May 22, 2012
FSM HOT TOPICS
Exclusive – Oval Office Watch – Friday, June 25
by OVAL OFFICE WATCH June 25, 2010
'Material support' ban in terrorism law upheld - HERE.
Obama, Cameron to meet on Gulf oil Saturday - CLICK HERE.
Praise flows from senators in both parties over Petraeus pick
Michael O'Brien, The Hill.com/Blogs
Virtually unanimous praise poured in from senators in both parties on Wednesday in response to President Barack Obama's choice of Gen. David Petraeus to lead troops in Afghanistan.
Senators were quick to praise Obama's choice of Petraeus, the head of Central Command (CENTCOM), to lead U.S. efforts in Afghanistan, where the top commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, on Wednesday resigned.
"His decision to return General Petraeus to the battlefield provides not just continuity in philosophy, but tested diplomatic skill that is at the very center of a military strategy which hinges on progress in governance to sustain military gains," Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) said in a statement. "The strategy and the objectives must be the only agenda. That’s what really counts."
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called it a "historically significant moment in the Obama presidency." Read article.
Why Aren’t BP and Elected Officials Listening to this High-Pressure Physicist?
Julia Gorin, Political Mavens.com
Dr. Michael Pravica is a physics professor at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and he has been appealing to elected officals and BP to hear his idea for what may be the best temporary solution to stop the gushing oil. His expertise is in high-pressure physics, which is what he got his Harvard Ph.D in. He studies hydrocarbons — constituents of oil — under extreme conditions. So far, only the local NBC affiliate has taken an interest and tried to get the word to BP. In a letter to interested parties, Dr. Pravica wrote:
From my point of view, we are not even close to solving this problem because BP doesn’t understand the basic physics of what’s going on in the world of very high pressures and/or still wants to save their wellhead. It’s very difficult when you know exactly where BP is going wrong but feel powerless to stop it.
In the first of two youtube videos, the UNLV professor demonstrates the unsuccessful methods that BP has tried so far, and shows why they don’t work. He also expresses his concerns that so far BP has been looking for a fix that preserves the blowout preventer and so all the solutions have prioritized that goal rather than the goal of stopping the flow as quickly as possible. Read article.
Obama turns back to health care and a 'true patients' bill of rights'
USA Today.com
President Obama turned his attention from the Stanley McChrystal flap briefly on Tuesday to discuss a more pleasing topic: New rules to stop health insurance "abuses" and provide new consumer protections for health care consumers.
"Finally, what amounts to a true patients' bill of rights," Obama said during an East Room ceremony designed to celebrate the three-month anniversary of his new health care bill.
Obama also warned insurance companies against "unjustified rate increases," and he said his administration would be watching "to make sure the new law is not being used as an excuse to drive up costs." Read article.
Congressional Report: U.S. tax money funding Taliban in Afghanistan
Nancy A. Youssef, JWR.com
Private security contractors protecting the convoys that supply U.S. military bases in Afghanistan are paying millions of dollars a week in "passage bribes" to the Taliban and other insurgent groups to travel along Afghan roads, a congressional investigation released Monday has found.
The payments, which are reimbursed by the U.S. government, help fund the very enemy the U.S. is attempting to defeat and renew questions about the U.S. dependence on private contractors, who outnumber American troops in Afghanistan, 130,000 to 93,000.
The report's author called the findings of the six-month investigation "sobering and shocking."
"This arrangement has fueled a vast protection racket run by shadowy network of warlords, strongmen, commanders, corrupt Afghan officials, and perhaps others," wrote Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., the chairman of the House subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs. "Not only does the system run afoul of the (Defense) Department's own rules and regulations mandated by Congress, it also appears to risk undermining the U.S. strategy for achieving its goals in Afghanistan."
Concerns over whether U.S. contracting is fueling Afghanistan's rampant corruption have existed for years, but only earlier this month did Michele Flournoy, the undersecretary of defense for policy, and Army Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. Central Command, establish a task force in Afghanistan to investigate the effects. Read article.
U.S. says cannot force Iraqis to agree on forming a government
Reuters.com
Iraqi politicians must agree among themselves on forming a new government and the United States cannot tell them what to do, the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad said on Monday. Iraqis hoped the March 7 election would bring stability as the United States prepares to end combat operations in August before a full troop pullout by the end of 2011.
Instead, weeks of sniping and challenges to the result have exposed the growing pains of Iraq's nascent democracy, with the chief factions at loggerheads over who will lead the government.
Christopher Hill, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said a lot of people had asked why the United States did not simply tell the Iraqis what to do.
But he said this had not happened in 2006, when a government of national unity was cobbled together by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki after long negotiations and the United States was playing a more influential role.
"So it's rather mystifying to me why people think I can go in and tell Prime Minister Maliki 'you either make a coalition with him or you get out', this sort of thing. It's not going to work," he said, speaking at London's Chatham House think tank. Read article.
Medicare Payment Cuts to be Implemented Despite Senate Action
ABC News.com
Doctors who treat Medicare patients will be subject to a 21.3 percent cut in their payments -- at least for now -- despite a last-minute effort by the Senate to delay the cuts.
The Senate today passed a six-month extension of the so-called Medicare "doc fix" after Democrats agreed to a Republican requirement that the extension not add to the deficit. The Senate's late action only gets the bill a third of the way into law. The measure has to be voted on by the House of Representatives and then signed by President Obama, and until then, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid have to pay doctors the reduced rates.
"We have to pay under the current law and the current law is the -21.3 percent," a spokesperson for CMS told ABCNews.com. Until both the Senate and the House pass "the bill and the president signs it, the changes are not effective. So we can't pay under that until the bill becomes law and there is no change in what we are paying." Read article.
House defies administration on financial regulation reform
Carrie Budoff Brown, Politico.com
House negotiators on a Wall Street reform bill will push to shield auto dealers from new consumer protection lending rules — a move that bucks President Barack Obama, who has called on lawmakers to reject any carve-outs for special interests.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the lead House negotiator, released a proposal Monday to not only maintain the exemption for auto dealers from oversight of a new consumer protection agency but also expand it to include dealers that finance the purchase of motorcycles, boats, recreational vehicles and motor homes.
The House proposal, which will be debated Tuesday by the House-Senate conference committee, sets up a clash with Obama, who in May took the unusual step of issuing a statement urging Congress to oppose the exemption for auto dealers, arguing it would create a loophole that would allow predatory lending practices to continue. The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Frank’s proposal. Read article.
Secretary Geithner: US economy still in 'difficult period.'
Breitbart.com
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Tuesday said the US economy was "still going through an incredibly difficult period," as he warned the impact of the crisis would be "lasting."
"Millions of Americans are still looking for work and are suffering from the damage of a deep recession. The impact of this crisis will be lasting," he said in prepared testimony to Congress.
While heralding progress in unwinding government stimulus spending, Geithner stressed the United States was still not out of the woods.
"Government policies continue to play an important role in repairing the damage to our financial system, preserving stability and broadening the scope of the financial recovery for all Americans."
Just when governments around the globe begin to roll back spending -- designed to prop up the economy -- the issue has become a major source of contention ahead of a meeting of the group of 20 top economies later this week in Toronto.
The United States has urged European countries not to slash their budgets too quickly, for fear they may crush the still-fragile recovery. Read article.
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The #twittergulag saga continues: @gopfirecracker suspended, others still trapped
May 21, 2012 11:54 PM
#freegopfirecracker #freegopfirecracker #freegopfirecracker #freegopfirecracker— Dale Holt (@DaleHolt8) May 22, 2012 Come on conservatives! Everyone rallied around @ChrisLoesch when he was suspended! Now its @gopfirecracker so stand up! #freegopfirecracker— Schmoop (@RGSchmoop) May 22, 2012 Hey @twitter and @support – #FreeGOPfirecracker's account has been suspended. Please fix this mishap. Thank you.— Gabriella Hoffman (@Gabby_Hoffman) May 22, 2012 [...]
Cory Booker tweets #IStandWithObama; Hashtag hijackers flood the zone
May 21, 2012 11:39 PM
Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker, the Democrat who defended Bain from the Obama campaign's attacks yesterday morning, has been backpedaling more furiously than a clown on a high wire. Tonight, in an effort to mollify his critics on the Left, he posted four tweets that included the hashtag #IStandWithObama. Conservatives immediately took over the #IStandWithObama hashtag to mock President Obama, and within an hour it became a trending topic.
Cory Booker tries to clear up his position on Bain attacks
May 21, 2012 10:25 PM
Cory Booker continued his quest to run screaming away from the apparently too candid comments he made on Meet the Press on Sunday. Despite attempts earlier today to #FreeCoryBooker from those trying to force him to apologize Booker went on the Rachel Maddow show to do everything he could to walk back what he said. Que the mockery.
Obama's 'When you're president' picture spawns hashtag
May 21, 2012 09:59 PM
"When you're president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot." -Barack Obama
Cue #WhenYouArePresident
Obama takes anti-Romney rant to Twitter
May 21, 2012 09:49 PM
It started off this morning with a video of a woman named Valerie from Indiana posted by Barack Obama’s official Twitter account. 12 hours, 12 tweets and a failed hashtag later, Obama’s reelection team took the day to tweet ongoing misinformation about Mitt Romney’s record in the private sector, specifically Bain Capital’s work with the [...]
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