ThinkFast: January 15, 2009
ThinkFast: January 15, 2009
In an interview with the New York Times, Vice President-elect Biden said that he wants to “restore the balance” of the vice presidency after Cheney’s unprecedented expansion of power while still remaining influential. “The only value of power is the effect, the efficacy of its use,” said Biden. “And all the power Cheney had did not result in effective outcomes.”
In a 289-139 vote yesterday, the House approved an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Obama asked the Senate to act with the “same sense of urgency so that it can be one of the first measures I sign into law when I am president.”
While continuing to shell Gaza today, Israeli forces hit “the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency that assists Palestinian refugees and another occupied by several media organizations.” U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon responded with “strong protest and outrage” during a visit to Jerusalem.
“U.S. foreclosure activity jumped 81 percent in 2008, with one in every 54 households getting at least one filing notice,” RealtyTrac reported. “Nearly 3.2 million foreclosure filings on 2.3 million properties were made last year,” a 225 percent jump from 2006 levels.
The National Religious Campaign Against Torture “met with officials from the Obama transition team on Wednesday afternoon and emerged saying they were optimistic about the prospects” of reversing the Bush administration’s torture policies. The group’s president explained that doing so on day one would, “be a very, very important statement to the nation and the world.”
Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the release of a detainee at Guantanamo for the second time, “ruling that the government’s evidence is too weak to justify the man’s continued confinement.” “A mosaic of tiles this murky reveals nothing about this petitioner with sufficient clarity” to justify his detention, Leon ruled.
A federal judge ruled yesterday that “White House employees must allow their computers to be searched, and they must turn over any devices that may contain some of the possibly millions of e-mail messages that have apparently disappeared.” Hours later, a Justice Department official told the court the roughly 14 million e-mails had already been found. A representative of CREW, the group filing the lawsuit, said, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
The United States’ use of the phrase “war on terror” may have “unif[ied] groups with little in common,” writes British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. “The idea of a ‘war on terror’ gave the impression of a unified, transnational enemy, embodied in the figure of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. The reality is that the motivations and identities of terrorist groups are disparate.”
The Bush administration announced yesterday “plans to remove gray wolves in the western Great Lakes and northern Rocky Mountains regions from the federal endangered species list.” The administration’s previous attempts to “remove wolves in both regions from the endangered list…have been overruled by courts.”
And finally: Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) made good on his bet over college football’s national title game with Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), after the University of Florida Gators beat the Oklahoma Sooners. Yesterday, Coburn sang Elton John’s “Rocket Man” to Nelson, who is considered a congressional expert on NASA. Coburn asked his staff to join him, but they declined. Nelson eventually joined him instead. Watch it here.
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“And all the power Cheney had did not result in effective outcomes.”
That depends on what you mean by effective. Cheney’s power made a lot of crooked people effectively rich, and it made a lot of brown people effectively dead.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:05 amWar crimes trials will also be an effective statement against torture.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:10 am“And all the power Cheney had did not result in effective outcomes.”
shoeless beat me to it: Cheney’s use of power garnered hundreds of billions of our money for his friends.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:14 amThis is the first time in my life that, to my recollection, a President-elect is working with Congress to have a stack of bills on his desk on day one awaiting his signature. Talk about getting ready to hit the ground running.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:15 amBiden has made an eloquent statement with merits. We need more than that, however, because PRECEDENCE creates the justification to disregard whatever direction Biden chooses to take.
Without action, holding bush and the administration accountable, the numerous abuses we have seen will all be considered legitimate uses of power by future administrationsl
Please, Joe, the rhetoric is good. If you mean what you say, please take action that will not let the criminality stand.
The future of our democracy depends on it.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:16 amRe: Darth Cheney
Jim Lehrer’s interview aired last night. It was chilling and reminds me how fortunate we are that our country survived (if only barely) the GDumbya/Darth administration. Cheney is as deluded as that sock puppet in the Oval Office.
GDumbya’s “address to the nation” tonight will probably be a fitting bookend to the Lehrer interview. I am sure that GDumbya will be working hard to polish his turd of a legacy during his last fifteen minutes of fame tonight . . . I just don’t know if I have the stomach to watch it.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:16 amIf the Senate majority can’t grow a set of stones and up-or-down this Im going over to the Red Team. I’d rather back evil than impotence.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:16 am“U.S. foreclosure activity jumped 81 percent in 2008,”
And just guess who’s getting rich from the….ahem….”bailout” for the financial institutions. As if they were not making enough already.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:19 amHow dare the U.N. use refugees as human shields!
/sacr
January 15th, 2009 at 9:19 amBiden said that he wants to “restore the balance” of the vice presidency
What does this mean?
Assuming we are going to include the Veep as part of the Executive branch, the issue is restoring the balance of power between the Executive and the Legislative and Judidical branches. Cheney believes the Executive can do whatever it wants, and used this as the basis through which to coopt his power as Veep. That he was able to do so speaks to the idleness or indifference of George the Plumber… there is no balance to restore, but rather an outlaw ideology to banish.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:20 amId actually be interested in this video if they slap bet on it.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:20 amRe: no. 6
Tom, I haven’t been able to watch or listen to dumbya ever since he was “elected” governor of my state. Needless to say, I won’t be watching “the thing” tonite.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:22 amThe United States’ use of the phrase “war on terror” may have “unif[ied] groups with little in common,” writes British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. “The idea of a ‘war on terror’ gave the impression of a unified, transnational enemy, embodied in the figure of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. The reality is that the motivations and identities of terrorist groups are disparate.”
____________
And I for one would like to nominate British Foreign Secretary David Miliband for the 2009 DUH Award.
Next you’ll be telling us that water is wet.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:27 amTalk about bets you’d much rather lose!
January 15th, 2009 at 9:28 amBut…but…Fox News tells us that torture is wonderful, that we have saved humanity because we torture, and that Jack Bauer is a real-life hero because he always foils the bad guys and saves American lives because he tortures them into revealing where the ticking time bomb is!
These “religious” people must be Devil-worshipers because Fox News tells us that God wants us to torture people. After all, if God didn’t support torture, why did he allow his son to be tortured to death on the cross?
Besides, Justice Scalia says torture is constitutional, as long as you do it before you file any charges!
/sarc
Hopefully, Obama will have an Executive Order ready on day one to abolish Bush’s “harsh interrogation” techniques.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:28 am#6, Tom
January 15th, 2009 at 9:30 amWatching that war criminal be interviewed last night was hard to endure, but the entire nation should have tuned in to see the delusional, corrupt and immoral thought processes of that vile person. The filthy wake he has left will take years to rectify, if ever.
Israel shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the U.N. and witnesses said, engulfing the compound and the main warehouse in fire and destroying thousands of pounds of food intended for Palestinian refugees. The U.N. chief, in Israel for the day, demanded a “full explanation.”
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in the region to end the devastating offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers, said the Israeli defense minister told him there had been a “grave mistake.”
Ehud Barak terms it a grave mistake: ya think ??
January 15th, 2009 at 9:38 amIncessant bombing — ya think that might just be a mistake too? The world is condemning Israel for its actions – that is not a mistake.
Marie Says:
Ehud Barak terms it a grave mistake: ya think ??
Incessant bombing — ya think that might just be a mistake too? The world is condemning Israel for its actions – that is not a mistake.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:38 am
___________
Oh, it’s not just a grave mistake. It was a grave mistake with banned chemical weapons:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/15/headlines
January 15th, 2009 at 9:50 amWhile continuing to shell Gaza today, Israeli forces hit “the headquarters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
Another intentional attack on the UN. It can’t be anything but intentional because the UN gives Israel the coordinates of the buildings and areas they inhabit.
Isreal has truly become a terrorist state.
I wonder what the people in Israel think about their governments ongoing genocide in Gaza. I don’t think I have read anything about what they think. Why is that?
January 15th, 2009 at 9:55 am“U.S. foreclosure activity jumped 81 percent in 2008, with one in every 54 households getting at least one filing notice
The banking industry is making this happen. And it doesn’t have to happen. Considering the economy, when the homeowner’s teaser rate of 4.5% expires, all they have to do is leave the rate where it is. They won’t make as much money off the loan, but they also won’t have another home in foreclosure. But, instead of doing the logical thing, the companies holding these mortgages is jumping the interest rate to 12% and sometimes up to 20%. They have to know that will throw most homeowners into foreclosure. Could you still pay your mortgage if the payment doubled overnight?
January 15th, 2009 at 9:57 amBilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
I wonder what the people in Israel think about their governments ongoing genocide in Gaza. I don’t think I have read anything about what they think. Why is that?
January 15th, 2009 at 9:55 am
While there may be some supporters, there are also many Israeli peace activists who are very much opposed to their government’s actions in Gaza:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/15/headlines
January 15th, 2009 at 9:58 amThe administration’s previous attempts to “remove wolves in both regions from the endangered list…have been overruled by courts.
He just won’t give up, will he. His “sprint to the finish” consists of nothing but inflicting the maximum damage he can on this country. Forget Gaza, just he’s too busy paying back all his rich friends.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:01 amshoeless Says:
“And all the power Cheney had did not result in effective outcomes.”
That depends on what you mean by effective. Cheney’s power made a lot of crooked people effectively rich, and it made a lot of brown people effectively dead.
Especially Halliburton. If I owned stock in Halliburton or any subsidiary of theirs, I would be selling now. Their rein of no-bid government contracts will come to an end on January 20.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:03 amResponding to the Gaza crisis
Here are a few things you can do right now to advocate for strong U.S. leadership to bring about an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
http://jstreet.org/
January 15th, 2009 at 10:04 am“U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is in the region to end the devastating offensive against Gaza’s Hamas rulers, said the Israeli defense minister told him there had been a “grave mistake.”
Grave mistake my ass. The UN gives Israel the coordinates of their activities. Are the Israeli pilots too stupid to be able to read coordinates. They knew exactly what they were doing. The Israeli government truly is evil. I don’t say Israel because I suspect their people don’t approve of what they are doing. Funny thing, though, no one is asking them what they think. Why is that?
January 15th, 2009 at 10:10 amVP Elect, Biden, you are being way too nice: You said, ““And all the power Cheney had did not result in effective outcomes.” I would have rephrased it, “And NONE OF the power Cheney had resulted in effective outcomes except for Halliburton and other suckers of the corporate tit.”
January 15th, 2009 at 10:11 amHey, shoeless: had I read YOUR post first, I wouldn’t have made one–you got it EXACTLY in #1. More, more!
January 15th, 2009 at 10:13 amI also believe that many if not most Israelis are not pleased with the actions of their government – Israeli military is committing genocide in their name.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:17 amThe isolation of Palestinians from their farms, their jobs, their market, their hospitals and schools created extreme hardship, but that wasn’t enough – shelling and bombing of neighborhoods killing innocents is defiantly blamed on the victims for living there!
Israel must pay for this and the US must not come to her defense.
Dumb Fox the Average Golfer Says: there is no balance to restore, but rather an outlaw ideology to banish. Dead on the mark, my friend; dead on–and democracy will be “dead FROM the mark” of the proverbial beast [Revelation: "the mark of the beast," meaning the satanic army and minions of the antichrist] if we fail to penalize BushCo for shredding the Constitution, sacrificing the many to the “needs” of the few, lying at home and abroad with disastrous results to the innocent or powerless.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:20 amCheney wants to shoot a wolf when he goes home next week.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:24 amhussein toasterhead Says:
The United States’ use of the phrase “war on terror” may have “unif[ied] groups with little in common,” writes British Foreign Secretary David Miliband. “The idea of a ‘war on terror’ gave the impression of a unified, transnational enemy, embodied in the figure of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. The reality is that the motivations and identities of terrorist groups are disparate.”
____________
And I for one would like to nominate British Foreign Secretary David Miliband for the 2009 DUH Award.
Next you’ll be telling us that water is wet.
Hussein–I enjoy and endorse 95% of your posts–but why attack Miliband?? His statement is entirely true, as true as any of the outrage we’ve been expressing about the crimes, lies, disasters, and horrors of BushCo–he’s just presenting truth in typical polite, understated British fashion.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:25 amCaption contest: Biden about to deliver a Super-Saen Dragon Strike to Cheney’s forehead. Cheney would counter with a Neutering Eagle Claw.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:25 amEric Holder just came out firmly AGAINST torture.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:29 amCould the horrible situation in Gaza/Israel resemble OUR horrid situation these last 8 years? Governments carrying out disastrous campaigns while we the people have been ignored? Governments making a country look cruel, incompetent, selfish, and thereby making the world believe that the government in question truly represents the will of the citizens?
I’m not anti-Israel. I’m not anti-United States. But I’m among the hundreds of millions who HATE how BushCo has made us look–and there is no doubt a comparable percentage of Israelis who share a hate for how THEIR government has made them look.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:32 amMarie and Hussein Toasterhead RE: shelling of UN compound with banned munitions
And let me ask the obvious question: Where is the statement from the US of A standing for truth, justice, and the American way ?
If Dumbya likes clearing brush in Texas so much, why is he moving to a fancy suburb of Dallas ?
If he likes clearing brush so much, shouldn’t he love breaking rocks under arrest from the Hague ?
January 15th, 2009 at 10:57 amtelestai2 Says:
Hussein–I enjoy and endorse 95% of your posts–but why attack Miliband?? His statement is entirely true, as true as any of the outrage we’ve been expressing about the crimes, lies, disasters, and horrors of BushCo–he’s just presenting truth in typical polite, understated British fashion.
January 15th, 2009 at 10:25 am
________
I don’t disagree that his statement is true. It is entirely true, and I do salute him for making it. It just would’ve been nice for him to have made it, say, six or seven years ago when his colleague Tony Blair was helping fix facts around policy in the run-up to the Iraq war. True, he wasn’t Foreign Secretary at the time, but he was in a position to have Blair’s ear.
I can’t help being frustrated by politicians who have these sort of “epiphanies of the blindingly obvious” long after the damage has been done by their years of blissful ignorance.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:07 amMapleStreet Says:
If Dumbya likes clearing brush in Texas so much, why is he moving to a fancy suburb of Dallas ?
______________
Because “the ranch” was always just a prop, meant to fool folks into thinking Botch one of them, just like the faux-Texas accent. George is and will always be the pissy, arrogant, dry-drunk scion of a family of billionaire Nazi sympathizers.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:59 amMethinks Israel should be kicked out of the United Nations immediately, and any nation that continues to supply weapons to these murders should face sanctions of closing their borders to all trade.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:33 pmMaplestreet
Truth justice and the American way – went the way of all things the US stood for – since Bush&Co took office.
Indeed, where is the outcry from our government against Israel’s use of phosphorous – silent — because we have used it in Iraq — along with depleted uranium – all that goes along with ignoring international rules of engagement, Geneva Conventions. We have witnessed ourselves being reduced to the level of those we have always fought against.
January 15th, 2009 at 1:25 pmGuess who’s captaining the ship charged with redesigning the world financial system? Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein:
News release:
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=84622
My commentary:
http://peureport.blogspot.com/2009/01/david-rubenstein-helps-design-future.html
January 15th, 2009 at 3:28 pmPaul Volker and his Group of Thirty came out with their financial system reform. WaPo has a piece on it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/15/AR2009011501715.html?hpid=topnews
The article stated “banks, the document states, should be prohibited from managing hedge funds or private equity funds.”
I doesn’t say it goes the other way. IndyMac Bank was sold to hedge funds and private equity.
What are the odds the Group of Thirty and the World Economic Forum issue their reform reports on the same day? Hanshiro?
January 15th, 2009 at 5:20 pmhussein toasterhead Says:
I can’t help being frustrated by politicians who have these sort of “epiphanies of the blindingly obvious” long after the damage has been done by their years of blissful ignorance.
Correction noted and appreciated–and endorsed.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:12 am