links for 2009-03-10

Okay, Senate Republicans are officially ratcheting up their war against Chas Freeman, who is taking heavy fire from the pro-Israel lobby and the neocons as Obama’s pick to head the National Intelligence Council.

I’ve just obtained a letter that half dozen Republican Senators will fire off later today to Dennis Blair — the Director of National Intelligence and the person who appointed Freeman — protesting the choice of Freeman for the NIC post. The letter complains about Freeman’s relative lack of experience and views on China and Israel.

Freeman’s gig is key because he is responsible for preparing some of the intel community’s most sensitive assessments.

Mr. Bush frequently used signing statements to declare that provisions in the bills he was signing were unconstitutional constraints on executive power, claiming that the laws did not need to be enforced or obeyed as written. The laws he challenged included a torture ban and requirements that Congress be given detailed reports about how the Justice Department was using the counter-terrorism powers in the USA Patriot Act.

Dating back to the 19th century, presidents have occasionally signed a bill while declaring that one or more provisions were unconstitutional. Presidents began doing so more frequently starting with the Reagan administration.

But Mr. Bush broke all records, using signing statements to challenge about 1,200 bill sections over his eight years in office — about twice the number challenged by all previous presidents combined, according to data compiled by Christopher Kelley, a political science professor at Miami University in Ohio.

Under fire from congressional Republicans for lifting restrictions on stem-cell research, President Barack Obama got a powerful endorsement for his move Monday from Nancy Reagan, the former’s president’s wife.

“I’m very grateful that President Obama has lifted the restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research,” she wrote in a statement released shortly after Obama reversed the Bush administration limits. “These new rules will now make it possible for scientists to move forward. I urge researchers to make use of the opportunities that are available to them, and to do all they can to fulfill the promise that stem cell research offers."

Nancy Reagan has been an outspoken advocate of stem-cell research – and scientists hope that the research could someday lead to a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, which afflicted her late husband, Ronald Reagan.

Want to get involved in the nuts and bolts of the Ventura County Republican Party? We're having an information session for volunteers to join our team this Monday night @ 7pm.

We will be going over ways that we need your help to build an active organization in our community, including communications, political operations, fundraising, events and more. Come get directly connected with a way to make a difference locally and push back the Democrats' attempts to tax your hard-earned income.

Join us at our HQ at 2219 E Thousand Oaks Blvd Suite 103. If you have any questions, email Executive Director Chris Collier at ccollier@vcrcc.org.

Based on the description, many are concluding that the unnamed prominent African American backer whose endorsement Obama spent two years cultivating, is retired general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. I contacted Powell's office this morning and Peggy Cifrino, Powell's principal assistant & spokeswoman, offered a pretty comprehensive denial:

I am not suggesting that extreme conservatism wasn’t once popular, nor am I suggesting I should in any way be any kind of voice for the party. I have been a Republican for less than a year. Still, even after losing the election, I find myself more drawn to GOP ideals and wanting to fight for the party’s resurgence. And if figureheads like Ann Coulter are turning me off, then they are definitely turning off other members of my generation as well. She does appeal to the most extreme members of the Republican Party—but they are dying off, becoming less and less relevant to the party structure as a whole. I think most people my age are like me in that we all don’t believe in every single ideal of each party

Five Ways Obama’s Economic Stimulus Is Already Working

Time offers five reasons for economic optimism — among them, "The Government Is on the Case."

While I don’t find Justin Fox’s list particularly reassuring — the surprise ending will do that — it did prompt some rethinking. Perhaps I, among others, have been too relentlessly negative in assessing the economy’s performance in the opening months of the Obama administration.

After further review, I have found five key signs of economic growth, all of which I attribute entirely, or almost entirely, to President Obama.

Last week, the file cabinets at the Department of Justice rolled open. Out came the most brazen thinking imaginable: In the weeks after the 9/11 attacks, ultra-con lawyers said the military could blow up apartment buildings, eavesdrop on anyone and even suspend freedom of the press. All in the name of the war on terror.
It may all sound like more of the same, another collection of the Bush-Cheney greatest hits as the White House inner circle dreamed up ways to counter the attacks. But it's also the latest exhibit in the case for a "truth commission" that Congress is considering to investigate the Bush era.

There are reasons to worry about the notion. It could become a partisan piñata that Democrats exploit for attention and Republicans smack as a useless diversion. It could end up producing a political meltdown instead of fresh take on modern history.
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Is there any wonder why the San Francisco Chronicle is a failing newspaper?

To those who believe that Barack Obama is a different kind of politician — more honest, more courageous — please don't examine his administration's budget. If you do, you may sadly conclude that he resembles presidents stretching back to John Kennedy in one crucial respect. He won't tax voters for all the government services they want. That's the main reason we've run budget deficits in 43 of the past 48 years.

Obama is a great pretender. He repeatedly says he's doing things that he isn't, trusting his powerful rhetoric to obscure the difference. He has made "responsibility" a personal theme; the budget's cover line is "A New Era of Responsibility." He says the budget begins "making the tough choices necessary to restore fiscal discipline." It doesn't.