Quote of the Day: “…a million dollars is not a lot of money”

06 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by in Politics, Republicans

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and wannabe (allegedly) Senator from New York, Harold Ford, squared off in a 90 minute joint appearance at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Thursday. The topics ranged from health care to abortion to taxes. The Boston Herald reports:

The two often traded jokes, especially when Steele panned President Barack Obama’s long-stated plan to let income tax rates return to higher levels for families making more than $250,000 a year.

“Trust me, after taxes, a million dollars is not a lot of money,” Steele said.

I wonder if Mr. Steele is growing accustomed to the taste of leather?

Another War?

06 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by in drone strikes, Pakistan, war on terror

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Juan Cole:

“The fragile Pakistani government of Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and President Asaf Ali Zardari was deeply embarrassed Wednesday when a massive bombing killed three U.S. soldiers on the ground in that country. The Pakistani public has been increasingly upset about U.S. military and paramilitary (Blackwater/Xe) actions in their country. On Tuesday, several U.S. drone strikes killed a total of 29 persons. The controversy over whether the U.S. is actually fighting a third war, in Pakistan, may have been settled by the troop deaths.

…The bombing differs little from numerous other such attacks in the frontier badlands, but is distinctive because it accidentally revealed that some 200 U.S. troops are on the ground in Pakistan, some 60-100 on a training mission. Those killed had been giving training and support to the Frontier Corps, a Pakistani unit charged with policing the lawless Pashtun areas on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

Come on mothers throughout the land,
Send your boys off to Pakistan (or Yemen, or Somalia, or Detroit, or Cleveland, or…..)
Come on fathers, don’t hesitate,
Send your sons off before it’s too late,
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.

Who’s In Charge Here? Follow the Money

06 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by in Congress, Democrats, Financial Crisis, lobbyists, Politics, Wall Street

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

The Washington D.C. game of finger-pointing, blame-shifting, and buck-passing rolls on. Robert Reich in Thursday’s Salon:

“Senator Chris Dodd, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, scolded Wall Street representatives at a hearing Thursday for sending “an army of lobbyists whose only mission is to kill the common-sense financial reforms” needed by the public. “The fact is,” Dodd said, “I am frustrated, and so are the American people.” He charged that Wall Street’s intransigence was the reason for Congress’s failure to pass any bill to regulate the Street.

Dodd left out the most telling detail, of course. Wall Street is where the campaign money is. Dodd of all people knows that. He’s been on the receiving end of lots of it over the years.

…In other words, it isn’t Congress’s fault. It isn’t the Senate Banking Committee’s fault. It certainly isn’t Dodd’s fault. The reason more than a year has passed since the biggest bailout in the history of the world and nothing has been done to prevent a repeat performance…is what, exactly, Senator? Because the Street has sent an army of lobbyists to Capitol Hill?

Call me old-fashioned, but I thought Congress was in charge of passing legislation, not Wall Street.

A little over $6 million, that’s all. Which leads to the REAL reason for the lack of Congressional action:

“Congress isn’t doing a thing about Wall Street because it’s in the pocket of Wall Street. Dodd’s outburst at the Street is like the alcoholic who screams at a bartender “how dare you give me another drink when all I’ve done is pleaded with you for one!”

Eight Americans Die for Ground With “No Tactical or Strategic Value”

06 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by in Afghanistan

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

McClatchy has a report on the investigation into the battle for Command Outpost Keating in Afghanistan which should infuriating to most Americans and, sad to say, is likely to be repeated in the months to come as President Obama ramps up the war there (emphasis mine):

“A U.S. military investigation into a battle last October in eastern Afghanistan that cost eight American soldiers their lives has concluded that the small outpost was worthless, the troops there didn’t understand their mission, and intelligence and air support were tied up elsewhere in the province.

…The report also says…that Combat Outpost Keating was located “deep in a bowl in Nuristan province, surrounded by high ground,” with limited protection from one observation post. By mid-2009, the report says, “there was no tactical or strategic value to holding the ground occupied by COP Keating,” which had been established to support a provincial political and economic reconstruction effort that never materialized.”

Do we never learn? Sending American soldiers to die in a country thousands of miles away, in order to prop up a puppet government which came to power by way of a fraudulent election, and is not supported by the people of that country. We’ve been there before.

George Santayana was right. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Make Room Under the Bus

06 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by in Democrats, health care, Obama, Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, ,

Dear Congressional Democrats,  

Welcome to the undercarriage of Barack Obama Mass Transit:

“And it may be that — you know, if Congress decides — if Congress decides we’re not going to do it [health care reform], even after all the facts are laid out, all the options are clear, then the American people can make a judgment as to whether this Congress has done the right thing for them or not. And that’s how democracy works. There will be elections coming up and they’ll be able to make a determination and register their concerns one way or the other during election time.”

Sincerely,

Grandma,

Reverend Wright,

Public option supporters,

Defenders of civil liberties,

And a litany of other once upon a time hopers and changers.

P.S. We feel your pain.

Senate Democrats Ready to Act on Jobs Bill……..Almost

05 Friday Feb 2010

Posted by in Democrats, economy, Politics

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

Cat-herder-in-Chief Harry Reid is ready to get to work on job creation:

“Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has scheduled a vote on a jobs package for next week…Reid (D-Nev.) and other Democratic leaders unveiled their jobs agenda Thursday, a plan they say will begin creating work for the nearly 7 million people who have lost employment since the start of the recession.

Reid said he would bring the first of several jobs bills to the Senate floor on Feb. 8 and hopes to pass it through the chamber by Feb. 12, when lawmakers are scheduled to start the Presidents Day recess.”

Just a few loose ends to tie up first:

“But Reid and other leaders declined to discuss key details, such as how much the package would cost, how many jobs it would create and how it would be paid for. Reid had yet to secure a Republican co-sponsor for the package.”

“Key details?” So, other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?

A Carefully Scripted Spontaneous Discussion

04 Thursday Feb 2010

Posted by in Congress, Democrats, Obama, Politics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Question-and-answer session or dog and pony show? You decide (emphasis mine):

“Senate Democrats held back from asking President Barack Obama about healthcare reform during a carefully scripted question-and-answer session in front of television cameras…With the cameras rolling, a group of senators selected in advance by the Democratic leadership asked questions about such topics as partisan gridlock and GOP obstruction.

Democratic leaders planned their question time with Obama well in advance, discussing during a meeting earlier in the week who would get to ask questions.”

…There was a vigorous discussion about that afterward with some of his top advisers and others,” Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) said regarding the healthcare discussion.

“I think people were probably aware that there was no easy answer and this is being broadcast on live national television and didn’t want to put him on the spot,” Bayh said.

I’ll take dog and pony show for $1,000 Alex.

Facing Tough Choices on Deficit and Debt

04 Thursday Feb 2010

Posted by in economy, Politics

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

I think most people who live in the real world (leaving out the gutless wonders who inhabit Washington, D.C.) will agree that if we ever hope to get our fiscal house in order some tough choices will have to be made. David Pauly has a piece at Bloomberg today with 9 suggestions:

1. Restore all income taxes to the pre-President George W. Bush level, not just those for people earning $250,000 or more.

2. Tax the banks $90 billion as proposed by President Barack Obama to pay for their bailout. Then break them up — making them small enough to fail and eliminating the need for more trillion-dollar rescues.

3. Eliminate income-tax deductions for property taxes and mortgage interest. Phase it in over five years so it hurts less.

4. Break Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into four mortgage- buying companies and get them off the federal dole.

5. Raise the retirement age for collecting full Social Security benefits to 72. Cut cost-of-living increases for beneficiaries to half the inflation rate for 10 years.

6. Raise the age for Medicare eligibility to 68.

Regarding numbers 5 and 6: Keep in mind that when Social Security was passed in 1936, life expectancy was 62. When Medicare was passed in 1965 it was 70. Today it’s 78.

7. End the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the current schedules.

8. Kill farm subsidies.

9. Reduce government.
Pauly lists some of the overlapping agencies and departments which could eliminated:

The government has both the U.S. Postal Service and the Postal Regulatory Commission. Doesn’t competition from e-mail and FedEx Corp. keep postal rates in line?

[Does] the president really needs both a Council of Economic Advisers and a National Economic Council?

Government housing officials will have less to do if we cut Fannie and Freddie loose.

Whole agencies might be suspect. We, for instance, have a Selective Service System but no draft.

Certainly food for thought.

Cooking the Books: Fannie and Freddie Not In the Budget

04 Thursday Feb 2010

Posted by in economy, Financial Crisis, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , ,

As if the staggering numbers that are in President Obama’s budget weren’t enough, take a look at what’s not there:

“Feb. 4 (Bloomberg) — Look through President Barack Obama’s proposed 2011 budget and you’ll see a line calling for a $235 million increase in the Justice Department’s funding to fight financial fraud. Lucky for them, the people who wrote the budget can’t be prosecuted for cooking the government’s books.

…They are keeping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac off the government’s balance sheet and out of the federal budget, along with their $1.6 trillion of corporate debt and $4.7 trillion of mortgage obligations...Fannie and Freddie aren’t merely wards of the state. Practically speaking, they are the entire U.S. housing market. Their liabilities are the government’s liabilities.

White House budget director Peter Orszag on September 9, 2008, two days after Fannie and Freddie were seized, when he was director of the Congressional Budget Office:

“The degree of control exercised by the federal government over these entities is so strong that the best treatment is to incorporate them into the federal budget.”

That control is stronger today. Congress and the Treasury have given the companies a blank check to blow through whatever taxpayer money is necessary to keep the U.S. housing market afloat. Anyone buying large quantities of U.S. government bonds knows these liabilities exist. So why pretend they don’t?”

A good question for those who promised openness and transparency.