intention

Way to go Mr. President:

Faced with an unprecedented level of obstruction in the Senate, the President announced his intention to recess appoint fifteen nominees to fill critical administration posts. While the President respects the critical role the Senate plays in the appointment process, he was no longer willing to let another month go by with key economic positions unfilled, especially at a time when our country is recovering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Many of these fifteen individuals have enjoyed broad bipartisan support, but have found their confirmation votes delayed for reasons that have nothing to do with their qualifications. It has more to do with an obstruction-at-all-costs mentality that we’ve been faced with since the President came into office. Because of political posturing, these fifteen appointees have waited an average of 214 days for Senate confirmation.

And I guarantee there will be wingnuts this week calling this unconstitutional, despite Bush doing the exact same thing and the Constitution allowing it.

Last week I posted a list of states slated to gain and lose congressional seats in the upcoming election. While doing that post, my inner geek had me focusing on the numbers and I totally missed this part:

Minnesota (-1): Open seat in 2010; state Senate 46 D, 21 R; state House 87 D, 47 R

Luckily TPM picked up on that loss and is now wondering if that’s why Michele Bachmann has stopped her anti-census talk:

The state of Minnesota could be on the verge of losing a House seat after 2010 -- and interestingly enough, it's been a while since we heard Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) talk about refusing to participate in the Census.

Last year, Bachmann repeatedly said she would defy the Census by not completely filling out the information on the forms, but would instead only give the number of people in her household. She said that Census data was used to conduct the 1940's Japanese-American internment, and warned that the government was seeking to gather information about people's mental health. But as far as we can tell, her last anti-Census public statement was in August.

That’s how much birther attorney Orly Taitz has been fined by a judge:

Reached on her cell phone by TPMmuckraker and informed of the $20,000 fine imposed on her by a federal judge this morning, Birther attorney Orly Taitz responded, first, with laughter.

"So he didn't recuse himself?" Taitz asked, after letting out an extended, nervous-sounding chuckle.

And to make matters even more fun, Taitz is saying she has no intention of paying the fine:

Still defiant after months of legal wrangling and, by our count, three written denunciations by federal district court Judge Clay Land, Taitz said she had absolutely no plans to pay the $20,000 fine.

"Are you kidding? Of course not," she said, asked whether she planned to send a check. "This is a form of intimidation."

Instead Taitz is planning on filing yet another response. Hopefully in 30 days we will see this nut job locked up for contempt, though she has been a great mascot of the birther movement – proving just how fucking crazy they all are.

Last night President (shiver) Obama ordered the prosecutors at Gitmo to halt all cases for 120 days. Most likely this is so he can figure out what to do with the inmates and finally close down the black eye of the beacon of freedom.

One of the big arguments about Obama closing down Gitmo is what to do with all the inmates. Well we might have a solution now:

Switzerland is ready to consider taking in detainees from the U.S. prison for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba if that helps to shut it down, the Swiss government said on Wednesday.

"For Switzerland, the detention of people in Guantanamo is in conflict with international law. Switzerland is ready to consider how it can contribute to the solution of the Guantanamo problem," the government said in a statement.

Switzerland said it welcomed the expressed intention of U.S. President Barack Obama to close the prison and would investigate security and legal implications of possibly taking in detainees. About 255 men are still held there.

Help from the world. That’s something we haven’t seen in a very long time. It’s a sign of the change that is coming and the hope and optimism Obama has given the world. Of course I got a better idea for the detainees. Send them to live with Bush and Cheney.

Hillary has constantly talked about her Bosnia trip as First Lady and "landing under sniper fire". She started that months ago and continued it this week:

I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base. But it was a moment of great pride for me to visit our troops, not only in our main base as Tuzla, but also at two outposts where they were serving in so many capacities to deactivate and remove landmines, to hunt and seek out those who had not complied with the Dayton Accords and put down their arms, and to build relationships with the people that might lead to a peace for them and their children.

Now let's look at that "sniper fire" they landed under:

If by "sniper fire" you mean greeted with a large reception and hugged by children, then ok, I can buy it. But that isn't the intention. The intention is to lie and deceive the American people, and that can not be tolerated.

I am seriously considering what will happen if Hillary does some how cheat Obama out of the nomination. If that happens, I just may find myself campaigning for Ralph Nader. Between these common lies and Bill pulling out right wing smears of attacking Obama as being "not loving America", I have had enough of them.

This is from a press release that went out this afternoon from The Heritage Forests Campaign:

The Bush administration today released documents announcing its intention to remove protections for more than six million acres of roadless areas in the national forests of Idaho. Idaho’s roadless backcountry areas are some of the nation’s last intact national forests and this proposal would open the door to their development by corporate special interests.

[SNIP]

“Last year, a federal judge struck down the Bush administration's attempt to remove protections for our nation’s wild forests. Today, 50 million acres of roadless national forests, in all states except Alaska, are protected from road construction and logging. Now, under the cover of the hectic holiday season, the administration is trying to open the door to new development in the roadless backcountry of Idaho’s national forests.

Time for the RNC to find a new head:

Mel Martinez, the public face of the Republican National Committee as its general chairman, announced he was stepping down from his post on Friday after serving only 10 months.

"I believe that our future as a party and nation is bright and I have every intention of continuing to fight for our president, our party and our candidates," the Florida senator said in a statement.

His departure was abrupt and his job will not be filled. Martinez wasn't expected to step down until a Republican presidential nominee was selected. The earliest that could occur is February.

Martinez said he was relinquishing the job to spend more time focusing on his constituents and because the RNC had achieved the objective he set when he assumed the job in January.

What objective? Maybe that objective was to shun Latinos and African Americans. Yeah - mission accomplished there.

Or perhaps it was to totally obstruct the Senate. Yup - another big plus on their score card. The American people really like that too </sarcasm>

So who can we find to replace Martinez? I know! Karl Rove. Put turd blossom in charge of the shitty party.

In a speech ignored by cable news networks today, Al Gore sounds the alarm
about our constitution being in crisis and the dangers our nation faces by an
executive branch that is out of control and power hungry. Excerpts follow:

[..]

During the period when this eavesdropping was still secret, the President
went out of his way to reassure the American people on more than one
occasion that, of course, judicial permission is required for any government
spying on American citizens and that, of course, these constitutional
safeguards were still in place.

But surprisingly, the President's soothing statements turned out to be
false. Moreover, as soon as this massive domestic spying program was
uncovered by the press, the President not only confirmed that the story was
true, but also declared that he has no intention of bringing these wholesale
invasions of privacy to an end.

[..]

A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our
government. Our Founding Fathers were adamant that they had established a
government of laws and not men. Indeed, they recognized that the structure
of government they had enshrined in our Constitution - our system of checks
and balances - was designed with a central purpose of ensuring that it would
govern through the rule of law. As John Adams said: "The executive shall
never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them, to
the end that it may be a government of laws and not of men."

[..]