Yesterday, John Brennan was confirmed by the Senate to become the director of the CIA. This whole brouhaha over John Brennan, national security, drone attacks, Benghazi and the like should seem very familiar to you. This is almost exactly what we went through just a couple weeks ago with Chuck Hagel. Republicans were mad. They were furious. They demanded answers from the Obama administration. They were gonna block this nominee at all costs. Yet, in the end, nothing changed. Best I can tell, the White House did not fork over any mysterious, all-telling documents. There were no significant policy changes. Nothing. Both John Brennan and Chuck Hagel were confirmed. What we did see was the internal struggle within the Republican Party. They simply don’t know who they are. (more…)
I don’t get it. If children are our future and we, all, believe that children are the foundation of tomorrow then why are we short changing the most important gift that we can give to our children – their education?
BTW, I don’t care if the president backed down on when he would schedule his speech to Congress. I really don’t. We need jobs now. Not tomorrow or next week. Why couldn’t the Republican candidates debate an hour later or two hours earlier? Why couldn’t the president give his speech today and not next week? I don’t care about these macho contests. I care about jobs. Tomorrow we will have another jobs report. I suspect that this is going to be mediocre – with 60,000 – 75,000 jobs added. We need 10 times that much every month for more than two years in order to put 25 million workers (unemployed and underemployed) back to work in jobs that they want at wages that can truly support them. Shame on the media for pushing this non-story and why isn’t the media showing us a daily segment entitled – JOBS???!?!?
* Libya: “The transitional government of Libya’s triumphant rebels decided Thursday to extend by up to a week the deadline given to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi and his remaining fighters to surrender, but the fugitive leader rejected the ultimatum and raged at his enemies in a new broadcast that called for the country to be ‘engulfed in flames.’”
* Better, but still too high: “Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 409,000, the Labor Department said, still pointing to a jobs market struggling to find strength, but well short of a recession signal.”
* Iraq: “Under increased pressure from the United States, an Iraqi crackdown on Iranian-backed Shiite militias has helped produce a previously elusive goal: For the first time since the American invasion of Iraq, an entire month has passed without a single United States service member dying.”
* Maybe someone should do something: “The Obama administration downgraded its forecast for economic growth Thursday, predicting turmoil in the economy will likely keep unemployment above 9 percent through next year’s election.”
* On the other hand, the federal budget deficit will run “20% lower than expected this year.” Tea Partiers will be celebrating the Obama administration’s progress on deficit reduction, right?
* Counter-terrorism: “On a steady slide. On the ropes. Taking shots to the body and head. That’s how White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan described al-Qaida on Wednesday as he offered the first on-record confirmation that al-Qaida’s latest second-in-command was killed last week in Pakistan.”
* The White House’s new “We The People” online petition initiative looks pretty good.
John Brennan, President Obama’s terrorism advisor, said something really stupid about no collateral damage from predator drones. For some reason, Glenn Greenwald has taken him seriously. Anything that includes man has to include some amount of error. We are not perfect. I don’t care how diligent we are at looking at photos and reviewing intelligence. We can still make errors. Just today, as I was walking out of the Biltmore estate a very nice gentleman offered my condolences since “my wife fell.” Nope, my wife did not fall. (I was actually walking with my mother, but no biggie). We make mistakes all the time. This is one reason why we should be out of the war business.
If anybody really thought that Bruce Ivins was the mastermind behind the anthrax deaths, I have some oceanfront property to sell you. The case was just too neat. Investigators found this weird guy who was clearly awkward around women and for some reason that made him not just the suspect but the prime suspect in the multiple anthrax deaths which took place in 2002. They never had a good motive which tied everything together. As a matter fact, I really didn’t have enough evidence to tie everything together. It looks like the Department of Justice has decided that the evidence looks kind of shaky also.
I’m really tired of extremism being wrapped in a nice pretty package and sold to the American people as mainstream. Deciding to default on America’s debt is extremism. Deciding not to negotiate to balance the budget is extremism. I understand that the President has decided to embrace the Draconian ideas of the Gang of Six or Gang of Seven in the Senate. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security represent a pact that we’ve made with ourselves. This is not a treaty that we’ve made with Russia or China or some other foreign nation. Instead, this is a promise that we’ve made to the American people. It is a promise that was made to ourselves. If you want to figure out some way to make these programs more efficient and therefore cost less, I’m all for that. On the other hand, if you’re going to be cutting benefits that go to seniors and the disabled, I’m strongly against that. As a matter fact, as an American, I believe that we should keep our promises. Dismantling these programs is anti-American.
Representative Allen West said some very childish and inflammatory things about Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz. He says that he’s apologized. Right now I want to say something about adult behavior, but I’ll keep that to myself.
I know that Senators Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell are working on some sort of compromise measure that will lower the debt by $3.7 trillion over 10 years and will also raise the debt ceiling. I have little hope that such a broad compromise will come out of such a divided Congress. Top Republicans are running away from this plan as fast as their little legs can carry them.
If you need a generalized update on what’s going on in the Rupert Murdoch/News Corp. scandal you can find a brief update and a small blurb on who’s who – when – who did what right here.
