of us in the business knows full well that those are considered plum jobs and are a steppingstone to greater things.

But while we hold the media accountable for the need to diversify their ranks, it's quite telling to see the lack of diversity in the White House's press office.

I got an e-mail Tuesday listing all of the various press folks and contact information, and hardly any African-Americans or Hispanics were listed. Granted, the deputy press secretary is African-American and the director of broadcast media is Hispanic. That's not sufficient.

Unfortunately, this shouldn't come as a shock, because the campaign press staff of then-Sen. Barack Obama was just as weak on diversity.

Just because there is a black president doesn't mean that issues like diversity should be cast aside. President Obama should be held to the same standard when it comes to this issue as any other occupier of that office. I am a former national board member of the National Association of Black Journalists, and my support for diversity never wavers, no matter who is running the show.

One of the reasons this is important is because just like in the media, where there are bigger and better things awaiting the White House correspondent, a position in the White House press office positions someone for the next level.

When the press secretary leaves, the president normally chooses the next one from those ranks. We've never seen a black or Hispanic press secretary standing at the podium each day giving daily briefings, and when there are none on the bench, well, that streak will continue.

Looking at the roster of other offices, I don't believe there's even one African-American or Hispanic who is the primary spokesman or number two at any of the major departments, such as Treasury, State, and Justice.

These coveted positions often lead to the top jobs in communications firms in Washington and around the country, and even junior staffers now are tapped for senior jobs in the next administration (Look at how many junior staffers on President Bill Clinton's team are now senior staffers for President Barack Obama).

Various reports have stated that Obama was bothered by the lack of diversity among his campaign team, yet he wasn't moved to do anything about it. Now I'm hearing the same when it comes to his senior staff, and that is clearly the case in his press office.

The election of President Barack Obama means that one barrier, albeit a major one, has been torn down. But that doesn't mean that others don't need to come tumbling down as well. For those groups that have often been marginalized, it's important to have the doors of opportunity opened.

If diversity truly matters, then it must be emphasized and realized top down. The company leaders in corporate diversity got there because the CEO made it clear that it mattered, and they demanded their underlings make it a reality.

Al Neuharth is a prime example. Were it not for his fierce leadership on diversity, Gannett would have never outpaced the media industry when it comes to minorities and women being publishers, general managers and executives among the company's media properties. He set the gold standard for advocating diversity in media.

If change is truly what this president wants to bring to bear, let's see change across the board. He should make it clear that the clubby atmosphere in Washington of hire-who-you-know has gone out the window, and that window has been opened up for the next generation of talented individuals. The power positions matter a lot in the nation's capital, and when you have a seat at the table, that's what counts.

I'm used to getting e-mails from folks who will say it's wrong for me to look at this through a racial lens and that we now live in a post-racial world. But if I got an e-mail listing all men, trust me, I would be the first to ask, "Where are the women?" If I've pushed the need for diversity at every mainstream media operation I've worked at, including CNN, why would I be silent about it in an Obama administration?

I've been told that not all hiring has been completed in the White House press office and in other areas. OK, fine. But the A-team has clearly been hired, and that means anyone else coming in the door is on the B-team. And that just won't cut it.

Diversity has tremendous value in this country, and you don't get there by lauding it. You get there by doing it. And that challenge should be met by any and every CEO, whether they are black or white, Fortune 500 or the president of the United States.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 02:31 PM

Good for him. It is an important issue.

However, there are certainly more urgently pressing issues at the moment than to count skin tones or plumbing curves on staff. Really.

A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Little Hawk
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 02:43 PM

Darned right it's an important issue. There is not one chimpanzee on Obama's team yet. Not one. And no monkeys either. That tells you something.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 04 Feb 09 - 05:06 PM

Frankly, I don't think there's anything more urgent than plumbing curves!

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 07:18 AM

Washington Post

The Senate Balks

Why President Obama should heed calls for a more focused stimulus package
Thursday, February 5, 2009; Page A16

Today in The Post, President Obama challenges critics of the $900 billion stimulus plan that was taking shape on Capitol Hill yesterday, accusing them of peddling "the same failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis" and warning that, without immediate action, "Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse." A thinly veiled reference to Senate Republicans, this is a departure from his previous emphasis on bipartisanship. Still, as a matter of policy, Mr. Obama is justified in signaling that the plan should not be tilted in favor of tax cuts -- and that the GOP should not waste valuable time trying to achieve this.

However, ideology is not the only reason that senators -- from both parties -- are balking at the president's plan. As it emerged from the House, it suffered from a confusion of objectives. Mr. Obama praised the package yesterday as "not merely a prescription for short-term spending" but a "strategy for long-term economic growth in areas like renewable energy and health care and education." This is precisely the problem. As credible experts, including some Democrats, have pointed out, much of this "long-term" spending either won't stimulate the economy now, is of questionable merit, or both. Even potentially meritorious items, such as $2.1 billion for Head Start, or billions more to computerize medical records, do not belong in legislation whose reason for being is to give U.S. economic growth a "jolt," as Mr. Obama himself has put it. All other policy priorities should pass through the normal budget process, which involves hearings, debate and -- crucially -- competition with other programs.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is one of the moderate Republicans whose support the president must win if he is to garner the 60 Senate votes needed to pass a stimulus package. She and Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska are working on a plan that would carry a lower nominal price tag than the current bill -- perhaps $200 billion lower -- but which would focus on aid to states, "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects, food stamp increases and other items calculated to boost business and consumer spending quickly. On the revenue side, she would keep Mr. Obama's priorities, including a $500-per-worker tax rebate.

To his credit, Mr. Obama continues to seek bipartisan input, and he met individually with Ms. Collins for a half hour yesterday afternoon. We hope he gives her ideas serious consideration.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 07:50 AM

Washington Post- ( I will guess self-view counts)

The Action Americans Need

By Barack Obama
Thursday, February 5, 2009; Page A17

By now, it's clear to everyone that we have inherited an economic crisis as deep and dire as any since the days of the Great Depression. Millions of jobs that Americans relied on just a year ago are gone; millions more of the nest eggs families worked so hard to build have vanished. People everywhere are worried about what tomorrow will bring.

What Americans expect from Washington is action that matches the urgency they feel in their daily lives -- action that's swift, bold and wise enough for us to climb out of this crisis.

Because each day we wait to begin the work of turning our economy around, more people lose their jobs, their savings and their homes. And if nothing is done, this recession might linger for years. Our economy will lose 5 million more jobs. Unemployment will approach double digits. Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

That's why I feel such a sense of urgency about the recovery plan before Congress. With it, we will create or save more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, provide immediate tax relief to 95 percent of American workers, ignite spending by businesses and consumers alike, and take steps to strengthen our country for years to come.

This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending -- it's a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care and education. And it's a strategy that will be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability, so Americans know where their tax dollars are going and how they are being spent.

In recent days, there have been misguided criticisms of this plan that echo the failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis -- the notion that tax cuts alone will solve all our problems; that we can meet our enormous tests with half-steps and piecemeal measures; that we can ignore fundamental challenges such as energy independence and the high cost of health care and still expect our economy and our country to thrive.

I reject these theories, and so did the American people when they went to the polls in November and voted resoundingly for change. They know that we have tried it those ways for too long. And because we have, our health-care costs still rise faster than inflation. Our dependence on foreign oil still threatens our economy and our security. Our children still study in schools that put them at a disadvantage. We've seen the tragic consequences when our bridges crumble and our levees fail.

Every day, our economy gets sicker -- and the time for a remedy that puts Americans back to work, jump-starts our economy and invests in lasting growth is now.

Now is the time to protect health insurance for the more than 8 million Americans at risk of losing their coverage and to computerize the health-care records of every American within five years, saving billions of dollars and countless lives in the process.

Now is the time to save billions by making 2 million homes and 75 percent of federal buildings more energy-efficient, and to double our capacity to generate alternative sources of energy within three years.

Now is the time to give our children every advantage they need to compete by upgrading 10,000 schools with state-of-the-art classrooms, libraries and labs; by training our teachers in math and science; and by bringing the dream of a college education within reach for millions of Americans.

And now is the time to create the jobs that remake America for the 21st century by rebuilding aging roads, bridges and levees; designing a smart electrical grid; and connecting every corner of the country to the information superhighway.

These are the actions Americans expect us to take without delay. They're patient enough to know that our economic recovery will be measured in years, not months. But they have no patience for the same old partisan gridlock that stands in the way of action while our economy continues to slide.

So we have a choice to make. We can once again let Washington's bad habits stand in the way of progress. Or we can pull together and say that in America, our destiny isn't written for us but by us. We can place good ideas ahead of old ideological battles, and a sense of purpose above the same narrow partisanship. We can act boldly to turn crisis into opportunity and, together, write the next great chapter in our history and meet the test of our time.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 12:29 PM

"...The cases give Mr. Obama a chance to show how serious he is about repairing Mr. Bush's legacy of harm.

The first test comes on Monday in San Francisco, where three judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit are scheduled to hear arguments in a civil case involving kidnapping and torture. The Bush team was using one of its signature legal tactics — stretching the evidentiary rule known as the state secrets privilege — to avoid having the detainees' claims ever heard.

The five plaintiffs, victims of Mr. Bush's extraordinary rendition program, were seized and transported to secret American facilities abroad or to countries known for torturing prisoners — on flights organized by a private contractor, Jeppesen Dataplan.

One plaintiff, an Ethiopian citizen and legal resident of Britain, says he was tortured in Pakistan, Morocco and a C.I.A.-run prison outside Kabul commonly known as the "Dark Prison" before being transferred to Guantánamo, where he remains.

In Morocco, according to his account, he endured routine beatings and perpetual shackling, and security agents cut him all over his body. A hot, stinging liquid was then poured into his open wounds.

Another plaintiff, an Iraqi citizen and legal resident of Britain, was arrested in Gambia while on a business trip. He was flown to Afghanistan and held, chained and shackled in a tiny, pitch-black cell. Later, he was transferred to the American-run Bagram Air Base, where he endured beatings and inadequate sleep, water and clothing. Finally, he was sent to Guantánamo. After four-and-a-half years in detention without any charges being filed, he was released in 2007.

A federal trial judge dismissed these serious allegations without allowing any evidence to be presented. He reflexively bowed to the Bush administration's claim that doing so would put national secrets at risk.

The Bush administration's claim is that the "very subject matter" of the suit is a state secret. We can understand why the Bush team would not want evidence of illegal detentions and torture presented in court, but the argument is preposterous.

To begin with, there is a growing body of public information about the C.I.A.'s rendition, detention and coercive interrogation programs. More profoundly, the argument that any litigation touching upon foreign intelligence operations is categorically off limits to judicial scrutiny is an affront to the constitutional separation of powers.

It is also contrary to Mr. Obama's stated views. To put them into action, Mr. Holder should immediately ask the court for time to rethink the government's position and to file a new brief. Instead of trying to automatically shut down any judicial review of these issues, the Obama administration should propose that judges examine actual documents or other specific evidence for which the state secrets privilege is invoked, and redact them as needed to protect legitimate secrets.

Should Mr. Obama decide against pursuing criminal cases for the torture and abuse of prisoners, taking any chance of an effective civil case off the table would give a pass to such misconduct and leave its victims without any legal remedy. That certainly does not fit principles that the new president has so often articulated." NYT

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Feb 09 - 01:21 PM

The wall street criminals have all of their secret bail out money.

The main street victims need thier transparent bail out, Nobel proze winner Paul Krugman feels that anything sohort of 3 trillion will be insufficient to head off the worst of a record breaking recession.



Obama spoke with unparalleled eloquence at the National Prayer club this morning. Only a spattering of quiet applause was heard only once, as if those who were not stunned were in awe. It is the closest thing to a Gettsberg address on the subject of religion I have heard (except for a few mudcat contributors).

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 12:00 AM

Obama climate czar has socialist ties
Group sees 'global governance' as solution
Stephen Dinan

Until last week, Carol M. Browner, President-elect Barack Obama's pick as global warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for "global governance" and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.

By Thursday, Mrs. Browner's name and biography had been removed from Socialist International's Web page, though a photo of her speaking June 30 to the group's congress in Greece was still available.

Socialist International, an umbrella group for many of the world's social democratic political parties such as Britain's Labor Party, says it supports socialism and is harshly critical of U.S. policies.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: DougR
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 12:31 AM

Me, oh my. Is Obama's gold plate beginning to become a bit tarnished? Suppose he really can't walk on water? Me oh, my.

I listened to his speech tonight made at the House Democrats retreat, and he sounds as though he is still running for election. Somebody should tell him he won and now it's time to govern.

DougR

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 01:10 AM

Doug, I too listened to him at the House Retreat in Williamsburg and in my opinion it was stellar. He was motivating the House Representatives to get out there and work.

He was defining- once again - the fact that the stimulus that the Republicans favored had been tried. And failed. As he said, their plan was what brought us to this dire condition in the first place.

I especially liked : And now they're saying that this is not a stimulus plan, it's a spending plan. Of course it's a spending plan. What else is a stimulus?

***************
The text of his speech is not yet available online but when it is, I dare you, I double dare you to post it in its entirety.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 01:10 AM

FEMA Gives Tainted Food to Storm Victims

Food kits distributed by FEMA as part of a disaster relief effort in Kentucky and Arkansas may contain some of that awesome salmonella peanut butter we've been hearing so much about.

CNN: Jay Blanton, spokesman for Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, said late Wednesday: "We just received this information from FEMA. Tonight, out of an abundance of caution, we are in the process of finding alternative sources of food for people in shelters. The Kentucky National Guard is starting to notify people who've already received the (meal kits) or might be getting one."

The meals have a variety of main dishes, but all apparently contain peanut butter packets. Do not eat.

Yer doin' a good job, Barry.

If FEMA did not show or if this had been had happened under the GWB administration, he and Dick would have been accused of trying to kill off the po folks for some sort of profit.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 01:26 AM

Doug waits, hoping for some bad things to happen to Barack Obama. Four years of hoping for some bad things to happen. That's the partisan mind at work. That's why I don't believe in the partisan system any more. I think it's downright evil.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Riginslinger
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 08:44 AM

It is evil. I don't know how to go about making it better. I think a strong third party would help.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 09:14 AM

LH,

"Doug waits, hoping for some bad things to happen to Barack Obama. Four years of hoping for some bad things to happen. That's the partisan mind at work. "

As long as you remember the waiting and hoping of many here during the Bush administration- THEY were as partisan, and should not copmplain when their party is treated the way they treated others.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 10:27 AM

Following in the Amos tradition of posting quips from the opposing party...


February 6, 2009
Romney: Obama 'off to a rocky start'
Posted: 09:32 AM ET

(CNN) – Mitt Romney says it's "been a good year" since he dropped out of the GOP nomination fight, but, he says, "I wish I would have won the nomination, and won the presidency."

In an interview with TIME magazine, Romney said the man who won the presidency, Barack Obama, "is off to a rocky start."

"The theme 'Yes, we can' seems to have been replaced with 'Well, maybe we can't,'" he said. "I believe that with all the challenges America faces, the simple solutions and the hope that were sold by the Obama team are inadequate to the task ahead."

Like many congressional Republicans, Romney said he favors a stimulus package, but only if the money is free of pork and devoted to tax cuts and "high priority, urgent" infrastructure projects.

The former businessman also questioned Obama's move Wednesday to install an executive pay cap at financial firms taking bailout money.

"I am very uncomfortable with government dictating the course for managing an enterprise," he said. "This should be done by the shareholders and by the board of directors, not by the federal government."

Romney would not speculate on his plans for the next election in 2012, but he did comment on a potential rival for the nomination, should he decide to seek it.

Of Sarah Palin, he would say only: "Gov. Palin is an effective and popular political voice, and I believe she will continue to draw interest among party faithful and that she'll have an impact on the party's direction in the future."

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 10:30 AM

Washington Post

The Fierce Urgency of Pork
By Charles Krauthammer
Friday, February 6, 2009; Page A17

"A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe."
-- President Obama, Feb. 4.



Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared "we have chosen hope over fear." Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill.

And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn't understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent.

The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved more than taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the real scandal isn't what's illegal, but what's legal. Not paying taxes is one thing. But what made this case intolerable was the perfectly legal dealings that amassed Daschle $5.2 million in just two years.

He'd been getting $1 million per year from a law firm. But he's not a lawyer, nor a registered lobbyist. You don't get paid this kind of money to instruct partners on the Senate markup process. You get it for picking up the phone and peddling influence.

At least Tim Geithner, the tax-challenged Treasury secretary, had been working for years as a humble international civil servant earning non-stratospheric wages. Daschle, who had made another cool million a year (plus chauffeur and Caddy) for unspecified services to a pal's private equity firm, represented everything Obama said he'd come to Washington to upend.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/05/AR2009020502766.html

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 10:38 AM

A Horse and Pony Show


By Dana Milbank
Friday, February 6, 2009; Page A03

Lawmakers, the saying goes, are either workhorses or show horses. As they debated the economic stimulus package yesterday, senators took this truism a step further: The workhorses and the show horses split into rival herds and began whinnying at each other.

After Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) held a copy of the Senate stimulus plan in the air, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said: "I find it really rather amazing that the senator is holding up a bill. That's theatrics." But she appeared to do the same on the Senate floor. (Senate Television Via Associated Press)

(AP)
The workhorses -- an ad hoc group of 18 moderates and dealmakers from both parties -- holed up in a committee room on the third floor of the Dirksen Building, tossed out their staff and got to work on a compromise plan that could get bipartisan support.

The show horses -- including the leadership of both parties -- gave speeches on the Senate floor and news conferences either to trade blame for partisan deadlock or to denounce the Group of 18's dealmaking efforts.

The workhorses, taking a lunch break so some of them could confer with the White House about the compromise, were pleased with their labors.

"It is unusual to think of senators actually doing that kind of painstaking, thorough work," said Susan Collins (Maine), leader of the Republican workhorses.

"Always refreshing to be able to do that," added Ben Nelson (Neb.), captain of the Democratic workhorses.

But 10 minutes later, Senate Democratic leaders pranced into a news conference and trampled on the workhorses' work.

"As I have explained to the people within that group, they cannot hold the president of the United States hostage," fumed Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.). "If they think they are going to rewrite this bill and Barack Obama's going to walk away from what he has been trying to do for the American people, they've got another thought coming."


Holding the president hostage? This caused the workhorses to rear up.

"Oh, goodness, no," said Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) as he returned to the dealmaking table in Dirksen. "I'm for human rights."

And Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) chuckled at her leader's accusation. "A little dramatic, don't you think?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/05/AR2009020503057.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 10:53 AM

"Yer doin' a good job, Barry.

If FEMA did not show or if this had been had happened under the GWB administration, he and Dick would have been accused of trying to kill off the po folks for some sort of profit.SZ

my god. Barack Obama has been president for 17

When 9/11 happened George W. had been president for 9 MONTHS.

What's wrong with this picture?

********************

Whether or not Obama and his administration - with the people's help - are able to pull this country out of its morass any time soon, it is evident that some of its citizens will do their best pulling in the opposite direction.

Grow up.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 11:25 AM

BRuce:

The difference is that I was voicing objections to a psycho trying to wreak dramatization and self-serving chaos; while you, claiming to be following my tradition, are scraping up criticisms of a decent man trying to kick-start an economic wreck started and brought to fruition by Bush's policies.

So I decline to have my name used in your mindless mimicry, as you are not exercising enough discretion to even make it similar. USe your own name to post this crap. Krauthammer in particular is a muckraker and mudslinger, not a pundit and certainly not an analyst.

That said, I think Obama would do well to identify the major thrusts of his stimulus plan and pitch them loud and clear, and hammer down on the weenie-brains who think failed tax policy is the way to go int he future.


A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 01:17 PM

January 29, 2009
President Introduces New $100 Per Pound "Wagyu Steak" Cocktail Party

The presidential cocktail party took place last night, just in time to celebrate the passage of the new, monopartisan stimulus package.

At least 42 people have died, including 11 in Kentucky, and conditions are worsening in many places days after an ice storm knocked out power to 1.3 million customers from the Plains to the East Coast. About a million people were still without electric Friday, and with no hope that the lights will come back on soon, small communities are frantically struggling to help their residents.

What's wrong with this picture?

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Sawzaw
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 01:21 PM

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times … and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Obama said.

"That's not leadership. That's not going to happen," he added.

"He's from Hawaii, O.K.?" said Mr. Obama's senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. "He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there."

What's wrong with this picture?

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 01:30 PM

Amos,

Until you realize how what you state sounds to anyone not apriori agreeing with you, I am forced to repeat it back as an edited phrase you will understand:



The difference is that I was voicing objections to a psycho trying to wreak dramatization and self-serving chaos; while you are scraping up criticisms of a decent man, Bush, trying to kick-start an political wreck started and brought to fruition by Clintons's policies.

I guess it depends on what you want to believe. But you cannot claim the moral highground until you have established some morals.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 01:54 PM

What complete horsepucky, Bruce.

Compare the viability of the American national balance sheet at the end of 1999 with the same balance sheet at the end of 2008. By theior fruits shall ye know them.

A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 01:58 PM

Amos,

Consider the safety of the US- IMHO, we are safer now (with the actions of the Bush administration) than we were in 1999.


But my point is that YOU do not get to declare "Since my side is the one of angels, I get special rules applied."


One Ubermensch on here is enough.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 02:01 PM

I get to declare the reality of things as I see 'em, my friend.

YOU do not get to twist my phrases and sentences. You are required to write your own.



A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 02:03 PM

My own? OK, YOU do not get to declare the reality of the things that ** I ** see.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 02:08 PM

Well, I won't pass judgment on your imaginary characters, agreed. If it is in the common domain, let us each speak our truths in our own words, as gentlemen should.


A

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 02:14 PM

I thought I had- and you disparaged my comments.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 04:47 PM

You mock me
I will not be mocked

nya nya nya

You mock me
I will not be mocked

nya nya nya...




sorry, withour reading the entire thread, some segments do seem to get bogged down. Instant gratification in fixing the state of our nation after 30 years of abuse, is too much to ask.

Take heart in any small act of kindness and savor it. It will be the the greatest thing we can create ourselves.


The risk takers have run across the ice with heavy bags of gold that they robbed from all of us. Despite their crimes we have tried to rescue those that have fallen through the ice.
It is now time to start rescuing each other.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 05:09 PM

Lately Obama has been throwing carrots while the Republicans hit him with sticks.

Subject: RE: Popular Views: the Obama Administration
From: Amos
Date: 06 Feb 09 - 11:10 PM

"Yesterday, President Obama strongly condemned members of both political parties for characterizing the economic recovery package before Congress as a "pork" spending plan for pet projects: "[W]hen you hear these attacks deriding something of such obvious importance as this, you have to ask yourself, 'Are these folks serious?'" Despite the loss of 600,000 jobs last month alone, debate over the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has been reduced to petty bickering over extremely small portions of the overall recovery plan. Marching to Rush Limbaugh's drumbeat, conservatives spent all week on cable news caricaturing tiny portions of the bill -- including provisions that they had previously supported -- in order to score political points and embarrass the Obama administration. But these antics have distracted Washington from "the reality that we may well be falling into an economic abyss." Today, The Progress Report takes a step back and looks at the key principles that should guide the construction of any compromise on the economic recovery package.

IT SHOULD BE IMMEDIATE: In recent days, congressional conservatives have expressed a desire to slow down deliberation over the economic recovery plan. But as National Economic Council Director Larry Summers reiterated yesterday, "We do not have time to wait." He called comprehensive and immediate economic recovery legislation "imperative for our economic security." Evidence of the need for immediate action is clear. Today, the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy lost 598,000 jobs in January alone, raising the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. Yesterday, the Labor Department reported that 626,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits for the first time last week, a 26-year high. These grim reports add to the 2.6 million jobs lost in 2008, 59 percent of which occurred in the last quarter of 2008 alone. And the rate at which job losses are increasing is reaching historic highs. Indeed, in the first 12 months of the current recession, unemployment rose by 2.6 percent -- "the fastest such increase since the recession that started in January 1970." The effects of these increasing job losses can be seen rippling through the economy in the form of increasing credit card default rates, record decreases in the value of homes, and near record high levels of household debt.

IT SHOULD BE BIG: Last weekend, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) explained his opposition to the current recovery proposal by complaining, "[T]his is the largest spending bill in history." Congressional Republicans made similar complaints again and again throughout this week, but such rhetoric reveals an obvious ignorance of economic policy. Indeed, the size of the spending bill is not arbitrary, but rather is based on the current and expected gap between the nation's economic capacity and its actual economic output. As the Center for American Progress explained, "We are now in a situation where the private sector is unable -- or unwilling -- to use all of the available productive capacity: able people aren't working, machines sit idle, and cubicles stand empty." As a result, there are "millions of families who are cutting back due to layoffs, fear of layoffs, lower home values, or reduced retirement savings," and "demand for goods and services in the entire economy falls." As demand falls, companies are forced to cut back production and employment further, causing additional decreases in demand. Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman explains that economists generally find that every "excess point" of unemployment above the rate that is expected in a healthy economy leads to 2 percent gap between the nation's actual economic output and its potential economic output. To prevent this gap from increasing indefinitely, the government must step in to temporarily increase demand and close the nation's economic output gap. Because unemployment is so high and demand continues to spiral downward, the current package before Congress -- if anything -- is too small.

IT SHOULD LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR LONG-TERM GROWTH: Conservative policymakers and uninformed members of the traditional media suggest that the current economic recovery package is not "stimulative" because it includes spending on public welfare programs that have both short-term and long-term benefits. They argue that relying on tax cuts would provide fast-acting and long-lasting stimulative effects. In reality, tax cuts are less stimulative than public spending. Further, cutting taxes -- unlike spending on social programs -- permanently increases the budget deficit. Instead, and as the current recovery package is slated to do, investment in America's future energy, health care, and education infrastructure puts Americans to work now and yields economic, environmental, and social benefits for years to come. While conservatives characterize the effects of such spending as being "too slow," the current proposal is designed to be fast-acting, but also maintain large (and needed) stimulative benefits through 2010. Unfortunately, a group of moderate senators, led by Sens. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Susan Collins (R-ME), aim to cut at least $80 billion from the the recovery package with large cuts to science, agriculture, energy, and education. "

---

Sigh. Obstreperous obstructionism at its best. These are people who were just delighted to send othe rpeoples' sons to war on Bush's say so. Ptui.



A