Archive for April, 2009
April 29 marks Barack Obama’s 100th day as President. Will it be a “Hallmark Holiday?”
The “100 days†concept has had mythical status since the days of the New Deal, when Franklin D. Roosevelt made history with a blizzard of bold federal actions. And reporters have been addicted to stories around this milestone in every administration since.
White House senior adviser David Axelrod calls the 100th day a “Hallmark holiday,†an essentially artificial event with no genuine significance. But he and his colleagues also know the reality: The early-verdict stories are going to be written, creating both a challenge and opportunity for the new president.
So senior White House aides are playing the game with relish, doling out made-to-order anecdotes and what-it-means analytical insights to help reporters write their 100 days pieces. You can already see the results in a spate of stories that — thanks to competitive pressures — editors are deciding to publish before the actual 100th day.
The permanent Obama campaign is ALREADY spinning “The One’s” accomplishments. Let’s see what is noteworthy to Flap:
- Obama has increased the size and role of the federal government
- Obama has increased taxes and will increase them more
- Obama has markedly increased domestic government spending, while cutting Defense Department expenditures, including national missile defense
- Obama has blamed Bush for the domestic economy and foreign policy mistakes that he needs to apologize for.
NBC News may herald the “100 Days of Obama” as the greatest but so far the man has not delivered much but the same old left-wing weak on defense and tax and spend policies.
Exit Answer: The Greatest President EVER?
NO – Not even close.
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President Barack Obama’s attempt to project legal and moral clarity on coercive CIA interrogation methods has instead done the opposite — creating confusion and political vulnerability over an issue that has inflamed both the left and right.
In the most recent instance, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair acknowledged in a memo to the intelligence community that Bush-era interrogation practices yielded had "high-value information,†then omitted that admission from a public version of his assessment.
That leaves a top Obama administration official appearing to validate claims by former Vice President Dick Cheney that waterboarding and other techniques the White House regards as torture were effective in preventing terrorist attacks. And the press release created the impression the administration was trying to suppress this conclusion.
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Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) today sent the following letter to President Obama strongly urging him not to prosecute government officials who provided legal advice related to detainee interrogations, and to move forward in a constructive fashion to address the significant challenges our country faces on the detainee issue:
“We write with concern about proposals to prosecute previous administration officials for their legal analysis related to the CIA interrogation program. Pursuing such prosecutions would, we believe, have serious negative effects on the candor with which officials in any administration provide their best advice, and would take our country in a backward-looking direction at a time when our detainee-related challenges demand that we look forward.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pressed the case for creation of a special “truth commission†to investigate the interrogation of terror suspects during the Bush administration.
The California Democrat said several House committees already are examining the issue amid concerns that brutal tactics were used. But in a roundtable meeting Wednesday with reporters, she suggested “it might be further useful to have such a commission so that it removes all doubt that how we protect the American people is in a values-based way.â€
The speaker said she’s open to holding potential witnesses, including former government officials, harmless from prosecution for cooperating with the commission, but only in a limited way. “I don’t think you take immunity off the table,†she said, suggested immunity could encourage cooperation. But Pelosi stressed immunity “should not be granted in a blanket way.â€
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The government will increase its top rate of income tax to a higher than expected 50 percent from next year, Chancellor Alistair Darling said on Wednesday as he delivered the government's annual budget.
The tax band had originally been due to rise to 45 percent from 40 percent in April 2011 as Britain seeks to claw back lost tax revenue caused by a deep recession.
The 50-percent rate will apply to any income above 150,000 pounds.
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The "death of newspapers" has drawn powerful political interest.
Troubled by the possible shuttering of his hometown paper, Sen. John Kerry reached out to the Boston Globe on Tuesday, then called for Senate hearings to address the woes of the nation's print media.
"To the Boston Globe family," the Massachusetts Democrat wrote to employees of the 132-year-old publication, which faces closure unless it can come up with $20 million in union concessions to parent company the New York Times by May 1. The Globe is losing $1 million a week.
"America's newspapers are struggling to survive, and while there will be serious consequences in terms of the lives and financial security of the employees involved, including hundreds at the Globe, there will also be serious consequences for our democracy where diversity of opinion and strong debate are paramount," Mr. Kerry said.
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Miss USA interviewed by Al Roker on NBC’s Today Show
Sounds to me she supports Civil Unions but punts the question with a politically correct answer (See around 2:05) . After all, she wants to be selected as Miss Universe this summer.
Bad news for BIGOT Perez Hilton though. If Miss USA is chosen as Miss Universe, then the traditional marriage supporting Miss California, Carrie Prejean, automatically becomes Miss USA.
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Perez Hilton Retracts Apology Calling Miss California a B*tch Says He Really Meant C- Word Anyway
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Secretary Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security
Well, Napolitano is a former Democrat Governor of Arizona and a Democrat Party political hack. But, Canadians have a point in asking the question.
In an interview broadcast Monday on the CBC, Ms. Napolitano attempted to justify her call for stricter border security on the premise that “suspected or known terrorists” have entered the U. S. across the Canadian border, including the perpetrators of the 9/11 attack.
All the 9/11 terrorists, of course, entered the United States directly from overseas. The notion that some arrived via Canada is a myth that briefly popped up in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and was then quickly debunked.
Informed of her error, Ms. Napolitano blustered: “I can’t talk to that. I can talk about the future. And here’s the future. The future is we have borders.”
Just what does that mean, exactly?
Just a few weeks ago, Ms. Napolitano equated Canada’s border to Mexico’s, suggesting they deserved the same treatment. Mexico is engulfed in a drug war that left more than 5,000 dead last year, and which is spawning a spillover kidnapping epidemic in Arizona. So many Mexicans enter the United States illegally that a multi-billion-dollar barrier has been built from Texas to California to keep them out.
In Canada, on the other hand, the main problem is congestion resulting from cross-border trade. Not quite the same thing, is it?
What an embarassment.
President Barack Obama should ask for Napolitano’s resignation.
Technorati Tags: Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security, Canada
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Guess not too much awareness progress has been made regarding the environment or the “ECOLOGY” as they used to call it.
Wednesday is Earth Day, a day first celebrated 39 years ago to inspire awareness and appreciation of the environment. But, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey, only 31% of American adults believe their fellow countrymen are environmentally aware.
Fifty-three percent (53%) say most Americans are not environmentally aware. Adults under the age of 40 believe this more strongly than their elders.
In other Earth day polling:
- Seventy-two percent (72%) of Americans think individuals can improve the environment by their actions, and just 15% disagree.
- Seventy-four percent (74%) of both Democrats and voters not affiliated with either major party say individuals can improve the environment, compared to 67% of Republicans.
- In a separate survey, just 34% of U.S. voters now think global warming is caused by human activity, the lowest finding yet in Rasmussen Reports national surveying. The Obama administration’s proposed anti-global warming efforts are predicated on reducing human causes for the problem.
- Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Americans rate Earth Day as at least somewhat important, including 28% for whom it is Very Important. Women (64%) deem the day more important than men (50%). Thirty-five percent (35%) of all adults say the day is not very or not at all important.
- Yet while most Americans value Earth Day, just 21% plan to do something special to celebrate Earth Day. Sixty-eight percent (68%) have no such plans. Younger adults are more likely to celebrate it than older Americans.
Flap remembers the first Earth Day when he was at USC. It was largeley ignored by the biology majors who were more interested in learning the real deal versus the politically hyped stuff. There were some, mostly lefty types that tried to promote it though.
Plus Ca Change
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Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, right, and Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., speak on their way to a news conference after touring the Los Angeles port complex at the Port of Los Angeles Coast Guard Station on Monday, April 13, 2009, in Los Angeles
Well, first it was the release of the DHS report on right wing extremists and now it is a FLAP with Canada over 9/11 for Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.
Ottawa was rushing to defend its border security on Tuesday amid a diplomatic scuffle with the U.S., which erupted after Washington’s homeland security chief suggested that the 9-11 terrorists entered the U.S. through Canada.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano made the comments during a media interview earlier this week, much to the chagrin of Canadians on both sides of the border.
In recent years, Ottawa has invested a great deal of effort into dispelling perceptions among Americans that Canada’s border is an easy entry point for terrorists planning attacks on U.S. soil.
“Unfortunately, misconceptions arise on something as fundamental as where the 9-11 terrorists came from,” said Michael Wilson, Canada’s ambassador in Washington.
“As the 9-11 commission reported in 2004, all of the 9-11 terrorists arrived in the United States from outside North America. They flew to major U.S. airports. They entered the U.S. with documents issued by the United States government and no 9-11 terrorists came from Canada.”
Clearly, Napolitano is incapable of doing the job. Now, she insults Canada for no apparent reason. But, tries to backtrack:
Later, Napolitano’s staff attempted to tamp down the controversy by blaming the comments on a simple misunderstanding, said Wilson, who was the keynote speaker at the Border Trade Alliance meeting in Washington Tuesday.
“Her comment from her people is that she misunderstood,” Wilson said, adding that he was planning a personal meeting with Napolitano in the near future.
The furor began when Napolitano was asked to clarify statements she had made about equal treatment for the Mexican and Canadian borders, despite the fact that a flood of illegal immigrants and a massive drug war are two serious issues on the southern border.
“Yes, Canada is not Mexico, it doesn’t have a drug war going on, it didn’t have 6,000 homicides that were drug-related last year,” she said.
“Nonetheless, to the extent that terrorists have come into our country or suspected or known terrorists have entered our country across a border, it’s been across the Canadian border. There are real issues there.”
When asked if she was referring to the 9-11 terrorists, Napolitano added: “Not just those but others as well.”
However, Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan downplayed the comments and said that Napolitano is well aware that Canada was not the source of the 9-11 terrorists.
“We spoke about it back in March, and we were sharing a chuckle at the fact that the urban myth does circulate,” he told CTV’s Power Play.
“Ms. Napolitano understood quite clearly, then and now, that none of the September 11 terrorists came through Canada, as the 9-11 Commission found.”
Secretary Napolitano should apologize and then resign.
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Video: One Question Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on MSNBC Avoids Right Wing Extremism Report Flap
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano APOLOGIZES To Veterans Over DHS Report
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