1115.org

(1)
How is this not extortion?

Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Jeff Sessions (R-AL) announced today that “they are blocking President Barack Obama’s nomination of Ashton Carter as Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics.” The senators want assurances that Carter will not “change the criteria” on which the Pentagon considers a refueling tanker contract that could benefit defense contractors in their state.

Let’s see, Rod Blagojevich demanded a quid pro quo for nominating Obama’s replacement to the Senate. These honorable gentlemen from Alabama are demanding a quid pro quo for agreeing not to obstruct confirmation of an Obama nominee.

Whichever way I look at it, the difference between Shelby and Sessions’ conduct and Blagojevich’s seems to be one of degree rather than kind. The disgraced governor was looking for a personal, pecuniary quid pro quo. These disgraceful senators are looking for a political quid pro quo from which they expect to reap personal benefits.

(2)
If you close your eyes and picture this scenario, what immediately comes to mind is the Bush administration:
— A Democratic Congress passes legislation to impose restrictions on corporate conduct.
— The administration conspires with said corporations to wriggle out from under said restrictions.

Then you open your eyes, and you find that once again, while you weren’t exactly looking, Bushworld has seamlessly melded into Obama-time:

The Obama administration is engineering its new bailout initiatives in a way that it believes will allow firms benefiting from the programs to avoid restrictions imposed by Congress, including limits on lavish executive pay, according to government officials.

Administration officials have concluded that this approach is vital for persuading firms to participate in programs funded by the $700 billion financial rescue package.

Sidestepping the restrictions is trivial. You just take a leaf from Enron’s book (namely, the infamous SPV or special purpose vehicle).

The restrictions apply only if the government provides federal aid directly to financial companies. So:

… the government has set up special entities that act as middlemen, channeling the bailout funds to the firms and, via this two-step process, stripping away the requirement that the restrictions be imposed, according to officials.
[...]
This strategy has so far attracted little scrutiny on Capitol Hill, and even some senior congressional aides dealing with the financial crisis said they were unaware of the administration’s efforts.
[...]
Legal experts said the Treasury’s plan to bypass the restrictions may be unlawful.

“They are basically trying to launder the money to avoid complying with the plain language of the law,” said David Zaring, a former Justice Department attorney who defended the government from lawsuits involving related legal issues. “They are trying to create a loophole to ignore Congress, and I think the courts will think that it’s ridiculous.”

The federal watchdog agency overseeing the bailout is looking into the matter, trying to determine whether the Treasury’s actions are legal.

And you know why it’s okay to circumvent the will of Congress by Enron-like means that may be unlawful? Because Larry Summers and Tim Geithner have determined that:
a) Since they are the masters of the Masters of the Universe, Congress is less than the dirt beneath their feet.
b) Financial companies who are drowning have to be persuaded to let the government throw them a life preserver.

Saving the poor liddle financial companies is a noble end. And if Tweedledum and Tweedledee determine that they can be saved only by circumventing the will of Congress, well then, that’s that. The nobility of the end trumps any discussion of the acceptability of the means.

There’s oversight by Congress, and then there are games-administrations-play to evade oversight. That much Bush taught us all too well.

So, Obama’s lesson seems to be that there’s legislation by Congress, and then there are games-administrations-play to effectively nullify legislation.

(And we’re still only in the first trimester!)

(3)
The Bush administration went about committing war crimes with impunity, convinced that they had adequately airbrushed their crimes via sundry memos produced on demand by the Office of Legal Counsel.

Maybe the emerging story of the Obama administration will be the equally uncaring commission of widespread economic crimes? Maybe some not-yet-widely-reviled lawyer in some not-yet-a-household-name government office is already hard at work, producing copious questionable justifications for everything Summers and Geithner have done, and plan to do? To Congress, to us the taxpayers, and maybe even to the Constitution?