++This past week Barack Hussein Obama was re-elected President as Vice President Biden looked on as the electoral votes were counted.
++The 112th Congress is no more, boasting the worst record of accomplishment in our nation's history and goes out with a sizzling 12% approval rating, the lowest since polling began.
++The new Congress was sworn in and went promptly on recess until the end of the month.
++Congratulations to all the new members. Especially pleasing was to see now Senator Elizabeth Warren, Heidi Heitkampf and the large number of women Senators and House members.
++President Obama is gearing up to introduce new gun control legislation when he returns to Washington today. Mitch McConnell has vowed that this must take back seat to the debt.
++President Obama has vowed not to negotiate over raising the debt ceiling this time. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are falling in line. During W's presidency, Congress raised the debt ceiling 19 times without quarrel. Republicans are now split over this maneuver, some fearing a public backlash.
++David Frum commented this week that House Republicans talking about entitlement reform are aiming at their base, which is seniors, and the rest of the Caucus appear like desperadoes,whom you could never trust with government.
++Barney Frank spent the week lobbying for the post of interim Senator from Massachusetts. Frank argues the next two months will be the most important in our country's financial future with the debt ceiling row,the entitlement/sequestration argument and the budget flap. The US government has not had a budget since 1996.
++President Obama stated he would finalize the nominees for the national security posts this coming week. The spotlight is on Chuck Hagel, who has drawn the fire of the gay community for his attitudes expressed in the 1990s and the neocons and the pro-Israeli hawks.
++Charles Krauthammer had a column yesterday in the Washington Post arguing that the Fiscal Cliff debate revealed the true Obama as a social democrat. Only a few weeks earlier President Obama said that he would be considered a moderate Republican. Expect the pundit puzzle over Obama's true identity to play out over the next four years.
++Republicans are beginning to wise up to the fact that the Fiscal Cliff agreement ended the days of supply side economics.
++The kindler, gentler GOP has not surfaced. Hurricane Sandy aid barely passed the new congress with the Slave state Republicans voting against it. Washington Monthly did an analysis of the Fiscal Cliff vote and found almost an identical regional breakdown to the Civil War states,including Republicans from the Union states voting for it.
++Before the Hurricane Sandy vote, Michelle Bachmann introduced the first bill in the House--the Repeal of Obamacare,making this almost three dozen times this has been introduced.
++Steven King of Iowa introduced a bill to outlaw anchor babies, the most pressing issue facing the country. He was joined by Louis Gohlmart on this important legislation, which violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.
++Progressives have noticed that the cuts in sequestration protect the big three-Social Security,Medicare and Medicaid. House Republicans have introduced a new bill that would "restore" the $780 million the Romney-Ryan campaign said that Obama cut from the program. It seems a bit bizarre when the House is screaming about entitlement cuts that the GOP is considering this.
++Senators Cornyn,Graham and McCain are vowing to destroy the country's credit-rating on the debt ceiling debate unless dramatic cuts are made to the social welfare net. Veterans of the Clinton Administration have commented that these people believe that the national debt is that of the Obama family and not accrued by Congress. The advice is to hold fire. Nancy Pelosi now urges President Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment to avoid the debt ceiling fiasco. The White House continues to put out the word that are against this. But the President can authorize Treasury to pay the bills.
++It is likely the 113th Congress will be even more polarized that the departing one. Now the idea is to make President Obama a premature lame duck. The GOP strategy hasn't changed from obstructionism since the last election.
++Knowing they needed to patch up relations with women, the GOP has gone full ahead with their anti-abortion agenda, passing restrictive laws in Michigan and introducing them in Virginia. Planned Parenthood is being de-funded in Texas and Oklahoma. More anti-abortion and contraception bills are being introduced in the House.
++The Senate may or may not pass a filibuster reform bill. Observers thought Mitch McConnell bought some time with his approval of scores of Obama nominees that had been held up for the 2012 Congress.
++The White House plans an early blitz on gun control to take the NRA off-guard. I believe it could pass the Senate but never the House.
++Denny Hastert--not Haskert as I mentioned in the previous blog--warned John Boehner not to avoid the Hastert rule unless he wanted to lose control of the House. The Fiscal Cliff vote was a perfect example of how a popular law could pass with only a small Republican vote and a large Democratic vote.
++The final votes for the House races are in and the Democrats won by over 1 million votes. The House GOP keep saying this was a status quo election. In fact if they had not so severely gerrymandered the House districts, the Democrats would have won control. As it is, Democrats can not win control of the House unless they beat Republicans by over 6%. Very tough to do.
Showing posts with label Barney Frank. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barney Frank. Show all posts
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Dodd-Franks Bill Passes--BFD Take Two
The Wall Street Reform bill finally was allowed to be voted on by a 60 to 38 margin and the actual bill passed again with 60 in favor and 38 against. And true to form, John Boehner vows to repeal it in the next congress and Lamar Alexander wants to do the same in the Senate. President Obama will sign the bill next week. It has been hyped as the most major reform of our financial system since the Great Depression. Actually alot of it is returning to the regulatory state we had before the early 1990s. While critics claim that it still allows Too Big Too Fail, that's not technically true. Regulators are allowed to step in if a bank looks like it will threaten the health of our economy as many did during the 2008 meltdown. But there are many safeguards built into the bill, which at least will prevent a regime of Great Panics, which the Republicans appear to want.
Like alot of reform bills, this will be as good as it is implemented in reality. What's important now is the designation of a forceful head of the first Consumer Agency, which is the most visible and public friendly innovation in the bill. Hopefully, Washington rumors will turn out to be true with the nomination of Elizabeth Warren, who said in the past if the Consumer Agency was not in the bill she wanted to see lots of blood and teeth on the Senate floor.
The bill is already being blasted by Huffington Post and others as not going far enough, just like the healthcare bill. But it is a major accomplishment, even if it doesn't pay immediate dividends for the Democrats. Senator Chris Dodd saved the best for his last year with this bill and also his major work on Healthcare reform. And Barney Frank's work on the reconciliation conference saved many of the tough measures that were not watered down in the Senate.
Meanwhile, BP has announced it has finally stopped the flood of oil into the Gulf. While the announcement is provisional, pending further tests, it is welcomed news. Now maybe we can finally start evaluating the total damage done to the ecosystem and move forward with the Senate's clean energy bill.
Ayn Rand confidente and disciple Alan Greenspan today announced that the Bush tax cuts for the rich should not be continued.
And another poll shows that the American people by wide margins reject the idea that Social Security has any consequences for the national debt and want it maintained, especially given the current Deep Recession. In fact, they are right, Social Security only runs into problems in the year 2037 but the United States took 2 trillion out of it to pay for the deficits during the W years. On paper, everything is fine. It was Ronald Reagan in 1983 who ensured that Social Security would pay for the baby boomers with the bipartisan agreement reached then. the idea in the Clinton years was that the budget surplusses would stabilize Medicare for the future.
Like alot of reform bills, this will be as good as it is implemented in reality. What's important now is the designation of a forceful head of the first Consumer Agency, which is the most visible and public friendly innovation in the bill. Hopefully, Washington rumors will turn out to be true with the nomination of Elizabeth Warren, who said in the past if the Consumer Agency was not in the bill she wanted to see lots of blood and teeth on the Senate floor.
The bill is already being blasted by Huffington Post and others as not going far enough, just like the healthcare bill. But it is a major accomplishment, even if it doesn't pay immediate dividends for the Democrats. Senator Chris Dodd saved the best for his last year with this bill and also his major work on Healthcare reform. And Barney Frank's work on the reconciliation conference saved many of the tough measures that were not watered down in the Senate.
Meanwhile, BP has announced it has finally stopped the flood of oil into the Gulf. While the announcement is provisional, pending further tests, it is welcomed news. Now maybe we can finally start evaluating the total damage done to the ecosystem and move forward with the Senate's clean energy bill.
Ayn Rand confidente and disciple Alan Greenspan today announced that the Bush tax cuts for the rich should not be continued.
And another poll shows that the American people by wide margins reject the idea that Social Security has any consequences for the national debt and want it maintained, especially given the current Deep Recession. In fact, they are right, Social Security only runs into problems in the year 2037 but the United States took 2 trillion out of it to pay for the deficits during the W years. On paper, everything is fine. It was Ronald Reagan in 1983 who ensured that Social Security would pay for the baby boomers with the bipartisan agreement reached then. the idea in the Clinton years was that the budget surplusses would stabilize Medicare for the future.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Another Big F#*&King Deal
After a twenty-hour marathon session, where members fell asleep and the staff ran out of paper, the Dodd/Frank Act finally reached its final language. Last night's session, which broke around 5 a.m. saw slight changes to the so-called "Volcker Rule", which would have banned federally insured frims from trading on their own accounts, and a fierce war over Blanche Lincoln's strict derivatives regulation. After New York Democrats threatened to walk unless there was a compromise, there was some modification of the derivatives' language. But at the end of the day, the Wall Street Reform bill was tougher than President Obama wanted or needed.
Final votes are expected next week in both the House and the Senate and the bill should make it to the President's desk by the July 4th deadline. I have no idea if Republicans can filibuster it in the Senate. The problem they would have is that, unlike healthcare, this bill has widespread popular support and openly siding with the banks would not look good even to their base.
President Obama hailed the bill as giving him "90%" of what he wanted. If the bill passes, the 111th Congress will be able to boast one of the most prolific records in domestic reform. The stimulus, the healthcare bill, the reform of student loans, and now Wall Street reform make it one of the most productive congresses in recent memory.
I wrote before that 2,500 lobbyists were working to kill the regulations on derivative trading. NPR reported for the last negotiating sessions there were 5,000 lobbyists employed. I am amazed that the congresspeople managed to withstand the onslaught and produce anything meaningful.
If Elizabeth Warren supports the new Consumer Agency, even if it is in the FED, then I'm for it.
Whether in fact this is the most meaningful financial reform since the Great Depression, I have no idea but it is alot more useful than some of the blogs such as Huffington Post claim.
Bravo to Rep. Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd for a real legislative accomplishment.
And now while the country moves ahead on this issue, the Party of No managed to kill through filibuster extending unemployment insurance to about 1 million people, tax breaks for small businesses and funding to states to save the jobs of thousands of schoolteachers, firemen and police. Mitch McConnell claimed this altruistic action was because of the deficit. Republicans warmed the hearts of everyone by referring to the unemployed as hobos,lazy and drug abusers.
Are we really going to return nasty, mean-spirited people to power? I find it difficult to believe that this type of narrow-minded thinking really will be a winning formula. Maybe I just get a blast at seeing my government accomplish something.
Final votes are expected next week in both the House and the Senate and the bill should make it to the President's desk by the July 4th deadline. I have no idea if Republicans can filibuster it in the Senate. The problem they would have is that, unlike healthcare, this bill has widespread popular support and openly siding with the banks would not look good even to their base.
President Obama hailed the bill as giving him "90%" of what he wanted. If the bill passes, the 111th Congress will be able to boast one of the most prolific records in domestic reform. The stimulus, the healthcare bill, the reform of student loans, and now Wall Street reform make it one of the most productive congresses in recent memory.
I wrote before that 2,500 lobbyists were working to kill the regulations on derivative trading. NPR reported for the last negotiating sessions there were 5,000 lobbyists employed. I am amazed that the congresspeople managed to withstand the onslaught and produce anything meaningful.
If Elizabeth Warren supports the new Consumer Agency, even if it is in the FED, then I'm for it.
Whether in fact this is the most meaningful financial reform since the Great Depression, I have no idea but it is alot more useful than some of the blogs such as Huffington Post claim.
Bravo to Rep. Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd for a real legislative accomplishment.
And now while the country moves ahead on this issue, the Party of No managed to kill through filibuster extending unemployment insurance to about 1 million people, tax breaks for small businesses and funding to states to save the jobs of thousands of schoolteachers, firemen and police. Mitch McConnell claimed this altruistic action was because of the deficit. Republicans warmed the hearts of everyone by referring to the unemployed as hobos,lazy and drug abusers.
Are we really going to return nasty, mean-spirited people to power? I find it difficult to believe that this type of narrow-minded thinking really will be a winning formula. Maybe I just get a blast at seeing my government accomplish something.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Wacky Town
Sarah Palin has opted out of the Southern Republican fund-raiser because of the bondage club flap. But Michael Steele continues to amaze--his latest fund-raiser has a phone number that provides the donor with phone sex. I'm beginning to like this guy--no more button-down Republican propriety. Go for the gusto, Mike!
Sarah Palin will be appearing at a rally with Michelle Bachman in Minnesota. I can't wait.
The First American Grifter family, the Palins, apparently have another juvenile deliquent in the family. First the unwed mother, then the school bus trasher forced to enlist in the army, and now little Willow, who is wanted for trashing an empty home in Wasilla with her teenage friends. This followed the family's trashing their Hollywood hotel room and stealing all the Academy award gift bags during their stay. Tonight,Sarah's new television program airs complete with interviews not done by her about people who never knew they were going to be on the show--Toby Keith, JJ. Cool and GE's Jack Welch. All three have protested when they found out because not even their agents knew. Fox News just conducted the interviews about 18 months ago--prior to the last election--and wanted a talking head to introduce them.
Rev. Jim Wallis got his revenge. After being attacked by Glenn Beck on the subject of social justice, he offered to have a dialogue about it with Mr. Beck. Instead, Beck took an hour of airtime to personally attack Rev. Wallis for his entire life's work. Friends of the minister wrote op-eds outraged by this. But today on Huffington Post, Wallis gets his revenge by posting a video with an imitation Stars Wars credit and dubbed a scene from Star Wars where he as Alec Guiness tutors Hans Solo--Glenn Beck. A nice touch. What I didn't realize through this whole controversy was that the only reason Beck was going after Rev. Wallis because he sits as an advisor on President Obama's faith-based initiatives.
Progressives are disappointed by President Obama with his plans to open coastal waters for drilling and his embrace of nuclear energy. Is he alienating his base? All I know is that he appears to be trying to win independents and moderate Republicans. As T. Boone Pickens said today, it's unclear whether much oil will be found and that the oil industry has to make new seismic studies because the last of these areas was done 30 years ago. Even though Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Jim Inhofe and Lindsey Graham voiced support for the President's plan, don't expect them to vote on the broader energy bill.
Barney Frank was quite clear about the fate of the banking reform bill in the Senate. Frank said his House bill was unanimously rejected by the Republicans. He supported Senator Dodd's efforts in the Senate but said that Mitch McConnell and the Republican leadership muscled Senator Corker not to support the bill, which he announced yesterday. Frank urges that the Senate Democrats force the Republicans to filibuster the bill openly so that the public gets the hint of who wants to protect the banks.
Frank did admit that he was unsatisfied with his bill's treatment of derivatives. This remains a large black hole in the financial system. Some people estimated there are $75 trillion in derivatives around the world--enough to devour the entire economy of the globe many times over. This was all created by the repeal during the Clinton Administration of the Steagall-Glass Law, which highly regulated these speculative ventures. The primary advocate of de-regulating derivatives was former Texas Senator and McCain economic adviser Phil Gramm. Virtually no one can say what damage can be done by these toxic assets in the future.
We had a march in Washington last week of over 300,000 people demanding immigration reform. Nancy Pelosi has told the Senate that it's in their court since they are holding up some 200 plus bills already passed by the House. Lindsey Graham is holding out his support until President Obama outlines what he wants in the bill. However, don't expect any Republicans to back it even though in years past the conservative think-tanks actually did the background work to support the bill proposed by George W. Bush.
People are wondering what is the Republican gameplan now that they lost healthcare reform. One school of thought is that they can not act because of the nuttiness of their base. Others believe there are serious disagreements on the role of government, now that they have been deposed. Another school of thought believes they are as committed to destroying a Democratic President as they were against Clinton and as Reagan did to Carter with the October Surprise. This school believes that the mantra "We want Obama to fail." takes priority despite the serious condition of the country and the national security threats posed from abroad. I opt for all three.
If you hear Republican talk about the vast expansion of government powers, check to find out what business is having their government welfare check cut. There is a plan to beef up the IRS to prosecute financial crimes and also to collect taxes. On the first subject, Republicans want impunity of the culprits and on the second they want to maintain the IRS contractors who get paid to collect taxes and to conduct audits. The same applied on the student loan reform the Republicans wanted to keep the billions upon billions of subsidies for the banks.
President Obama has committed some errors. Besides closing Burger King in Afghanistan, he is allowing foreign guests to visit his and my favorite eating establishments. The Sarkozys visited Ben's Chili Bowl yesterday, making the place too crowded for the next month. Next in is the Chinese premier. I hope he doesn't go to Five Guys for burgers because when Obama does it that becomes out of bounds for another month. As Yogi Berra used to say," No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded."
Pitching great Roger Clemens was investigated for erectile dysfunction. Apparently, the Feds thought this was a way to prove he used steroids so they persuaded his mistress to testify on the ED issue. Since you want to know, he experienced it six times with her but she said he was a good lover.
I liked Judge Vaughn Walker since the first days of the Prop 8 trial. He ruled yesterday against the National Security Agency that their entire wiretapping program was criminal. The full implications of this are enormous for all the Bush counter-terrorism programs. The Administration argued the case on the basis of State Secrets but lost and some think deliberately. Judge Walker voiced his support for the FISA court system that had existed before the Bush Administration by-passed it. You might recall progressive criticizing then-candidate Obama for voting to grant immunity to the telecommunications companies who participated in the program. But he explained that he wanted to pave the way back to the FISA Court system that had been suspended. Now he has it.
Marc Thiessen suffered a setback this week when classified documents produced in a trial of a Gitmo detainee showed that Abu Zubaydah, who had been tortured, was never a member of Al Qaeda and had nothing to do with 9/11. Thiessen wrote in his book how invaluable torturing Abu Zubaydah had been in producing actionable intelligence. The current case centers around a detainee accused of being an associate of Zubaydah and therefore an Al Qaeda member. With the release of the documents, the government's case against the detainee has fallen apart. In a similar development, the Administration repatriated four detainees to other countries after concluding they were totally innocent of anything.
While President Obama appears to be closing in on the nuclear reduction treaty, I do not expect it to be ratified by the Senate. I think all this Democratic talk about finding bipartisan cooperation is a smokescreen to keep portraying the Republicans as obstructionists. John Bolton wrote that the treaty violates our sovereignty. It seems to me most international treaties do to some extent.
Also don't expect any applause for the Administration's possible success in getting new sanctions against Iran. The line is that they will not be effective and therefore should not be pursued.
Sarkozy adlibbed at his White House press conference because he wanted people to know how much the leaders of Europe thought of President Obama. "He keeps his word. That is so refreshing to us. We have to trust an American President." Read into that what you will. He named the German Chancellor and the British Prime Minister as two leaders who agree with him. I guess we can call Freedom Fries, French Fries now.
Obama is off to Maine, my favorite state, today to push his healthcare bill. Organizing for America printed t-shirts with BFD to commemorate Joe Biden's comments on the signing of the bill. I ordered mine immediately.
Hillary Clinton was cheesed off at Prime Minister Harper of Canada for his Artic Conference. The Nordic states were omitted and it was felt that Canada wrote the agenda without consultation. The Artic Conference relates to energy development in the region and how it is to be coordinated with environmental converns. Harper likes to pretend his George W, but with a sound economy.
The Pope has had a few rough weeks as child abuse stories continue to pour out all over Europe. The Vatican attacked the New York Times for deliberately printing these stories during Holy Week. It's hard to avoid them. The most recent concern the sexual abuse of deaf orphans by priests and a Bishop. Previously, we read stories of the Vienna Child's Choir being molested. Then stories broke about young boys being made sex slaves and being roughly disciplined. Today, the Vatican announced that the Pope had legal immunity. Thomas Donoghue of the Catholic league here in the States blamed the whole thing on gays.
Sarah Palin will be appearing at a rally with Michelle Bachman in Minnesota. I can't wait.
The First American Grifter family, the Palins, apparently have another juvenile deliquent in the family. First the unwed mother, then the school bus trasher forced to enlist in the army, and now little Willow, who is wanted for trashing an empty home in Wasilla with her teenage friends. This followed the family's trashing their Hollywood hotel room and stealing all the Academy award gift bags during their stay. Tonight,Sarah's new television program airs complete with interviews not done by her about people who never knew they were going to be on the show--Toby Keith, JJ. Cool and GE's Jack Welch. All three have protested when they found out because not even their agents knew. Fox News just conducted the interviews about 18 months ago--prior to the last election--and wanted a talking head to introduce them.
Rev. Jim Wallis got his revenge. After being attacked by Glenn Beck on the subject of social justice, he offered to have a dialogue about it with Mr. Beck. Instead, Beck took an hour of airtime to personally attack Rev. Wallis for his entire life's work. Friends of the minister wrote op-eds outraged by this. But today on Huffington Post, Wallis gets his revenge by posting a video with an imitation Stars Wars credit and dubbed a scene from Star Wars where he as Alec Guiness tutors Hans Solo--Glenn Beck. A nice touch. What I didn't realize through this whole controversy was that the only reason Beck was going after Rev. Wallis because he sits as an advisor on President Obama's faith-based initiatives.
Progressives are disappointed by President Obama with his plans to open coastal waters for drilling and his embrace of nuclear energy. Is he alienating his base? All I know is that he appears to be trying to win independents and moderate Republicans. As T. Boone Pickens said today, it's unclear whether much oil will be found and that the oil industry has to make new seismic studies because the last of these areas was done 30 years ago. Even though Mitch McConnell, John McCain, Jim Inhofe and Lindsey Graham voiced support for the President's plan, don't expect them to vote on the broader energy bill.
Barney Frank was quite clear about the fate of the banking reform bill in the Senate. Frank said his House bill was unanimously rejected by the Republicans. He supported Senator Dodd's efforts in the Senate but said that Mitch McConnell and the Republican leadership muscled Senator Corker not to support the bill, which he announced yesterday. Frank urges that the Senate Democrats force the Republicans to filibuster the bill openly so that the public gets the hint of who wants to protect the banks.
Frank did admit that he was unsatisfied with his bill's treatment of derivatives. This remains a large black hole in the financial system. Some people estimated there are $75 trillion in derivatives around the world--enough to devour the entire economy of the globe many times over. This was all created by the repeal during the Clinton Administration of the Steagall-Glass Law, which highly regulated these speculative ventures. The primary advocate of de-regulating derivatives was former Texas Senator and McCain economic adviser Phil Gramm. Virtually no one can say what damage can be done by these toxic assets in the future.
We had a march in Washington last week of over 300,000 people demanding immigration reform. Nancy Pelosi has told the Senate that it's in their court since they are holding up some 200 plus bills already passed by the House. Lindsey Graham is holding out his support until President Obama outlines what he wants in the bill. However, don't expect any Republicans to back it even though in years past the conservative think-tanks actually did the background work to support the bill proposed by George W. Bush.
People are wondering what is the Republican gameplan now that they lost healthcare reform. One school of thought is that they can not act because of the nuttiness of their base. Others believe there are serious disagreements on the role of government, now that they have been deposed. Another school of thought believes they are as committed to destroying a Democratic President as they were against Clinton and as Reagan did to Carter with the October Surprise. This school believes that the mantra "We want Obama to fail." takes priority despite the serious condition of the country and the national security threats posed from abroad. I opt for all three.
If you hear Republican talk about the vast expansion of government powers, check to find out what business is having their government welfare check cut. There is a plan to beef up the IRS to prosecute financial crimes and also to collect taxes. On the first subject, Republicans want impunity of the culprits and on the second they want to maintain the IRS contractors who get paid to collect taxes and to conduct audits. The same applied on the student loan reform the Republicans wanted to keep the billions upon billions of subsidies for the banks.
President Obama has committed some errors. Besides closing Burger King in Afghanistan, he is allowing foreign guests to visit his and my favorite eating establishments. The Sarkozys visited Ben's Chili Bowl yesterday, making the place too crowded for the next month. Next in is the Chinese premier. I hope he doesn't go to Five Guys for burgers because when Obama does it that becomes out of bounds for another month. As Yogi Berra used to say," No one goes there anymore, it's too crowded."
Pitching great Roger Clemens was investigated for erectile dysfunction. Apparently, the Feds thought this was a way to prove he used steroids so they persuaded his mistress to testify on the ED issue. Since you want to know, he experienced it six times with her but she said he was a good lover.
I liked Judge Vaughn Walker since the first days of the Prop 8 trial. He ruled yesterday against the National Security Agency that their entire wiretapping program was criminal. The full implications of this are enormous for all the Bush counter-terrorism programs. The Administration argued the case on the basis of State Secrets but lost and some think deliberately. Judge Walker voiced his support for the FISA court system that had existed before the Bush Administration by-passed it. You might recall progressive criticizing then-candidate Obama for voting to grant immunity to the telecommunications companies who participated in the program. But he explained that he wanted to pave the way back to the FISA Court system that had been suspended. Now he has it.
Marc Thiessen suffered a setback this week when classified documents produced in a trial of a Gitmo detainee showed that Abu Zubaydah, who had been tortured, was never a member of Al Qaeda and had nothing to do with 9/11. Thiessen wrote in his book how invaluable torturing Abu Zubaydah had been in producing actionable intelligence. The current case centers around a detainee accused of being an associate of Zubaydah and therefore an Al Qaeda member. With the release of the documents, the government's case against the detainee has fallen apart. In a similar development, the Administration repatriated four detainees to other countries after concluding they were totally innocent of anything.
While President Obama appears to be closing in on the nuclear reduction treaty, I do not expect it to be ratified by the Senate. I think all this Democratic talk about finding bipartisan cooperation is a smokescreen to keep portraying the Republicans as obstructionists. John Bolton wrote that the treaty violates our sovereignty. It seems to me most international treaties do to some extent.
Also don't expect any applause for the Administration's possible success in getting new sanctions against Iran. The line is that they will not be effective and therefore should not be pursued.
Sarkozy adlibbed at his White House press conference because he wanted people to know how much the leaders of Europe thought of President Obama. "He keeps his word. That is so refreshing to us. We have to trust an American President." Read into that what you will. He named the German Chancellor and the British Prime Minister as two leaders who agree with him. I guess we can call Freedom Fries, French Fries now.
Obama is off to Maine, my favorite state, today to push his healthcare bill. Organizing for America printed t-shirts with BFD to commemorate Joe Biden's comments on the signing of the bill. I ordered mine immediately.
Hillary Clinton was cheesed off at Prime Minister Harper of Canada for his Artic Conference. The Nordic states were omitted and it was felt that Canada wrote the agenda without consultation. The Artic Conference relates to energy development in the region and how it is to be coordinated with environmental converns. Harper likes to pretend his George W, but with a sound economy.
The Pope has had a few rough weeks as child abuse stories continue to pour out all over Europe. The Vatican attacked the New York Times for deliberately printing these stories during Holy Week. It's hard to avoid them. The most recent concern the sexual abuse of deaf orphans by priests and a Bishop. Previously, we read stories of the Vienna Child's Choir being molested. Then stories broke about young boys being made sex slaves and being roughly disciplined. Today, the Vatican announced that the Pope had legal immunity. Thomas Donoghue of the Catholic league here in the States blamed the whole thing on gays.
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