Truth be told, it’s a ceremonial office, but this cartoon is too good not to show.
Category: Politics
Mukasey Limits White House Access to Investigations
This was the policy before the tenure of Abu Gonzalez, when political operatives had unlimited access to the DoJ, and now we are back to a situation where WH operatives will not have the access exert undue political influence on ongoing investigations:
The original policy authorized more than 40 Justice Department officials and 400 White House officials to know about ongoing investigations, according to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, a leading Democratic proponent of changing the policy.
During the Clinton administration, seven White House and Justice officials were permitted to receive such information.
Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said Mukasey’s new policy mirrors the Clinton administration’s, but allows more officials to receive details about national security matters.
This is my first pleasant surprise from Bush and His Evil Minions&trade in a long time.
Don’t Let the Door Hit Your Ass on the Way Out, Bigot Boy
2002 New Hampshire Phone Jamming, DoJ Dragged Its Feet
In addition to reports that the Bush Department of Justice dragged its feet in investigating the 2002 New Hampshire election day phone jamming, which crippled the Democratic party GOTV efforts, we now have one of the perps dropping a dime on his former partners in crime at the Republican party.
A former GOP political operative who ran an illegal election-day scheme to jam the phone lines of New Hampshire Democrats during the state’s tight 2002 U.S. Senate election said in a new book and an interview that he believes the scandal reaches higher into the Republican Party.
Allen Raymond of Bethesda, Md., whose book Simon & Schuster will publish next month, also accused the Republican Party of trying to hang all the blame for a scandal on him as part of an “old-school cover-up.”
Raymond’s book, “How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative,” offers a raw, inside glimpse of the phone scandal as it unraveled and of a ruthless world in which political operatives seek to win at all costs.
McClatchy obtained an advance copy of the book.
I believe that we will be seeing a lot more of this.
With Democratic control of the congress, the opportunities for rewards for keeping one’s mouth closed have diminished, and if the Dems take the White House, the possibility for a pardon vanishes.
We will see a lot more people ratting out former friends, and writing books.
BTW, I love his last line, “As for his three months in a Pennsylvania prison, he wrote: “After 10 full years inside the GOP, 90 days among honest criminals wasn’t really any great ordeal.“
Bush and His Evil Minions™ Have EPA Block California Air Quality Rules
No big surprise here. Bush loves polluters. Governor Schwartzenegger* says that he will file suit. The EPA is using the recently passed energy bill as one of the justifications.
Since 12 other states follow California regulations, and 5 other states are considering it, this is a significant thing.
*I still have a problem getting my head around, “Governor Schwartzenegger”.
Congress Expanding FOIA Rules
The changes add both scope and teeth to the law.
It’s clear that Bush won’t sign it, but with Reid keeping the senate in session again, it may become law without his signature.
Obama Selling Out On Healthcare in Illinois
Paul Krugman looks at Obama’s tepid venture into healthcare reform during his days as an Illinois state senator, as reported by this Boston Globe article, and he concludes that Obama is not ready for prime time:
My thoughts: being president isn’t at all like being a state legislator, Illinois Republicans aren’t like the national Republican party, 2009 won’t be 2003, and the insurance industry’s opposition to national health reform — which must, if it is to mean anything, strike deep at the industry’s fundamental business — will be much harsher than its opposition to a basically quite mild state-level reform effort.
The point is that if national health reform is going to happen, it will be as the result of a no-holds-barred fight of an entirely different order from what Obama saw in Illinois. The president’s role will have to be far more confrontational, involve far more twisting of arms and rallying of the public against the special interests, than Obama’s role as a state legislator in the Illinois case. And it will take place against a backdrop of fierce attacks not just from the industry but from Republicans who fear, rightly, that any kind of reform will move the country in a more liberal direction.
My thoughts are much less charitable, because of one paragraph in the Globe article:
The bill originally called for a “Bipartisan Health Care Reform Commission” to implement a program reaching all 12.4 million Illinois residents. The legislation would have made it official state policy to ensure that all residents could access “quality healthcare at costs that are reasonable.” Insurers feared that language would result in a government takeover of healthcare, even though the bill did not explicitly say that.
By the time the legislation passed the Senate, in May 2004, Obama had written three successful amendments, at least one of which made key changes favorable to insurers.
Most significant, universal healthcare became merely a policy goal instead of state policy – the proposed commission, renamed the Adequate Health Care Task Force, was charged only with studying how to expand healthcare access. In the same amendment, Obama also sought to give insurers a voice in how the task force developed its plan.
(Emphasis mine)
Let’s be clear on this: This is not just the “big table” that Obama is so fond of talking about. This is the wholesale abandonment of a core value, and he didn’t just vote for it, he proposed the amendment to abandon it.
Truth be told, I’m sick of his “Red Sea will part before my awsomness” schtick. This was just selling out.
Read Krugman’s blog post, but you may find the Globe article more interesting. He appeared to be joined at the hip with the insurance companies.
Bush and His Evil Minions&trade Back Down on Attempt to Seize Control of JAG Corps
Yesterday, I mentioned how Bush was attempting to put political hacks in charge of the military’s legal corps, one would assume that they were doing this because they have so completely f$%#ed up real trials, so they wanted false ones.
Today, they have backed down. Reviews and promotions will be handled through the military chain of command, not through political hacks.
My guess is that a few dozen of the people involved with the Gitmo trials made it clear that they would resign their commissions if this went through.
FCC Pimps for Big Media
Once again, the FCC has passed rules allowing big media to grow even bigger.
3-2 party line decision. It will be challenged in court, and probably Congress.
Senate Democrats Considering Removing Byrd as Appropriations Chair
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) is not doing well health wise.
At 90 years old, he needs help walking, and there are suggestions that he is no longer physically able to run the appropriations committee, so there are discussions about moving him aside.
At this point, it is just talk, and any move would set up a battle for who would head the powerful committee, so my guess is that nothing will be done until 2008.
Unfortunately, he was re-elected in 2006, so this will have to be sorted out sooner or later.
Judge: Hand Over Abramoff Visit Logs
So, a federal fudge, and a Reagan Appointee at that, has ruled that White House visitor logs are public records subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
Basically, the White House claim that maybe, if terrorists take this data, and some other data, and some pixie dust, they could use it for an attack, was dismissed.
The Bush Admin had transferred the records to the White House in an attempt to claim privilidge, but, “But U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled logs from the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney’s residence remain Secret Service documents and are subject to public records requests.”
BTW, one of the kickers is that there is a similar suit before U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer, who Bush appointed, but they decided to consolidate it before Lamberth, despite the fact that Collyer had the older suit, which normally would take precedence.
I think that the judges just told Bush to politely pound sand.
Obama as a Do Nothing?
Steve Clemons compares what Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have done in the senate, and the difference is striking. While neither of them chair a full committee, pretty much every senator gets a subcommittee.
Clinton has the Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health, and Obama has the Foreign Relations’ Subcommittee on Europe.
The Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health last held a hearing on October 17, the Foreign Relations’ Subcommittee on Europe has had no meetings.
None…Zip…Nada…
Let’s be clear, it is a chair of committees that senators get executive experience. What’s more, it where a senator who wants to be president learns how to deal with Congress.
Clemens excuses saying that he’s, “not trying to find a minor, nuanced difference between Obama and Clinton and inflate that to inappropriate levels.” I agree. This is not minor.
Thank You Christopher Dodd!
1000 words on Chris Dodd:
But it appears that he’s won, as Reid is delaying the bill until January.
There was simply too many amendments and too many discussions to get it done by the end of the session, and this is largely Dodd’s doing.
Show him some love, either go to my Act Blue Page, or to his campaign web site.
Put a Fork in Giuliani, He’s Done
Giuliani is cutting back on his New Hampshire ad buy so that he can focus on Florida, where a recent poll has him in 3rd place.
There was always the question as to whether the Republican party would discover what he really was before or after the primaries.
Looks like they lucked out by about 1 month.
Bush and His Evil Minions™ to Muzzle JAG Corps
No surprise here, whenever professional standards or honesty get in the way of a Bush administration policy, you can be sure that Bush administration will find a way to punish those who choose to do the right thing.
The former JAG officers say the regulation would end the uniformed lawyers’ role as a check-and-balance on presidential power, because politically appointed lawyers could block the promotion of JAGs who they believe would speak up if they think a White House policy is illegal.
I want my country back.
Lieberman Endorses McCain
Of course, the fact that Lieberman promised to endorse a Dem for president won’t be noted by the Washington punditocracy*, because Lieberman is the only honorable Democrat.
*Which might be better described as a Kakistocracy.
Romney Blasts Huckabee Over Bush Criticism
This is only good for Huckabee. His criticism has been very mild, and Bush is not particularly popular with Republicans either. In reminding Republican primary voters that Huckabee is not in mindless lock with Bush, Romney is getting Huckabee more votes, not fewer.
FEC Rules No Matching to Act Blue
You can find the background here, but the bottom line is that The FED has ruled against ActBlue and similar organizations.
By not matching a worderful tool for small donors, this will push candidates off public financing.
Another Day, Another Halliburton Gang Rape
Raises a chicken-egg question, is this a product of Dick Cheney being CEO of Halliburton, or did they hire Dick Cheney because they were objective pro rape to start with.
In either case, this company is lawless and should be gone after the same way Elliot Ness went after Al Capone.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) accuses Senate Democratic leaders of developing “Stockholm syndrome”
Well, at least one Democrat gets it:
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) accuses Senate Democratic leaders of developing “Stockholm syndrome,” showing sympathy to their Republican captors by caving in on legislation to provide middle-class tax cuts paid for with tax increases on the super-rich, tying war funding to troop withdrawal timelines, and mandating renewable energy quotas. If Republicans want to filibuster a bill, Rangel said, Reid should keep the bill on the Senate floor and force the Republicans to talk it to death.