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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 |
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Specter Compares Obama AG to Gonzales |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
5:44 PM |
This one is sure to outrage Barack Obama's liberal supporters.
The Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee Sen. Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) compared Obama's Attorney General Appointee Eric Holder to President Bush's much-loathed Alberto "I don't know" Gonzales today on the Senate floor.
Specter pretty much said Holder was a blind, yes-man loyalist to President Clinton like Gonzales was to Bush.
SPECTER:After our recent experience with Attorney General Gonzales, it is imperative that the Attorney General undertake and effectuate that responsibility of independence. Mr. Gonzales left office accused of politicizing the Justice Department, failing to restrain Executive overreaching, and being less than forthcoming with Congress … I am convinced that many of Attorney General Gonzales’ missteps were caused by his eagerness to please the White House. Similarly, when Mr. Holder was serving as DAG to President Clinton, some of his actions raised concerns about his ability to maintain his independence from the president. Ouch. H/T David Weigel
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 |
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From Cavuto Today |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
5:22 PM |
It's a great day when Neil Cavuto says you make a "very good point." This is my clip from earlier today talking about why the Franken/Burris fiasco is good for the taxpayer.
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 |
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Jeffrey Goldberg and Robert Kaplan On Gaza On Today's Show |
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Posted by:
Hugh Hewitt at
5:20 PM |
Two Atlantic writers join me on today's program to discuss the Israel-Hamas war --Jeffrey Goldberg and Robert Kaplan.
Kaplan is very familiar to my audience, and every one of his visits very welcome. His most recent book is Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts.
Goldberg has extensive experience in Israel, and his book Prisoners, is all about the Israeli-Palestinian relationship.
Goldberg wrote this on his blog yesterday:
I have friends in Gaza about whom I worry a great deal; I've seen many people killed in Gaza; I've served in the Israeli Army in Gaza; I've been kidnapped in Gaza; I've reported for years from Gaza; I hope my former army doesn't kill the wrong people in Gaza; I hope Israeli soldiers all leave Gaza alive; I know they'll be back in Gaza; I think this operation will work; and I have no actual hope that it will work for very long, because nothing works for very long in the Middle East. Gaza is where dreams of reconciliation go to die. Gaza is where the dream of Palestinian statehood goes to die; Gaza is where the Zionist dream might yet die. Or, more to the point, might be murdered.
Goldberg ought to be guesting on every cable channel --if cable channels were interested in what is happening in Gaza that is.
 
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 |
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Soap Operas in Paradise (Guest blog by Diane Medved) |
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Posted by:
Michael Medved at
3:50 PM |
We just got back from our Hawaii vacation, during which time I did not turn on a computer, even to check my email. We had many memorable moments during our ten days away, including--don't tell!--a room fire from our Chanuka menorah, and my daughter falling two flights through a catamaran (nothing broken but lots of swelling and bruises). Even that excitement didn't compel me to touch a computer to describe the events to friends. I also didn't even keep up online with our Oahu neighbor, Barack Obama, who was visiting nearby Kailua. Nor did I search the web to find the facts about the island-wide power outage we endured on Shabbat. I didn't even check for photos of the amazing fireworks display on New Year's Eve that took my breath away as I sat on the sand with thousands of other revelers in this unique fireworks-obsessed island culture.But one thing I could not tear myself away from during my absence: my addiction to the soap opera known as Bernie Madoff. I have read everything I could get my hands on (and that's plenty) each day since the story of his $50 billion Ponzi scheme broke in the news on December 11. We get the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times as well as our local paper and USA Today.  I pondered the connections between his family members and The Journal's family tree. I devoured the lists of victimized investors and institutions. I can't get enough of the sordid details, which include suicide (Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet), Hollywood (Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg), charities about which I care (Yeshiva University, Hadassa, Technion), international banking (Aozora in Japan; Medici in Switzerland) and fortunes made and lost--over a period of FORTY YEARS! The scope of the fraud; the personal emotional connections and the blatant lying--and acting!--involved scoops me in. Bernie Madoff looks pretty fine as we see him walking the streets between 9 am and 7 pm near his home on East 64th Street in Manhattan (of course we all know why then; why there! And his wife surrendered her passport, poor thing!). And I suspect the reason Bernie, collar turned up beneath his baseball cap, wears that smirk: He'll ultimately be able to earn back what he lost, on probably the biggest best-seller ever penned. Whatta story.
And in the meantime--why, look at how many years he got to live the life! Citation X jet to fly to his Palm Beach estate...heck, to his yacht near his $7,000-per-night suite at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, France!
Everyone seemed to think him a great guy, a modest, self-effacing, pleasant, and even altruistic guy. Who loved his family. His brother, sons, daughter-in-law, niece and wife were all in business with him. "What makes it fun for all of us is to walk into the office in the morning and see the rest of your family sitting there," said son Mark in a July 2000 interview with The Financial Technology Network. "That's a good feeling to have." This, too, makes the soap opera compelling. Bernie supposedly revealed to his sons that there was nothing backing investments on December 10, at which point they turned him in--and refused to sign for his bond, and haven't spoken to him since. Is it possible that Bernie just smirked through forty years of deception even to the family with whom he surrounded himself?
So there I was on the beach in Waikiki. Luxuriating in the warm air, the squeals of happy children, the beauty of Diamond Head. And who should walk by unexpectedly but a couple who are our neighbors and friends! They were as pleased to see us there in paradise as we were to see them.
We started chatting--my husband wandering deeper into the surf with the husband, and the wife and I remaining where the waves splashed our knees. A glorious setting during the holiday of Chanuka. Respite from Seattle's frigid cold and piles of snow that nearly grounded our Hawaii-bound planes. Plenty to share, plenty in which to rejoice.
So what do we discuss? The Madoff affair. We're both obsessed.  We compare updates. We finger our favorite suspects. We agree that Bernie is taking the fall for the rest of them since he's old with little future, and the sons can go on. We mourn losses by charities we support; I heard that Yeshiva University "only" lost 14 million instead of the $110 million it originally claimed. But what of the lost interest it was counting on? And Hadassa, who said they lost $90 million now says they really only invested $33 million...still, just think what that would have earned elsewhere. We can't stop ourselves. We're in Paradise, and like teens immersed in Twilight, we're sucked in by another type of vampire, one walking down Lexington in a baseball cap, smirking. Got home right before Shabbat, with cooking and laundry and shopping to do; I still haven't checked my email (since December 22!), but along with a lovely, frigid day in Seattle, of Shabbat meals and Torah and settling in, I stole some time today to feed my little addiction and catch up on the latest juice on Madoff. Is he fueling anti-Semitism? How did this complicated scheme continue? Who else is impacted?
Is it bad for my character--for my soul--to be reading this stuff?
Yes, I'll fold the laundry, unpack my suitcase and even check my email. I'll upload the thousand photos I took on Oahu (perhaps even post one on the menorah fire)...all in good time. But first, um, maybe there's something new online?
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 |
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Obama 'No Pork' Hedge |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
2:32 PM |
Barack Obama is playing semantics with his forthcoming spending bill.
The president-elect says he won't permit "members" to insert any earmarks in the $1 trillion spending bill he is crafting to stimulate the economy, but mayors aren't members and they're the ones hungry for some pork.
Today Obama promised to set "new higher standard of accountability, transparency and oversight. We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert projects without review" at a press conference. This may sound all well and good, but the pork in the bill that conservatives are upset about doesn't come from Washington lawmakers.
Obama requested mayors around the nation compile "shovel-ready" projects worthy of government funding and they responded with a whopping 800 pages worth of ideas, many of which would make the average taxpayer hopping mad. The final list, presented in a report called "The Mainstreet Recovery Ready to Go Infrastructure Project" contained $72.2 billion worth of projects that were essentially, earmarks.
The Wall Street Journal culled a list of the most offensive projects in an op-ed today. The "mayoral priorities" included:
$1 million to upgrade the Los Angeles County Convention Center elevated "catwalk" for cameras and lighting
$350,000 for an Albuquerque, N.M., fitness center;
$94 million for a parking garage at the Orange Bowl in Miami
$4.5 million for Gretna, Florida, to bottle water with recyclable bottles
$35 million music hall of fame in Florissant, Missouri
$3.1 million for a swimming pool in Tulsa.
$80,000 for a tennis facility in Santa Barbara
$6 million to renovate the beach at Surfers Point in Venice, California
$1.5 million to reduce prostitution with education programs in Dayton, Ohio
and Ponce,
$5.7 million to improve a cruise ship terminal in Puerto Rico But we're not supposed to believe these are "earmarks" because they weren't submitted by U.S. senator or representative. Granted, these projects are not guaranteed to be in the final bill, but have been requested. They are options on the table. It remains to be seen exactly what Obama will or will not approve. It
Citizens Against Government Waste has been on this since the report came out last month. President Tom Schatz said, “It is outrageous that the mayors would use this economic crisis as an opportunity to obtain federal funding for these wasteful, low priority projects, which apparently offer excellent photo opportunities for them, but will do nothing to stimulate the economy in the long term.”
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 |
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About that New Deal |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
1:48 PM |
Barack Obama is chomping at the bit to implement a modern day New Deal. This chart that the good folks over at the Heritage Foundation have created is helpful in showing the utter lack of impact FDR's grand plan had on unemployment rates.
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 |
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New Congress Will Be Anything But Open and Transparent |
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Posted by:
Michele Bachmann at
1:07 PM |
In about an hour, the 111th Congress will be sworn into office and the first matter we will take up is consideration of the new House Rules Package. Not only does the new package miss the opportunity to make important improvements to the earmarking and budgeting processes, such as increased transparency, it also essentially shuts off debate and prevents Republicans from proposing policy alternatives to the Democrat majority’s agenda.
No ifs, and, or buts about it - the Democrats are denying debate through gimmicks and legislative maneuvering, suppressing alternative ideas and dissenting views.
The Democrat-controlled Congress is coming off two years of abysmal leadership that denied the opportunity for debate more than any other Congress in our nation's history. Speaker Pelosi promised Americans transparency and open government in the political process, but sadly, we've received just the opposite. And, somehow, they’ve managed to make it even worse.
But, the restrictions on debate and the roadblock to alternative ideas are just where the bad news begins.
The Democrats are actually rewriting the rules to make it easier to spend your money and harder to cut your taxes.
Their rewrite of the “pay-as-you-go” rule includes a provision to tax and entitlement bills to be “packaged” together for purposes of calculating PAYGO compliance. This insulates their proposals from having to stand against Republican alternatives and makes it easier to circumvent rules that are supposed to keep Congress from running the federal balance sheets into the red.
Furthermore, the rewrite of the PAYGO rule allows for “emergency” designation of spending. It allows anyone to designate spending as “emergency,” exempting it entirely from PAYGO enforcement. The emergency designation isn’t even debatable.
This Rules Package is anything but open and transparent and creates an express lane for Democrats to tax and spend your money with nothing and no one to stop them.
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 |
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The Bright Side of the Senate Madness |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
12:59 PM |
The 111th is two Democratic Senate seats shorts for now--which is good news for the taxpayer.
Both Roland Burris and Al Franken were denied from the Senate's swearing-in ceremony today. Without those two Democratic senators officially installed the 41 Senate Republicans will be able to more effectively block President-elect Barack Obama's big-ticket agenda items, like the stimulus bill.
I'll be on Cavuto in the 4pm hour to discuss this further.
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Tuesday, January 06, 2009 |
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The Big Picture is Getting Scary |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
8:55 AM |
The WaPo's Howard Kurtz on the insanity going on with Senate appointments:
As for the serial Senate standoffs, I've got to say, the situation is just getting weird. You have, you know, the daughter of a slain president who hasn't, you know, been in the public spotlight, or bothered to vote all the time, but, you know, she's a Kennedy. You have a less-than-inspiring African American picked by a governor caught on tape trying to sell the seat, but who now can paint the all-white Senate as faintly racist for not seating his man. You have the author of "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot," who has toned down his act and wound up on top in a byzantine recount that would be funny if anyone understood it.
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Monday, January 05, 2009 |
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An Interview With Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald |
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Posted by:
Hugh Hewitt at
8:02 PM |
Today's program featured interviews on the Israel-Hamas war with the Shalem Center's Michael Oren and Martin Kramer from Israel (Oren is on active duty with the IDF), ThreatsWatch's Stephen Schippert and the Center for Security Policy's Frank Gaffney.
It also contained a long, five segment conversation with Salon.com's Glenn Greenwald, a critic of Israel (and most Israel supporters in America). Here's the transcript of that conversation:
HH: Pleased to welcome now to the Hugh Hewitt Show Glenn Greenwald. He’s a columnist for Salon.com, he’s also the author of many, many books. He’s a friend of our late, departed friend, Dean Barnett as well. Glenn, welcome to the program, good to have you on.
GG: Great to be here, Hugh.
HH: Glenn, you’ve been writing a lot about Israel-Gaza. I’m spending most of the show today talking to people like Michael Oren and others about Israel and Gaza. Summarize for the audience your opinion of what’s going on and the American reaction to it.
GG: Well, my focus is basically, since I’m American and not Israeli, on American policy towards Israel, and the fact that we don’t have nearly the interest in the dispute that the Israelis have with the Palestinians over who controls what West Bank hill, and what part of Gaza is controlled by the Israelis. And so the bulk of what I’ve been writing about is questioning why the United States involves itself in every dispute that the Israelis have as though we’re a partisan in that dispute. But beyond that, I think there’s real questions about whether what the Israelis are doing is both just and wise from their perspective.
HH: Let’s come back to that, but pause for a moment on Hamas. Do you think Hamas is a threat to the United States?
GG: No, I don’t think Hamas is remotely a threat to the United States. I think Saddam Hussein was more of a threat to the United States, and I don’t think he was a threat to the United States.
HH: Do you think Hamas is an extension of Iran?
GG: No, I don’t think Hamas is an extension of Iran.
Read More... |
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Monday, January 05, 2009 |
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Sweet Caroline Tanks |
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
7:52 PM |
It's safe to say Caroline Kennedy's senatorial roll-out was a disaster now.
Data from Public Policy Polling found that 44 percent of New York voters have a "lesser opinion" of her than they did before she announced her desire to fill Hillary Clinton's vacated Senate seat.
“When Caroline Kennedy was first mentioned as a possible Senate appointee there was a lot of enthusiasm among New York Democrats about her,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “Her reputation has taken a pretty clear hit over the last month, and if Governor Paterson does end up appointing her she’s going to have some work to do to overcome this bad first impression she’s made on New York voters.”
PPP's poll was conducted among 700 New York voters on January 3rd and 4th. More information on it is HERE.
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