Bush's Legacy

'This latest batch of memos, after all, offers us the proposition that U.S. citizens wouldn't be protected by the Fourth Amendment if the military were deployed against suspected terrorists in the United States and that the president (as channeled by then-OLC lawyer John Yoo) had secretly granted himself the right to suspend free speech and a free press.'

Obama, Bush Secret-Keeper

Caught this over the weekend...

'Dan Quayle With A Ponytail'

'JUNEAU, Alaska - A couple of weeks before the Alaska legislature began this year's session, a bipartisan group of state senators on a retreat a few hours from here invited Gov. Sarah Palin to join them. Accompanied by a retinue of advisers, she took a seat at one end of a conference table and listened passively as Gary Stevens, the president of the Alaska Senate, a former college history professor and a low-key Republican with a reputation for congeniality, expressed delight at her presence.

Would the governor, a smiling Stevens asked, like to share some of her plans and proposals for the coming legislative session?

Palin looked around the room and paused, according to several senators present. "I feel like you guys are always trying to put me on the spot," she said finally, as the room became silent.

Gone was the self-assurance that Alaska had come to know in its young Republican governor, well before her life and career were transformed by Sen. John McCain's selection of her as his vice presidential running mate. "She looked ill at ease, more defensive than we've been accustomed to seeing her," said one legislator who was there and spoke on the condition of anonymity because he said he might need to work with Palin.

A number of factors seem to have contributed to the bumpy homecoming: a residual anger among Democrats for the attack-dog role Palin assumed in the McCain campaign, lingering resentment from Republicans for the part she may have played in McCain's defeat, and a suspicion crossing party lines that the concerns of Alaska, at a time of economic crisis, will now be secondary to her future in national politics.

Nearly every move that Palin makes or does not make, acknowledges Joe Balash, one of her closest aides, is analyzed through a new political prism, scrutinized for its effect on a possible 2012 presidential candidacy. "There's nothing we can do to stop it," he said. "People wonder why she's doing something or not doing something."

The result of all this scrutiny and second-guessing, says one Republican ally, is that "the governor has been feeling beaten up."

The lists of her doings and not doings include a growing leeriness of the media -- she declined requests for an interview for this article -- as she pursues an aggressive strategy on the national political front.

She has established a political action committee, SarahPAC, designed to fund her national appearances. She sat for a lengthy interview with a conservative documentarian exploring the reasons behind President Obama's election, during which she reiterated her belief that she was unflatteringly exploited by such TV personages as Katie Couric and Tina Fey, and suggested she was mishandled by the McCain campaign.'

Full article here.

Wow.

So I don't know what's up with the stars today or what, but it has been a good day financially speaking.

Found out we're going to get a bonus this year [despite the news saying The Corporation had a 50% decrease in profits, our internal info states we actually increased revenue in pretty much all areas WTF?].

And thanks to this financial meltdown, the interest rates on my two mortgages went down again.

The total for both now each month is less than I have ever paid for rent on all my previous places.

It makes me feel weird because I know that a lot of people are going through financial hell right now, but on the other hand, it's helping me out.

[Knock on wood.]

Crazy.

So in the meantime, I am going to keep doing what I have been doing: spend and trying to support mom 'n pop businesses, to try and get things moving forward again.

Interesting...

'But the truth is that until very late in his presidency, Lincoln was deeply conflicted about whether to liberate the slaves, how to liberate the slaves and what to do with them once they had been liberated.

Whereas abolition was a central aspect of Lincoln’s moral compass, racial equality was not. In fact, Lincoln wrestled with three distinct but sometimes overlapping discourses related to race: slavery, equality and colonization.

Isolating these three—like the three strands of a braid of hair—helps us to understand how conflicted the man was about African Americans and their place in this country.

Interspersed among these three discourses is the manner in which Lincoln seems to have wrestled with his own use of the “N-word.” Lincoln used the word far less than did Stephen Douglas, his Democratic challenger for the U.S. Senate, but he did indeed use it in prominent contexts including debates and public speeches.

Even as late as April 1862, James Redpath recorded Lincoln’s saying of President Fabre Nicholas Geffard of Haiti (who had offered to send a white man as his ambassador to the United States), “You can tell the President of Hayti that I shan’t tear my shirt if he sends a nigger here!”

Lincoln despised slavery as an institution, an economic institution that discriminated against white men who couldn’t afford to own slaves and, thus, could not profit from the advantage in the marketplace that slaves provided.

At the same time, however, he was deeply ambivalent about the status of black people vis-à-vis white people, having fundamental doubts about their innate intelligence and their capacity to fight nobly with guns against white men in the initial years of the Civil War.

Even as he was writing the Emancipation Proclamation during the summer of 1862, Lincoln was working feverishly to ship all those slaves he was about to free out of the United States.

So taken was he with the concept of colonization that he invited five black men to the White House and offered them funding to found a black republic in Panama, for the slaves he was about to free. Earlier, he had advocated that the slaves be freed and shipped to Liberia or Haiti.

And just one month before the Emancipation became the law of the land, in his Annual Message to Congress on Dec. 1, 1862, Lincoln proposed a constitutional amendment that would “appropriate money, and otherwise provide, for colonizing free colored persons with their own consent, at any place or places without the United States.”

Full article here.

Figures.

Staff Finds White House in the Technological Dark Ages

'Two years after launching the most technologically savvy presidential campaign in history, Obama officials ran smack into the constraints of the federal bureaucracy yesterday, encountering a jumble of disconnected phone lines, old computer software, and security regulations forbidding outside e-mail accounts.

What does that mean in 21st-century terms? No Facebook to communicate with supporters. No outside e-mail log-ins. No instant messaging. Hard adjustments for a staff that helped sweep Obama to power through, among other things, relentless online social networking.

"It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said of his new digs.

In many ways, the move into the White House resembled a first day at school: Advisers wandered the halls, looking for their offices. Aides spent hours in orientation, learning such things as government ethics rules as well as how their paychecks will be delivered. And everyone filled out a seemingly endless pile of paperwork.

There were plenty of first-day glitches, too, as calls to many lines in the West Wing were met with a busy signal all morning and those to the main White House switchboard were greeted by a recording, redirecting callers to the presidential Web site. A number of reporters were also shut out of the White House because of lost security clearance lists.

By late evening, the vaunted new White House Web site did not offer any updated posts about President Obama's busy first day on the job, which included an inaugural prayer service, an open house with the public, and meetings with his economic and national security teams.

Nor did the site reflect the transparency Obama promised to deliver. "The President has not yet issued any executive orders," it stated hours after Obama issued executive orders to tighten ethics rules, enhance Freedom of Information Act rules and freeze the salaries of White House officials who earn more than $100,000.

The site was updated for the first time last night, when information on the executive orders was added. But there were still no pool reports or blog entries.

No one could quite explain the problem -- but they swore it would be fixed.

One member of the White House new-media team came to work on Tuesday, right after the swearing-in ceremony, only to discover that it was impossible to know which programs could be updated, or even which computers could be used for which purposes. The team members, accustomed to working on Macintoshes, found computers outfitted with six-year-old versions of Microsoft software. Laptops were scarce, assigned to only a few people in the West Wing. The team was left struggling to put closed captions on online videos.'

Huh.

You would think the Chinese government wouldn't be to keen on letting the people vote.

Even in a mock election.

Obama gets China’s youth vote

BEIJING – Judging by the reactions to the life-size cardboard cutouts of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama, the latter was the clear favorite in a hotel conference room in Beijing early Wednesday morning.

Crowds of young Chinese waited impatiently to pose with the cardboard Obama for their cameras. One female student stealthily turned away the McCain cutout so she and her friends could huddle more comfortably beside the president-elect.

It was all part of a dual-pronged effort by the American Embassy in Beijing to educate Chinese on the U.S. electoral process and to celebrate the election results for what some call the most historic presidential race in decades.

The U.S. Embassy, with assistance from the American Chamber of Commerce and the American Center for Educational Exchange, set up mock voting booths and handed out pamphlets explaining the process.

First ‘vote’ for many Chinese

Crowds of young Chinese read the mock ballots, diligently filled them out, and then stood before cameras in front of the ballot box. It was the first time any of them had cast a vote – real or imaginary.

"It’s exciting," said She Rui, a 24-year-old graduate student in international relations at People’s University. The election, he said, "is very important, because it gives the people a chance to express their needs [and] to choose their leaders."

He and some of his fellow students said they were happy Obama won. "He is young and can give fresh blood to American society," said 21-year-old Xing Yu Jie.

Personally Affected

I didn't realize how much this financial fracas would personally affect my work.

Seriously, a lot of our major financial clients are causing us headaches with moratoriums.

Word.

So...

A co-worker signed up for an 'Adopt-A-Soldier' program and took pictures of us here in the office to send him/her.

While, I think that program is a nice idea, I can't help but wonder what these soliders actually think of some of the stuff they get from back here in the states.

I know if i was out in the desert for the last five years, fearing daily attacks, and camel spiders, I wouldn't really be that thrilled to be hearing about some white collar peeps day to day goings on in an air conditioned office.

Maybe it's just me.

Lovin' It

I wish we could turn up the thermostat 4 degrees...

My office is like a walk-in freezer during the summer.

Mayor, governor strip down to save energy

'DENVER - The temperature is rising and Denver is dressing down in a bid to conserve energy.

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Governor Bill Ritter were among the first to take part, by removing their ties and jackets Thursday in front of the Denver City County building.

The mayor, governor and local business leaders launched "Cool Biz." It is a new summer energy-saving program that aims to cut energy in the Denver government office buildings by raising thermostats four degrees.

Businesses throughout Denver and Colorado are also invited to participate in "Cool Biz," an initiative designed to help reduce the amount of energy needed to cool Denver's buildings during the summer.

At Thursday's press conference, Mayor Hickenlooper said city employees are invited to remain cool and comfortable throughout the summer by removing their ties, sweaters and suit jackets whenever possible and by wearing short-sleeved shirts and blouses and open-collared shirts instead.

Governor Ritter added, "Local and state governments must demonstrate every day that we are serious about conserving energy, saving taxpayer dollars and protecting Colorado's environment. Being more energy efficient and energy smart is something we all can do together."

Hickenlooper invited area businesses to join the "Cool Biz" movement. He noted two of the state's largest employers - Coors Brewing Co. and Qwest Communications - have already signed on. The Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Denver Partnership have also encouraged their member businesses to participate in "Cool Biz" this summer.'

Great Documentary

'No End In Sight' is a film about how the poor planning before and after the invasion of Iraq, caused the insurgency.

It's just totally disgusting how The Gestapo handled everything.

Another Reason To Hate Flying

Border Agents Can Search Laptops Without Cause, Court Rules

Today In - 'Useless Info'

The US federal income tax was first enacted in 1862 to support the Union's Civil War effort. It was eliminated in 1872, revived in 1894 then declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court the following year. In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution made the income tax a permanent fixture in the US tax system.

The first 1040 form was 4 pages long -- including instructions. Today, the instructions ALONE are 92 pages.

During World War I, the highest rate of income tax was 77 percent. Taxes were used to help finance the war.

Death and Taxes

Claystation asked me a tax question, and it made me think of something my tax prep person mentioned, but I didn't clarify.

Can you claim bus passes and car rentals for work as deductions?

Since I don't own a car, I have to mass transit it.

Or rent a car if it's out in the boonies [we have training in campus way down in South Suburbia].

Anyone have any accounting/financial adviser friends?

There has to be some sort of tax break on that, right?

I crunched the numbers and I pay almost 2 grand a year just to get to work!

The New Face Of The Middle East

Thanks to Roger!

Wow, that was quick.

I just did my taxes on Sunday and my refund is already in my checking account.

Yay.

That's a nice way to end Hell Week.

Another Reason Why Going To The DMV Sucks

Office stays open after car crash

'LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A car crashed through a wall at a state revenue office without blocking the entrance.

That worked out well for employees and customers. They continued to go about their business, renewing drivers licenses and vehicle registrations.

No one was hurt when a 2006 Chrysler 300, driven by Fannie Lee Harris, 63, of Little Rock, burst through windows and a glass door at about 2 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

The office at the Ashley Square Shopping Center on North Rodney Parham Road in west Little Rock planned to stay open through repairs, office supervisor Franklin Furlough said.

"We're the state revenue office. We don't quit for the rain, sleet or snow," he said. "We don't miss a beat."

Harris told police she didn't know what caused the accident but said her leg might have "locked up on the gas." Her husband, Charles Harris, was in the car with her.

"I don't know what happened," he said. "We drove up to park, and the next thing I know, we were coming in ... it was kind of in slow motion." Harris said he was thankful no one was injured.

Cashier Carla Chase said a woman having her picture for a drivers license was just a few feet from where the car crash. The woman jumped over a counter to get clear of the vehicle.

"If it had kept going, it would have pinned her," Chase said. "The sound of it was the scariest part."'

IslamLite©™

"Our Islam is 'lite' — like Coke Lite or Marlboro Light cigarettes," said Ilmi Krasniqi, an imam at one of five mosques in the eastern town of Gnjilane. "This is not Baghdad, and what goes on in Saudi Arabia cannot happen here."

Kosovo touts 'Islam Lite'