David Drake

During an interview on CBS' "Early Show" on Wednesday, Biden told viewers to check out a government-run Web site tracking stimulus spending, but admitted he was embarrassed because he couldn't remember the site's "number."

"You know, I'm embarrassed. Do you know the Web site number?" he asked an aide standing out of view. "I should have it in front of me and I don't. I'm actually embarrassed."

Biden, who seemed to indicate that he thought the Internet worked like a giant telephone, sounded an unusually Luddite note inside an administration often heralded for its mastery of the Web.

"...as President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons. I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum," [said Holder].

Holder refused to speculate when legislation would move forward. "There are obviously a number of things that are -- that have been taking up a substantial amount of [Obama's] time, and so, I'm not sure exactly what the sequencing will be," he said.

Gun rights groups seized on the comments.

"I think there are a lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill cringing at Eric Holder's comments right now," Wayne LaPierre, president of the National Rifle Association, told ABC News.

[...]

Last week, over 50 Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to President Obama urging him to enforce a ban on importing assault weapons, citing rising gun violence in Mexico. The Sinaloa Cartel, which Holder was discussing at yesterday's press conference, is involved in drug and weapons trafficking in the U.S. and Mexico.

The assault weapons ban outlawed the purchase of military-style firearms such as AK-47s and Uzis. It was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, with a clause requiring congressional reauthorization after ten years. Congress allowed the legislation to expire in 2004.

[...]

He pledged to make the assault weapons ban permanent, promised to push for childproofing guns and said he wanted to close the gun show loophole, which permits sales of firearms at gun shows without requiring a background check.

[...]

Holder was confirmed by a vote of 75-21. Some Republicans refused to support him because of what they characterized as his hostility to gun owners' rights and lack of support for the war on terror.

As I've argued, the very arbitrariness of "assault weapon" bans invites further gun control, because they are designed not to work as advertised. "I think [a federal assault weapon ban] will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum," Holder said at the press conference.

[...]

TalkLeft notes that the Obama administration, while seeking to ban "military-style" guns, seems bent on increasing the use of the actual military to wage the war on drugs, especially along the border with Mexico. Before he does that, our president might wan to consult with former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, who understands that the war on drugs creates the very conditions of violent disorder that are cited to justify escalating it. [ Huh, so Pbama wants to use the Military to wage war on drugs. I TOLD YOU he was a Warmonger! Where are the Civil Rights Advocates and the Liberal Pot Smokers and why aren't t hey up in arms protesting this issue with their Dear Cult Leader? - Drake ]

[...]

Nancy Pelosi, perhaps cognizant of what happened to Democratic members of Congress the last time around, is less than enthusiastic about Holder's call for a new "assault weapon" ban[.]

The Senate voted Tuesday afternoon to confirm pro-union Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) as labor secretary, despite her husband paying overdue state taxes only after she was nominated by President Obama more than two months ago.

The Senate voted 80 to 17 to confirm Solis, drawing praise from her allies in organized labor and the Latino community. Her nomination was held up when it was learned that her husband, Sam Sayyad, had recently paid about $6,400 in back state taxes he owed from his auto repair business in California.

Abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay has worsened sharply since President Barack Obama took office as prison guards "get their kicks in" before the camp is closed, according to a lawyer who represents detainees.

Abuses began to pick up in December after Obama was elected, human rights lawyer Ahmed Ghappour told Reuters. He cited beatings, the dislocation of limbs, spraying of pepper spray into closed cells, applying pepper spray to toilet paper and over-forcefeeding detainees who are on hunger strike.

[...]

"According to my clients, there has been a ramping up in abuse since President Obama was inaugurated," said Ghappour, a British-American lawyer with Reprieve, a legal charity that represents 31 detainees at Guantanamo.

[...]

Following a January 22 order from Obama, the U.S. Defense Department conducted a two-week review of conditions at Guantanamo ahead of the planned closure of the prison on Cuba.

Admiral Patrick Walsh, the review's author, acknowledged on Monday that reports of abuse had emerged [and he said his review] looked at 20 allegations of abuse, 14 of which were substantiated, but he did not go into details.

[...]

In one of the six main camps at Guantanamo, the lawyer said all the detainees he knew were on hunger strike and subject to force-feeding, including with laxatives that induced chronic diarrhea while they were strapped in their feeding chairs.

"Several of my clients have had toilet paper pepper-sprayed while they have had hemorrhoids," Ghappour said.

Starting October 1 you will have to pay sales taxes when you download a song from iTunes and more.

It’s part of a fast-tracked bill Governor Jim Doyle signed into law to start solving the state’s $5.7 billion budget shortfall.

But Wisconsin’s five percent sales tax will apply to more than just music downloads. It will also apply to e-books, greeting cards, ringtones and a host of other items.

Governor Doyle says the tax will just make things [f]air for local businesses selling similar products with a sales tax always tacked on.

"I've always thought that's very, very unfair to basic merchants in the state - that they're at a competitive disadvantage to people that aren't employing people here,” Gov. Doyle said.

He says the taxes on downloads should generate $11 million over two years.

Taxes on a pack of heaters will jump 75 cents to $2.52 each or 12.6 cents per cigarette. The added tax could generate an extra $290 million over two years. The governor is also pushing for a more comprehensive smoking ban in public places. Such a ban is overdue.

[...]

The new budget places an additional tax on oil companies, raising $540 million over two years. A potential bad side affect could be higher prices at the pump. All drivers will pay for that.

Doyle’s bill also gives police the authority to stop vehicles for suspected seatbelt violations, qualifying Wisconsin for more than $15 million in federal funds, plus money from citations.

[...]

Add this to our existing property and income taxes, 5.5% state sales taxes on most goods and some services, taxes on our telephone and cable TV, sewer and water bills, vehicle and RV licensing and registrations, and it’s hard not to feel that Wisconsinites are again being overtaxed.

Using words such as "imposter" and "usurper," an active-duty Army officer in Iraq has joined a California lawyer's lawsuit intended to force President Barack Obama to prove he is a legal U.S. citizen, and therefore able to legally serve as the commander in chief.

"Until Mr. Obama releases a 'vault copy' of his original birth certificate for public review, I will consider him neither my Commander in Chief nor my President, but rather, a usurper to the Office -- an impostor," 1st Lt. Scott R. Easterling states in his letter published at Defendourfreedoms.com.

An Army spokesman told Military.com today that officials are aware of Easterling's letter.

[...]

Easterling [was] a KBR contractor in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, then joined the Army when it raised the maximum enlistment age to 40. He said he attended Officer Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant in August 2007.

After an assignment to Fort Knox, Ky., he was deployed to Balad. He was promoted to first lieutenant on Feb. 2.

He said in his letter that it pains him to join the lawsuit against Obama, "but as an Officer, my sworn oath to support and defend our Constitution requires this action."

"I implore all Service-members and citizens to contact their Senators and Representatives and demand that they require Mr. Obama prove his eligibility. Our Constitution and our great nation must not be allowed to be disgraced."

Attorney Gary Kreep with the United States Justice Foundation, a public interest law firm, who is representing [Alan] Keyes, served Occidental College with a subpoena for Obama’s records.

Occidental’s lawyer, Stuart W. Rudnick of Musick, Peeler & Garrett, faxed the subpoena to Obama’s Attorney Frederic D. Woocher of Strumwasser & Woocher, acknowledging it appeared valid on its face and the college would have no choice other than to comply with the subpoena absent a court instructing otherwise.

Woocher subsequently contacted Kreep regarding the subpoena, stating, “It will likely not surprise you to hear that President-elect Obama opposes production of the requested records,” and asked whether he would be willing to agree to voluntarily cancel or withdraw the subpoena.

If it became necessary instead to file a motion to quash to the subpoena and Obama prevailed, Woocher said full monetary sanctions would be sought.

For the first time since Gallup began tracking Barack Obama's presidential job approval rating on Jan. 21, fewer than 60% of Americans approve of the job he is doing as president. In Feb. 21-23 polling, 59% of Americans give Obama a positive review.

Confidence among U.S. consumers plunged to a record low this month, signaling spending will slump further as unemployment soars. The Conference Board’s index declined more than forecast to 25 this month, the lowest level since data began in 1967, from a January reading of 37.4, the New York-based research group said today.

The antiwar left...feel betrayed that President Obama is keeping his word about Afghanistan.

[...]

Many antiwar activists, including some who supported Mr. Obama, were angered by the [Afghanistan surge], with some saying they had hoped his war stance was "just campaign talk."

[...]

"I'm very upset; he promised change, and this is not change. It's just going to create more deaths on both sides and create more terrorists," said Jodie Evans, co-founder of Code Pink.

[...]

Barbara Bearden, spokeswoman for Peace Action, said the group "strongly opposes" the addition of troops to Afghanistan and that even though the region demands urgent action, that does not involve a troop increase.

"That's not change," she said.

The liberal blog Daily Kos, headed by Obama supporter Markos Moulitsas, also includes posts that are hostile to the president's troop surge.

"What possible purpose can be served by escalating the conflict with another 30,000 troops?" asked one post Jan 30.

The Web site of activist filmmaker Michael Moore, who also worked to elect Mr. Obama, compared the troop surge to the blunders of the Soviet Union, which invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and was forced to withdraw 10 years later. Headlines on Mr. Moore's site include "Now it's [Obama's] war" and "U.S. risks repeating Soviet mistakes in Afghanistan."

The US-led coalition in Afghanistan confirmed Saturday that 13 civilians were killed in an operation against insurgents, with such casualties a major source of tension between Kabul and its allies.

The US military at first said that 15 militants were killed in air strikes in the western province of Herat late Monday but local officials said six women and two children were among the dead.

A roadside bomb killed four U.S. troops patrolling in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday in the deadliest single attack on international forces this year. An Afghan civilian working with the Americans also died.

The troops were patrolling with Afghan forces when their vehicle struck a bomb Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. military said in a statement. The military did not release the location of the attack pending the notification of relatives.

[...]

Twenty-nine Americans troops have died in Afghanistan this year, far surpassing the eight U.S. forces killed in the first two months of 2008.

Iran has amassed more than a ton of enriched uranium -- a third more than it previously had acknowledged and enough to build an atom bomb, UN officials said. The International Atomic Energy Agency made the discovery during its yearly materials inventory at Iran's enrichment facility in Natanz. "Everyone's nervous and worried about the possibility of Iran pursuing a clandestine capability," an unnamed Barack Obama administration official said. New York Times, The (02/19).

MT: Do you think there is anything that can happen at this point that will stop [an attack on Iran by the U.S.]?

Ritter: You have to take a look at external influences, not internal ones. I don't think there is anything happening inside the United States that's going to stop that attack.

On Monday’s CBS Early Show, co-host Harry Smith played a clip of himself talking to left-wing actor Sean Penn following the Oscars Sunday night:

[...]

Smith admitted to Penn: "As I sat watching the film, seems to happen to me more rare these days, but I wept openly during several scenes in the film because it really is a film about a civil rights movement."

President Barack Obama was famous during the campaign for getting young people excited about his message of "hope and change." However, the Advanced Placement government class at Dobson High School is somewhat unimpressed with Obama.

[...]

The students in the Advanced Placement government class were somewhat less than impressed.

"Some of the students attentively watched the speech, giving questioning looks and comments, shaking their heads and laughing at some of Obama's words. Other students listened, occasionally glancing up to watch, while texting on their cell phones, reading a book or finishing school work."

[...]

Senior Syna Daudfar suggested that, "The spending bill he just passed is just progressing the Democratic agenda rather than addressing the economic issues in the country."

Senior Maaike Albach said that, "This puts us more into debt. It's a horrible situation we're in."

The Obama administration and the new Congress are quickly handing over to Republicans the same "culture of corruption" issue that Democrats used so effectively against the GOP before coming to power.

Freshman Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., is only the latest embarrassment.

[...]

Senate Democrats now may be trapped in their own ethics system. Disciplinary action against a senator usually requires a long investigation by the Senate's ethics committee.

Sen. Roland W. Burris (D-Ill.) canceled his public events Thursday and retreated behind closed doors to plot strategy during a week that has seen his honesty questioned and his Senate future cast in doubt.

His staff remained mum about Burris's discussions. Newly hired communications director Jim O'Connor said Burris was having "private meetings" in Chicago rather than sessions with local officials in Rockford.

The subject of the meetings?

"Private's private," O'Connor said.

Will he resign?

"We haven't discussed that at all," O'Connor replied, noting that Burris intends to visit a Veterans Administration hospital and a Navy training center on Friday. "He returns to Washington, getting to work again on Monday."

Yet unlike the days in January, when a number of politicians stood to defend Burris when he was appointed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) to succeed President Obama, the 71-year-old politician seems largely alone.

The Texas financier accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission Tuesday of “massive ongoing fraud” was a generous political donor who gave more heavily to Democrats.

Since 2000, R. Allen Stanford, the chief of the Stanford Financial Group in Houston, his wife and company gave $2.2 million in political contributions – $1.7 million to Democratic candidates and committees – according to Federal Election Commission records.

The most recent donation on record was $300,000 from Stanford Financial Group to the Democratic Governors Association, a so-called 527 group not subject to campaign contribution limits.

[...]

The SEC accused Stanford and two associates of misrepresenting the safety and liquidity of more than $8 billion worth of certificates of deposit held in Antigua.

Barack Obama's campaign fund moved Wednesday to distance him from the burgeoning scandal involving Texas businessman R. Allen Stanford, donating the value of Stanford's $4,600 campaign contribution to a Chicago charity.

Stanford had not been found by late Wednesday, but until now he was a fixture in the Washington political establishment-

[...]

[Stanford's company] web site touts its sponsorship of the Freedom Awards given annually by a civil rights museum. Among the recent award winners: former President Bill Clinton.

Although he donated to politicians of both parties, 65 percent of his donations went to Democrats, including $31,750 from Stanford, his family, and employees to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama.

[...]

Two of the largest recipients, Sens. Ron Wyden (D) of Oregon ($13,000) and Charles Schumer (D) of New York ($12,000), say they have donated the money to charity.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd came under renewed attacks Wednesday from Republicans who claim he has been bought off by a "rogues gallery" of financial scofflaws.

Dodd, who is up for re-election in 2010, has been ripped by Republicans for reportedly getting favored treatment on two mortgages from Countrywide Financial, which was at the heart of the nation's subprime meltdown.

He's now under the gun for accepting $27,500 in campaign contributions since 2002 from Stanford Financial Group, whose Texas offices were raided Tuesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

[...]

Connecticut Republican State Party Chairman Chris Healy issued a statement Wednesday blasting the contributions Dodd received from Stanford employees as "another example of how political tribute colored his judgment."

"Chris Dodd benefactors are a rogues gallery of those who have plundered our economy," said Healy. "Because of these massive donations from Wall Street and the banks, Chris Dodd's silence and inaction were guaranteed."

In a telephone interview Wednesday, Healy said he is galled Dodd can stand up on the floor of the Senate and rail against Wall Street swindlers who were the same people writing checks to his campaign only a few months ago.

As to Cornyn, Healy said Dodd should be held to a higher standard of accountability because he is chairman of the committee. He also does not believe Dodd can deflect criticism using Cornyn.

Score one more point against Apple and its nonsensical App Store approval process. A South Park iPhone app submitted in October of last year has been rejected by Apple at least twice for being "potentially offensive," according to BoingBoing.

The app is essentially a mobile interface to the South Park Studios website. It gives direct access to streaming South Park clips, news, and the episode index. It also lets iPhone users set South Park-themed wallpapers and assign avatars of South Park characters as images for contacts in your iPhone's address book.

South Park is, of course, known for its crude humor and scathing sociological and cultural commentary, which some people may find "potentially offensive." But that isn't stopping Apple from selling uncensored South Park episodes and movies via the iTunes Store. To call Apple's actions hypocritical is an understatement; they border on the absurd.

The Federal Reserve cut its economic outlook for 2009 on Wednesday and warned that the United States economy would face an “unusually gradual and prolonged” period of recovery as the country struggles to climb out of a deep global downturn.

In economic projections released by the central bank, the Fed’s Open Market Committee said it expected that the economy would contract by 0.5 percent to 1.3 percent this year, that unemployment would rise to 8.5 to 8.8 percent and that inflation would remain under greater pressure. Bleak economic data reflecting a sharpening slide in housing, trade, industrial production, spending and employment rates “more than offset” any potential impact from an economic stimulus plan, the Fed said, forcing it to cut its economic outlook.

The Dow Jones industrials sank 297.81 points, or 3.8%, to 7,552.60 as share prices around the world sank on renewed worries about the health of the banking industry and doubts that governments can patch together a quick economic recovery.

[...]

"I have never seen investor confidence lower than it is today," said Al Goldman, chief market strategist at Wachovia Securities.

[...]

"It seems to us as if this market has every intent of retesting [its] low," said Keith Wirtz, chief investment officer at Fifth Third Asset Management in Cincinnati. "There's just too much bad news, both now and ahead of us."

If that happens, some worry, the decline could be painful.

Stocks extended their declines Wednesday as President Barack Obama released details of his $75 billion mortgage relief plan and investors remained uncertain about the prospects for the economy.

African Americans criticized a New York Post cartoon as racist Wednesday, saying it likened President Barack Obama to an ape -- a potent image in the history of racism toward blacks.

The cartoon, which the newspaper defended as a parody of Washington politics, depicts a police shooting of an ape, playing off the real shooting of a pet chimpanzeee [sic] in Connecticut this week. One of the police officers says, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

Because Obama promoted the $787 billion economic stimulus that he signed into law Tuesday, critics of the cartoon interpreted the dead chimp as a reference to Obama, who became the first black U.S. president on January 20.

"The cartoon in today's New York Post is troubling at best given the historic racist attacks of African Americans as being synonymous with monkeys," civil rights activist Al Sharpton said.

Col Allan, editor-in-chief of the Post, defended the work.

"The cartoon is a clear parody of a current news event, to wit the shooting of a violent chimpanzee in Connecticut," Allan said in a statement. "It broadly mocks Washington's efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist."

The cartoon drew hundreds of comments on the Internet including at the liberal Huffington Post, where columnist Sam Stein wrote: "At its most benign, the cartoon suggests that the stimulus bill was so bad, monkeys may as well have written it. Most provocatively, it compares the president to a rabid chimp."

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is under fire for allegedly taking what amounts to personal loans that he didn’t repay.

[...]

“[Emanuel] lived rent-free for years in the home of Rep. Rosa De Lauro (D-Conn.) - and failed to disclose the gift, as congressional ethics rules mandate.” It is common knowledge that Emanuel is a multimillionaire, which makes it all the more strange that he would need free room and board for any period of time.

Rep. De Lauro’s husband is Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg. While Emanuel was on the Freddie Mac board, he was also the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. That organization, according to Morris and McGann, gave Greenberg large polling contracts - to the tune of $239,996 in 2006 and $317,775 in 2008.

Emanuel never declared free rent on his taxes. he [sic] claimed it was a five-year show of “hospitality.” Since this gift easily added up to more than $100,000 over that time, some experts even consider Rahm’s rent to be taxable income. Thus the “personal loans” are like cash he earned.