Report: Obama prepared to talk to Hamas.
Report: Obama prepared to talk to Hamas.
Barack Obama is reportedly planning to ditch President Bush’s strategy of isolating Hamas, and will instead move to open contacts with the group. “The Guardian has spoken to three people with knowledge of the discussions in the Obama camp. There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracising Hamas is counter-productive.”
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Bush: I liberated America’s school children.
Bush: I liberated America’s school children.
President Bush is fond of saying that he “liberated 50 million people” by taking military action in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the populations of those two foreign countries aren’t the only people that Bush claims to have liberated. In his last policy speech as President, Bush said today that No Child Left Behind has led to the “liberation” of America’s school children:
By the way, school choice was only open to rich people up until No Child Left Behind. It’s hard for a lot of parents to be able to afford to go to any other kind of school but their neighborhood school. Now, under this system, if your public school is failing, you’ll have the option of transferring to another public school or charter school. And it’s — I view that as liberation. I view that as empowerment.
During his speech today, Bush also finally fixed one of his most notorious Bushisms — “Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?” — stating, “Rarely was the question asked: Can you read? Or can you write? Or can you add and can you subtract?” Watch it:
U.S. Air Force releases flow chart of ‘counter-blog’ reponse plan.
U.S. Air Force releases flow chart of ‘counter-blog’ reponse plan.
As part of its halting efforts to reach out to bloggers in constructive ways, the U.S. Air Force has assembled a “counter-blog” action plan aimed at responding to bloggers who have “negative opinions about the U.S. government and the Air Force.” The plan includes a detailed flow-chart that, as Danger Room explains, “lays out a range of possible responses to a blog post“:
Danger Room notes that the Air Force is trying to catch up with the rest of the Defense Department in terms of blogger relations. Despite blocking a significant number of blogs on its networks, the Air Force now has a Twitter feed and a blog of its own, thanks to a new public affairs “social media guru.”
Democratic senators come out against Obama’s tax cuts for corporations.
Democratic senators come out against Obama’s tax cuts for corporations.
In a closed-door meeting of the Senate Finance Committee today, Democratic Sens. John Kerry, Kent Conrad, and Ron Wyden expressed their skepticism of Barack Obama’s $3,000 tax credit proposal for companies that hire or retrain workers, arguing that it wouldn’t do much to create jobs. The Wonk Room’s Pat Garofalo has the details.
Former FEMA chief Michael Brown forced to evacuate from Colorado wildfires.
Former FEMA chief Michael Brown forced to evacuate from Colorado wildfires.
In recent days, vicious wildfires have forced thousands of Boulder, Colorado area residents to evacuate. One of those residents: disgraced former FEMA chief Michael “Heckuva Job” Brown. This morning in an interview with a Colorado radio station, Brownie remarked, “Here I am on the other side of the fence now.” He added that “was strange being told to evacuate, because, you know, I firmly believe in evacuations. When they told me that, you know, I just loaded the dogs up, grabbed my briefcase and headed down the mountain.” Michael Roberts of Denver Westword writes, “Don’t gloat about that, Katrina survivors. Well, maybe a little gloating is okay.”
Boot: Bring Back The Bush Doctrine, Attack Iranian And Pakistani Nuclear Facilities
Boot: Bring Back The Bush Doctrine, Attack Iranian And Pakistani Nuclear Facilities
Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow and prominent neoconservative Max Boot has surfaced on Foreign Policy magazine’s website this week, bemoaning the unpopularity of the Bush Doctrine despite its disastrous results in Iraq.
Taking advantage of hindsight, Boot says that if only the world had taken seriously warnings about Hitler’s Germany and later al Qaeda, the catastrophes that they created could have been avoided. Boot then refers to two bipartisan congressional reports that have issued stern warnings regarding terrorist and nuclear threats from Iran and Pakistan. Claiming that diplomacy is failing in Iran and the “current approach” in Pakistan’s tribal areas is not working, Boot concludes that only one option remains — attack:
For all the empty talk of “tough diplomacy,” the uncomfortable reality is that there is only one option that in the short term is likely to forestall Iran from going nuclear: airstrikes on its atomic installations. […]
“Preemption lite” — the current approach of picking off terrorist leaders [in Pakistan] with armed Predator drones — can help to weaken and slow the jihadists, but it can hardly defeat them. That would, in all likelihood, require an invasion of western Pakistan, perhaps accompanied by preemptive airstrikes on Pakistan’s nuclear installations.
Recognizing the enormity of his plan, Boot backs off slightly on Pakistan, calling his idea “unthinkable” and one that would “make even the most hawkish of analysts turn dovish.” But recalling the threats ignored from Hitler and bin Laden, he adds, “we lack the imagination to see the costs of inaction.”
Given that Defense Secretary Robert Gates (whom President-elect Obama has asked to stay on in his administration) has said that war with Iran would be “disastrous” and “the last thing we need,” it is probably safe to assume that he feels the same way about attacking Pakistan’s nuclear facilities.
Nonetheless, it’s also probably safe to assume (thankfully) that no one in the Obama administration will be taking advice from a guy (Boot) who once erroneously claimed Iran was training Al-Qaeda in Iraq, compared walled Baghdad to gated American communities, supported the Pentagon’s war propaganda program, thinks “bellicose aura[s]” achieve peace, and just knew (how, no one knows) that Iranian leadership hoped that Obama would win last November.
Gonzales claims he can’t get a job because of the ‘rough economy.’
Gonzales claims he can’t get a job because of the ‘rough economy.’
In April, reports revealed that former attorney general Alberto Gonzales was “unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster.” Gonzales has previously said that law firms were hesitant to hire him because of “all the investigations and the possibility that I might be indicted.” But in an interview with the Austin-American Statesman this week, Gonzales blamed the “rough economy” for his lack of work:
“It’s a rough economy right now, and it’s a tough time for a lot of law firms right now. Obviously they are very careful about bringing on new people, and they are going to be careful about bringing on people where there are questions about things that may have happened in their past,” he said. “Over time, I’m confident those things will be resolved, and things will work themselves out.”
“Greater opportunities,” Gonzales, 53, said, “will present themselves once the stories are out there.”
Later in the interview, Gonzales mentioned that he did have some dream jobs outside of the legal profession. “I’m very fortunate that I’m at a point in my life where if I wanted to do something completely different — be baseball commissioner, for example, I would love a job in baseball, a plug there — I can do it,” said Gonzales.
In Last-Minute Move, Bush Ditches Fuel Economy Standards That He Trumpeted In 2007
In Last-Minute Move, Bush Ditches Fuel Economy Standards That He Trumpeted In 2007
During the debate over the 2007 energy bill, one of the Bush administration’s chief demands – besides opposing strong renewable energy goals – was raising fuel efficiency standards to 31.8 miles per gallon by 2015 and 35 mpg by 2020. The administration repeatedly trumpeted their goal:
– BUSH: My proposal at the State of the Union will further improve standards for light trucks and take a similar approach to automobiles. With good legislation, we could save up to 8.5 billion gallons of gasoline per year by 2017, and further reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.
– DANA PERINO: While the president’s alternative fuel standard and CAFE proposal would have gone farther and faster we are pleased that Congress has worked together on a bipartisan way.
The White House’s recently released “Highlights of Accomplishments and Results” document also touts the new fuel efficiency standard: “In 2007, the President called for modernizing fuel economy standards and increasing alternative fuels.”
But the President can no longer stake claim to even this mild environmental achievement. Bush “won’t finish implementing new vehicle fuel-economy rules,” leaving it up to Obama to finalize the guidelines. The Dept. of Transportation stated:
The Bush Administration will not finalize its rulemaking on Corporate Fuel Economy Standards. The recent financial difficulties of the automobile industry will require the next administration to conduct a thorough review of matters affecting the industry, including how to effectively implement the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA).
The move is particularly ironic. While it is designed to lift a burden off Detroit, the auto industry is criticizing it. “Any delay in finalizing the regulation will make finalizing future manufacturing plans more difficult,” said Charles Territo of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. “We had expected that these rules would have been finalized last year.”
As dismal as the Bush environmental legacy is, the punt ensures that Bush will have accomplished virtually nothing on energy and the environment. But there is a bright spot, as the delay “gives the Obama administration an opportunity to move quickly” on fuel standards, notes Luke Tonachel of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Cheney awkwardly stands before Congress as Pelosi interrupts his speech to applaud Obama’s victory.
Cheney awkwardly stands before Congress as Pelosi interrupts his speech to applaud Obama’s victory.
Today, Vice President Cheney stood before Congress and read the official results of the 2008 presidential election. After reading the electoral totals, he declared that they “shall be entered, together with a list of the votes, in the journals of the Senate and the House of Representatives.” Just as he was about to move on to other business, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — who was sitting next to him at the podium — jumped up from her seat and began applauding, much to the surprise of Cheney. Within seconds, the rest of the chamber was loudly cheering, with Cheney left looking slightly uncomfortable. Watch it (Pelosi comes in around 3:00):
The Gavel has more coverage.
Courts using Ledbetter decision to ‘undermine civil rights principles across the board.’
Courts using Ledbetter decision to ‘undermine civil rights principles across the board.’
Tomorrow, the House is set to take up the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which would overturn a Supreme Court decision that restricted a woman’s right to bring pay discrimination lawsuits. The House handily passed the bill last year, but Senate conservatives blocked it after President Bush threatened to veto it. On a conference call organized by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today, Marcia Greenberger, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center, explained that the faulty Supreme Court decision has been stretched to cripple all kinds of anti-discrimination laws:
GREENBERGER: So now we’ve got these judges taking the Ledbetter decision to absurd lengths and saying that the most entrenched and invidious discrimination — now that those who have the courage and the knowledge and the ability, for the first time to combat are out of time. It is an outrageous approach, an undermining of civil rights principles across the board. It’s now causing real misery, as was described not only for women and their families in pay…but for all victims of discrimination.
Listen here:
Check out the Center for American Progress’s Fair Pay Calculator, and learn more about the fight for fair pay, here. Firedoglake has more.
Transcript: More »
Obama breaks from Bush: ‘I often read bad press.’
Obama breaks from Bush: ‘I often read bad press.’
Yesterday in his CNBC interview, President-elect Obama said that he doesn’t plan on living in a “bubble” during his time in office and will be “open to outside information, particularly criticism.” “I very rarely read good press,” he added. “I often read bad press, not because I agree with it, but because I want to get a sense of are there areas where I’m falling short and I can do better.” Watch it:
This opinion is a drastic departure from President Bush, who never reads newspapers. In 2003, Bush told Fox News, “I glance at the headlines just to kind of (get) a flavor of what’s moving. I rarely read the stories.”
Perle Washes His Hands Of Iraq: I Was Not An ‘Architect Of That War,’ Neocons Had No Influence
Perle Washes His Hands Of Iraq: I Was Not An ‘Architect Of That War,’ Neocons Had No Influence
Over the past few weeks, many Bush administration officials have begun rewriting history in an effort to burnish President Bush’s legacy. Following suit, neoconservative war hawk Richard Perle has taken the opportunity to polish his own record during the Bush years — mainly on Iraq.
In the latest issue of The National Interest, Perle devotes 4,600 words — not to congratulate President Bush for invading Iraq — but to wipe his, and the whole neoconservative movement’s, hands clean of the whole affair. In the essay, he categorically denies that both he — and neoconservative ideology in general — had any influence on the Bush administration in its decision to go to war:
I have been widely but wrongly depicted as deeply involved in the making of administration policy, especially with respect to Iraq. Facts notwithstanding, there are some fifty thousand entries on Google in which I am described as an “architect,” and often as “the architect,” of the Iraq War. I certainly supported and argued publicly for the decision to remove Saddam, as I do in what follows. But had I been the architect of that war, our policy would have been very different. […]
But about the many mistakes made in Iraq, one thing is certain: they had nothing to do with ideology. They did not draw inspiration from or reflect neoconservative ideas and they were not the product of philosophical or ideological influences outside the government.
Perle is right. He strongly advocated publicly for the invasion of Iraq, especially after 9/11, even making claims that Saddam Hussein had links to Osama bin Laden (an assertion he later claimed he never said). But in fact, Perle had direct access to top administration officials during the run up to the war. Former CIA director George Tenet recalled that shortly after 9/11, Perle told him that “Iraq has to pay a price for what happened yesterday, they bear responsibility.”
Moreover, the neoconservative influence on the Bush administration, particularly regarding Iraq, has been well documented. For Perle to claim otherwise is beyond absurd.
Seeing that Perle cannot deny he supported the invasion, he then offers two separate justifications for both outcomes of the WMD argument. First, he says the belief that Saddam had WMD was “widely accepted” at the time of the invasion. But, noting that no WMD were found, Perle then says the “salient issue” was not that Saddam had WMD but that he “could produce them” someday. Nevertheless, Perle concludes, “no one should take seriously the facile conclusion that invading Iraq was mistaken because we now know Saddam did not possess stockpiles of WMD.”
Except this statement is a direct contradiction of what Perle wrote earlier this year in an article for The American Interest. Then, he claimed if we knew Saddam had no WMD in March 2003, the U.S. shouldn’t have invaded:
If Saddam had provided solid, confirmable evidence of the destruction of the stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction he was believed to possess, we would not have invaded.
Indeed, no matter how many incoherent, contradictory and misleading essays Perle concocts trying to absolve himself from the Iraq debacle, like his fellow Iraq war architects, it’s clear he has no leg to stand on.
Palin on Olbermann: ‘THAT guy is EVIL!’
Palin on Olbermann: ‘THAT guy is EVIL!’
Right-winger John Ziegler — who is waging a one-man crusade to prove that President-elect Obama won the election solely because of “media bias” — recently interviewed Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK). In a gushing description published on a new website devoted to making Hollywood more conservative, Ziegler details Palin’s reaction to seeing a photo of MSNBC host Keith Olbermann:
[W]hen she looked at the back cover of my first film…and saw the photo of one of the film’s targets, Keith Olbermann, she literally let out a shriek and, pointing to his photograph, declared, “THAT guy is EVIL!”
Ziegler wrote that, after the interview, “I know, with moral certitude, that the media assassination of [Palin], her character and family, was one of the greatest public injustices of our time.”
PALIN: My question to the campaign was after it didn't go well the first day, why were we going to go back for more? And because of however it works in, you know, that upper echelon of power brokering in the media and with spokespersons and all, it was told me that yeah we were gonna go back for more. And going back for more was not a wise decision either.
Lesbian couple invited on Obama’s inaugural whistle stop tour.
Lesbian couple invited on Obama’s inaugural whistle stop tour.
The Washington Blade reports that “lesbian couple Lisa Hazirjian and her partner Michelle have been invited to join” President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden on their Whistle Stop train ride to the nation’s capital leading up to the inauguration. “Hazirjian, who is from Ohio, serves as an at-large board member of Equality Ohio, as a member of the Cleveland Stonewall Democrats and as a volunteer for Cleveland Families Count, an organization formed to defend the new domestic partner registry in the city.” Obama, who is supportive of civil unions, has said he is “not in favor of gay marriage.”
McConnell Urges Coleman To Fight On, Despite Urging Gore To ‘Be A Statesman’ And Concede In 2000
McConnell Urges Coleman To Fight On, Despite Urging Gore To ‘Be A Statesman’ And Concede In 2000
On Monday, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board certified Democrat Al Franken as the victor in the U.S. Senate race recount, beating incumbent Republican Norm Coleman by 225 votes. In a press conference the next day, however, Coleman rejected the Board’s ruling, vowing to wage a court battle to challenge the results. A trial will likely begin in 20 days, but “a Coleman lawyer said a decision may not be known until two months from now.”
Despite the potential for a prolonged legal battle, conservatives are urging to Coleman to fight on and promising to filibuster any Democratic attempts to seat Franken while litigation is pending. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), for instance, has said that he is solidly behind Coleman:
– “The race in Minnesota is not over,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said. “It’s well-established in the Senate: The way you get sworn in and the way you get seated is to show up with an election certificate. And that is determined under Minnesota law.” [1/5/09]
“The only people who have pronounced the Minnesota Senate race over are Washington Democrats, and the candidate who is the current custodian of the most votes,” McConnell said in a written statement released Tuesday. “The people of Minnesota certainly don’t believe this is over.” [1/6/09]
It’s interesting that McConnell is willing to let an election — which has already had a recount — hang in the air for two months. After all, less than a month after the 2000 election, McConnell was already demanding that Al Gore concede to George W. Bush. McConnell’s comments to the Lexington Herald-Leader on Nov. 27, 2000:
We’ve had a count, we’ve had a recount, we’ve had a recount of the recount. It’s been three weeks since the election and it’s time for Gore to be a statesman and give it up.
Karl Rove, another person who was obviously rooting for Gore to concede, also said on Hannity and Colmes earlier this week that “Al Franken cannot unilaterally declare himself the senator from the state of Minnesota and show up in Washington.”
Debunking the top 10 conservative myths about health care reform.
Debunking the top 10 conservative myths about health care reform.
Today, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions is holding confirmation hearings for former senator Tom Daschle, President-elect Obama’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services. In advance of the confirmation, conservatives have been actively filling the nation’s leading newspapers with editorials attacking Daschle and misrepresenting the consequences and implications of expanding access to affordable health care coverage. In a new report released today, the Wonk Room identifies and debunks the right-wing’s most widely-circulated myths about reform:
MYTH: The government will ration care. “The Left’s idea of limiting Medicare spending is to have bureaucrats tell Mom she cannot have the cancer treatment she wants. [Washington Times, 12/28/2008]
REALITY: Progressive proposals will allow Mom and her doctor to choose the best treatment for her cancer. Research into the comparative effectiveness of treatments can identify the procedures that provide the best results at the lowest cost. Currently, at least one-third of medical procedures have questionable benefits, according to the Rand Corporation. [Rand Corporation, 1998]
The Wonk Room will be blogging Daschle’s confirmation hearing that started at 10 am.
Engel: Israel waiting until Obama’s inauguration to let reporters into Gaza, when ‘viewers simply won’t care.’
Engel: Israel waiting until Obama’s inauguration to let reporters into Gaza, when ‘viewers simply won’t care.’
Last night on The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC correspondent Richard Engel discussed Israel’s refusal to let reporters into Gaza. “I’ve called everyday and said ‘when are we going to be allowed in?’” he said, adding that one Israeli official “had an interesting explanation” for the situation. The official told Engel that Israel doesn’t want reporters in Gaza documenting the humanitarian situation or revealing military tactics. Israel is trying to “manage the image” of the war, Engel reported, adding this:
ENGEL: This official told me he expects this operation, while negotiations are taking place, will last several more days. And that after that, reporters would eventually be allowed in. But at that stage, Israel is assuming the United States will mostly be focused on all of the coverage around the inauguration, and that viewers simply won’t care at that point.
Watch it:
On CNN, Campbell Brown urged Israel to let reporters into Gaza. “There is but one way to get a true picture of what is happening now. That is to allow journalists the access we need to tell this story with accuracy and with context.”
ThinkFast: January 8, 2009
ThinkFast: January 8, 2009
Anti-American Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr yesterday called for “revenge operations” against U.S. forces to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Sadr also “urged that Palestinian flags be raised on mosques, churches and other buildings in Iraq and that all countries shut down Israel’s embassies.”
Three rockets fired from Lebanon into Northern Israel today “raised concern that they could presage a second front in the conflict that would complicate peace efforts.” The Israeli military, however, dismissed the rockets as “a minor event” while Israeli negotiators arrived in Cairo, Egypt to begin cease-fire negotiations.
In a speech set to be delivered today at George Mason University, President-elect Obama says that the nation’s recession could “linger for years” unless Congress acts to pass a new $800 billion stimulus package. Obama adds that “[a] bad situation could become dramatically worse,” warning of double-digit unemployment and a loss of $1 trillion in economic activity.
A new poll commissioned by the AFL-CIO finds that “73 percent of adults said that they supported the Employee Free Choice Act when read the union’s descriptions of the bill’s three main provisions.” Seventy-eight percent said that they favored legislation to “make it easier for workers to bargain with their employers for better wages, benefits and working conditions.”
President-elect Obama is prepared to scrap Bush’s homeland security office and appoint longtime CIA official John Brennan head of a counter-terrorism unit to be folded into the National Security Council. Brennan would not require Senate confirmation. “The idea of merging the two councils has been recommended by a number of reports, most notably in November by the Center for American Progress Action Fund and by Third Way.” More »
Mississippi, A Hotbed of Abstinence Education, Now Boasts Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In America
Mississippi, A Hotbed of Abstinence Education, Now Boasts Highest Teen Pregnancy Rate In America
The Centers for Disease Control released a new report today that found that Mississippi “now has the nation’s highest teen pregnancy rate, displacing Texas and New Mexico for that lamentable title.” The report found that in 2006, the Mississippi teen pregnancy rate was over 60 percent higher than the national average and increased 13 percent since the year before.
While the new report does not explain why the state’s teen pregnancy rate is increasing, one reason may be the poor quality of its sex ed programs. As the Sexuality Information and Education Center explains, Mississippi focuses heavily on abstinence education and teachers are prohibited from demonstrating how to use contraceptives:
Mississippi schools are not required to teach sexuality education or sexually transmitted disease (STD)/HIV education. If schools choose to teach either or both forms of education, they must stress abstinence-until-marriage, including “the likely negative psychological and physical effects of not abstaining.” […]
If the school board authorizes the teaching of contraception, state law dictates that the failure rates and risks of each contraceptive method must be included and “in no case shall the instruction or program include any demonstration of how condoms or other contraceptives are applied.”
A reporter for ABC News’s Jackson, MS affiliate explained, “The Mississippi Department of Human Services says abstinence is the only birth control that is 100 percent effective. And that’s the only message teens need to hear.” Unfortunately, numerous studies show that abstinence-only education is not effective. As one study found:
Teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until marriage are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who do not promise abstinence and are significantly less likely to use condoms and other forms of birth control when they do, according to a study released today.
Further, a review by the House Oversight Committee found that “80% of the abstinence-only curricula…contain false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health.”
Pregnant teens in Mississippi face few options. Access to facilities that provide abortions in that state is extremely limited. Indeed, because of an unusually effective anti-choice campaign in the legislature, only a single abortion clinic remains open in the state.
Freshman congressman plans to sleep in his DC office to save on rent.
Freshman congressman plans to sleep in his DC office to save on rent.
In an effort to save money, freshman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) is planning to live in his Capitol Hill office, rather than rent an apartment in Washington, DC. “I’m trying to live the example that it doesn’t take big dollars in order to get where we want to go,” Chaffetz said. “I can save my family $1,500 a month by sleeping on a cot in my office as opposed to getting a fancy place that’s maybe a little bit more comfortable.” ABC News reports that at least 40 members of Congress regularly sleep in their congressional offices.
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