Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (79478)	5/4/2010 5:02:21 PM
From: Sully-	2 Recommendations Respond to of 90947

Barack Obama -- self-effacing, no; America-effacing, yes By Paul Power Line Barack Obama was never the enigma some thought him to be. His radical associations, his status as the Senate's most liberal member, and the relentless ambition he had exhibited at every turn told us most of what we needed to know about what the substance of his presidency would look like. Yet we had reason to hope for better when it comes to certain personality traits Obama has exhibited throughout his 15 months in office, some of which have been on particular display during the past few days. Consider first Obama's lack of grace during his turn as a stand-up comedian at the White House Correspondent's dinner on Saturday night. The event itself -- and especially the spectacle of the U.S. president seeking yuks from media types through material written by others -- is nausea-inducing. If Obama had refused to play that game, the departure from tradition would have been refreshing and praiseworthy. But Obama chose instead (as he did last year) to depart from only that part of the tradition that involves self-deprecating humor. As the Washington Post reports, "except for a mild joke pegged to his falling approval ratings, Obama mostly spared Obama during his 14-minute stand-up routine." By contrast, "Obama went all Don Rickles on a broad range of topics and individuals: Vice President Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, presidential advisers David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel, the news media, Jay Leno, and Republicans Michael Steele, Scott Brown, John McCain and Sarah Palin." As has often been the case, Obama's ungracious approach on Saturday stands in marked contrast to that of his predecessors. At the height of the Whitewater scandal, President Clinton told the corresponding audience: "I am delighted to be here tonight, and if you believe that, I have some land in northwest Arkansas I'd like to sell you." And President George W. Bush poked fun at himself in various ways over the years: by explaining what he really wanted to say on those occasions when he mangled his words; by using a Bush look-alike to exchange banter with him; and by having Laura Bush interrupt his remarks to offer her a comic take on her husband. Obama's stand-up act seems particularly unfortunate when juxtaposed with his commencement speech at the University of Michigan. There, Obama argued for a more civil, less bitter national discourse. That's a fine sentiment, and the fact that in a vibrant democracy the U.S. president will always be subject to harsh criticism does not necessarily deprive him of standing to make the case for civility. But a president who uses the White House Correspondent's dinner to zing his adversaries, yet is unwilling to follow the tradition of making fun of himself, can hardly expect us to take him seriously on the subject of civility. Beyond Obama the ungracious and Obama the hypocrite lies Obama the naïf, a fellow who stays mostly in the shadows but emerges like clockwork when it's time to deal with our foreign adversaries. Today, he emerged to tell the world how many nuclear weapons the U.S. has - 5,113 for those keeping score at home. In the past, the number has been a secret. According to the Washington Post, however, Obama believes that his "dramatic announcement [of the number] will further enhance [the administration's] nuclear credentials as it tries to shore up the fraying nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty." It's tempting to conclude that Obama doesn't really think telling the world how many nukes we have will discourage our adversaries from building their own. It's tempting to believe that Obama made the announcement to cast Israel - which has no intention of talking about its status when it comes nukes - in a bad light. But drawing that conclusion would ignore Obama's penchant for similar gestures designed to establish his bona fides with our enemies. It would ignore the bad-mouthing of his country on foreign soil, his willingness to negotiate with Iran in the absence of pre-conditions for the stated purpose of proving that the U.S. is no longer "arrogant," and his betrayal of Poland and the Czech Republic on missile defense in an attempt to curry favor with Russia. If Obama is an enigma today, it's because of the contrast between his remarkably open disdain for his domestic rivals and opponents on the one hand and his obsequious approach to the nation's foreign adversaries on the other. As enigmas go, however, this one is more troubling than puzzling.

To: Sully- who wrote (79478)	5/4/2010 5:09:52 PM
From: Sully-	1 Recommendation Respond to of 90947

Was the Response Adequate? Part III By John Power Line We have been following the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting oil spill in a series of posts including this one last night, in which I linked to a story in the Mobile, Alabama Press-Register. The story deserves much more attention, as it contains by far the most concrete criticism of the Obama administration's response to the disaster that has yet emerged: <<< If U.S. officials had followed up on a 1994 response plan for a major Gulf oil spill, it is possible that the spill could have been kept under control and far from land. The problem: The federal government did not have a single fire boom on hand. The "In-Situ Burn" plan produced by federal agencies in 1994 calls for responding to a major oil spill in the Gulf with the immediate use of fire booms. But in order to conduct a successful test burn eight days after the Deepwater Horizon well began releasing massive amounts of oil into the Gulf, officials had to purchase one from a company in Illinois. When federal officials called, Elastec/American Marine, shipped the only boom it had in stock, Jeff Bohleber, chief financial officer for Elastec, said today. At federal officials' behest, the company began calling customers in other countries and asking if the U.S. government could borrow their fire booms for a few days, he said. >>> So: if this account is correct, federal agencies planned to respond to a major spill in the Gulf by burning off the oil with fire booms, but after the Deepwater Horizon explosion, they discovered that they didn't have any. (One may subsequently have been found in storage.) This criticism is seconded by a highly credible source, former NOAA oil spill coordinator Ron Gouguet, who helped write the 1994 plan: <<< [F]ormer National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration oil spill response coordinator Ron Gouguet -- who helped craft the 1994 plan -- told the Press-Register that officials had pre-approval for burning. "The whole reason the plan was created was so we could pull the trigger right away." Gouguet speculated that burning could have captured 95 percent of the oil as it spilled from the well. >>> The first test burn using a fire boom did not occur until April 28, eight days after the oil rig exploded. By that time, an enormous amount of oil had been spilled and was making its way toward land. Meanwhile, news from the Gulf is mixed: the weather has changed and the oil slick is being pushed away from the Gulf coast. That's good, except that fears are increasing that it could circulate around the Gulf and make its way across the Florida Keys and potentially up the Atlantic coast. PAUL adds: The Mobile newspaper story rings true. It isn't really an indictment of the Obama administration -- presumably the government didn't have fire booms on hand during the Bush administration either -- it's an indictment of the federal government. Obama stands indicted for wanting massively to increase the scope and power of the federal government.

To: Sully- who wrote (79478)	5/6/2010 12:19:29 AM
From: Sully-	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 90947

Key Interior Department Official Went White Water Rafting During Gulf Oil Spill By Rob Port on tom strickland Say Anything blog Here we go again: <<< Though his agency was charged with coordinating the federal response to the major oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Department of the Interior chief of staff Tom Strickland was in the Grand Canyon with his wife last week participating in activities that included white-water rafting, ABC News has learned. Other leaders of the Interior Department were focused on the Gulf, joined by other agencies and literally thousands of other employees. But Strickland’s participation in a trip that administration officials insisted was “work-focused” raised eyebrows among other Obama administration officials and even within even his own department, sources told ABC News. Strickland, who also serves as Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, was in the Grand Canyon with his wife Beth for a total of three days, including one day of rafting. Beth Strickland paid her own way, Obama administration officials said. The Stricklands departed for the Grand Canyon three days after the leaks in the Deepwater Horizon pipeline were discovered. Ultimately, after the government realized that the spill was worse than had been previously thought, officials decided that Strickland was needed in the Gulf so Strickland was taken out of the Grand Canyon by a National Park Service helicopter. One government official, asking for anonymity because of the political sensitivities involved, told ABC News that some Interior Department employees thought it was “irresponsible” for Strickland to have gone on the trip, given the crisis in the Gulf, which was fully apparent at the time he departed for the Grand Canyon. >>> Heckuva job, Tommy. .