Archive for June, 2009
Tom Daschle’s Carefully Nuanced Prediction
Remember how Tom Daschle used to be Tim Geithner‘s identical twin? How both of them had cheated on their taxes? And how both of them were uniquely qualified to do the jobs that Obama had picked them for, Geithner to restore the economy to the pink of health, and Daschle to shepherd Obama’s dream healthcare [...]
Judicial Restraint
And the beat goes on: A federal judge said Thursday that he wants to look at notes from the FBI’s interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan‘s decision to review the documents followed arguments by Obama administration lawyers [...]
Same Same
House Transpo Leaders United — in Frustration With the White House – StreetsBlog (6/18/09): Senior members of the House transportation committee today fired a warning shot at those pushing an 18-month extension of existing federal law, putting the Obama administration and key senators on notice that their $450 billion proposal would move forward this year. [...]
Obama v. Bush, Take 2
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, who is the official spokesman-in-exile of Mir Hossein Mousavi: MM: Obama has said that there is no difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi. Does he like it himself [when someone is] saying that there is no difference between Obama and [George W.] Bush? Ahmadinejad is the Bush of Iran. And Mousavi is the Obama [...]
A Concise History Of DOMA Pretenses
(1) First, Obama-the-candidate promises to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. Then, the Obama administration files a brief supporting DOMA (see Matt’s powerful post about Obama’s wideranging and continuing betrayal of the GLBT community). A brief that John Aravosis describes as “despicable, and gratuitously homophobic”. Then, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs insists that President Obama [...]
Change Schmange
And the beat goes on. President Obama has not just embraced retroactive immunity and the position that every legal inquiry into warrantless wiretapping should be smothered, by repeated and indiscriminate application of his very own enhanced reincarnation of the state secrets privilege. He has also embraced warrantless wiretapping itself. Pretty wholeheartedly. And not just the [...]
Stem Cell Research: The Great Leap Forward
The beat goes on. The more you examine Obama-the-president, the more he resembles the guy who came before rather than Obama-the-candidate. Matt wrote last week: On … civil rights for gays and lesbians, Iraq and Afghanistan, torture, state secrets, retroactive immunity and smothering investigations, Obama hasn’t changed a fucking thing. Yesterday we learned that he’s [...]
A Little More Audacity
Bill Maher, Welcome Aboard, Chief! “And, just like Lindsay, we see your name in the paper a lot, but we’re kind of wondering when you’re going to actually do something. Sorry, folks, but this president is not fighting for real health care reform. It’s nibbling that leaves insurance companies still running the show. And the [...]
Transparent Hypocrisy
This is really starting to get ridiculous: The Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn’t have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions. Despite President Barack Obama’s pledge to introduce a new era of transparency [...]
An Appalling Betrayal
2008 SF Pride Parade – © Matt Cohen I go to the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade ever year. I used to go with some of my gay friends, and these days I get assigned to photograph it. I go because it’s important. I go to support my gay friends. I go because I lost [...]