Chapter and verse on a bad bill.
February 5, 2009 4:00 AM
By Stephen Spruiell & Kevin Williamson
Senate Democrats acknowledged Wednesday that they do not have the votes to pass the stimulus bill in its current form. This is unexpected good news. The House passed the stimulus package with zero Republican votes (and even a few Democratic defections), but few expected Senate Republicans (of whom there are only 41) to present a unified front. A few moderate Democrats have reportedly joined them.
The idea that the government can spend the economy out of a recession is highly questionable, and even with Senate moderates pushing for changes, the current package is unlikely to see much improvement. Nevertheless, this presents an opportunity to remove some of the most egregious spending, to shrink some programs, and to add guidelines where the initial bill called for a blank check. Here are 50 of the most outrageous items in the stimulus package:
see the 50
Friday, February 6, 2009
The Barack Obama administration has dropped all charges against the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing
By LARA JAKES – 18 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon's senior judge overseeing terror trials at Guantanamo Bay dropped charges Thursday against an al-Qaida suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bombing, upholding President Barack Obama's order to freeze military tribunals there.
The charges against suspected al-Qaida bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri marked the last active Guantanamo war crimes case.The legal move by Susan J. Crawford, the top legal authority for military trials at Guantanamo, brings all cases into compliance with Obama's Jan. 22 executive order to halt terrorist court proceedings at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Crawford withdrew the charges against al-Nashiri. However, new charges can be brought again later, and al-Nashiri will remain in prison for the time being.
"It was her decision, but it reflects the fact that the president has issued an executive order which mandates that the military commissions be halted, pending the outcome of several reviews of our operations down at Guantanamo," Morrell said late Thursday night.
The ruling also gives the White House time to review the legal cases of all 245 terror suspects held there and decide whether they should be prosecuted in the U.S. or released to other nations.
Obama was to meet with families of the USS Cole and 9/11 victims at the White House on Friday afternoon and may announce the move.
Seventeen U.S. sailors died on Oct. 12, 2000, when al-Qaida suicide bombers steered an explosives-laden boat into the Cole, a guided-missile destroyer, as it sat in a Yemen port.
read the rest
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Sen. Stabenow wants hearings on radio 'accountability'; talks fairness doctrine
This morning, radio host Bill Press brought up the recent closing of liberal station Obama 1260 when speaking with Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, and talked about whether there needs to be a balance to right-wing talk on the radio dial.
BILL PRESS: Yeah, I mean, look: They have a right to say that. They’ve got a right to express that. But, they should not be the only voices heard. So, is it time to bring back the Fairness Doctrine?
SENATOR DEBBIE STABENOW (D-MI): I think it’s absolutely time to pass a standard. Now, whether it’s called the Fairness Standard, whether it’s called something else — I absolutely think it’s time to be bringing accountability to the airwaves. I mean, our new president has talked rightly about accountability and transparency. You know, that we all have to step up and be responsible. And, I think in this case, there needs to be some accountability and standards put in place.
BILL PRESS: Can we count on you to push for some hearings in the United States Senate this year, to bring these owners in and hold them accountable?
SENATOR DEBBIE STABENOW (D-MI): I have already had some discussions with colleagues and, you know, I feel like that’s gonna happen. Yep.
Although Obama has been publicly opposed to reinstating the fairness doctrine, conservative radio has talked nonstop about the fear of it returning (or perhaps something like it with another name) while there's a Democrat in the White House and a Democratic majority in Congress.
UPDATE: A commenter points out that Stabenow is married to Tom Athans, a liberal talk radio executive.
Labor Nominee's Hearing Off as Husband's Tax Liens Surface
By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 6, 2009; Page A04
A Senate committee yesterday abruptly called off a session to consider President Obama's nomination of Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) to be labor secretary after learning that her husband had paid about $6,400 to settle tax liens, some on file as long as 16 years.
Solis's confirmation vote before the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee had already been delayed for weeks by questions over her role as unpaid treasurer of a pro-labor organization and her support of a hotly contested measure that would make it easier for workers to organize unions.
Obama's Audacity
AP to the Obama’s poster maker: Pay up, you pirates.
The other day, I mentioned that President Obama had so many lawyers on his taxpayer-paid staff that they had nothing better to do than go after people who use his image for commercial purposes.
A White House spokesbot told Bloomberg News: “Our lawyers are working on developing a policy that will protect the presidential image while being careful not to squelch the overwhelming enthusiasm that the public has for the president.”
The irony being that Obama swiped his slogan – “Yes we can” — from a children’s show.
A British children’s show.
Well, now the Associated Press has something that will really put those lawyers to work.
It charges that the Obama campaign stole a photo that AP owns and used it for his poster.
AP alleges copyright infringement of Obama image
Feb 4 06:56 PM US/Eastern
By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer
Note to AP: Obama doesn't believe in capitalism. Intellectual property is just bourgeoisie rubbish to be confiscated and used by the proletariat to further party strength and superiority over the rich and undeserving wealthy class. You will not get one dime for you digital images.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Just Words
Posted on 02.04.09 by Danny Glover @ 10:58 pm
You can learn a lot about the character of a man by the words he speaks. Let’s take a look at Barack Obama’s words in the opening days of his presidency:
What inspiring words, what great presidential speech, will Obama deliver next week?
You can learn a lot about the character of a man by the words he speaks. Let’s take a look at Barack Obama’s words in the opening days of his presidency:
Jan. 23, in a pointed exchange with Republican lawmakers about Obama’s plan to stimulate the economy: “I won.”
Feb. 3, after being repeatedly embarrassed by tax scofflaws he picked to serve in his Cabinet: “I screwed up.”
What inspiring words, what great presidential speech, will Obama deliver next week?
Obama caps exec salaries at $500k, corporations to move offshore
How can anyone take this guy seriously? Trust and confidence? Loss of faith? Timothy Geithner failed to pay some $43,000 in federal self-employment taxes for four separate years – and only coughed up $26,000 of that debt when he was named Obama’s Treasury Secretary-designate in November. Geithner's tax documents
"I will not tolerate it as president." -- Barack Obama, not speaking to terrorists or enemies of the USA, but to the corporate execs he is now dictating salaries to.
Hope He Can Change
February 3rd, 2009 9:07 pm | Pajamas Media
An Obamaplosion
by Victor Davis Hanson
I get loads of quasi-hate mail about questioning Obama’s candidacy and governance. But I am worried, not about Obama, or the politics of governance, but about the nation itself. The media has forsaken us. But after only two weeks we are in a crisis stage of confidence, and the story is spiraling by the hour out of control. I write here not to score points, but to warn readers that this is all very serious. Obama is our President, and we must hope he does something fast to save his administration from general ridicule that will incur real dangers for all of us abroad.
Again, anyone who cares about the US, at home and overseas, must be worried, very worried, about the disastrous last two weeks. Even the fawning media–that is responsible in some way for the crisis, given that they chose to be Pravda-like in encouraging the messianic style that got a haughty Obama in his present mess–will soon start bailing in efforts to restore their last fides. If a Dick Morris figure does not come to the rescue soon, Obama’s soaring rhetoric of hope and change will become the stuff of Leno/Letterman and general laughter. Bush was unfairly demonized, but no one abroad thought he was predictably soft and would be so-so about protecting US interests, or that his words and his deeds would be so often in direct antithesis.
What happened? Count the ways, and then let us see what might be done pronto!
read the ways
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