ThinkFast: March 20, 2006
Weekly Standard editor Fred Barnes writes that Bush needs a staff shakeup. His suggestions: Condi as VP, Lieberman as Secretary of State, Cheney as Sec Def, Dan Senor as White House Press Secretary, Zalmay Khalilzad as National Security Adviser, and switching Ken Mehlman and Karl Rove’s jobs.
97. Number of days the House of Representatives is scheduled to be in session this year. USA Today notes that’s “fewer days than the Congress Harry Truman labeled as ‘do-nothing’ during his 1948 re-election campaign.”
The San Diego Tribune digs into the fundraising activities of Rep. John Doolittle’s (R-CA) wife. Julie Doolittle’s Sierra Dominion Financial Solutions, launched in March 2001, right after her husband got his seat on the Appropriations Committee. Doolittle had only three clients: Jack Abramoff’s law firm, Abramoff’s restaurant, and the Korean-U.S. Exchange Council, founded by Tom DeLay’s (R-TX) former chief of staff.
How many contractors does it take to cleanup after Katrina? Four, sometimes five or six, according to Reuters. The burgeoning bureaucracy of contractors explains why cleanup costs continue to swell.
Outsourcing our intelligence services. The Washington Post writes that the U.S. government is increasingly relying on contractors to carry out intelligence duties. As a result, government agencies lose control over those doing this sensitive work and instill profit-making motives into the work being done.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dealt a blow to the Bush administration last Friday when it said that the Environmental Protection Agency unlawfully exempted power plants from the Clean Air Act. In striking down the “new source review†rules, the court required industrial sites to upgrade their facilities.
State-owned Dubai International Capital’s $1.2 billion takeover of a U.K. company with U.S. plants that make military equipment is delayed while the Committee on Foreign Investment undertakes a 45-day investigation to review security concerns.
A Guardian investigation of the $23 billion “Development Fund for Iraq,†which consisted of “the proceeds of oil sales, frozen Iraqi bank accounts and seized Iraqi assets,†found that much of the money was “wasted, stolen or frittered away. The paper labeled it a “tragedy†for the Iraqi people and “one of the greatest financial scandals of all time.â€
$35 Billion: The amount in fines corporations and individuals currently owe the federal government. Many of these fines are part of “large, highly publicized penalties for wrongdoing.” “White-collar crime cases account for the largest amount of uncollected debt.”
And finally: A subject dear to our hearts — Why older workers are paid way too much, and younger workers way too little.
What did we miss? Let us know in the comments section.
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Personally, I think Fred Barnes needs a shakeup.
March 20th, 2006 at 9:21 amWhy is anyone shocked by the US mishandling of 23 billion handed over to our Republican leaders in congress? Doesn’t anyone remember the Saving & Loan fiasco from the 80’s? How about the failure of the “fiscally irresponsible†Republicans to reign in spending until Pres. Clinton made them do it? How about the current President having the largest projected surplus and turning that into the largest projected deficit in the world?
Can’t people wake up to the fact that Republicans are “fiscally irresponsible†and will never change their incompetent ways until and unless they are held responsible for their actions. It won’t come from within it must be imposed from without the Republican party.
March 20th, 2006 at 9:21 amLet’s see what we have today:
March 20th, 2006 at 9:31 amA crazed propagandist, a do-nothing Congress, wasteful bureaycracy, outsourcing, security risks, incompetence, tax evasion and unequal employment.
Another day in paradise under the leadership of King George.
can we ‘outsource’ our presnut?…how about Feingold, we’ll rent him for rest of bushies term.
March 20th, 2006 at 9:44 amBush and company don’t need a staff shake up they need huge amounts of antibiotics for their (staff infection) and a lobotomie for their leader. It would be just like all the other crap this bunch has done to retire Cheney late in the Bush dictatorship and put Rice in his place. , Bet they plan to push for her to be the next dictator in charge, rather, up front pupett. …..Blessings
March 20th, 2006 at 9:46 amis this a shake up ? How about Barnes for idiot of the week .
March 20th, 2006 at 9:46 amI believe a few Reichwingers deserver honorable mention for their efforts to assist the Bush administration in removing the rights of Americans.
David Horowitz for his lifelong efforts to blacklist and destroy university professors. He’s been really busy lately with his new book.
Professors Beware! The David Horowitz Thought Police are on The Prowl! http://www.politicalcortex.com/story/2006/3/12/213331/807
Stanley Kurtz and his pals at Campus Watch , a contributor of ex-CIA man William F. Buckley Jr.’s bitterly anti-Arab National Review Online and a research fellow at the staunchly pro-Israel Hoover Institution; instrumental in the passing of anti first amendment legislation H.R. 3077
ACLU Letter to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Expressing Academic Freedom Concerns re: H.R. 3077, the International Studies in Higher Education Act of 2003 (2/13/2004) http://www.aclu.org/ / freespeech/ gen/ 10967leg20040213.html
Daniel Pipes, founder of the pro-Israel Middle East Forum and its affiliate, Campus Watch, an ADL-style organization that keeps tabs on college professors and students who are—or are suspected of being—critics of Israel. Daniel is a big supporter of Stanley Kurts and David Horowitz. Daniel was linked to the recent problems with Arabs in Denmark. Daniel denies any reponsibility or involvement and chalks it up as “conspiracy theory.” We might believe you Daniel but we know your agenda and the company you keep. Read Daniel’s desperate plea below:
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/3405
These 3 reichwing amigos deserve honorable mention for their efforts to dismantle the constitution.
March 20th, 2006 at 9:51 am“Trading our children’s future for an Islamic Theocracy” is my theme for the day.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:03 amThat ” Tom DeLay’s (R-TX) former chief of staff” is none other than Michael Scanlon, who calls Christians “wacko” while he takes their money.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:09 am“How many contractors does it take to cleanup after Katrina? Four, sometimes five or six, according to Reuters. The burgeoning bureaucracy of contractors explains why cleanup costs continue to swell.”
Well apparently Joby Warrick and Jeffrey Jones of Reuters are clueless about government run construction, demolition or cleanup project. I don’t see why these two clowns or anyone else is suprised about the burecratic layers in the Katrina cleanup. This is typical for ANY government project. This has been going on for decades.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:09 am“Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere. (Laughter and applause.)
(Laughter.)
Nope, no weapons over there. (Laughter and applause.) Maybe under here. (Laughter.) Oops, this photo wasn’t supposed to be in here. This is the Skull and Bones secret signal. (Laughter.)”
That’s Bush mocking Americans after lying to Americans about the existance of WMD in Iraq.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:20 amA shakeup is a good idea.
Making Cheney Sec of Defense is a bad idea.
Condi as VP would be pointless besdies having a the first woman (who also happens to be african american) to occupy the position. She is much more useful as Sec of State (she is doing alot of traveling - much more so than Powell did).
Liebermann would love to jump ship.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:23 amHow come the liberal media isn’t talking about warrentless physical searches of lawyer’s homes and offices?
Vote this story…
http://news.yahoo.com/ s/ usnews/ 20060318/ wl_usnews/ theletterofthelaw;_ylt=AkfeaaA8.1N8QP9k1w177zG63q8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA–
March 20th, 2006 at 10:31 amU.A.E. has made a bid on both the air lines and the Weapons Making Plants in this Country. So Between Dubai,China, and Japan America is now owned and control by Foreign Countries.
In The late 70’s and early 80’s we were foreward about becoming a colony to foreign powers and noone heard as their personal fortunes were made.
No Longer is America the super power or the weath or the light of Compassion centered people.
Who do we think for this great Mis Fortune : The American Congress and Senate and that thing that calls himself Kingresident of the White House!
I know this is off topic .Bloomberg News is reporting the latest foray of U.A.E.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:39 amThe problem with a shake-up of any kind is that the same incompetents and crooks are still there–just in different holes. The only shake-out of the White House that will have any meaningful result is to start at the top and move downward as each in turn is assigned a new cell in Leavenworth.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:41 amcynicalgirl,
March 20th, 2006 at 10:43 amRight there with ya.
Let’s take it a step further: Where are the Democrats?
Younger workers don’t know anything, think they know everything and won’t work, so, in fact, they deserve nothing.
How’s that for an insulting, offensive remark? What kind of ignoramus would say such a thing?
Any news that is bad and has an effect on the price of oil is used to exploit the oil market, and an increase in the price of oil is the desired result. Ergo, there will be a war. Anything else is meaningless.
That shake up is more jonesin’ than anything and not much else.
The corporate offices at Engulf and Devour are in full swing today.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:52 amDoolittle, Delay, Cunningham, Scanlon, Safavian, …: this is what happens when the country lets the Republicans “reign in spending”. Silly us, we heard “rein-in spending” when all they’ve ever really intended was another savings & loan situation of wholesale rape and theft. We’ve entrusted crooks with the cash register and currently they are “reigning” in ways that would make Louis XIV blush. It is time to “rain” on their parade, and let them try to “reign” their little corner of a cell block somewhere. Unfortunately, we are not holding the “reins” and our country has a poor track record of anything harsher than “accountability moments” for corruptions and white collar crime.
March 20th, 2006 at 11:05 amWhat gets me is the “borrow and spend” mentality of the Republicans in congress. They BMW (bi*#@, moan and wail) about “tax and spend†for their straw man argument, and then go charge billions and billions on the national credit card without taking into consideration that the bill will eventually come due.
All that crap they claimed about “it’s your tax money†is nothing but more mendacity and calumny. Yes, it’s “our tax money’ that needs to go towards paying off all those charges that Pres. Reagan and Pres. Bush (Sr.) were running up higher than Pres. Bush (Jr.) on coke in his “wild daysâ€. Our leadership decided to spend and spend and spend and spend and spend like it’s going out of style in the ‘80s in order to bring us to war with the USSR in a way that we would end up winning, and we ended up spending the Soviets out of existence. Then, when it came time to start paying the bill, it took Pres. Clinton to force the “fiscally irresponsible†Republicans from cutting the taxes that would be used to pay that bill.
Then, we get Pres. Bush (Jr.) and the most massive fiscal failure in the history of humankind. He takes a surplus and turns it into the largest deficit, EVER! He decides that the financial stability of the US is nothing compared to lining the pockets of the richest people in America and cuts taxes like it’s going out of style. Rather than remaining true to the original “fiscal responsibility†plank of the old Republican party, he decides to run up more and more debt on the national credit card. It’s not like he really cares about the financial stability of America 20 years from now, because he’ll be the “war President†and wont’ have to give a crap about anyone at that point.
It’s going to take returning the “borrow and spend”, “fiscal irresponsible†Republicans back to the minority party so that we can return the US to a more stable fiscal policy of actually paying for the debts that Pres. Bush has added to the US.
The national debt when Pres. Clinton was in office:
09/29/2000 $5,674,178,209,886.86
The national debt with the man with an MBA in office???
03/17/2006 $8,270,880,983,362.78
http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm
March 20th, 2006 at 11:08 amWeekly Standard editor Fred Barnes writes that Bush needs a staff shakeup. His suggestions: Condi as VP, Lieberman as Secretary of State, Cheney as Sec Def, Dan Senor as White House Press Secretary, Zalmay Khalilzad as National Security Adviser, and switching Ken Mehlman and Karl Rove’s jobs.
Its like shifting deck chairs on the Titanic. Even so, just like Bush himself, Barmes is unable to think outside of the box/four walls of the White House (Khalilzad is a PNAC signer, so that shouldn’t count); the genius interbox thinking that led to the selection of Meirs for SCoTUS, the best nominee he could find…within 100 yards.
Funny how all these people are meant to be interchangable; it’s almost like personal skills don’t matter in the bush White House, oh, wait…
Cheney as secretary of Defense? So he finally shoots a gun at someone, and Barnes thinks that all of a sudden he’s capable of coordinating the armed forces?
March 20th, 2006 at 11:15 amThank you, Fred Barnes, for your recommendations on the next round of nitwit musical chairs.
March 20th, 2006 at 11:17 am#11 - This was the definitive moment of GWB’s presidency. It makes me sick every time I see it. I don’t expect anything of GWB, he’s an unapologetic idiot; what sickens me most is the laughter of the crowd.
I echo your question in #16: Where are the Democrats?
March 20th, 2006 at 11:46 amI predicted this to happen just after Katrina occurred when Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon act (temporarily). Contracts and subsequent sub-contracts awarded before the act was reinstated are not subject to the rules of Davis-Bacon. (Although more complex, Davis-Bacon assures laborers are to be paid a “prevailing wageâ€- Which is generally established by union pay scale. Note: The laborers do not have to be union members to receive prevailing wage.)
This tiered sub-contracting scheme is another form cronyism at the expense laborers performing the actual work. The less they have to pay actual labor, the more that goes into their pockets…and the government saves nothing. As is evident, the government (us) is getting ripped-off by unscrupulous contractors. Worse yet, is that the damage is on more than one level. Keep in mind that the “day labor†overwhelmingly hired by these sub-contractors do not pay taxes and a significant number are illegal aliens.
Unions have been the victim of neo-con propaganda in much the same way the democratic party has…only much more effectively. Union busting is very high on the neo-con “agendaâ€. When was the last time you heard a favorable comment about unions anywhere in the press? The neo-cons and rethugs actually have people believing that the corporations had to move overseas to escape union tyranny. Not true. No time to elaborate but for example- Consumer goods formally produced in the US have not gone down in price due to cheap overseas labor…but corporate profits as well as executive pay has skyrocketed. The demise of the American middle-class is a direct correlation to the demise of labor unions. Whether you like unions or not- they are a necessary part of an economic “checks & balances†system.
Side note: A friend of mine is a union plumbing contractor struggling to find work in the area. He recently took a small crew of highly skilled licensed plumbers down the La., Miss., and Al., to help with the rebuilding efforts. He was summarily denied work solely because of his union affiliation even when he said his men were willing to waive union pay scale. This while viewing what little work being done was being done by what was apparently illegal immigrants receiving “day labor†pay.
March 20th, 2006 at 12:10 pmA little more on the subject of Davis-Bacon
http://www.constructionlaborlawblog.com/ prevailing-wage-laws–94-davisbacon-suspended-and-reinstated-in-katrinaaffected-areas.html
March 20th, 2006 at 12:11 pmCan’t people wake up to the fact that Republicans are “fiscally irresponsible†and will never change their incompetent ways until and unless they are held responsible for their actions. It won’t come from within it must be imposed from without the Republican party.
Comment by Democrat Soldier #2
Democrat Soldier,
Great points…
…but you left out one major point that we the people also forget…
…the majority of us expect government to be efficient, responsive, and benevolent…
…but ideologically speaking Republiscum conservatives don’t believe in government…
…they want to destroy government or render it as impotent as possible…
…so by their logic evrything IS fine…
…the TREASONOUS Bushite government didn’t respond to properly to Katrina victims because FEMA had been gutted…
…according to the Republiscum’s ideological bent on “less government” FEMA was supposed to be gutted…
…Medicare is inefficient because…
…Medicare is supposed to be inefficient and so costly that future legislatures will dismantle it…
…exactly what the TREASONOUS Bushite conservative scum want…
…and on and on and on…..
March 20th, 2006 at 12:16 pmbig papa,
I agree. Katrina showcased the Republican’s “drown it in the bathtub” mentality. As American’s, we’ve got to start taking these zealots at thier word. I’m convinced that “No Child Left Behind” is an effort to destroy public education. It’s just a different tack than George Sr. tried when he sought to discontinue the Department of Education. Meanwhile, the Project for a New American Century has provided the blueprint and rationale for most of what has occured in the Iraq fiasco. I think the Republicans count on our not being able to discern incompetence from purely malign intent.
March 20th, 2006 at 1:34 pmThe response to the rebuilding of the gulf coast by the Bush administration is EXACTLY in line with the republican agenda of taking tax payer funds from programs that actually help people and reallocate those dollars to rich crony friends and the radical right.
March 20th, 2006 at 2:10 pmCheney as SecDef… Well, it would make awarding additional no bid contacts for Halliburton much more strealined and efficient.
March 20th, 2006 at 3:43 pm[…] Think Progress […]
March 20th, 2006 at 5:09 pmFred Barnes is one of the kool-ade passers. He is a synchophant on the Bush cheerleading team. All you have to do is listen or read his book to find out that he really is a loon.
March 20th, 2006 at 6:56 pmWeekly Standard editor Fred Barnes writes that Bush needs a staff shakeup. His suggestions: Condi as VP, Lieberman as Secretary of State, Cheney as Sec Def, Dan Senor as White House Press Secretary, Zalmay Khalilzad as National Security Adviser, and switching Ken Mehlman and Karl Rove’s jobs.
Why do the words “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” ring a bell…. Hmmmm, I’ll have to think about that.
Cheers,
March 20th, 2006 at 10:59 pmSomeone ought to explaine to Freddie “the Beetle” Barnes that taking the same bad actors and shuffling their roles produces the same bad movie. I love the way the GOP always reaches for the Lieberman gambit when they’re playing fantasy political football. Yeesh.
March 21st, 2006 at 1:32 amNatasha Yi
Man i love reading your blog, interesting posts !
March 17th, 2008 at 7:42 amUsnews.com Retire
Interesting - because that is the same thing I found out last Thursday.
April 7th, 2008 at 8:35 pm