A little bit under the weather, so my mind wandered, but it was a good speech, but I’m an engineer, so I want to see the numbers.
Category: White House
Solis Confirmed as Labor Secretary
If memory serves, the ‘Phants were doing their hissy fit thing because Hilda Solis would support the EFCA, because they think that it’s wrong for a Labor Secretary to, well, support labor.
McCain Gets Punk’d
McCain decided to to take a shot at Obama regarding the escalating cost of the new Presidential helicopter, the VH-71, which has suffered massive cost overruns (as a result of Bush and His Evil Minions™ gold plating the mofo):
Said the president’s former Republican rival, “Well, thank you, Mr. President. And thank you for doing this…Just one area that I wanted to mention that I think consumed a lot of our conversation on procurement, it was the issue of cost overruns in the Defense Department. We all know how large the defense budget is.”
And, McCain noted, “your helicopter is now going to cost as much as Air Force One. I don’t think that there’s any more graphic demonstration of how good ideas have — have cost taxpayers an enormous amount of money.”
Meow…..That’s a slam, right?
Not so much:
Said Obama, “I’ve already talked to (Defense Secretary Robert) Gates about a thorough review of the helicopter situation.”
Added the president, to laughter, “the helicopter I have now seems perfectly adequate to me. Of course, I’ve never had a helicopter before. So, you know, maybe — maybe I’ve been deprived and I didn’t know it.But I think it is a — it is an — an example of the procurement process gone amuck, and — and we’re going to have to fix it.”
I think that he was expecting this from someone, and had just the response to make the accuser look small and petty.
Obama Gets Rolled By The Pentagon on Iraq
That’s the only way you can describe it, and seeing as how he rolled it out hours before his speech to Congress, they want it buried.
19 months with a 50,000 troop “residual force,” is not a good thing.
White House Push-Back On Pentagon Insubordination
Obama’s people are demanding that all Pentagon staffers working on the budget sign a non-disclosure agreement:
…
In an undated non-disclosure agreement obtained by Defense News, the administration tells defense officials that “strict confidentiality” must be practiced to ensure a “successful” and “proper” 2010 defense budget process.
…
The pledge covers any data about the 2010 budget, including: “planning, programming and budgeting system documents and databases, and any other information” that concerns the administration’s internal discussions about “the nature and amounts of the president’s budget for fiscal year 2010, and any supplemental budget request during the current fiscal year.”
…
“Under no circumstances will I disclose such information outside the Department of Defense and other government agencies directly involved in the defense planning and resource-allocation process, such as the Office of Management and Budget,” the agreement said.
I’m not sure if this is just paranoia, a recognition that there are a lot of Bushies burrowed in the bureaucracy who will work against this, or a realization that the Pentagon is completely out of control as an organization.
Maybe it’s all three.
Bad Idea Stopped, For Now
It appears that the Congressional Democrats killed a proposal to convene a special Social Security task force, at least in the near term.
There will not be any announcement of such a body at the “fiscal responsibility summit”, and this is a good thing.
The solvency of Social Security is the least of our worries right now, the public already pushed back on this in 2005 when Bush tried it, and people are looking at their 401(k)s right now, and want no part of privatization.
Handing off social security to wall street is a bad idea.
Expanding the sorts of wages covered by social security, and dropping the earnings limit may not be a good thing, but the “a bipartisan group take up the issue and devise a plan” people like Representative Ellen O. Tauscher, chairwoman of the New Democrats coalition, have one plan:
- Give the money to Wall Street.
- Extract campaign contributions from Wall Street Bankers.
Further raising the retirement age, reducing benefits, and/or handing the money to investment bankers, which is what the “Social Security Reformers” really want is a bad idea.
Just look at Chile’s privatized pensions.
The problem is 40 years in the future, and if one were simply to drop the cap on the employers portion of social security taxes, and expand the wages that are covered, there are an awful lot of wages to fat-cats that don’t count, and the problem is solved.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Harold Ford?
It appears that someone in the Obama Administration is floating Harold Ford’s name as the next Secretary of Commerce Nominee.
Admittedly, he didn’t go as far as Lieberman in slamming Obama in the general, but he certainly came close, probably because he thought that he could be president one day.
He’s where he is because he is a member of a corrupt political dynasty, and he’s a political opportunists even by the standards of Washington, DC.
This would be asking for a knife in the back.
OK, This Puts Some Context in the Gregg Withdrawal
It appears that Judd Gregg’s intended replacement, Bonnie Newman, was facing strong opposition from the Taliban wing of the Republican Party, and was likely to withdraw, which would have given Democratic Governor John Lynch the cover to appoint a Democrat.
Gee, I wonder why the Taliban wing of the Republican Party would be freaking out about a life long Republican who just happens to be a 63 year old unmarried woman.
To be fair, I haven’t found anything online about her personal life, except in comments on stories that “the Google” brought up, but there is a rumor out there, which would get Dobson and his ilk upset.
Huh???? Judd Gregg Drops Out As Commerce Secretary
OK, this is a surprise to me, and it appears to be one to the White House, where a source described themselves as blindsided by Gregg’s announcement.
The folks at TPM suggest that it might be that Gregg was the target of a wall of noise from the increasingly moribund Republican party in New Hampshire, or perhaps that the reason that he accepted the post in the first place was to run the Census, and Obama taking it out from beneath him made him change his mind, though this raises the question, “why now?” when it has been clear for a week.
I dunno, maybe someone has pictures of him with a goat. He’s a Republican, after all.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?!?!?!?
It appears that officials in the Department of Defense are denying Barack Obama access to information on Binyam Mohamed’s torture and abuse.
No, this isn’t a typo, someone in the DoD is refusing to turn over information to the President of the United States of America:
Clive Stafford Smith, the director of the legal charity Reprieve, which represents Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, sent Obama evidence of what he called “truly mediaeval” abuse but substantial parts were blanked out so the president could not read it.
In the letter to the president [PDF] , Stafford Smith urges him to order the disclosure of the evidence.
Stafford Smith tells Obama he should be aware of the “bizarre reality” of the situation. “You, as commander in chief, are being denied access to material that would help prove that crimes have been committed by US personnel. This decision is being made by the very people who you command.”
It is understood US defence officials might have censored the evidence to protect the president from criminal liability or political embarrassment.
George Orwell and Franz Kafka are now spinning in their graves at sufficient velocity to power all of Belarus.
Fitz Staying
It looks like the US Attorney in Chicago, Patrick Fitzgerald, will remain the US Attorney for Chicago.
Good.
How about appointing him special prosecutor to investigate torture?
Sigh….only in my dreams.
On a more pragmatic level, I think that part of this is because Fitz’s presence in Illinois goes a long way towards inoculating Obama regarding any further reports of corruption.
Senate Committee Approves Hilda Solis
If you recall the Republicans have been blocking a vote because they are demanding that she recuse herself from anything involving the Employee Free Choice act, even though a labor secretary is supposed to, you know, support labor, and passage of the bill is an explicit goal of Barack Obama.
After all this, she was approved by a voice vote in a meeting lasting perhaps 2 minutes.
The ‘Phants are really a bunch of dickwads.
Genitals Sliced With a Scalpel; Irritating Liquids Poured in the Wounds
This is what is alleged to have happened to Binyam Mohamed, and the British courts expunged the reports, because of threats from US intelligence that they would stop cooperating with UK intelligence if the information were released, and the is arguing to continue the complete and absolute privilege that Bush and His Evil Minions™ insisted upon:
“Is there anything material that has happened” that might have caused the Justice Department to shift its views, asked Judge Mary M. Schroeder, an appointee of President Jimmy Carter, coyly referring to the recent election.
“No, your honor,” Mr. Letter replied.
Judge Schroeder asked, “The change in administration has no bearing?”
Once more, he said, “No, Your Honor.” The position he was taking in court on behalf of the government had been “thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration,” and “these are the authorized positions,” he said.
(emphasis mine)
I Barack Obama decided that since he’s so awesome, we should just trust him.
We also have graphic depictions of what was done to the man (from the 2nd link):
The court papers describe horrific treatment in secret prisons. Mr. Mohamed claimed that during his detention in Morocco, “he was routinely beaten, suffering broken bones and, on occasion, loss of consciousness. His clothes were cut off with a scalpel and the same scalpel was then used to make incisions on his body, including his penis. A hot stinging liquid was then poured into open wounds on his penis where he had been cut. He was frequently threatened with rape, electrocution and death.”
(again, emphasis mine)
Note that the precedent here, US v. Reynolds, is in fact based on a lie. There were no state secrets involved, the B-29 which crashed was not, as was claimed, on a secret mission or testing secret equipment.
They claimed privilege because the report indicated that the aircraft was in poor condition because of inadequate maintenance, and the USAF wanted it covered up. It was all a lie.
Obama’s Presser
I heard all of it, but I was multi-tasking, helping my son buy algae for the science fair, so you may want to read the Rude Pundit’s version….He’s is a better writer than I am anyway.
Ghod! It’s nice not having a drooling moron (mostly) dry drunk there anymore.
One thing that the Rude One missed though: Chuck Todd is a complete fracking moron.
Seriously. He asked if maybe now it’s the time for Americans to save, as opposed to spending.
Does this man even read the paper, and listen to even the most conservative economists, who say that right now paying down debt is the kiss of death?
Jeebus….This guy makes Jonah Goldberg sound like Albert Einstein (the actor, not the physicist*).
*Albert Lawrence Einstein the actor changed his last name to Brooks when he went into acting, to avoid confusion.
What The Littlest Gator Said
Won’t happen though. They hate him for some reason.
What the Hell Are They Smoking?
To replace Tom Daschle at HHS, Karen Tumulty of Time Magazine is suggesting Willard “Mitt” Romney, and Craig Crawford CQ Politics is suggesting Newt Gingrich!
Either these people are completely insane, or they are amazing performance artists….Or maybe both.
Obama nominates Gregg for Commerce
Interestingly enough, Gregg had proposed abolishing the Department of Commerce at one point.
Details here.
Tom Daschle Withdraws as Head of HHS
Nominally, he withdrew because of tax questions, but there are reports that this New York Times OP/ED convinced him to withdraw.
When even the New York Times realizes that you have functioned as an über lobbyist and calls you on it as game over.
Matt Taibbi was far more colorful in his description of Daschle and his revolving door porfiteering, “Tom Daschle would suck off a corpse for a cheeseburger.”
Holder Confirmed By the Senate
With 21 ‘Phants voting against, largely, it appears, because the report in the Moonie Times saying that he would not prosecute torture was in error, and he actually has refused to rule out prosecutions.