I caught a glimpse of a news conference by the Heritage Foundation's Michael Franc. He is the Government Relations VP for the Foundation. I am well aware of some of the support the Heritage Foundation receives. However, I have been of the view of that any idea that would help provide a roadmap is absolutely crucial to be looked at. I would be analyzing the report annouced by Heritage and providing guidance on it as part of OV's Election Watch Series over the ensuing weeks.
I welcome the Heritage Report because it is how things should be. There was one thing that Michael Franc also noted that I also agree with: incremental change is simply not acceptable. There needs to be the courage to truly work to transform for the greater good.
When President Obama nominated Ms. Kagan to replace John Paul Stevens, I predicted that she would be confirmed. I proved to be right when the U.S. Senate confirmed her on a 63-37 Vote. I had occasion to check out the remarks afterwards at the White House:
She has hit the ground running because she has been sworn in by the Chief Justice and is now officially the 112th Justice of the United States Supreme Court. As it became increasingly clear that she would be confirmed, the Republican Gang of No did not hestitate to continue the same line of nonsense to tell the country why they believed she was unqualified. Of all the classic ones, it was the supposed banning of the military recruits that was branded an insult to the military. How she killed every single line of attack with deft skills was quite amazing. The other notable one, to me, was Chuck Grassley claim that she was too political and had scant experience. Well, the reality was otherwise.
She is joining a U.S. Supreme Court that is supposedly conservative. Yet, it has been nothing but conservative. To me, the Citizens United Case has shown how far the Court will be willing to go. I do, however, commend the Court for what it did to strike down the so-called "Honest Services" provision that landed Conrad Black and Jeffrey Skilling in Prison. Therefore, this is bound to be a very interesting term.
I would love to be a fly in the wall as the Justices begin their new term with the newest Justice on board. That's why America, in my view, continues to be the Greatest Show on Earth.
This past week has been amazing. According to the pundits, the election is already over and we should all just pack up and go home. John Boehner, I suppose, is probably beginning to gear up to take over the speakership and all the key "ranking members" of the house are getting ready to be called "Mr. Chairman". But, here is a newsflash, though: This is July 21. Elections are not going to be held till November. So, to borrow a phrase from Mark Twain, the reports of the death of Democrats is highly exaggerated
The Republicans are truly emboldened. Eric Cantor came out last week and boldly predicted that the House will be taken over by the Republicans. Monday’s Front Page story in the Wall Street Journal talked about how the GOP can also take control of the Senate too. A number of the US Senate campaigns are rough going. Barack Obama’s old seat is one. But, it appears that Charlie Crist in Florida has gotten his second wind and seems to be charting a new path after the Marco Rubio juggernaut forced him out of the Party. The President’s Spokesman, Robert Gibbs, added fuel to the fire during his appearance on Meet the Press two weeks ago when he noted that there is a chance that the Democrats will lose. I viewed Robert Gibbs pronouncement as a wakeup call to all Democrats to pull together. I am with Joe Biden that Democrats will surprise the Country in November
I have been following the Republican talking points throughout the week. The basic contention by the Republicans was outlined by Senator Brown in the Republican Weekly Address on Saturday:
The Republicans have been on a continued warpath to circumvent Barack Obama's agenda at every turn. The healthcare debate has shown that all they are interested in an outright power grab to implement their narrow idelogical vision on the country. They are opposed to anything that remotely insures that the average person has a fighting chance. Paul Ryan's plan to replace Medicare with vouchers is just one of those extreme examples.
While the Republicans have continued to dominate the airwaves and win the public relations war, the real world goes on. There was a spike in unemployment not withstanding the 51,000 hires for the Census temporary jobs. The "real" unemployment rate stands at 16.8 Percent, on par with Spain. What Republicans should take notice of is a speech by the US Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue. He spoke and made five key points
A very good friend turned me on to the National Priorities Project Website. With the Continued challenges we face in America, I was fascinated by what they had done. There is a cool feature that actualy analyzes what could have been done if the monies spent would have somehow been routed towards long-term sustainable development. I realize that some will question the analysis and the rationale. But the implications are staggering:
Tuesday November 3 was another election day in America. It was an election day to decide some governorships, a key mayoral election and very intersting race in the New York 23rd Congressional District. All the pundits have been pounding the pavements about how this was a referendum on President Obama and how the people have begun to speak up and be frustruated about the direction of the country. The Tea Party folks, the 9/12 Movement, Freedom Works and the Republicans are all celebrating tonight.
Well, it has been a good night for the Republican Party. They won two key Governorships. They have won other key statewide offices in Virginia. Yet, the national implications of these races is way overstated. The mainstream media (and yes that includes Fox) will be hard at work spinning this as a major setback for the White House. The reality is otherwise, though
The talk of the town over the last week or so has been on Healthcare. President Obama's Wednesday News Conference was all healthcare. The debate with the talking heads has been on healthcare. Democrats have profound differences within each other. In the midst of it all, the ordinary folks seem to be just lost in the shuffle.
Everyone notes that there is no need to "rush" this. What is apparent is that the Republicans are pursuing a strategy of "just say no". I have trying to find a plan that the Republicans have. The only thing I have read is "choice" and "competition". It is those two things that has caused premiums to go up, insurance companies to continue to deny coverage and costs to go up. Not withstanding the debate itself, the only problem I have with "rushing this" as Mr. Bohener and Mr. McConnell have said is that the United States has discussed this for the past one hundred years. Teddy Roosevelt first talked about it back in 1912. How much more time is needed?
I was surprised yesterday by the change in tone by the Republicans. The people who called for a change in tone on the debate over the Sotomayor nomination have done the courageous thing by shifting the focus. I think Senator Cornyn of Texas said it best when he noted that, "...Therefore, it is imperative that my colleagues and members of the media do not pre-judge or pre-confirm Ms. Sotomayor. It is my hope that the process will allow her to prove herself to possess the impartiality, integrity, legal expertise and judicial temperament that we have come to expect from those that sit on our highest court. She must prove her commitment to impartially deciding cases based on the law, rather than based on her own personal politics, feelings, and preferences." ...." (Source: http://cornyn.senate.gov, retrieved 5/23/2009. I could not agree with him more
The talk of the town yesterday was the nomination of the new Supreme Court Justice to replace Justice Souter. I have been reading on her and assessing her stance, while looking at the reactions of both the right and the left to her nomination. Interestingly enough, a columnist in Human Events called her a "liberal judge", while others have been quite praiseworthy.
I'll be reading up on her over the ensuing days and weeks. I hope that the country won't just take the word of the so-called pundits and actually listen to her, read some of her opinions, listen to her entire statement and not take just one statement she made at an event and assess her entire career. Her life story is inspiring indeed. But, she has to be judged on the merits of her achievements. I hope that the Senator McConnell does truly live up to his commitment to insure that Judge Sotomayor receives a fair hearing.
Ever since Justice Souter announced his retirement, everyone has been up in arms to force their views on the Adminstration. Whatever folks think of the President, he sets his own schedule and will make the decision to select when he is ready. I have just reviewed accounts of meetings he had about this with the head honchos in the Senate. Whomever he chooses, I am sure it will be smooth sailing. There was one interesting name I thought was quite remarkable: Governor Granholm of Michigan. I will await his annoucement before dwelling upon the selection. I
Whenever someone dies, it is always a sad moment. Life is the most precious resource granted. The death always leaves a void. Although I have continued to believe that we are all passengers in this journey of life, the emptiness will never overcome. I view it as ever more tragic for the heroes who have paid the ultimate price while serving in wars in faraway lands. This includes Americans, Canadians, British, Australians, German, French and other NATO and coalition members who have strived to eradicate the extremism that continues to grow like a cancer.
When President Obama came into office, he directed Secretary Gates to leave it to the families to decide whether to allow coverage of their fallen coming back home. Mr. Gates decided to leave it up to the families. The first coverage was of the latest fallen hero, U.S. Airforoce Staff Sergeant Philip Myers
The numbers that came out on Friday on the U.S. Unemployment numbers were shocking. It went up "officially" to 8.25%. But, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Report, it did not include, "...About 2.1 million persons (not seasonally adjusted) were marginally attached to the labor force in March, 754,000 more than a year earlier. These individ-
uals wanted and were available for work and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. Among the marginally attached, there were 685,000 discouraged workers in March, up by 284,000 from a year earlier. Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The other 1.4 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in March had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities."
(Source: Really]Really Long Link retrieved April 4, 2009
I had hoped to leave behind the Bush years in my writings here. Yet, it appears that the actions by the Bush Adminstration will continue to be the talk of the nation for a while yet.
I have been reading with horror comments by Seymour Hersh about what had transpired about an alleged assassination squad. The accumulation of power is quite scary. I realize that the reporting done here by MSNBC is biased. Between the John Yu memos and this allegation, it shows an apparent debunking of the Constitutional Form of Government during the past eight years. Not withstanding the political tone of it, the mere fact that this kind of "command" existed should be of concern to all
I find the recent spat between Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer and Meghan McCain and Ann Coulter hillarious to say the least. Bill O'Reilly talked about it in his Factor show on Monday on Fox News. He talked the Cramer vs. Stewart feud with Stewart Varney of Fox Business and on Meghan McCain vs. Ann Coulter with a reporter for the Washington Times.
I saw Jon Stewart's show, I saw Jim Cramer's "response when he appeared on MSNBC and NBC and then Jon Stewart's rebuttal. Jon Stewart nailed Jim Cramer. There was no question about it. But, O'Reilly's way of lambasting Stewart for going after him for being "liberal" and "mainstream" is a bit far-fetched. What O'Reilly and the folks at fox forget to tell the rest of the world is that they were the "mainstream" during the 8 years of the Bush Adminstration. They pushed this fiction that markets work and self-regulate and had to be left alone. Well, this so-called conservative philosophy (as they call it) was in fact the cause of the economic winter we are faced with today. Bernie Maddoff and Allan Stafford are but the most extreme of examples. But, the entertainment nature of CNBC was also just as much to blame in my view. Jon Stewart called Jim Cramer on it. I do commend Jim Cramer for agreeing to appear on The Daily Show later on tonight. That should be quite interesting. But, this fiction of a liberal bias that Bill O'Reilly continues to push gets to be old. It is entertaining and funny, though. Cramer made some bad calls and he has to own up to it
The Sunday Talks shows on US Network Television featured quite a number of political and media personalities. As I attended the NBC and ABC's webcast, I was trying to find an alternative vision that the Republicans offered. Lindsay Graham and Richard Shelby only said that they were opposed. Beyond that, I did not hear any concerte solutions to get this economy jump-started again.
NBC also featured New Ginrigch. He is probably the leading Republican thinker right now. He also brings a historical sense of it all, having been a Professor of History. I was gratified to hear him say two key things: 1) The Economic Winter we're contending is nothing like we have seen before & 2) He does not want to see the President fail. In my view, these two key things are a solid basis to talk about a constructive vision of the future. I found his contention that the proposed tax increases as equivalent to the smooth-Hailey Tarriff Act a bit of an overstretch. I also think that the advocacy of doing nothing is also quite distrubing because of the disastrous decision made by Herbert Hoover
The debate on what to do about how to jumpstart the US Economy rages on. I personally have received appeals from both Senator McCain's new CountryFirst PAC and President Obama's Organizing for America Organization. The roundtable held earlier between four leading lights of the U.S. Congress on NBC's Meet the Press underscores this divide.
As the debate continues, teachers, fire fighters and cops are on the chopping block. States are in dire straits. California continues to operate without a budget.
In my almost daily columns/comments on the Economy, I had thought about the calamity as a Tsunami. With a Tsunami, there is at least a chance to see Sunshine. However, I think the better term for it is a Winter Storm. I continue to wonder when we will see sunshine.
On Wednesday, the bleeding continued. Cisco Systems, the leading network gear maker, missed the numbers. Alcatel-Lucent continued its' downward slide which has been on-going for a number of years. Disney missed then it came out with its numbers and annouced jobs cuts totaling some 400 workers at the ABC unit. Earlier in the week, Electronic Arts annouced a job cut and delay in new games
The world is right now fascinated with Davos. The rich, the famous and the powerful are all there in paradise talking about the world and all the problems. There is enough being said by all pundits which will speak for itself on Davos. But, two key things occured which I wanted to note:
1) Turkey's Prime Minister Edrogan stormed out of a discussion with Shimon Peres during discusisons on Gaza. Edrogan was given a minute by David Ignathius of the Washington Post to rebute a lengthy comment by Shimon Peres. I think the gesture by Mr. Edrogan must be taken seriously by Israel. It shows the frustration with Israel and the fact that as Amr Mousa said, Israel "does not listen". I was quite disappointed by David Ignathius when he did not grant equal time during the discussions. It seems to me that Dinner could have waited
Now the euphoria over the Obama Inauguration is over, it is now back to reality. The bad news continues unabatted. According to the Bank of Japan, Japan faces two years of contraction. It is facing deflation and issues with corporate liquidity. Exports have declined some 35%. South Korea is officially in recession and is facing a weakness in chip expoerts. Nouriel Roubin noted that China is in Recession. The Chinese may not agree. But that's reality. Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan and South Korea all have clouds over their economic horizon. GE had a disappointing quarter. Even Lockheed Martin has slashed its forecast for 2009. Unilever disappointed and saw its' shares tumble in London. Microsoft and Sony announced job cuts as they fully anticipate further hardship down the line. Rachel Maddow termed it best, "yikes". It continues to get worst.
As Business continues to bleed, so do the States. California's unemployment is reaching 10% of the workforce. One has to realize that this is "official" figures. The actual figure is at least 2% higher due to factors such as folks having stopped looking and part-timers. Now, California is a special case anyway. There is no consesus on resolving the budget impasse. The state will run out of money. Everyone is waiting and waiting impatiently. I am especially eyeing the impact on schools
The President Arrives For His First Day....A Busy One too!!!
The first day of the Obama Adminstration has begun. The President began his day by attending the National Prayer Service and got down to work. I saw him when he met with the White House and signed off on the new Ethics Rules. He has also been meeting with the Economics and National Security Teams. They have hit the ground running. Unfortunately, the Senate has not done the job by confirming the nominees. At least three key members are yet to be confirmed. A new Era has truly begun
In my Witness to History Column on Thursday, I wrote about George W. Bush's Farewell address. I noted that I would accord him the respect due him as one of only 43 men to have occupied the post and let others judge him. But, I did want to address a column that Charles Krauthammer wrote about the legacy of George W. Bush.
Charles Krauthammer is one of the leading conservative voices in America. I sometimes read his work in the Washington Post. He wrote a column which I briefly reviewed in Townhall.com suggesting that George W. Bush will be kindly remembered by history. He noted that his reputation will be "restored". He noted that Truman's reputation took many years to recover and Bush's reputation would be resurrected a lot sooner. I think he is absolutely wrong in this regard. Mr. Bush is leaving office as the worst President in my lifetime, if not the history of the Republic
:About Time Someone is Talking to everybody...and Reaching Out...
The buzz of the town was the President-Elect attending a party hosted by that Conservative of Conservatives, George Will. From the reports I have seen, all the leading "conservative" pundits were there. Folks there included Larry Kudlow of CNBC and Peggy Noonan,who both worked for Reagan. I like both of them. They are eloquent and they do make sense. I have especially enjoyed Peggy Noonan's writings because of the very eloquence that has made me jealous at times. She was wrong about Bill Clinton, though.
Walking into a "Lion's Den" as it where was quite an achievement by the President-Elect. I see that as him not being afraid to reach out and talk to everybody. He topped that by sitting down with the liberal/moderate commentators. EJ Dionne and Keith Olbermann talked about it
Well, 2009 has started with a bang politically. First, we've had the Blago Follies which I have written and commented on. Now, comes the bombshell that Bill Richardson is withdrawing as nominee for Commerce Secretary. For someone who has been such an accomplished figure in American Politics, I regret it. This is how Andrea Mitchell of NBC News put it earlier:
Joe Biden, the U.S. Vice President Elect is starting to make the interview rounds. From the brief transcripts I have seen, it appears that he is pressing the point that the economy is in worst shape that everyone thought. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF Managing Director, has come stating that Governments have to do more. He is estimating that at least 1.2 Trillion Dollars have to be spent.
As I have seen this drumbeat of bad news, I am starting to be really sick and tired of it all. I am sick and tired because those of us on Main Street truly know how terrible things are. We just do not need to be reminded of it. We have to start focusing on how we are going to get ourselves out of this mess. That should be the single-minded focus of us all. I think all the leaders understand that. I urge all leaders to stop reminding us of what we already know. Let's talk about what is to be done about it.
Despite all the controversy surrounding the Governor of Illinois, The President-Elect continues his work shaping the Adminstration. He chose Arnie Duncan as his Secretary of Education. I have read that Arnie Duncan has done some amazing and innovative things in Chicago. The hope I have is that he will that sense of zeal to the Education Department in Washington. I was especially gratified to see when he noted that education is the "...civil rights of our generation". It is indeed the great equalizer which many seem to have forgotten. I wish that some of our School Districts would be as innovative and brave as Arne Duncan has been.
I am right now attending the live stream video of U.S. Senate proceedings. I wanted to assess the status of the Auto bailout. But, I saw Jon Kyl of Arizona speak to the issue of the nomination of the Attorney General. He wanted to have the Chair of the Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy, push back the scheduled hearing of January 8 for Eric Holder's nomination to be Attorney General. Among the things he cited was the need to review documents. He said that 86 Archived boxes of documents on Committee Proceedings needed to be reviewed. He noted the controvery surrounding Eric Holder and questioned whether he should in fact be confirmed as Attorney General.
As I listened to him asking for courtesy and recripocity from Patrick Leahy, I could not help but laugh. Eric Holder is a known quatity. He has been confirmed at least three times. What other things are going to come up in an FBI background check that is not already known is something I'd like to know. I also think that the Obama people are not fools and would not have approved his background to be submitted to the President-Elect if there was a skeleton in his closet. So, I think Jon Kyl and Arlen Specter need to just relax. I also think that Jon Kyl has quite a nerve when his party was in the majority and condonned the systematic roll-back of civil liberities and undermining the very institution that he now aspires to uphold. They are starting to circle the wagons. If he wants to start the process, they should start now. Three weeks is plenty of time to get ready. Furthermore, the nomination came out almost a month ago. What were the Republicans doing since then? Jon Kyl seems not to have an answer for that. What was especially troubling to me was when he talked about Dickerson v. United States about defending the rights of the Congress. Yet, he did not have to courage to go against his own party and his President when they became increasingly paranoid in all aspects of running the so-called "war of Terror", on energy policy, etc. etc. Senator Kyl needs to understand that he represents a tiny minority and learn to work within it. If they choose to fillibuster and grind down the Senate, they will look like fools and will pay the price at the 2010 elections. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island is right now speaking to the fact that the Republicans are basically out to lunch in their request simply because Patrick Leahy has already gone way out of his way to accomodate the Republicans
I wrote earlier about the Govenor of the U.S. State of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, being arrested on corruption charges. I had a chance to review the criminal complaint, listen to Patrick Fitzgerald's news conference and caught a glimpse of some members of the commentrait. The man is going to have his day in court. Whomever played in Blagojevich's scheme is as much a fool and an idiot as he is. It is truly a sad day in America for a Governor to have sold his seat because he had to make money. Average individuals have to struggle in order to make ends meet. Obama worked two jobs and his wife worked to make ends meet. Joe Biden and his wife were working public servants. I am sure that Joe Biden's Book helped to soldifiy a reasonable retirement. FitzGerald will send Rod Blagojevich to prison. I urge the Illinois Legislature to take the power to appoint Obama's replacement away from the Governor and listen to Senator Durbin. As for the "guilt-by-association" that seems to be the order of the day, I doubt that it would stick. It did not work during the campaign and I don't think it would work now. But, I think something happened that triggered Patrick Fitzgerald to go to Rod Blagojevich' home at 6:00 AM local time to get him out of bed and haul him off to jail. This story is not over by any means.
On a side note, Charlie Rangal of New York is also under an ethical cloud. He is the House Chairman of Ways and Means. He has been in Congress for a long time and has been in trouble for a while. I think he ought to step down from his Chairmanship and not allow the incoming Adminstration to be sidetracked with all that is going on. I wonder if Mr. Rangal will have the courage to do the right thing for the sake of the institution he has served and the country. That is also a story that will continue to develop for the longest time
Throughout the last day or so, I have been seeing reports that an agreement has been signed to insure that U.S. troops leave Iraq by 2011. Now, this is exactly in line with what Senator Obama proposed. If this agreement is in fact signed, then it take a major issue off the table for Senator McCain. I wonder what Senator McCain is going to do next. If Senator Clinton sees to it that the people know the real truth and what she thinks, that will debunk the divide and conquer strategy that seems to be the strategy by Senator McCain's team right now. If the economy continues to stagnate and Iraq's withdrawal is also finalized, what would Senator McCain retain to hang his hat on? From where I sit, not much.....
I do anxiously await Senator McCain's choice of a running mate and the Republican convention to see how they will position themselves to go beyond the 8 years of George W. Bush. Everyone realizes a change of direction is necessary. The question that will be settled on November 4 is what kind of change
The wide ranging discussions Pastor Warren and Senator McCain had continued on. One of the questions I felt was poignant. Pastor Warren noted that leaders are not stubborn and do change their minds. He then asked Senator McCain about a decision he had made and then changed his mind. He was quick to respond: Off Shore Drilling. He went on to note that we must attack the problem of energy on all fronts now. He reminded all of us that the United States is sending out 700 billion dollars a year to folks who are not at times that friendly and cooperative. Senator McCain's plan is dubbed the "Lexington Plan" and is available on his website. Leaders should be flexible and change their mind, while not forgetting their principles. George W. Bush seems to have understood that during the last months of his Presidency.
His response to the question of Abortion was to the point and without any reservations. His view is that abortion begins at the moment of conception. He told the world that he was going to be a Pro-Life President. As for marriage, Senator McCain was also adamant that it was a union between a man and a woman. Although an avowed Federalist, Senator McCain noted that he would back a marriage amendment if the States moved to force other states to accept their marriages. Evil must be defeated and the Senator brought up Osama Bin Laden. He committed to hunting him down. Osama is evil and evil indeed must be eradicated. I think his commitment is a bit over the top due to the realities on the ground in Pakistan and Afghanistan
Pastor Warren began the first hour of the forum with Senator Obama. Unfortunately, I missed the first 10 minutes of the session where the question he asked was on the 3 wise men that have had a profound impact on his life and his profound failures of Character. I did find Senator McCain's response interesting on both count....but more on that later on. On the question of faith, there was no question that he embraced his faith with no reservations in anyway, shape or form. He told the world that he understood his faith to insure that he acted justly and lovingly.
The question from Pastor Warren was when a fetus acquires human rights. Senator Obama told the world that he was pro-choice. His view was based on a fundamental belief that women who decide to have abortions do not come to such decisions lightly. But, he noted that alternatives should be explored to not have 40 million abortions since Roe v. Wade became the law of the land. What Senator Obama talked about was a culture shift that allows women choices. Pastor Warren also brought up Marriage. Senator Obama told the world that he believed that marriage was the union between a man and a woman. He did not support a constitutional amendment due to his belief that it was states' rights issue
Mike Pouraryan
Add Comments
Read More
Comments (4)
