Obama's first 100 days II

i just wish people would be respectful

NorthReport wrote:

This should be good as Rove is going to testify under penalty of perjury.

Just to put this little nugget of "good news" (no. 26 above) into perspective:

Quote:

There has been [b]a flutter of congratulatory noise[/b] in some quarters about the recent "compromise" brokered by the White House regarding Karl Rove's criminal refusal to heed Congressional subpoenas requiring his testimony on the Bush Administration's transformation of the Justice Department into a goon squad targeting -- and imprisoning -- political opponents.

Whereas mere mortals can go to prison for ignoring a Congressional summons, Rove has been allowed to roam free, appearing on national television, writing for national publications, and carrying on his life's work of polluting and degrading the nation's political culture. This unelected, porcine bullshit-slinger is apparently so powerful that [b]the new President of the United States felt compelled to step in and negotiate the very gentle terms under which said porcine polluter would deign to appear before Congress.[/b]

This whole spectacle, by the way, is [b]yet another stunning example of what a completely lawless state the United States of American Empire has become[/b] -- at least for those in the bosom of imperial power. Think of it: a legally binding subpoena from the Congress of the United States is blithely ignored -- a clear act of criminal contempt. But the scofflaw suffers not the slightest penalty. [b]Instead, he is serviced by the most powerful institution in the land, which intervenes to make sure his appearance before Congress holds no dangers for him. He is to appear in private, will not have to answer any questions about the most important point at issue -- George Bush's involvement in the Justice Department scandal -- and he will not be required to testify under oath.[/b] (It is all very much like the remarkable conditions under which his former boss "testified" to the 9/11 Commission.)

[b]This is the deal brokered by the current administration,[/b] with Obama's hand-picked White House counsel, Gregory Craig, and his aides playing a "critical role," as Newsweek reports.

 [url=http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd03062009.html][color=mediumblue][u]Source: not the New York Times[/u][/color][/url]

Unionist wrote:

This is amazing:

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7925240.stm][color=red][b]Obama renews Zimbabwe sanctions for one more year[/b][/color][/url]

... the continuation, without amendment, of the foreign policy of G. W. Bush.

Quote:

By extending for another year U.S. sanctions against Zimbabwe, Barack Obama has removed all doubt that his Africa policy is essentially the same as George Bush's: regime change and the deliberate creation of so-called "failed states." It is the same story in Somalia, Sudan and the Congo, where Obama's Democrats pursue identical objectives to Bush Republicans: to undermine and overthrow any African government that does not bow to Washington's will, and to encourage the effective dismantling of inconvenient African nation-states. This is imperialism in the raw.

[url=http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/obamas-african-policy-same-g... Ford[/u][/color][/url]

You have to admire the man's chutzpah in claiming that Zimbabwe's a threat to the USA in any way.

M. Spector wrote:

Are Obama's speeches being written by a computer?

Yes, a neo-computer.

Maybe he should start clamping down a little more on those fatcats who just can't resist getting their grubby little fingies in the federal till, long after such attitudes have become socially unacceptable.

Heard on the radio that tonight on the Leno show Obama will make a poor choice of words about the Special Olympics in reference to him bowling a 129.  Looking for a link.

DrConway wrote:

Maybe he should start clamping down a little more on those fatcats who just can't resist getting their grubby little fingies in the federal till, long after such attitudes have become socially unacceptable.

 

I agree.

Why are they not identifying the person that shoved these AIG bonuses through.  

M. Spector wrote:

These AIG bonuses represent only about 1% of the federal bailout money.

Funny nobody seems to care about what the company plans to do with the other 99%.

That's an issue to be handled by financial experts - viz., the ones who are getting the 1% in bonuses.

Good grief. Garth Brooks is going to be the musical guest!

Leno was going to have the VP come out and say a few words, but it's only an hour long show...

Leno is wasting time talking about AIG and the bonuses. Isn't there other things to talk about already!!!

"commonsense regulation in the financial markets, including credit cards"

Yes, he fools a lot of people that way.

"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog".

[url=http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2009/03/20/obama-apology-disabled.html][... apologizes for crack about Special Olympics[/color][/url]

Quote:

Toward the end of the approximately 40-minute taping of the Tonight Show in Los Angeles, Obama spoke about how he was becoming better at bowling and was practising in the White House bowling alley.

"I bowled a 129," he told Leno.

And then he added: "It's like the Special Olympics or something."

The White House released a statement shortly after the gaffe to clarify the president's comments.

"The president made an off-hand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics," said White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton.

"He thinks the Special Olympics is a wonderful program."

Administration Seeks Increase in Oversight of Executive Pay

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/us/politics/22regulate.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money. Officials say the rules could also be applied more broadly to publicly traded companies, which already report about some executive pay practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

During the presidential campaign, Mr. Obama repeatedly urged regulators to adopt new rules to give shareholders a greater voice in setting executive pay for all public companies. And last month, as part of the stimulus package, Congress barred top executives at large banks getting rescue money from receiving bonuses that exceeded one-third of their annual pay.

The regulatory plan is being put together ahead of the meeting of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations in London. The meeting, which begins April 2, is expected to be dominated by the global financial crisis and discussions about better oversight of large financial companies, whose problems could threaten to undermine international markets.

An important part of the plan still under debate is how to regulate the shadow banking system that Wall Street firms use to package and trade mortgage-backed securities, the so-called toxic assets held by many banks and blamed for the credit crisis.

Officials said the plan would also call for increasing the levels of capital that financial institutions need to hold to absorb possible losses. In a sign of the economic system’s fragility, officials said the administration would emphasize that those heightened standards should not be imposed now because they could discourage more lending. Rather, they would be put in place after the economy began to rebound.

I agree with M. Spector that the bonuses are a red herring to distract from the rest of the plunder.

BUT--it is the Republican hacks who are making a stink about the bonuses, not the Obama administration.  So whose red herring is it? 

oh my mind's been blown, the federal reserve is most certainly not our friend.

I am interested in how NorthReport will spin [url=http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE52L19G20090322?feedType=RS... this [/url]:

Quote:

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama was at best an "ignoramus" for saying the socialist leader exported terrorism and obstructed progress in Latin America.

"He goes and accuses me of exporting terrorism: the least I can say is that he's a poor ignoramus; he should read and study a little to understand reality," said Chavez, who heads a group of left-wing Latin American leaders opposed to the U.S. influence in the region.

Chavez said Obama's comments had made him change his mind about sending a new ambassador to Washington, after he withdrew the previous envoy in a dispute last year with the Bush administration in which he also expelled the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela.

"When I saw Obama saying what he said, I put the decision back in the drawer; let's wait and see," Chavez said on his weekly television show, adding he had wanted to send a new ambassador to improve relations with the United States after the departure of George W. Bush as president.

In a January interview with Spanish-language U.S. network Univision, Obama said Chavez had hindered progress in Latin America, accusing him of exporting terrorist activities and supporting Colombian guerrillas.

I think the AIG guys deserve their bonuses. After all, they succeeded in siphoning off billions and billions from the federal treasury. They did their jobs brilliantly, and deserve every penny Obama gives them.

The Obama Administration would have had a great red herring to wave in front of the US population by ruthlessly trashing the Republicans in every forum possible and going after all the Bush Administration for war crimes trials, because all that ready-made fodder would have distracted peoples' attention from the constant miscues and screwups being made regarding the bailouts and illicit misuse of taxpayer funds which were handed over in good faith to the likes of AIG.

Now, of course, if Obama does go ahead with it, he'll be rightly accused of trying to deflect attention from a national crisis, so the man can't win by trying that trick now.

It would still give me unbounded pleasure to watch every high-level cabinet member, along with Cheney and Bush, being crammed into a courtroom to be tried for violations of the Geneva Convention, as well as for negligent acts leading to the murder of all the soldiers sent into Iraq who have died since going to that country.

Such a trial would be a humbling reminder to all future Presidents that accountability for their actions is not simply mealy-mouthed platitudinous crap they'll never have to deal with.

ceti wrote:

Regardless, the man is creating a perfect Weimar-like storm for the rise of fascism in the US.

Speaking of this: You're likely right. The Republicans already had a nice trial run at creating their own stab-in-the-back legend by creating all kinds of lies and falsehoods about the Clintons, and that tactic did work to the extent that it poisoned US politics (and to some extent, international politics, as well, since the US's economic policies tend to drive the rest of the world's) to the point of legitimizing open verbal warfare as acceptable political discourse.

Now, Obama may be creating a chance for them to have a second kick at the can. You know what the Repubs will say in 2012 - they'll whisper that a black man wasn't competent to be a US president and that he ran the country into the ground. They're already gearing up for something like it by hauling out all that crap about how the government is the problem, not the solution, never mind that luminaries like Krugman have explicitly pointed out that it *is* the solution, but then he's a mental giant compared to those moronic mouth-breathing troglodytes that think giving tax cuts to rich people and kicking everybody off welfare is sound economic policy.

One way or another, the Repubs'll try to come back on a falsehood and a lie that the Democrats stabbed the USA in the back. And enough people still believe anything a Republican has to say that they might just win at the ballot box in 2012.

I am starting to fear for the future of Canada and the USA if this happens.

The best part of all of this that Obama received over $100,000 in campaign donations from AIG.

Did anyone else read about Obomba's [url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/20339.html] appearance on 60 minutes [/url] last night?

Quote:

His remarks came in a“60 Minutes” interview in which he was pressed by Steve Kroft for laughing and chuckling several times while discussing the perilous state of the world’s economy.

“You're sitting here. And you're— you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems. Are people going to look at this and say, ‘I mean, he's sitting there just making jokes about money—’ How do you deal with— I mean: explain. . .” Kroft asked at one point.

“Are you punch-drunk?” Kroft said.

 Shocking that a reporter has actually asked him a somewhat tough question!

Bush's biggest backers all supported Obama over Mcain. Ironically, Obama's worst critics were the Clinton camp.

Otherwise, it was the two bit hucksters of the Fox media level left to slag Obama over meaningless triva, in order to keep up the appearance of "democracy".