Right now at it approaches 10 pm, I am watching football with CSPAN on the smaller television. The Stupak Amendment has passed. The ban on government funding for abortions will continue. I was very pleased with the vote count. Sixty four Democrats voted for this, and only one Republican voted present. This contrary to an article published earlier speculating that more Republicans would vote present. Pro-life groups felt a present vote was the same as a no vote.
I have never been a big fan of "present" votes. A elected official needs to have convictions and vote them. You will recall though our very own president was fond of the present vote when in senate. The only Republican to vote "present" on this was Rep. Shadeeg from Arizona:
Shadegg told Politico this afternoon that this is a “bad call” for pro-life organizations and he doesn't want to “give a vote away” to pro-life groups that he believes would help ensure passage of the health care reform bill. “(Nancy) Pelosi is speaker and she’s pro abortion every minute of every hour of every day as speaker,” Shadegg said. “This is a vote to help her move the bill forward.” “This is a gut-wrenching issue for a lot of people,” Shadegg said. “But I won't support Pelosi’s bill, which is not pro-life at all.” Shadegg said he expected four other pro-life Republicans to go along with voting present on the amendment -- which could jeopardize passage of the Stupak amendment and keep abortion funding in the bill.
I guess he was wrong. A representative should completely understand the issues of every legislation being voted on. Then based on their moral direction in this case, vote accordingly. It is not enough just to let us know you are there. The key matter of course in this amendment was using federal dollars, our very own tax dollars, for such a controversial procedure as abortion. Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, that is your own personal decision. But for the government to legislate to force tax dollars to be spent on a moral decision is not tolerable. It should never happen. I am very pleased this amendment passed.
As expected, the Boehner substitution failed along party lines. . I know at 219 pages I should have been able to read that bill completely. I did however do keyword searches and found it very reasonable. It specifically required proof of citizenship for coverage and provided coverage for preexisting coverage. It would have been nice to see logical legislation like this enforced.
So as the night goes on CSPAN still has the message at the bottom of their screen. "FINAL VOTE COMING SHORTLY ON HEALTH CARE BILL: 218 NEEDED FOR PASSAGE" I am not sure exactly when shortly is. It may be time to get out the pajamas. Remember the last pajama party that the house had? Regardless of the hour or the vote outcome, I doubt senate will pass the same measure. Regardless of what the majority party thinks, this is far from being resolved.
As of 10:00 pm and I have had enough of typing. Late night votes are no fun for bloggers. Vote is 179 for and 161 against the actual health care vote. So far 23 Democrats are voting against it. Again a reassuring sign. But I think the Stupak amendment will be our only victory tonight.
I am a couple of days behind on this story. On November 2nd, reality hit Harry Reid:
we're not going to be bound by any timelines." "We need to do the best job we can for the American people," he said. "We want quality legislation, and we're going to do that.
We're going to do this legislation as expeditiously as we can, but we're going to do it as fairly as we can, also
Really? When did this happen? You could have saved a lot of words and just stated it simply. "We do not have enough votes" Am I the only one who wishes this health care debate was euthanized? Poll after Poll shows limited support for any bill in Congress. Pelosi and Reid see this as there time to shine. What happened to the Baucaus bill? And why has Rep. Grayson not helped the Republican's submit their plan that he talked about? I think the plan is great, because none of us want to die slow.
But yet the health care debate rages on. I predicted several months ago this would not pass before January. This is the one time I hope Harry Reid is correct. Until they really focus on making health care affordable, no bills should be voted on. The current bills are only adding more government control. The simple fact that you can be fined for not having insurance is not the country that I know.
What is wrong with tort reform? What is wrong with increasing market competition? How could we encourage pharm companies to be more cost effective? How much are medical companies paying for lobbyists every year? These are the true issues that our Congress should be focusing on. But I doubt it will happen. That is not what Washington D.C. wants. They only want further regulation and control of our lives. Personally, I am sick of it.
Just in case you don't see this on your network news. ( and you won't) Here is the text of the Republican bill.(pdf) Note it is only 219 pages. I think I can actually read this one.
It is hard to believe it is November 4th and still no hurricanes have made landfall in the gulf. The water was perfectly flat this morning. There was a large sand bar which is the brown area that starts by the pier and goes across the photo. The water was very clear. If there wasn't salt in it you could drink it. Just a few clouds and the temp was around 70. The water was a little cold, but once I dove in, not bad. I took the camera out in the water. These last two pictures are from the sandbar and give a unique perspective.
Congratulations to new Republican Governors McDonnell (VA) and Christie (NJ). There was much speculation what this election meant. Here is how the networks are reporting it this morning:
As suspected, the story is if President Obama's performance played a role in this election. Note the ABC story has one headline on the main page, but when you click through it is a different headline.
This is the results from CNN exit polls:
Further proof that this election was not solely focused on Obama, 56 percent of Virginians said that the president was not a factor when it came down to their vote. In New Jersey, that number increased to 60 percent of the people who went to the polls on Tuesday.
I did find it interesting that CNN was the only network to outright claim it was not a referendum. But their exit poll is the ageless glass full, glass empty. The fact that about 40 percent of voters in both states said the president was a factor should be cause for concern. Common sense tells us that if a president is not bringing us back to prosperity, it has a negative effect on any candidates of their party. I would hope most people still vote for the most qualified candidate regardless of party.
MSNBC predicts what most of us already know:
They could also be ominous for Democrats ahead of next year's midterm elections, when a third of the Senate, all of the House of Representatives and most governorships are on the ballot.
If MSNBC ever had a correct speculation, I hope it is this one. I am already looking forward to next year. I am ready to put the map on the wall and stay up late coloring states red.
Fox News was of course dramatic with their story:
Republican gubernatorial wins in New Jersey and Virginia mark a troubling turn for President Obama, whose personal efforts couldn't stop the fall of Democrats facing a voter backlash over the economy and a notable uptick in the government's would-be role in people's lives.
Were two states governor elections and one states senate race that important? Does it warrant the terms "fall of Democrats"? Sure, why not. I mean if the 2008 election could be called a "mandate" by many networks this description of last night seems reasonable.
ABC News gives us this quote from Press Secretary Gibbs:
"I don't think the president is looking at these and believes that they say anything about our future legislative efforts or our future political efforts," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said of the two gubernatorial races.
Remember when you hear Mr. Gibbs speak, the opposite is probably true. If these had been Democratic victories I am sure the quote would be completely different. And here is ABC News exit polls:
57 percent of voters in New Jersey and 51 percent in Virginia said they approve of Obama's job performance. A distinct minority of voters said their votes were connected to the president's leadership.
Note the 57 and 51 percent are approval numbers, not whether they effected the vote. Exactly what is a "distinct minority"? If you are doing an exit poll, wouldn't you have numbers for that too? I guess the terms serve to minimize the issue.
Finally, we have CBS who decides to bring in the race and youth factor:
Exit polls back this up: African-American turnout was 15 percent this year (20 percent in 2008) and voters aged 18-29 only made up 10 percent of the vote today – down over 50 percent from last year, when young voters made up 21 percent of Virginia’s vote.
So different groups of people where voting yesterday than a year ago. This was a governor's race, what does that say about the 2010 Congressional races? Can we expect the same demographics?
I think Michael Steele summed up last night best:
“The Republican Party’s overwhelming victory in Virginia is a blow to President Obama and the Democrat Party, It sends a clear signal that voters have had enough of the president’s liberal agenda.”
The elections are now less than a year away. Our congress people should be concerned at this point. Last night was a referendum on Obama regardless of what some networks state. They are only using their typical spin to keep the viewers happy. In 2010 reality will set in and we can look back on this governor election as a first warning.
Don't blame me, I voted for McCain. As I write this, it is November 3rd. A year ago today, we as a country exercised our spirit of democracy. The result was history. We elected the first black president, a senator with three years experience. G.W. Bush of course was not even on the ballot, but he is eligible for blaming at least a few years. Now that we have almost completed a year of the Obama administration, the country is different. President Obama's campaign pledge was hope and change. Most of us are still waiting for the hope.
It seems there are two camps regarding this administration. First we have the Obama optimists (see also reality challenged) and the Obama pessimists (see also those that comprehend news) These are the two extremes that many Americans are in. There are many people that don't fit into these groups. Some people just prefer to ignore anything political or even watch the evening news. But to be a member of either the optimist or pessimist group can be mentally unhealthy.
The Obama optimists voted on November 3rd and expected miracles on January 20th. They feel the president and government itself can solve all their problems. A good example of this was the thousands of people who stood in Detroit waiting for stimulus money. Please do not try to question the facts presented by this group. They believe we are in an economic recovery even as they sit home without employment. To be a member of this group you of course have to follow the White House closely. That is where your talking points such as condemning Fox News will come from. It is easy to be part of the optimists, just listen to the president and various assorted politicians who claim to have the best interest of the country in mind. They assure us the country will prosper quickly, but only if we vote for their bill of the day. Meanwhile the optimists are not concerned about what is in the 1,000 page bills. They know it is all okay, because they were told it would be. They just go about their day with a smile plastered on their face and the Obama bumper sticker on their cars.
The Obama pessimists, arguably can actually be a worse group. Many of these people, such as myself, voted against Obama more than they did for McCain. A moderate Republican was a better alternative than a liberal Democrat. But this group is all about gloom and doom. Since they lost the election, the country has been collapsing around them. They are more likely to watch cable news and also research stories on the internet. What is being searched for is how each story fits into the Obama master plan. That plan of course is to turn us into a socialist country. The health care reform is just the latest piece to this puzzle. Then back in the dark corner of this group we still have the birthers. Those who just don't trust a birth certificate from Hawaii and are still holding out hope for a disqualification. I say this could be the worse group, because they are predisposed to a tainted view. They can not see any good this president or Congress accomplishes. President Obama could announce tomorrow that pepperoni pizza is an essential party food. This group would immediately investigate what companies are making pepperoni and how much they contributed to the campaign. This group when participating in online discussions, will have a daily list of why they hate President Obama. They will start going down that list, first thing in the morning, not even stopping for a friendly greeting. Yes, they also still have the McCain/Palin stickers on their cars. I actually removed mine so I would have a space for the Fire Congress sticker. You really have to know where the blame is properly placed.
The fact of the situation is there are at least three more years of President Obama. In one year many seats in Congress may change. As citizens we will all survive this administration. With unemployment approaching ten percent, it may not be the most pleasant years. But I encourage people to not look at an issue with a preconceived notion. Keep an open mind and don't assume there is always a hidden agenda. Look at the basis of the current events, research the facts for yourself and then use your own mind to make a conclusion. Know your candidates for 2010 and vote for the future of this country. In as much democracy built this country, it can also ruin it. Make sure you know who you are voting for and why.
Sometimes you shouldn't fool mother nature. Here is a cool story from China that you may have missed. In an effort to end the drought they seeded the clouds. But a cold front came through and nature fooled the scientists. Parts of Beijing received 20 inches of snow. I think it is amazing that the science exists to do this. But sometimes, just because something is possible does not mean it should be done.
No, not in the United States, but in Afghanistan. It seems like a football game, you can win by default if the other team doesn't show up. We further know that Karzai is the legitimate leader, because Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has stated:
Karzai is “the legitimate leader of the country,” Gibbs said in response to reporters’ questions. The administration will “continue conversations about governance, civil society and corruption going forward to ensure that we have a credible partner in our efforts to help secure the country.”
Mr. Gibbs has been very reliable in the past, so I will take his word for it. But really, can you claim the incumbent is the legitimate leader? All Karzai had to do is fail to budge on negotiations. The fact that his opponent withdrew does not legitimize Karzai as the chosen leader. To me it shows that democracy has failed once again in a foreign country. I don't claim to be a expert on anything in Afghanistan. The very concept of trying to understand the conflict in many of the Mideast countries is just more than I can fathom. But let's look at this on the surface.
What has happened is the challenger Abdullah Abdullah has dropped out. He was meeting with Karzai to insure that the election would be fair and the voice of the citizens would be heard. Apparently an agreement on that was not reached so Abdullah decided to not be a candidate. Of course the first election was not clean as a whistle:
But with reports of fraud at several thousand polling stations, the final result will depend on an extensive investigation being conducted by the U.N.-sponsored Electoral Complaints Commission, as well as a recount of about 10 percent of the ballots that it has ordered Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission to carry out.
source Voter fraud? Why does that sound familiar? Now before we jump to conclusions, it was probably not ACORN. It would have to be ACORN international involved. But unlike in our own country, voter fraud in Afghanistan was actually reviewed by the U.N. Interesting how that works. I wonder if we would have had massive riots like Afghanistan did had President Obama lost the election? Keep in mind that Abdullah is the opposition party, the people opposing Karzai had started a grass roots movement to have him removed from office. Again, comparisons to America are unavoidable.
Then of course we have the war and the troop level. Remember General McCrystal? August 30th was when his assessment was sent to Defense Secretary Gates. In this request McChrystal recommended more troops. Check your calendar, and the White House has still not made a decision. The now canceled election is not a factor is what they are claiming. But why the delay? At some point our Commander in Chief needs to make a decision. House minority leader Rep. Boehner stresses the importance of this:
The longer this decision hangs, the more jeopardy and the more danger our troops on the ground there are in the middle of," Mr. Boehner (R., Ohio) said. "We've had the highest casualty totals in years over the last month or two. Why? Because all of the uncertainty around what the president's going to decide.
As I said, I am no expert in these matters. A general stated more troops are needed. The White House has delayed the decision. Casualties in Afghanistan are at a record level. There is a cause and effect relation here. Mr. President, please make a decision soon. This life of this nation's soldiers are depending on it.
I worked till 7 am (or was it 8?) last night. The temp was 52 degrees when I drove the van to the airport. Not bad for the first of November. I didn't really like the sun being so high in the sky on my drive home, but overall, the time change was not bad. The cooler temps are nice and compared to other parts of the country, who can complain?
After sleeping a bit, I went to the car show. It was a benefit sponsored by the Bay County Sheriff's office. The entry fee was a toy. This was the 29th year BCSO has collected toys and the 8th year for the car show. Another fine example of the community participation by the agency. By the afternoon, temps were close to 70 and the sun was out. Great day for a car show.
Happy Halloween. The one time of year that children can go door to door and beg for candy. They of course have to be in costume first, that is assuming their family can afford one this year. And as they walk to the door their phrase is "Trick or Treat". Many know this came from an old tradition. Back even before my time, if you were not so generous to give a treat, then you would receive a trick. Eggs on the house, toilet paper in the tree, flaming bag of Fido's finest on your porch. Yes, the good ole days. But it seems we have had our own version of Halloween since January. And frankly Scarlet, it is getting downright scary.
Yes, today I will exploit a simple holiday for my own amusement. I have no qualms about it, and if you are reading this far, you don't either. The big treat waiting on the other side of the door is of course health care reform. There have been at least 5 different bills for that. The latest proposed by the wicked witch from the west has 1,990 pages. And we thought 1,017 pages was big. That bill only dreams about Speaker Pelosi's. And then meanwhile in the background we have the scarecrow with his own senate version. It seems Sen. Reid is going to shove that public option down our throat. I look forward to it as much as an apple with a razor blade. This health care reform is enough to make you sicker than eating all your candy in one swoop tonight.
Then we have several tricks. Only the Obama campaign refers to them as "promises". These little things I say I will do if you elect me. Now, I know that is that way of politicians, but really haven't we had enough tricks this year? And wait there is still one on the way. GMAC financing is going back for a third time to the bottomless government money well. What did they do with all that money we gave them? This is the kid given $30 to go to a movie on Friday and they need more money on Saturday. Where is the accountability in this trick?
Of course we all love terrorists. The great trick of this administration is the treat of soon having them on our own soil. Never mind that these are in my opinion prisoners of war. Wouldn't a military tribunal just be a wonderful thing? And our troops keep dying. I know that is part of war. But for the few campaign ads I did watch, I remember the treat would be bringing the soldiers home. I never heard anything about the trick of sending them to Afghanistan instead. Oh, and Mr. President, change your Dover policy. Flag draped coffins are sacred, they are not photo opportunities.
So those families that are not part of the close to ten percent unemployment, can actually enjoy this holiday. They will send their children much as corporations sent their CEO, to beg from the neighbors. But unlike this simple candy redistribution, it is voluntary. You can simply turn out your porch light if you don't want to participate. But all of the stimulus and TARP bills don't have a light on the porch. As taxpayers we will all eventually pay for this debt. It is Halloween today, only for one day. But I have a feeling the scary feeling will continue for at least another year. In 2010 use your vote to tell your congress person "boo". Tell them they are like ghosts and you do not believe in them. Perhaps then we can all sleep soundly with the lights off.
Mind power is a common term. When I did a Google search, I returned 110,000,000 results. Most of them involving reading minds, telekinesis and subliminal learning. But for several years, I have had a different thought on this subject. And I would like to share my spooky version since tomorrow is Halloween.
Who among us has never said "I wish". I doubt very few of us can say we haven't. This my idea of mind power. It is an thought I have had for several years. It is simply the ability to make anything happen. Before you start wondering, yes, I do know it is a not realistic and only something one can dream about.
But what if you had the power? The ability to make anything happen. Not anything reasonable, not anything physically possible, but ANYTHING. I personally would start with an endless supply of money. I imagine a few of us would also. Then every prisoner on death row, would have justice served that day. It would be the largest one day execution in history. Every truly innocent person in prison would be released. And then since I do have mind power, I would cause individuals world wide to no longer commit crime.
That would probably be enough for day one. But wait, the power to make anything happen. I would instantaneously end world hunger and homelessness. Ever child would have a warm and loving home. Families would have a place to live and bountiful food on the table. The corrections personnel and law enforcement officers would now be in the construction business.
And of course I would assure that every physically able person was gainfully employed. All of those that could work, will work. They will work in jobs they love and can retire from them in 40 years. Society would be amazing with this one simple power. The ability to make anything happen. How far from a reality is this? What would you accomplish if you had the power?
But what would a society without conflict be like? No more wars, no more poverty, everyone is happy. Could we really live like that? Would there always be someone who is not happy? Would we all collapse from simple boredom? I think I could quickly learn to live on easy street. But I do not know if the entire world's population could. For so many years, just to use the Middle East as an example, country's have been at war. They have killed each other for no other reason than their ancestors did. American street gangs have killed for being in the wrong neighborhood or wearing the wrong color. What if that all went away? What would the world be like. I would like to think it would be the Coke song with all the children of the world singing and holding hands. Like I said it is only fantasy, but to see this a reality would be the ultimate societal progress.
Yesterday morning it stormed pretty good and we got a little rain. The flags at the beach were double red all day. I took the chance and drove to County Pier today and the flags were at yellow. For the first time in a month, I was able to do a little body boarding. The sun was just breaking out and the water temp was perfect. The waves started out strong and then faded after about a half hour. It is great to live in Florida in the fall.
Watching MSNBC has it's advantage, that is where I picked up this story. Seems our "get sick, die quickly" spokesperson is in trouble. Yes, Rep. Grayson(D-FL) has made a comment that is way out of line. According to this Fox News report he was allegedly referring to Linda Robertson, former aide to Fed Chairman Bernanke, as a "K-Street Whore". Isn't that just special. Here is the audio starting at 1:50 from YouTube.
I wonder if he thinks she is a whore that should get sick and die quickly? That would just tie it all in together. Again I am ashamed that Rep. Grayson is from Florida. Seems the only time he makes the news is when he does something stupid. As noted in the article from Orlando, Republicans think he went too far. Really any politician regardless of party should think he went too far. Mr. Grayson, there are things you think silently and there are other things you say in public. Perhaps you need to reconsider where that boundary line is. Anyways start packing up your office now. Continue this trend and your voter base will be slim in 2010.
Watching the news last night, and I just heard this term mentioned briefly. I had heard the term before so I figured I should find out what it is about. And if you want to stop reading here, let me just say it is more government regulation. Given that fact, I am of course against it already. But, let's take a further look at it.
Apparently, in 2005, the FCC issued these four consumer rights of internet usage:
* Access the lawful Internet content of their choice, * Run applications and services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement, * Connect their choice of legal devices to the network, * Competition among network, application, service and content providers.
Those make sense to me. That seems to be how internet service works. If you think one provider is too expensive, you switch to another one. If you are not happy with your dial-up speed, you can switch to cable or DSL. This is basic free market principles. But now the FCC wants to place those recommendations into law. And being the typical government entity, they have wrote a 107 page "Notice of Proposed Rulemaking" It starts with history going back 40 years and is very detailed. What it comes down to is the four principles mentioned above and the addition of these two:
We propose draft language to codify a fifth principle that would require a broadband Internet access service provider to treat lawful content, applications, and services in a nondiscriminatory manner. · We propose draft language to codify a sixth principle that would require a broadband Internet access service provider to disclose such information concerning network management and other practices as is reasonably required for users and content, application, and service providers to enjoy the protections specified in this rulemaking.
Lawful content to be treated in non-discriminatory manner and the network provider discloses information regarding network management. First, these terms could not be much vaguer. What exactly is non-discriminatory? Why does this sound oddly like a fairness doctrine for the internet? ABC was the only coverage from a major network I could find when I started looking for information on this topic. I am not sure why the other networks haven't picked up on this since the FCC document was published on the 22nd. I would expect all the networks to weigh in with their opinion. Or perhaps like good little puppets they are being quiet in respect to the White House.
So while the rules sound great on paper, I don't think they are needed. Government can not regulate our entire society. When someone feels they were treated unfair, they complain. If that complaint goes unanswered, they litigate. That is the American way. We have not built an entire legal system by government regulating every time a case goes to court. This FCC ruling causes me to tremble. We already have television networks that are politically controlled, we do not need internet service that is government controlled. Let the consumer continue having their choice of internet provider. If they feel their provider is being discriminatory, they can switch to a different one. That is how the economy works without government interference.
Well I am actually up in the morning, so I figured why not blog? My work schedule will again change this week. Starting Thursday I will be on the midnight to seven shift again. Which means back to sleeping during the day. Which is just fine with me. There is not much to do during the day anyways, and of course this means I can return to watching prime time television every night.
Monday is the day I watch all the different cable news channels. Then I watch that opinion outlet Fox News. Really? Opinion outlet? I don't remember it ever being called that before, but whatever helps you sleep at night I guess. Of course the morning starts with Headline News. Good morning, Robin Meade. Think of it as news lite with the best personality on the network. A little later I will switch over to MSNBC for a hour or so. At least until that annoying tone between stories gets on my nerves. It is interesting to see what stories are being reported on which network and then of course the journalists give their opinions on those stories. All of the networks do that, even Fox News.
Of course one story will be the never ending health care debate. Seems the public option is in the Senate bill. But there is a new twist. Speculation is that states may be able to opt out of this. Right now Florida has a Republican governor, but he is not that Republican. This bill may take until 2010 to pass, so why not put it on the ballot? Let the people vote on whether the public option will be available in their state. ACORN if you are watching, start the campaign now.
There is a saying that I have heard during the Fox controversy. "Don't argue with those that buy their ink by the barrel" That should be common sense to most, but I guess not. It is kind of like having a personal feud with a rap artist. You just know that next album will have a song about it. So this is what really astonished me about the White House singling out one network and disputing their journalistic influence. President Obama stated he doesn't lose any sleep over Fox News. Other comments included that they were not even a news outlet. Let me remind the administration of a few things. And it can really be summed up in two sentences from Huffington:
Fox News averaged 2.25 million total viewers in prime time for the third quarter, up 2% over the previous year. That's more than CNN (946,000, down 30%) and MSNBC (788,000, down 10%) combined.
Guess how Fox buys their ink? It is no wonder the liberal detractors have always gunned for Fox News. They tried to criticize them, tried to dispute their political motives. Their attempts were futile. And now we have the White House doing the same. Sorry, Mr. President. 2.25 MILLION VIEWERS, you won't win this one.
It is Monday folks. The week is a fresh piece of paper, yours to write. Make it a good one.
It seems a flight from San Diego to Minneapolis Wednesday had a few issues. Mainly failure to land. They instead ended up 150 miles past their intended destination. So of course this is being investigated. The reason given by the pilots?
“they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness,”
Sorry, oops, we were just yelling and forgot where the heck we were. A perfectly logical reason, if however you didn't have the life of hundreds of passengers at your control. I remember riding on family road trips and sometimes there would be arguments. I don't ever remember dad missing an exit because of them though. I have seen some news reports speculate that the pilots were in fact sleeping. Of course auto pilot works well, but you would think someone in the crew would be awake. Especially if you are nearing the destination. The fact that they did not respond to radio contact further suggest this may have been the case. Even in a heated argument, you should be able to hear someone talking in your headset. But then again, I was not in the cockpit, so who knows. But if it was just an argument, perhaps those should be settled, Oh, I don't know, on the ground. The nice safe ground with the plane safely parked at a gate and not 37,000 feet in the sky.
You may rememember Sen. Collins from this post back in February.. At the time she was one of three Republicans to vote for the spending/stimulus bill. Yesterday, Senator Collins was leading a committee hearing regarding the kingdom of czars. Unlike Glenn Beck, who has identified 32 such positions, Sen. Collins is focused on only 18 czars. These include the Guantanamo closure czar and the pay czar I talked about yesterday. The White House sent their counsel Greg Craig who promptly informed the committee that the czars would not be testifying. Sen. Collins had previously wrote a letter to the counsel:
The letter asked the president to describe the roles of each czar, explain the vetting process the White House used, and whether each of them would “agree to any reasonable request to appear before, or provide information to, Congress.”
I think we would all be interested in the vetting process. For instance whether Van Jones background was common knowledge and if it was just ignored. And of course White House communication director Anita Dunn has her own blog entry regarding the czars.
Just to be clear, the job title "czar" doesn’t exist in the Obama Administration. Many of the officials cited by conservative commentators have been confirmed by the Senate. Many hold policy jobs that have existed in previous Administrations.
Ms. Dunn is correct, the term czar was created by the media. And she is careful to use quotes around the word czar every time so we are assured it does not exist. But if Ms. Dunn would look up the definition of the word, I think she would agree it is justly applied in this case. Yes, other administrations did have czars, but not as many as the Obama White House. She lists 9 positions that were confirmed by the Senate, something that Glenn Beck never mentioned. That still leaves 23 that were not confirmed. What was their vetting process?
And finally to sum it up, Fox scores a victory. If you are a viewer or read other blogs, you may know the White House has a anonymity to Fox News to say the least. In their view Fox News is not even a news outlet. But this week the White House tried to block the pay czar from appearing on Fox News. To my memory, no White House official has appeared on Fox News since January. They really don't want to face their critics. But amazingly, the head of the Washington Bureaus banned together over this one. They decided if Fox doesn't do the interview, no one will. And as important as that air time is to this administration, they relented. I hope he is prepared, this will not be the normal softball game seen on other networks. Anyone who has watched Fox News knows they ask the questions that matter, they could care less about how your golf game is. I commend all the networks for this bold step. For if one network is being denied an interview, what network is next?
My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.
It seems pay czar Kenneth Feinberg is going to do a little adjusting to executive pay. The pay of top executive in companies that have not paid back their TARP money will be cut an average of 90 percent.
The seven companies under Feinberg’s purview are Citigroup, Bank of America, General Motors, Chrysler, GMAC, Chrysler Financial and American International Group. These firms have received a total of about $250 billion in bailout funds from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, adopted last year by Congress, and benefited from hundreds of billions of dollars more in government guarantees and other support.
So let's take a look at how much a few of these people make. Citgroup paid their CEO $10.8 million in 2008. His new salary would be $1.08 million. Simple math, just move the decimal. GM CEO is being paid $8.5 million, his new salary would be a paltry $850,000. And finally, last year GMAC paid their CEO $11.6 million so the new salary will be $1.16 million.
Now of course most of us could live on that much in one year. But it is my guess that if you are used to making $10 million a year, you also have a lifestyle to match. They are probably not driving economy cars around and living in a one bedroom apartment. So this drastic pay cut may require some cutbacks. They may have to start buying store brand and the grocery store and not dine in the top restaurants every night. I am pretty sure they will survive.
But it is not just salary that will be cut:
The administration will also curtail many corporate perks, including the use of corporate jets for personal travel, chauffeured drivers and country club fee reimbursement, people familiar with the matter have said.
But wait, our congress people are also receive taxpayer money. I wonder if they are forfeiting the same benefits?
The point of contention is does the government have the right to do this? I remember a post I wrote when GM and Chrysler were bailed out. I stated that the government owns them now and they will do as told. This is a prime example of that. For as much as I disagreed with the bailout, the deal with the devil has been made.
President Obama has stated he does not want to be in the car business, does not want to be in the banking business. So perhaps this will encourage these seven companies to pay back their TARP money. With the recession predicted to be over, profits should be returning. The sooner these companies are out of government control, the better they will be. It is only then that this economy will truly return to the free market.
The big news locally is the announcement from Southwest Airlines. . Beginning in May, when the new airport opens, they will have 8 flights a day for Panama City. This is the icing on the cake for a $330 million dollar new airport which is the first one to be built since 9/11. Currently Panama City is only served by Delta with 11 flights and destinations of Memphis and Atlanta. Southwest will be adding service to four different cities to be announced later.
Southwest did have a little encouragement to choose Panama City. Local land developer St Joe Company made a deal with them they couldn't refuse. If Southwest fails to make a profit in the first two years, St Joe Company will fund the losses. Funding will be up to $14 million the first year and $12 million the second year. St Joe Company of course donated the land for the new airport and also owns thousands of acres around the airport. So of course this partnership will benefit them.
But to a greater extent it will benefit the community. It will provide affordable flights to more destinations. It will allow more tourists to fly to our beautiful beaches. Since I moved here, I did not support the new airport . It is on the other side of the bay from the current airport. It is very convenient for those that live on the beach, but not so much for those that live in the city. But the current airport is landlocked and environmental agencies would not allow a runway extension into the bay. So the new airport was necessary.
Although the cities haven't been officially announced yet, Nashville and DC keep being mentioned. A direct flight to this nation's capitol would be nice in the summer. With Southwest providing air service now, Panama City will continue to grow. Hopefully we will become known for more than just Spring Break.
Today's breaking news from Boston, they have arrested a man who had allegedly planned terrorist attacks on shopping centers. The suspect is Tariq Mehanna and he has a history with the FBI. He was arrested previously in November 2008. That charge was for lying to the FBI about his involvement with another alleged terrorist. At that time this blog post was made in his support.
His lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., commented, “Tarek is an American citizen with no prior criminal record whatsoever. He recently graduated from a Massachusetts college and was on his way abroad to begin a job working in a renowned medical facility. If this is the FBI’s idea of a terrorist, they are using a net that is designed to catch minnows instead of sharks.”
Sorry Mr. Carney, you may have been wrong. Do you still want to defend this client? To me terrorism is the most violent and senseless crime. To attack innocent people that you don't even know, makes no sense to the common person. At what point did Mehanna allegedly decided this was the path he would take? It seems this attack would have taken place had they only been able to obtain the automatic weapons. I hope every liberal in this country reads that and realizes at least in this case gun control did work.
And of course on today's Boston Herald article , there seems to be a few comments already. That is the part of online news of course that I enjoy. So let's take a look at a few of these comments.
---The wingnuts are disappointed, they've been hoping for an act of terrorism on US soil ever since the inauguration.
Of course "wingnuts" is liberal slang for right wing conservatives. That is the great part about anonymous comments, you can say any stupid thought that crosses your mind. This person can not be serious, I doubt of any us would wish someone die to prove a political point.
And this commenter likely responded:
---Right Wingers don't have a seething hatred for the USA like left wing liberals do. Right Wingers don't agree with Obamas politics but still have respect for the office of US President. Unlike liberals (i.e. when Bush had some 3rd world parasite throw a shoe at him disrespecting every US citizen. The liberals were in their glory and loved this scumbag). An attack on the US would be an atrocity no matter who is in office you fool.
This story is not even an hour old, and politics has found it's way in. And I thought the Panama City newspaper comments were harsh.
---Behind every domestic "terrorist" is a team of federal agents inducing him to action. I would bet dollars to donuts that is the situation in this case. However, the banksters are seeing to it that our dollars aren't even worth a donut any more. When will people wake up to the fact that Homeland Security and the entire domestic surveillance apparatus is aimed squarely at American citizens. When martial law is declared, most of America will welcome it with open arms. God Forgive America
There is always at least one conspiracy theorist in the crowd. The federal agents induced him to action? Really? Wonder what this person's views on 9/11 are?
And finally, someone who thinks like me, the big picture:
---Meanwhile the U.S. Senate just passed a "budget bill" that allows terrorism suspects to be brought onto U.S. soil. In matters both of both finance and defense, this Congress continues to weaken the country.
Guantanamo Bay will close eventually. However, I wish this is the one promise President Obama does not keep. Many of those individuals will be placed in our own prisons. The risk here of course is not escape. It is the possibility that they will have communication with citizens who are not imprisoned. Citizens who are susceptible to being controlled. Citizens who would not think twice about killing innocents simply because they were told. Citizens like the one arrested today.
Yes, I am still around. Just nothing interests me enough to write lately. The jiffy pop balloon hoax, the health care reform, undeserved Nobel peace prizes... nope. You ever get to that point where you just really don't care? Maybe later this week there will be a story that is worthy. Until then, enjoy life!
WIDGETIZE