Political Rantings
John Hodgman Geeks Out for President Obama
Monday, June 22nd, 2009This is just unbelievably awesome:
(Hat tip: Andy Winston)
Categories: Political Rantings, Primetime TV, Random Acts of Blogging | Comments Off on John Hodgman Geeks Out for President Obama
McCain to America: Told ya’ so…
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009I haven’t blogged about politics in quite a while (OK, I haven’t blogged about anything in quite a while, but that’s another story), but this caught my eye:
Obama Sees 10% Unemployment Rate, Chides Wall Street Critics
[Obama] left open the possibility he would have to raise taxes on most Americans to decrease the deficit if growth were too weak. He also indicated he might tax the most-expensive employer-provided benefits to help pay for his health-care revamp. Both would reverse pledges he made during the campaign.
The president has repeatedly said he would keep his presidential campaign pledge to cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans while rolling back tax breaks for households making more than $250,000 a year. During the campaign, Obama opposed taxing employer-provided health-care benefits, a proposal gaining traction among Senate Democrats to pay for a $1 trillion health-care plan.
Throughout the campaign, McCain insisted that Obama would raise taxes on middle class Americans, despite the fact that Obama’s plans called for only raising them on the wealthy. McCain said that Obama’s record suggested he would revert to higher taxes when times got tough. This strikes me as the kind of perceptive thinking that McCain so successfully covered in a pile of talking points that I wound up voting for his opponent.
While link-hopping from this story, I also came across this from the final Presidential debate (Oct 15, 2008):
Obama: What I’ve done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut . . . What I want to emphasize . . . is that I have been a strong proponent of pay-as- you-go. Every dollar that I’ve proposed, I’ve proposed an additional cut so that it matches.
Compare that to this:
Seems a few dollars sqeezed through without an additional cut that matches, no?
And finally, on a lighter note (depending how you look at things, I guess) I know that Newsweek’s editor at large recently compared President Obama to God, but does that mean that Bloomberg needs to put a halo on him in their picture? Sheesh…
Categories: Political Rantings | 13 Comments »
Learning from their mistakes
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009Internal memo received at work today:
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 1:28 PM
Subject: Authorized Flyover – May 20, 2009THE NEW YORK CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES A MILITARY FLYOVER AS PART OF THE FLEET WEEK FESTIVITIES
New York City Police Department advises [New Yorkers] regarding a military aircraft flyover that will occur on May 20, 2009 at 11:45 a.m. The flyover is part of the Fleet Week festivities and will include four military planes flying over New York City at a low altitude.
At approximately 11:45 a.m., four F-18 Hornets will pass over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge at an altitude of 2000 feet. The aircrafts will then turn and follow the Hudson River north over the assembled fleet while decreasing their altitude to 1000 feet. When the F-18s reach Pier 90, they will climb to 2500 feet and higher, exiting New York City airspace over the George Washington Bridge.
That’s more like it, folks. Thanks…
Categories: New York, New York, Political Rantings | 2 Comments »
Photo-Op Fiasco: Update
Friday, May 8th, 2009
First of all, here is the picture that F-16 photographer took of the Air Force One 767 flying over the Statue of Liberty. At least they got a good picture out of it. I’m told if you blow it up real big and look real close, you can see New Yorkers on the ground pointing at the sky and running in panic…
On the upside, Louis Caldera, the director of the White House military office who authorized this stunt, has resigned. From his resignation letter to President Obama:
I have concluded that the controversy surrounding the Presidential Airlift Group’s aerial photo shoot over New York City has made it impossible for me to effectively lead the White House Military Office. Moreover, it has become a distraction to the important work you are doing as president. After much reflection, I believe it is incumbent on me to tender my resignation and step down as director of the White House Military Office.
As the saying goes: No shit, Sherlock. Maybe he should consider a job in Hollywood Special Effects? On second thought…
Categories: New York, New York, Political Rantings | 1 Comment »
Reading about Torture
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009Jeff Porten raised an interesting question
Categories: Political Rantings | 2 Comments »
Two Fascinating Political Videos
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009Both via Megan McArdle’s excellent blog over at The Atlantic, Asymmetrical Information:
First, we have Arlen Specter, who has announced he’s switching parties, choosing to run for re-election in the Democratic parties, despite a long career as a Republican. This move gives the Democrats a 60-40 margin in the Senate, which allows them to override filibusters (assuming Minnesota eventually works itself out) which is big news, I guess, although I’m sure Arlen Specter wasn’t just in it for the publicity – he must have had some kind of personal gain in mind. Well, as it turns out, he’s happy to tell us what it was:
“I have surveyed the sentiments of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania, done public opinion polls, observed other public opinion polls, and have found that the prospects for winning the Republican primary are bleak. I’m not prepared to have my 29-year record in the United States Senate decided by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate.”
So, in other words, “I can’t win in that race, so I’m trying another one.” The honesty is, well, shocking.
Second, a rather clever discussion about President Obama’s plan to cut $100 million of spending out of the Federal Budget. I like this, not because of the commentary it makes on the President’s budget cuts – after all, every little bit helps – but because of the point it makes about how casually we throw around words like “million,” “billion,” and “trillion” as if they all mean roughly the same thing:
Categories: Political Rantings | 4 Comments »
AIG – One more thing…
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009It’s being reported today that seventy-three of the roughly four hundred AIG employees that received retention bonuses received bonuses of more than $1 million. It’s also being reported that eleven of them (including one who received $4.6 million) have already left AIG, and received the bonus anyway.
In my previous post, I attempted to explain that retention bonuses are not new, nor are they sinister plots to distribute taxpayer money to rich executives. Especially when a company is going through tough times, retention bonuses can be absolutely critical to retaining the most critical people so that the company can flourish again when the crisis is over. I roundly criticized our leaders (including the President) for misleading the American people into believing that this wasn’t the case.
I stand by that criticism. However, if AIG’s retention contracts were written such that bonuses (especially substantial ones) are still paid even after an employee leaves, then we’re talking about extremely poorly written contracts.
Categories: Money Talk, News and/or Media, Political Rantings | 1 Comment »
What Happened? The AIG Bonus Kerfuffle
Tuesday, March 17th, 2009[The third in a series of “What Happened” posts that endeavor to explain the causes and impacts of the Current Financial Crisis(TM) – the first two parts are available here and here.]
Today’s discussion is inspired by AIG’s payment of retention bonuses last Sunday, March 12, 2009, and the stinging reaction it engendered from Barack Obama, Barney Frank, Ben Bernanke and others. As before, those who are bored by such things should move along quickly and quietly.
Categories: Money Talk, Political Rantings | 10 Comments »
The Return of Mangled Speechifying
Friday, March 6th, 2009They told us that when George W. Bush left office, the days of politicians who couldn’t put a sentence together would be long gone.
Oh, how wrong they were.
First up, Vice President Joe Biden, discussing the website that the Obama administration has setup to track stimulus spending:
You know, I’m embarrassed. [to an aide off-camera:] Do you know the Web site number? I should have it in front of me and I don’t. I’m actually embarrassed.
Not to worry, Mr. Vice President. If you get confused, all you need to do is check your tube. Each tube has it’s own number, after all…
Moving on to our Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, speaking to 500 young Europeans at the European Parliament:
I have never understood multiparty democracy. It is hard enough with two parties to come to any resolution, and I say this very respectfully, because I feel the same way about our own democracy, which has been around a lot longer than European democracy
So, wait – our democracy has been around since the days of ancient Greece? Maybe we can resolve that whole “dinosaurs roamed the earth with humans” thing after all…
For the record, she also referred to EU Foreign Policy Chief, Javier Solana, as “High Representative Solano” (no word if he actually was high at the time), and European Commission External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner as “Benito.”
The reaction? Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering:
What you said mostly could have been said by a European
Really? Which European, exactly?
Finally, we leave actual politics and enter the world of political commentary, both to increase the bi-partisanship of this post, and also because there’s a certain kind of joy that comes from poking fun at Rush Limbaugh:
We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We believe that the preamble of the Constitution contains an inarguable truth, that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, freedom — and the pursuit of happiness
Well, maybe you believe that’s in the Preamble, Rush. I think it sounds a lot more like the Declaration of Independence. Except, believe it or not (and I’ll admit I found this surprising), the Declaration never once mentions the word “Freedom.”
Sigh…at least they can all pronounce “nuclear.”
Categories: Political Rantings | 5 Comments »
What Happened? A Summary of the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan
Friday, February 20th, 2009In the spirit of my previous post – What Happened? A Summary of the Financial Crisis, I present what I hope will be a factual, non-partisan view of President Obama’s recently announced plan to reduce home foreclosures – the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan.
If such things interest you, click below the fold. Otherwise, please enjoy my next post, which makes reference to alcohol, gambling and sex.
Categories: Money Talk, Political Rantings | 5 Comments »