On July 30, the Washington Post gave House Minority
Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) space to write an op-ed railing on President Obama’s “virtual army of ‘czars.’” Today, the Washington Post allowed Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to write a similar op-ed complaining
that these czars set “a dangerous precedent that undermines the Constitution’s guarantee of separated powers.” Hutchison tries to make
these officials seem shady and mysterious by noting that many of them don’t even have “formal titles”:
Nearly 250 years later, these critical lines of separation are being obscured by a new class of federal
officials. A few of them have formal titles, but most are simply known as “czars.” They hold unknown levels
of power over broad swaths of policy. Under the Obama administration, we have an unprecedented 32 czar posts (a few
of which it has yet to fill), including a “car czar,” a “pay czar” and an “information czar.”
There are also czars assigned to some of the broadest and most consequential topics in policy, including health care, terrorism,
economics and key geographic regions.
Hutchison’s lie mirrors a claim by Fox News’ Sean Hannity, who recently said that the only
reason he calls these appointees “czars” is “because the White House itself does.” Of course, it’s the media — not the White House — that is driving the term.
Hutchison does not list the 32 individuals whom she considers to be “czars.” But if she’s
relying on the same list as Cantor — who also cited 32 people — then several of them are far from unaccountable;
they’ve actually already been confirmed by the Senate.
"Czar" is a nick name, not a job title
With the spin by the right wing media on the use of
the word "Czar", a certain demographic of our country now believes people are actually holding jobs in the White House that
have the title "Czar" in their job description. The right wing talking heads play gloomy music why talking about Obama's
"Czar" and equating the job to Russian, or more to today's point, communisim.
That's right Fox Noise Channel wants you to think that Obama is hiring Communists, Socialists, Stalinists and all the other
"ists" to work for him.
Most of the adviser postitons were created by previous presidents, but you won't hear Fox tell you that.
The video below from Rachel Maddow covers the A to Z's of "Czars"...
Government Conspiracy or just a Coincidence
Dow Jones Industrial Average
for September 11th 2009 Closed Identical to September 11th, 2001
On *September 11, 2001 The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9605 On September 11, 2009
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 9605 *The markets never opened that day as the attacks were before 9:30 AM
I'm kidding about the conspiracy but I thought that it was quite a coincidence...
I wonder what Glenn "The Czar's are coming, The Czar's are coming" Beck would have to say about this...I'm sure
he could spin it into some commie, liberal, socialist government conspiracy...
Obama administration poised for talks with Iran Posted By ProPublica By
Dafna Linzer
Iran’s five-page offer for talks with
the Obama administration, first published [1] here, appears to have been [2] accepted by the White House. Shortly after the offer was presented Wednesday, a host of anonymous western diplomats were quoted as
[3] dismissing the offer in its entirety because it did not address outstanding issues related to Iran’s nuclear program. In fact,
some diplomats were quoted as saying that the Iranian proposal included an outright [4] refusal to discuss its ongoing nuclear efforts.
But the proposal, which was disclosed by ProPublica Thursday, contained no such claims. We have posted links to the [5]
English and [6] Farsi (PDF) versions, as they were given to diplomats in Tehran. While Iran did not commit in the offer to disclosing the genesis
or original intent of its nuclear program, it did not discount the possibility either: The five-page proposal was simply silent
on the matter.
State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley told reporters that Iran’s lack of interest in addressing its nuclear program
is not a reason to refuse to talk. “If we have talks, we will plan to bring up the nuclear issue,” he said.
According to the Iranian proposal, the Tehran government is ready for comprehensive negotiations on a broad range of issues
including global nuclear disarmament, regional security, economic incentives and a number of items at the heart of Iran’s
own national security interests such as drug trafficking.
“We are seeking a meeting now based on the Iranian paper to see what Iran is prepared to do,” Crowley said.
“If Iran responds to our interest in a meeting, we’ll see when that can occur. We hope that will occur as soon
as possible.
Any meeting would likely include representatives from Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany has been coordinating
efforts with Washington to coax Iran to the negotiating table. If successful, this would be the first formal, substantive
talks between the United States and Iran in 30 years. The two countries worked closely in 2002 to help form a new government
in Afghanistan and have traded some intelligence and information on Al-Qaeda. But those talks centered on very specific issues
and were not held in the context of repairing relations damaged by the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the ensuing hostage crisis
inside the U.S. embassy in Tehran then.
Iran’s nuclear program began in secret two decades ago with illicit help from Pakistan. It was exposed in 2002 and
quickly became the focus of United Nations nuclear inspectors. Iran maintains that the program is designed to provide the
oil-rich country with nuclear energy and has refused to address evidence that suggests it was originally designed to produce
fuel for nuclear weapons. The lack of cooperation, coupled with Iran’s continued progress on its nuclear program, has
led to three rounds of international sanctions.
Tantrum Politics By Madeleine Begun Kane
If reform can’t be fought using facts, Simply give civil discourse the ax. Block discussion with
mobs Packed with morons like Dobbs. That’s the path of Republican hacks.
The Galwayman who bought Ireland is dead, England
is deserted, while Australia and New Zealand have merged.
They were designed to make Dubai the envy of the world: a series of paradise islands inhabited by celebrities
and the super-rich reclaimed from the azure waters of the Arabian Gulf and shaped like a map of the Earth. It was called The
World.
As millions of tonnes of rock were dumped into the sea for the foundations, timely leaks suggested
that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were to buy Ethiopia, Richard Branson was tipped to occupy England, while Rod Stewart would
border him in Scotland.
Hazard
Instead it has become the world's most expensive shipping hazard, guarded by private security in fast
boats and ringed by warning buoys to keep the curious away.
A development that was meant to send Dubai's star into the firmament of First World cities has been
left to the mercy of the waves and the baking winds.
Mile after mile of breakwater built from boulders brought hundreds of miles by ship has been laid,
but inside its man-made lagoon, work has completely stopped.
The expected map of the world of 300 islands is instead a disjointed and desolate collection of sandy
blots -- a monumental folly just out of sight of Dubai's shore.
Those who bought into what was the world's most ambitious building project were not celebrities.
Many were more ordinary investors who put down 70pc deposits, some of them Anglo-Indians.
Galway auctioneer turned developer, John O'Dolan (51) fronted a consortium under his O'Dolan International
banner and bought Ireland for e28m in 2007 and last year snapped up England from under the noses of several UK interests for
e23.5m.
But the property crash brought tragedy in its wake as the Galwayman committed suicide in February of
this year.
As well as his foreign investments, the popular family man had extensive business interests in Ireland.
He owned a bar and a hostel in Galway as well as other properties in Dublin and Limerick.
A couple of weeks before his tragic death, a receiver was appointed to his Galway hostel and a property
company. His body was discovered in a shed on his Barna Road property.
His fellow investors in the Dubai development now have little prospect of seeing a return. The World
has stopped, but they can't get off.
"The World has been cancelled. It doesn't even look like the world. Basically there is one island that
is maintained that is said to be owned by the Sheikh [Dubai's ruler] and the rest looks like a pile of muck," said one local
property agent.
It is the starkest example of a financing crunch that faces the emirate but many other projects are
also in jeopardy.
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), of which Dubai is a part, about $300bn (e205bn) of building is on
hold after prices began tumbling.
Abu Dhabi, Dubai's oil-rich neighbour, is helping to support it through the crisis, so far to the tune
of about $10bn. Another $10bn is likely to follow soon, and more may follow.
Property is not the only dark spot in the UAE. In the nearby emirate of Sharjah the credit crunch caused
massive power outages, leaving businesses and houses without electricity
Troubles
This week, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai's ruler and the UAE's Prime Minister, vowed
to steer the emirate through its troubles and pledged to further rein in extravagant developments.
Officially, however, not a single project has been cancelled -- just delayed.
"I don't blame anybody. Some papers try to write this but they are forgetting their problems [in their
own countries] ... But people only throw stones when a tree has fruit," he said.
The man who helped oversee President George W. Bush’s warrantless
wiretapping program now has a new job: a membership on the Public Interest Declassification Board.
Former Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, who led the National Security Agency under President Bush from 1999 to 2005 and the
Central Intelligence Agency from 2006 until President Barack Obama’s inauguration, was appointed during the Labor Day
recess by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY).
The news was announced in the Congressional Record Sept. 8 and discovered yesterday by Secrecy News.
Hayden’s appointment may come as a surprise to critics of Bush-era secrecy. The onetime general isn’t known
as an advocate of transparency — in fact, Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program was one of the administration’s
most guarded secrets. Moreover, he’s been a critic of President Obama’s decision to release CIA and Justice Department
memos, particularly those that detailed the agency’s policies on torture.
“If one were searching for an individual to represent the public interest in promoting declassification of government
records, the first name that came to mind would probably not be Michael V. Hayden, the former director of the National Security
Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency,” Secrecy News’ Stephen Aftergood wrote Thursday.
“When the late Senator Daniel P. Moynihan conceived of a Public Interest Declassification Board a decade ago, he
would not have imagined that the national security classification system might be employed by a present-day U.S. Administration
to help circumvent laws against warrantless surveillance or torture,” Aftergood continued. “And yet here we are.”
McConnell, in an email to the Washington Post, said “The country is fortunate that Gen. Michael Hayden has agreed
to serve as a member” and that “his long history of service as an intelligence professional makes him ideally
suited for balancing the interests of secrecy and disclosure in protecting our national security.”
Hayden wasn’t simply the administrator of Bush’s wiretapping program: he was a self-proclaimed “leading
architect.”
During his confirmation hearing in 2006, Hayden said he was a leading architect of the NSA program monitoring Americans’
phone calls and emails without obtaining court approval, and defended the agency’s collection of communications records
on tens of millions of Americans.
The Classification Board, while having no direct jurisdiction, is developing new classification guidelines for the executive
branch. Obama National Security Adviser James Jones plans a substantial revision of classification directives, which saw significant
dilution under President Bush.
Declassification proponent? Not so much, says the ACLU.
“To this day, the NSA continues to conceal virtually all information about the warrantless wiretapping program,”
Jameel Jaffer, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project, has said. “As CIA director,
General Hayden claimed that destruction of waterboarding tapes was ‘in line with the law.’ “
*This really sucks...
Tea-Bagging in DC
Tea Party protest: 'Bury ObamaCare with Kennedy'
Chanting "You lie! You lie!" -- in solidarity with US House Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst
Wednesday -- and carrying signs such as "When his lips move, [President Obama] is lying" and "The long-legged mack daddy,"
some 60,000 to 70,000 Tea Party protesters descended on Washington, DC, Saturday to demonstrate against what they say is excessive
government spending and taxation.
One sign that ruffled more than a few feathers read "Bury ObamaCare with Kennedy," in reference to the recently deceased
Sen. Edward Kennedy, who had championed health care reform for much of his career as a US senator. According to Ben Smith
of Politico, that sign was spotted at 13th St. NW and Pennsylvania Ave.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), a supporter of the tea party protests, said that “it’s not about President Obama. It’s
not about the Democrats,” according to ThinkProgress.
The protest "clogged several blocks near the Capitol," the Associated Press reported, but it wasn't nearly as large as
organizers had billed it. As Josh Marshall reported at Talking Points Memo, House Republicans had suggested the protest would
draw as many as two million protesters; but the local fire department estimated the crowd at 60,000 to 70,000.
On his blog, Matthew Yglesias notes that the protest had a distinctively libertarian feel to it, with some signs quoting
Benjamin Franklin's famous line, "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither."
These kind of sentiments would be a lot easier to take seriously if not for the fact that we didn’t
see these people marching out in the streets when George W. Bush used the threat of terrorism to justify secret, illegal warrantless
surveillance, detention without trial, torture, etc.
Indeed, the very same people who spend Monday, Wednesday, and Friday complaining that Barack Obama’s
'czars' are a threat to liberty not only weren’t worried about czars in the Bush years, they spend Tuesday and Thursday
worrying that Obama’s not doing enough to ensure that intelligence operatives can break the law with impunity.
-- Daniel Tencer
The Leadership of the GOP
Page boy aficionado Mark Foley
Move over, Rush: Ex-US Rep. Foley has radio show By BRIAN SKOLOFF AP
There's a surprising new voice in the world of political talk radio as former U.S.
Rep. Mark Foley returns to the spotlight three years after a lurid scandal ruined his congressional career.
Foley taped his first stint behind the mic for "Inside the Mind of Mark Foley" on Tuesday. It will air Sept. 22 on WSVU
out of North Palm Beach, Fla. On it, he tackles topics such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and its role in the
Bernie Madoff scandal.
There's even hope for eventual syndication of the show, which will explore Washington politics.
"I don't see anything stopping it," said Joe Raineri, the show's producer. "I can tell you, he's very good."
Foley, who represented parts of Palm Beach County in Florida, resigned in 2006 after sending salacious Internet messages
to male teens who had worked on Capitol Hill as congressional pages. Criminal investigations ended without charges.
The popular politician was seeking his seventh term in his South Florida district, where he kept busy attending lavish
parties and fundraisers in glitzy Palm Beach.
His sexual orientation was a poorly kept secret, but he cloaked himself in a false public persona and kept his personal
life hush. Upon resigning, Foley announced to the world he was gay.
He has since been working in real estate investment and has shied from the spotlight - until now.
Raineri said Foley approached the station a few months ago with the idea for a show. Station honchos then huddled to discuss
the pros and cons - the main con being whether listeners would be turned off by Foley's past.
"We weighed the informative aspect of it against everything else and determined that what he has to say is much more important,"
Raineri said.
And it won't cost them a dime. Foley is working for free, and has said he'd bring his own advertisers.
Raineri described it as a "conversational 'Meet the Press' type of show."
The first hour-long episode will be an interview with Foley by the station manager. As he gets comfortable, Raineri said,
the show will go live, take calls, and have guests.
Foley did not respond to telephone messages from The Associated Press.
"So do you want to know what's inside the mind of Mark Foley?" an announcer says in the show's promo.
Foley then expounds on Bernie Madoff, the SEC, and life as a politician.
Asked why the SEC didn't catch Madoff's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme sooner, Foley said SEC members have more on their
minds.
"Members who work for the SEC, and not all of them are bad, but all of them are hoping to parlay their government service
into a big paying, New York, Wall Street job," Foley says.
"A real insider's view into the inner workings of Washington, D.C.," the announcer continues.
Rob Miller raises over $1 million dollars
By: David Phillips
Las Vegas Democrat ExaminerRob
Miller (D-SC) has raised over $1 million dollars thanks to Rep. Joe Wilson's
(R-SC) child like outburst during President Obama's health care reform speech last Wednesday night to the nation where Wilson
shouted out "you lie" to the President.
Miller who is currently seen as the democratic primary front runner and the likely opponent against
Wilson in next years mid-term election posted a
blog on the Daily Kos website to thank everyone fro the contributions.
This is from Miller’s thank you: “When I first ran against Joe Wilson in 2008, I did it
knowing that, like a lot of Americans, I would be fighting an uphill battle. Wilson—as his childish display the other
night made clear—does not represent the people of my district, but the insurance industry that fattens his campaign
wallet.”
The website
Politico is reporting that an un-named source close to the Wilson campaign has said that Wilson has raised over $1 million
dollars. At the moment it is not possible for me to verify if this is true, Wilson’s website has been down for a few day’s due to his outburst and people wanting
to learn more about him.
If it’s true that Wilson has raised over $1 million dollars, (and I have no reason to believe
that an un-named republican source would lie, right!) it is obvious that there are many who support his childish antics and
disrespect he shows for the office of the President of the United States.
Still, the mid-term election is fourteen months away so it might as well be fourteen years when it
comes to politics and how opinion can change on a dime.
You can read Millers complete thank you note as well as another blog posting by Miller at the Daily
Kos website linked above.
The Main stream Media has to stop calling Torture, enhanced Interrogations...It's
Torture, just because Dick Cheney, Fox News and the rest of the right wing spin machine call Torture, enhanced Interrogation
does not mean that you are suppose to follow their misleading LIES!!!
Grow a pair and stop trying to be "Infotainment" like Fox and go back to being the News. Things are screwed up enough with
your duplicity ...
The media’s mean, so I quit: (That’s the message that Palin has writ.) And you don’t
need a title To do something vital. I’m betting she runs against Mitt.
VARIOUS LATE NIGHT QUOTES
"Barack Obama, of course, is not the first president to have 'you lie' yelled at him. Bill Clinton got that
all the time, but only from Hillary. And that was only after he came home and told her he lost his pants in a tornado." –Craig
Ferguson
"Back when George Bush was president, Democrats in Congress, to be fair, would occasionally go 'Boooo!' But
President Bush never took it personally, he just thought Congress was haunted." --Craig Ferguson
"After Joe Wilson's outburst, everyone was shocked. Because usually when a politician shoots off his mouth and
makes a fool of himself, his name is Joe Biden. But even Vice President Biden said he was embarrassed by Wilson's behavior.
This is Joe Biden we're talking about. Joe Biden saying it's embarrassing is like an Australian bartender saying you've had
too much to drink." --Craig Ferguson
"When Wilson yelled 'you lie' at the president, I don't think he handled it very well. The president should
go out and hone his material in some comedy clubs and deal with hecklers. Obama should have said, 'Hey buddy, do I come to
your state and knock the wiener out of your governor's mistress?'" --Craig Ferguson
"During President Obama's speech, a congressman heckled him. This guy from South Carolina begins to heckle the
guy, and I thought, OK, so now Gov. Mark Sanford is the second most embarrassing politician from South Carolina" --David Letterman
"John McCain, here's a guy who's seen it all, he was shocked. He said he hasn't seen anything like this since
Aaron Burr heckled Alexander Hamilton." --David Letterman
"Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, also shocked. At least that's what she said. You can't tell because her
face doesn't move." --David Letterman
"Sarah Palin had a big op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal, and she said she’s against death panels.
And I thought, ‘Really? She’s the one who pulled the plug on the McCain campaign.'" --David Letterman
"President Obama made his big healthcare address to a joint session of Congress last night. It went pretty well,
except for one weird part in the middle of it, when a congressman from South Carolina suddenly yelled out, 'You lie!' It's
amazing this guy was able to sit through seven years of President Bush telling him everything in Iraq is fine without a peep,
but last night, he yells out, 'You lie!'" --Jimmy Kimmel
"Even his fellow Republicans were horrified. He apologized immediately after the speech. He said he was watching
'Gossip Girl' on his iPod, and that Blair such a bitch he just couldn't hold it in." --Jimmy Kimmel
"Republican Congressman Joe Wilson apologized for calling President Obama a liar during his speech on health
care. Obama accepted Wilson's apology, and then invited him to appear before a death panel." –Conan O'Brien
"During last night's health care speech, President Obama's told Republicans that the time for games has passed.
Obama had to say that because most Republicans were on their BlackBerrys playing Brick Breaker." –Conan O'Brien
"Earlier today, he's still going, President Obama gave another speech about health care. This one to a roomful
of nurses. Yeah. Still no word on what Bill Clinton was doing there." --Conan O'Brien
"Yesterday, Florida Senator Mel Martinez, the only Hispanic Republican in the Senate, officially stepped down.
Yeah. The Republican senator who replaced Martinez thanked him, and then had him deported." --Conan O'Brien
"Everybody is talking about the big health speech last night. In his speech, President Obama said that he will
not sign a health-care plan that adds one dime to the Federal deficit. And then he interrupted himself and said, 'You lie!'"
--Jimmy Fallon
This Week in God!!!
Santorum Admits to Pondering Run for Republican Presidential Nomination - Asks for Prayers By
John-Henry Westen
ORLANDO, FL, September 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Speaking to a room full of prominent
US Catholic leaders Friday night, Senator Rick Santorum was challenged to run for the Republican Presidential nominaion.
Responding to a room already thick with applause, Santorum revealed that he was indeed "thinking about it" but asked for prayers
and detailed his thinking on the matter.
His remarks came after his address to the closing dinner of the 12th annual Catholic Leadership Conference - an invite-only
gathering of Catholic leaders from academia, law, media, medicine, and politics, as well as leaders of movements within the
Church such as pro-life, pro-family and evangelization. Posing the challenge was long-time legal, political, and media
activist Keith Fournier.
Santorum is not only a Catholic in name but a faithful one who is noted for his strong pro-life activism and work to bring
decency back to America. He revealed that he has seven children, with one in college. The reason why the sixth
is not college-bound is the fact that his 16-month-old 'Bella' was born with Trisomy 18, a genetic disorder which is fatal
before birth in 90 per cent of cases.
Santorum referred to Bella as "our angel" marveling at how she changed his life, and that of his family for the better.
Speaking of children like Bella, he said, "They teach you things you can't even imagine."
Here Santorum turned to abortion describing his reason for fighting against it politically saying, "I think of we treat
these people in society and how we destroy them. 86% of Down syndrome children are aborted - killed. And Down
syndrome is 5 times better than what Bella has."
Considering how his children may themselves be the targets of nasty politics, as has happened in the recent past, gives
Santorum pause. "That weighs on me," he said. "When you stand up for the things I do and say the things I say, they
brutalize you and they won't stop at you."
Those are the things, he explained that "as a father I've got to think about."
"On the other side," he added, "as a father, I've got to think about whether they are going to have a country to live in
… Are they going to be able to practice their faith in a way that's consistent with what the Church teaches."
The last consideration in favor of his run was on the practical level. He said: "Six months ago I would not have
spent ten seconds on your question, but it's not six months ago. I see that, I hate to be calculating, but I see that 2012
is not just throwing somebody out to be eaten, but it's a real opportunity for success."
In closing he said that while he was "thinking about it", it is the first time his ambition which is, as he said, "in his
DNA" was checked by a resistance saying, "no, I'm not sure."
Ending the session, Catholic political powerhouse Deal Hudson (President George W. Bush's Catholic advisor for a period
of time) cited Plato's famous saying that the best governors are those who do not wish to govern.
YodasWorld.org is updated each Monday. Some of the items from
the previous week are added to the various topic links on the left side of the main page. Links embedded should be good
for at least the date posted. After the posting date, link reliability depends on the policy of the linked sites. Some sites
require visitors to register before allowing access to articles. Material presented on this page represent the opinion's of
YodasWorld.org.
Copyright 2000-2009 YodasWorld.org. All rights reserved
on original works. Material copyrighted by others is used either with permission or under a claim of "fair use."
YodasWorld.org is updated each Monday. Some of
the items from the previous week are added to the various topic links on the left side of the main page. Links embedded
should be good for at least the date posted. After the posting date, link reliability depends on the policy of the linked
sites. Some sites require visitors to register before allowing access to articles. Material presented on this page represent
the opinion's of YodasWorld.org.
Copyright 2000-2011 YodasWorld.org. All rights
reserved on original works. Material copyrighted by others is used either with permission or under a claim of "fair use."
