Comments Posted By Neo
Displaying 71 To 80 Of 217 Comments
I just love the excuse that Geithner is so good that this "little problem" should be overlooked.
Wasn't this the same excuse invoked to use the extraordinary interrogation techniques (AKA torture) ?
Comment Posted By Neo On 19.01.2009 @ 10:54
INVESTIGATING THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION A PARTISAN MINEFIELD
As for the Signing Statement, each of these statements allows all to see whatever interpretation the Executive branch will apply to the law. The Signing Statements impart no authority, but rather only represent a position of interpretation. Previously, these positions were understood within the Executive branch as internal policies that were unseen by the public and these positions were made public only when a statue was put up for judicial review or as regulations, stemming from these laws, were disclosed in the Federal Register.
The Signing Statements represent a level of transparency by the Executive branch. If all bills had a Signing Statement, we would all be better served.The downside of a Signing Statement is that it removes the ability to flip-flop or in most cases even be flexible. It has the real effect of starting the judicial review process without even filing a suit, as it locks in many aspects of the Executive branch position.
While many will view a Signing Statement on the Military Commissions Act as an "evil" act. It will be even more "evil" if there is no statement. The opponents of the Military Commissions Act should be waiting with baited breath to see what clarifications the Executive branch considers important enough to put into a Signing Statement, as this is the minimal test they will have to clear to have the court consider any reversals.
Comment Posted By Neo On 14.01.2009 @ 22:02
CHLOE SLAUGHTERS GARAFALO IN GEEK SHOWDOWN
who is behind this “Operation White Knight?”
Probably the "George Soros" look-a-like.
Comment Posted By Neo On 14.01.2009 @ 14:12
PANETTA WILL HAVE OBAMA'S BACK AT CIA
After reading around a bit about Panetta and the various former spooks that made comments, I get the feeling that the CIA is America's equivalent of the Gaza Strip.
Since installation of General Hayden as CIA Director, the furious pouring of leaks out of the CIA, that had undermined the Bush Administration, seemed to come down to a trickle.
I have this uneasy feeling that the "truce" between the Executive Branch and the CIA is about to come to an end, which means the flood gates on the leaks will open again. Expect to see those "intelliegence missiles" flying all over DC, often landing at the Washington Post, and the other various news organizations etc.
Comment Posted By Neo On 6.01.2009 @ 15:45
Given that there seems to be marginal if any real oversight of the $350 billion Congress has already approved for TARP, there is already a growing ground swell of disapproval forming for any new efforts.
The key for Republican Congressional leaders (and the rank-n-file) will be to cast these efforts as a waste of taxpayers money.
Comment Posted By Neo On 30.12.2008 @ 21:00
WISHING THE GAY MARRIAGE ISSUE WOULD JUST GO AWAY
Every time the "gay community" seems to be making some progress, they get themselves in a tizzy over some mundane crap like Rick Warren, which makes them look like a bunch of reactionary crazies.
Comment Posted By Neo On 24.12.2008 @ 01:00
BLAGOJEVICH: BEYOND 'BUSINESS AS USUAL' IN ILLINOIS
I wonder exactly what "at no time" means ...
Ill. governor meeting with Obama today
By Carol Sowers
Wednesday, November 05, 2008 at 10:39 a.m.CHICAGO, ILL. -- Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled.
That's one of Obama's first priorities today.
He's meeting with Governor Rod Blagojevich this afternoon in Chicago to discuss it.Appears Axelrod was right. Even the "gov" has the meeting on his web site.
Comment Posted By Neo On 10.12.2008 @ 13:10
Comment Posted By Neo On 9.10.2008 @ 18:13Barack Obama
Barack Obama is running to gain the Democratic ballot line for Illinois Senate 13th District. The 13th District is Alice Palmer's old district, encompassing parts of Hyde Park and South Shore.
Mr. Obama graduated from Columbia University and promptly went into community organizing for the Developing Communities Project in Roseland and Altgeld Gardens on the far south side of Chicago. He went on to Harvard University, where he was editor of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated with a law degree. In 1992, he was Director of Illinois Project Vote, a voter registration campaign that made Carol Moseley Braun's election to the U.S. Senate much easier than it would have been. At present, he practices law in Judson Miner's law firm and is President of the board of the Annenberg Challenge Grant which is distributing some $50 million in grants to public school reform efforts.
What best characterizes Barack Obama is a quote from an article in Illinois Issues, a retrospective look at his experience as a community organizer while he was completing his degree at Harvard:
"... community organizations and organizers are hampered by their own dogmas about the style and substance of organizing. Most practice ... a 'consumer advocacy' approach, with a focus on wrestling services and resources from outside powers that be. Few are thinking of harnessing the internal productive capacities, both in terms of money and people, that already exist in communities." (Illinois issues, September, 1988)
Luckily, Mr. Obama does not have any opposition in the primary. His opponents have all dropped out or were ruled off the ballot.
House Republican leader John A. Boehner of Ohio escalated the war on ACORN today, calling for it to be cut off from all federal money and going so far as to call for a ban on ACORN contracting with candidates for federal office.
The organization "cannot be trusted with another dollar of the taxpayers’ money," says Boehner.
ACORN receives federal money through the affordable housing trust fund after that money has been sent to states and local governments. So Congress, to keep the group from getting money, would need to specifically forbid ACORN from being eligible to get federal funds.
"Contracting for services between candidates for federal office and ACORN, as Sen. Obama has done, must end," says Boehner. "Now that the taxpayers own Fannie Mae, any funding from Fannie Mae’s nonprofit foundation to ACORN must stop."
Can You say "Hatch Act" ?
Wasn't there a sheriff in Georgia(?) being investigated over a McCain campaign appearance .. meanwhile ACORN takes federal funds .. like the sheriff .. and then gets paid to do work for the Obama campaign .. unlike the sheriff, who does it for free.
Comment Posted By Neo On 9.10.2008 @ 17:25
YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT THE DEBATE ANSWERED HERE
Comment Posted By Neo On 30.09.2008 @ 09:49One thing that bothered us, though, was Obama's closing statement:
You know, my father came from Kenya. That's where I get my name.
And in the '60s, he wrote letter after letter to come to college here in the United States because the notion was that there was no other country on Earth where you could make it if you tried. The ideals and the values of the United States inspired the entire world.
I don't think any of us can say that our standing in the world now, the way children around the world look at the United States, is the same.
And part of what we need to do, what the next president has to do--and this is part of our judgment, this is part of how we're going to keep America safe--is to--to send a message to the world that we are going to invest in issues like education, we are going to invest in issues that--that relate to how ordinary people are able to live out their dreams.
And that is something that I'm going to be committed to as president of the United States.
Barack Obama may be the world's leading expert on Barack Obama, but he managed to misstate a crucial fact in his father's life story. Obama père came to the U.S. in September 1959.
