Archive for March, 2009
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The future of missile defense requires a new way of thinking that will benefit the American taxpayer and allow the United States to stay ahead of foreign threats, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today.
“As you look toward the future, it is a time, because of the economy, that we have to make some pretty significant decisions†regarding missile defense and related programs, Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright said during the 7th Annual U.S. Missile Defense Conference at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center here.
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During a five-day trip to Southern California, the San Francisco mayor and gubernatorial candidate calls himself a 'hard-headed pragmatist' whose record is a model for the state.
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The federal government has to look at raising the gasoline tax to pay for public works improvements, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a "Meet the Press" interview that aired Sunday.
The Republican governor appeared on the NBC show with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to advocate for more federal public works spending as part of a coalition they formed last year. The interview was taped Friday.
Host David Gregory asked Schwarzenegger whether an increase in the federal 18.4-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax is an appropriate way to raise money for such projects.
"I think one has to look at it," Schwarzenegger said. "That is the next question, maybe, how do you finance all of this? But I think the important thing is that there's a willingness amongst the people to pay for it."
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Chris Matthews, the usually garrulous host of “Hardball†on MSNBC, has quietly signed a new long-term contract to remain with the cable network through the next election, signaling that he had quit entertaining any plans to run for a Senate seat.
The deal is for at least four years. Financial terms were not disclosed, and neither side would confirm whether MSNBC had won a reduction in salary for the host, as it had been reported to be seeking. Previous reports put his annual salary at about $5 million.
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Over the weekend The Times and other newspapers reported leaked details about the Obama administration’s bank rescue plan, which is to be officially released this week. If the reports are correct, Tim Geithner, the Treasury secretary, has persuaded President Obama to recycle Bush administration policy — specifically, the “cash for trash†plan proposed, then abandoned, six months ago by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
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French newspaper Le Figaro is horrified at the faux pas. And, current French President Sarkozy was appparently upset with the letter.
Europumas and Free Republic has the latest:
Now Obama has insulted French President Sarkozy!
Oh no! Obama sent a letter to Chirac, saying he looks forward to working with him the next four years. Le Figaro, French newspaper is horrified at the faux pas. Doesn't Obama ever consult his staff before acting? Sarkozy is the President there! It's like Sarko writing to George Bush and saying he looks forward to working with him. Chirac is the FORMER president.
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Call it a condom conundrum.
At a time when the federal government is spending billions of stimulus dollars to stem the tide of U.S. layoffs, should that same government put even more Americans out of work by buying cheaper foreign products?
In this case, Chinese condoms.
That's the dilemma for the folks at jobs, the government is switching to cheaper off-shore condoms, including some made in China.
In a move expected to cost 300 American the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has distributed an estimated 10 billion U.S.-made AIDS-preventing condoms in poor countries around the world.
But not anymore.
The switch comes despite assurances over the years that the agency would continue to buy American whenever possible.
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Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank Calls Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia A Homophobe – 03/20/09
This homosexual slur or was it slur by a homosexual was in the context of the Defense of Marriage Act.
The Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA, is the short title of a federal law of the United States passed on September 21, 1996 as Public Law No. 104-199, 110 Stat. 2419. Its provisions are codified at 1 U.S.C. § 7 and 28 U.S.C. § 1738C. The law has two effects:
- No state (or other political subdivision within the United States) need treat a relationship between persons of the same sex as a marriage, even if the relationship is considered a marriage in another state.
- The Federal Government may not treat same-sex relationships as marriages for any purpose, even if concluded or recognized by one of the states.
The bill was passed by Congress by a vote of 85-14 in the Senate[1] and a vote of 342-67 in the House of Representatives,[2] and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21, 1996.
Now with that background what does the United States Supreme Court and Justice Scalia have to do with the Defense of Marriage Act? Is there a specific case or is Frank just shooting off his mouth calling people names A BIGOT to his gay friends over at 355gay.com. How do you spell demogogue?
Probably the latter.
By the way, Representative Frank you can always try to amend or change the law in Congress but looking at the last vote of 342-67 in the House – good luck with that.
Technorati Tags: Barney Frank, Antonin Scalia
Tags: Antonin Scalia, Barney Frank
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Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., right, dances and jokes with Russert, left, as they watch Dodd’s younger daughter Christina, 2, second from right, dance after a taping of “Meet the Press” Oct. 28, 2007, in Washington, when Dodd was running for president. Dodd’s wife, Jackie Clegg, and older daughter Grace, 6, are shown in the middle
This revelation certainly will NOT help Senator Chris Dodd, U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman in the polls back home in Connecticut as his re-election campaign begins.
No wonder Senator Christopher Dodd (D-Conn) went wobbly last week when asked about his February amendment ratifying hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives at insurance giant AIG. Dodd has been one of the company’s favorite recipients of campaign contributions. But it turns out that Senator Dodd’s wife has also benefited from past connections to AIG as well.
From 2001-2004, Jackie Clegg Dodd served as an “outside” director of IPC Holdings, Ltd., a Bermuda-based company controlled by AIG. IPC, which provides property casualty catastrophe insurance coverage, was formed in 1993 and currently has a market cap of $1.4 billion and trades on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol IPCR. In 2001, in addition to a public offering of 15 million shares of stock that raised $380 million, IPC raised more than $109 million through a simultaneous private placement sale of 5.6 million shares of stock to AIG – giving AIG a 20% stake in IPC. (AIG sold its 13.397 million shares in IPC in August, 2006.)
Clegg was compensated for her duties to the company, which was managed by a subsidiary of AIG. In 2003, according to a proxy statement, Clegg received $12,000 per year and an additional $1,000 for each Directors’ and committee meeting she attended. Clegg served on the Audit and Investment committees during her final year on the board.
IPC paid millions each year to other AIG-related companies for administrative and other services. Clegg was a diligent director. In 2003, the proxy statement report, she attended more than 75% of board and committee meetings. This while she served as the managing partner of Clegg International Consultants, LLC, which she created in 2001, the year she joined the board of IPC. (See Dodd’s public financial disclosure reports with the Senate from 2001-2004 here.)
But, look at this chart of her further business dealings as the wife of a powerful United States Senator.
There will be lots of ‘plaining to do by the Senator and his wife regarding their personal and professional relationships with numerous concerns, including the failed AIG, doing business with the federal government.
And, Senator Dodd thought that his Countrywide Financial political loan scandal was his ONLY problem.
Technorati Tags: Chris Dodd, Jackie Clegg Dodd, AIG
Tags: AIG, Chris Dodd, Jackie Clegg Dodd
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President Barack Obama interviewed by Steve Kroft on CBS’s 60 Minutes Sunday
WTF is Obama laughing about?
Really……
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Steve Kroft
Tags: Barack Obama, Steve Kroft
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Day By Day by Chris Muir
Chris, I do not know if the Obama Administration is the “CURE” for Veteran’s Health Care. Since “The One” was elected the Los Angeles V.A. Hospital where Flap’s father in law is treated is dirtier and there is less support staff.
Retired General Eric Shinseki who criticized President Bush over the Iraq War may be over his head with managing the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. So far, he has succeeded in placing large portraits of himself around the Los Angeles V.A. Hospital while the bathrooms remain uncleaned for days. They were not like this when Bush was President.
Change you can believe in?
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The Day By Day Archive
Technorati Tags: Day By Day, Eric Shinseki, Barack Obama
Tags: Barack Obama, Day By Day, Eric Shinseki
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Poland said on Sunday it hoped the new U.S. administration would not abandon plans to station a missile defence system on its territory.
President Barack Obama's administration is reviewing U.S. security policy, including the missile shield plan. This has prompted speculation he might shelve a project that has angered Moscow, with which Washington wants to mend ties.
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Singer Lloyd Marcus told the crowd assembled in Lake Eola Park on Saturday that he was going to give them his take on the first days of the Obama administration.
Then he shrieked.
That pretty much summed up the mood in the park Saturday afternoon, when more than 4,000 people attended the Orlando Tea Party, a conservative rally aimed at expressing discontent with Washington.
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The leading liberal voices of the New York Times editorial pages all criticized—and, in some cases, clobbered—President Obama on Sunday for his handling of the economy and national security.
It's not unusual for Barack Obama to take a little friendly fire from the Times. But it's perhaps unprecedented for him to get hit on the same day by columnists Frank Rich, Thomas Friedman and Maureen Dowd—and in the paper's lead editorial. Their critique punctuated a weekend that started with a widely circulated blog post by Paul Krugman that said the president’s yet to be announced bank rescue plan would almost certainly fail.
The sentiment, coming just two months after the president was sworn in, reflects elite opinion in the Washington-New York corridor that Obama is increasingly overwhelmed, and not fully appreciative of the building tsunami of populist outrage.
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Frank rich seems to think so: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/opinion/22rich.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
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A CHARMING visit with Jay Leno won’t fix it. A 90 percent tax on bankers’ bonuses won’t fix it. Firing Timothy Geithner won’t fix it. Unless and until Barack Obama addresses the full depth of Americans’ anger with his full arsenal of policy smarts and political gifts, his presidency and, worse, our economy will be paralyzed. It would be foolish to dismiss as hyperbole the stark warning delivered by Paulette Altmaier of Cupertino, Calif., in a letter to the editor published by The Times last week: “President Obama may not realize it yet, but his Katrina moment has arrived.â€
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VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN KILLS AT GRIDIRON: “Axelrod really wanted me to do this on teleprompter — but I told him I’m much better when I wing it. … I know these evenings run long, so I’m going to be brief. Talk about the audacity of hope. … President Obama does send his greetings, though. He can’t be here tonight — because he’s busy getting ready for Easter. (Whisper) He thinks it’s about him. …
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"It is wrong," said Republican Judd Gregg in a statement today, "to propose to use the taxing authority of the government in a manner that is arbitrary, punitive, and targeted on a single group of people who they have deemed as having acted improperly." While not calling it "unconstitutional," Gregg's words seem to align with the sentiments in the Constitution. Addressing Congress directly it says, "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed." (Article 1, Sec 9.)
Concluding his written statement, Gregg said that the Senate bill would undermine the credibility of the U.S. tax system and "create an atmosphere where any group that offends the sensibilities of the majority may be at risk for punitive tax treatment."
"Remember," Gregg wrote, "it was the abuse of the power to tax by the British government that led to our revolution, and we should not forget that fact or those principles of fairness and equity that led to the creation of our nation in the first place."
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North Korea will close two routes in its airspace April 4-8 for a scheduled rocket launch, South Korea’s transportation ministry said.
The air routes off North Korea’s east coast will be closed daily between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. during the period for the launch of a rocket carrying a communications satellite, South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said late yesterday in an e-mailed statement. The ministry cited North Korea’s official notice of the plan.
Kim Jong Il’s regime has said it intends to launch a satellite into orbit as part of a peaceful space project. The U.S. and South Korea have warned against the action, saying it would violate a United Nations resolution and that evidence suggests North Korea is instead planning to test a ballistic long-range missile capable of reaching Alaska.
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