Monthly Archives: June 2011
Newsman Joe Klein: “I’d say the relationship [between Obama and the military] is pretty good – very, better than it was with Bush because the military hated the fact that he wasn’t really doing the job in Iraq.” Continue reading
Frank Gaffney at Breitbar’s Big Peace, has been following Robert Gates’ last days as Obama’s Sec’y of Defense. The round of speeches by Gates in the past days has many – including Gaffney – scratching their heads, as he solemnly warns against the ““hollowing out” of the military” in what can only be construed as johnnie come lately criticism for Obama’s plan to cut the defense budget by an additional $400 billion by 2023.
This means the Obama administration and Congress must now decide how much military power the U.S. should give up, how that fits U.S. goals for maintaining global influence, and how to pay for it, Gates said.
“A smaller military, no matter how superb, will be able to go fewer places and be able to do fewer things.”
Anthony Weiner has himself in a pickle. He maintains the Weiner twitter account was hacked and he is really hacked off about the situation. One of his close followers, a twenty one year old college student is unimpressed, the Weiner photo was for her, but it was shared with the world. The new wife Huma Abedin, a beautiful exotic beauty, is undoubtably confused as well; she thought Weiner was her’s alone.
Without a doubt, New York Congressman Anthony Weiner is having a tough week. There was an erotic photo of protruding underpants sent to a Seattle co-ed’s Twitter account from Weiner’s Twitter Account. The young woman, once referred to Weiner as her “boyfriend”, follows Weiner on her Twitter Account. The offending photo appeared immediately after Weiner had tweeted about his TV appearance airing in Seattle.
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The idea that waterboarding and other abuses may have been effective in getting information from detainees is repellant to many, including me. It’s contrary to the meme many have embraced: that torture doesn’t work because people being abused to the breaking point will say anything to get the brutality to stop — anything they think their accusers want to hear. But this position is at odds with some behavioral science, I’ve learned. The architects of enhanced interrogation are doctors who built on a still-classified, research-based model that suggests how abuse can indeed work.
I’ve examined the science, studied the available paper trail and interviewed key actors, including several who helped develop the enhanced interrogation program and who haven’t spoken publicly before. This inquiry has made it possible to piece together the model that undergirds enhanced interrogation.
I’ve followed with great interest the debate raging in Florida over the new law signed by Governor Rick Scott that mandates drug testing for welfare recipients. The ACLU is, of course, challenging this law because according to the ACLU welfare … Continue reading
A few of the interesting polls from the recent week. The regional ones are from the DailyKos outfit (PPP) so…..
First up is last Friday’s PPP poll of 666 (hmmmm) Wisconsin Republicans: Continue reading
What began as a mid-winter invitation to enjoy a spring luncheon at the Palace in the merry month of May with the Queen and her royal consort the Duke of Edinburgh turns out to be one of the biggest international fiascos on record. What originally was to be a casual invitation to spend the day and possible stay the night at one of the royal households could have possibly been a judicial means apology for not inviting Obama to the Royal Wedding. This is as if the Queen wanted to give the young presidential couple from the states, new to the complex protocols of international affairs, a second chance to do things right. Continue reading
The New Sovereign Investment Fund of Libya or of Colonel Qaddafi, there is no distinction in the money funds of Libya or Qaddafi, invested $1.3 Billion with Goldman Sachs; the bank used the funds on stock options at a variety of international banks and a collection of currency bets. Two years later, the Libyan fund had lost 98% of its value and was worth only $25.1 million.
Officials of Libya’s sovereign wealth fund were upset with Goldman Sachs and accused them of malfeasance; mainly, for making trades without authorization and misrepresenting investment deals.
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