Archive for July, 2009
Culture’n'Heritage
Arkansas Senate candidate Curtis Reynolds (R): “We need someone to stand up to Barack Obama and his policies. We must protect our culture, our Christian identity.” O Brother, Where Art Thou? 2000: Grand Wizard: Brothers! We are foregathered here to preserve our hallowed culture’n heritage! From intrusions, inclusions and dilutions! Of culluh! Of creed! Of [...]
And The Beat Goes On…
Guess what else hasn’t changed since January 20, 2009? The Obama administration has declined requests from U.N. human rights investigators for information on secret prisons and for private interviews with inmates at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, U.N. officials said, dampening their hopes of greater U.S. cooperation on human rights issues. [...]
Cause And Effect
Is the kind of healthcare reform we get going to be like the kind of transparency Barack Obama has brought us with a straight face? Given everything we have seen or heard so far, do we have any basis at all for believing that healthcare reform will be any more real and meaningful than transparency? [...]
Situational Transparency
In Response To Lawsuit Threat, White House Releases Names Of Health Industry Executives Who Visited White House | TPMDC President Obama noted this in his press conference, but, after the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington threatened to file suit, he’s released a list of executives who’ve attended White House health care meetings. [...]
Of Course
White House declines to disclose visits by health industry executives – LA Times (7/22/09): Invoking an argument used by President George W. Bush, the Obama administration has turned down a request from a watchdog group for a list of health industry executives who have visited the White House to discuss the massive healthcare overhaul. Citizens [...]
Birther Converted Before Our Very Eyes
Apparently, there are no FCC rules against debunking right-wing craziness on a TV news program. I would never have guessed. Today on MSNBC, host Chris Matthews interviewed Rep. John Campbell (R-CA), co-sponsor of a bill that would require candidates for president in the future to present a copy of his or her birth certificate “to [...]
The Victim of Tragic Irony
Sarah Palin‘s valiant battle against “frivilous allegations” of ethics violations has unexpectedly made her The Victim of a Tragic Irony. (She’s already been the victim of everything else, apparently.) To help defray her expenses for battling those “frivilous allegations”, her fans had launched a legal defense fund, the Alaska Fund Trust (no trust funds for [...]
Words, Actions And Healthcare Reform
Politics — or at least legislation, the passing thereof — would be so much simpler if there was a simple mechanism to compel you to walk the walk once you had unambiguously talked the talk. Take Maine Senator Olympia Snowe, and healthcare reform. She clearly knows what her constituents want to hear, and she has [...]
The 21st Century Republican Party Ethos
Sometimes, Bill Kristol inadvertently writes something that is actually true. Take this, for instance: With Obamacare on the ropes, there will be a temptation for opponents to let up on their criticism, and to try to appear constructive, or at least responsible. There will be a tendency to want to let the Democrats’ plans sink [...]
The Rules
Obama Aide Declines Visit to Bank Board – New York Times (7/20/09) The White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has decided not to speak to the board of JPMorgan Chase when it meets here on Monday, he said Sunday after considering the invitation for several days. Mr. Emanuel is a longtime acquaintance of the [...]