The mind-boggling pointlessness of the G20 summit. – By Anne Applebaum – Slate Magazine

By Anne Applebaum

Posted Monday, March 30, 2009, at 7:59 PM ET

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown And now for a riddle: What is big, loud, unnecessary, and costs $75 million? No, not a retired elephant in a diamond-studded dress: The answer is, of course, a Group of 20 summit. These G20 meetings—younger, chubbier cousins of the equally pointless G7 and G8 summits—have been going on since 1999 in an under-the-radar kind of way but have lately taken on a new urgency. Indeed, the next one, which will be held in London on Thursday, is being widely billed as the summit that will save the international economic system, provoke a stock market rally, create lasting prosperity, and save the politicians present from the disgruntled voters protesting outside. And all this in a single day!

via The mind-boggling pointlessness of the G20 summit. – By Anne Applebaum – Slate Magazine.

How did ACORN become such a controversial organization in national politics? – By Jacob Leibenluft – Slate Magazine

By Jacob Leibenluft

Updated Friday, Oct. 10, 2008, at 6:47 PM ET

ACORN activistsWith voter registration coming to a close, the community-organizing group ACORN has become a major target of criticism by Republicans in recent weeks. On Thursday, Slate’s John Dickerson reported that members of the crowd at a McCain rally in Wisconsin started shouting the organization’s name as a rallying cry. When did a group more typically known for its minimum-wage and housing campaigns become such a controversial organization in national politic arena

In the run-up to the 2004 election. ACORN—that’s the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now—was founded in 1970 and has long been known for its activism surrounding local issues in urban areas. The group earned its fair share of criticism from the right over the years—not least for its controversial tactics, which have included disrupting a speech by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1995. In 2003, Manhattan Institute scholar Sol Stern described ACORN as promoting “a 1960s-bred agenda of anti-capitalism, central planning, victimology, and government handouts to the poor.”

via How did ACORN become such a controversial organization in national politics? – By Jacob Leibenluft – Slate Magazine.

TheHill.com – Obama didn’t ask Congress about ousting Wagoner

Of course! When you are the dictator, you don’t have to ask anyone anything, you just do what you want.  That’s what congress gets for not investigating his eligibility and not vetting him.  He is slowly but surely taking over!

 

By Ian Swanson

Posted: 03/30/09 01:53 PM [ET]

President Obama didn’t want any advice from Congress on the decision to ask GM CEO Rick Wagoner to resign, according to Carl Levin (D), Michigan’s senior senator.

“He didn’t ask us about it, he informed us,” Levin told reporters in a conference call Monday afternoon. “The president said he’d already decided.”

Levin said he and three other lawmakers were informed of the decision in a phone call Obama made from the Oval Office. Obama told the members of Congress that Wagoner needed to resign so that the administration could show the public it was making an effort at a fresh start with helping the auto industry, according to Levin.

Levin repeatedly described the decision as “sad,” and noted that Wagoner had given a lifetime of service to GM. He praised Wagner’s willingness to voluntarily “retire” from his post, and did not say whether he disagreed with Obama’s decision.

Obama formally announced Monday morning that he was rejecting restructuring plans submitted by GM and Chrysler because they would not make the two automakers viable. He also made it clear that Wagoner was asked to resign as a condition for GM getting more aid.

via TheHill.com – Obama didn’t ask Congress about ousting Wagoner.

Sen. John Carona proposes best sobriety checkpoint bill I’ve ever opposed | pegasusnews.com | Dallas / Fort Worth

 

By Scott Henson of Grits For Breakfast

I’m not a fan, at all, of “sobriety checkpoints” on the roadways. Having grown up in the Cold War era, the whole idea has a bit too much of a “Can I see your papers, Comrade?” flavor to it for my tastes. Checkpoints where armed, uniformed agents of the state stop and question average citizens driving down the street were the kind of thing we used to point to under Communism in the old Soviet Union and say, “That doesn’t happen in America.”

But today, in many states, it does. And perhaps soon in Texas, too.

That said, SB 298 by Sen. John Carona authorizing sobriety checkpoints is one of the best efforts I’ve seen to focus the tactic in tightly on its stated goal of reducing drunk driving while avoiding Big Brother-esque pitfalls and revenue generation schemes that make civil libertarians wince at the tactic. Carona’s bill was placed on yesterday’s “intent calendar” in the senate (meaning it was eligible to be debated and voted on), but was usurped on the agenda by debates over higher education and the top ten percent rule. It could be voted on in the Texas Senate as soon as today.

I still oppose sobriety checkpoints and thus on principle I oppose this bill. I just don’t like the idea of police stopping motorists without probable cause, believing traditional DWI enforcement tactics work better and are less invasive. But if you think drunk driving is so bad that it warrants use of more totalitarian tactics, the limits Sen. Carona places on checkpoints are a laudable effort to address the main criticisms of the practice while still authorizing its use.

Here’s a summary of the legislation, which passed 9-0 out of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee:

Please click on the link below to read more…

via Sen. John Carona proposes best sobriety checkpoint bill I’ve ever opposed | pegasusnews.com | Dallas / Fort Worth.

Hillary in 'inter-generational partnership' with eugenicist Sanger (OneNewsNow.com)

Jim Brown – OneNewsNow – 3/30/2009 8:30:00 AM

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accepted an award from Planned Parenthood named after the pro-abortion group’s founder, who once referred to blacks as “human weeds.”

Secretary of State Clinton was presented on Friday evening with the Margaret Sanger Award at a Planned Parenthood event in Houston (see earlier story). The award, says Planned Parenthood, is presented annually to recognize “leadership, excellence, and outstanding contributions to the reproductive health and rights movement.”

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, says it is shocking that Planned Parenthood is not more savvy with its public-relations work. Sanger, she notes, was a leading eugenicist.

“She was very frank about her desire to exterminate African-Americans to ‘purify the white race,’” Dannenfelser shares. “She said the best thing that families, big families can do is to kill its [sic] infants. This was a callous, angry, harsh eugenicist — and I cannot believe that Planned Parenthood still names its top award after her.

Click on the link to read more..

via Hillary in ‘inter-generational partnership’ with eugenicist Sanger (OneNewsNow.com).

Wide Cyber Attack Is Linked to China – WSJ.com

By BEN WORTHEN

Security researchers said they have discovered software capable of stealing information installed on computers in 103 countries from a network that targeted government agencies.

The software infected more than 1,200 computers, almost 30% of which were considered high-value targets, according to a report published Sunday by Information Warfare Monitor, a Toronto-based organization.

China Journal: China Responds to Attack ReportsInformation Warfare Monitor report: “Tracking GhostNet”A report by researchers at Cambridge University: “The snooping dragon”Among the affected computers were those in embassies belonging to Germany, India, and Thailand, ministries of Iran and Latvia, and a computer network operated by the organization of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

The researchers, who initiated the study at the request of the Tibetan exiles, say they observed documents being stolen from the Tibetan computer network. They said they traced the attacks to computers located in China, but didn’t say who they thought was behind it.

A report by researchers at Cambridge University, also published Sunday, alleged the Chinese government or a group working closely with it was responsible for the attack on the Tibetans.

Officials at China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State Council Information Office declined requests for comment Sunday. The Chinese government has repeatedly denied past allegations that it sponsors cyber attacks.

The researchers said officials working with the Dalai Lama became suspicious that their computers had been compromised after a foreign diplomat the office had contacted by email received a call from the Chinese government discouraging a meeting with the Dalai Lama. They contacted security researchers, who started an investigation in June 2008. The researchers said they discovered the other affected computers by monitoring the systems that had attacked the office of the Dalai Lama. The reports were first reported by the New York Times.

The apparent attacks are the latest to suggest cyberespionage is on the rise. Last year, Kevin Chilton, commander of the U.S. Strategic Command, said military computer networks are increasingly coming under attack from hackers trying to steal information, many of whom he said appeared to have ties to China.

Click on the link below to read more…

via Wide Cyber Attack Is Linked to China – WSJ.com.

In a Down Time Everywhere Else, K Street Bustles – washingtonpost.com

By Ellen Nakashima and Brady Dennis

Washington Post Staff Writers

Monday, March 30, 2009; Page A12

Last month, just before Valentine’s Day, business at Holland & Knight was so slow that the law firm laid off more than 240 lawyers and staff, victims of the economic downturn that has dented Washington’s reputation for being recession-proof.

But one area of the multi-service firm was thriving. Rich Gold, head of the firm’s public policy and regulation practice, was hiring more than a dozen lobbyists, bringing his federal lobbying team to about 70, every one of them scrambling to stay on top of provisions and changes in the mammoth economic recovery package that was barreling through Congress. They were handling about 240 clients, including 50 new ones, all eager to win a portion of the stimulus that President Obama wanted passed.

“On the legal side of things, we’ve done our share of downsizing because of the economy, because of reduced demand,” said Gold, the firm’s chief lobbyist. “But on the policy side . . . we’re picking up a couple clients a week at this point.”

Put another way, Main Street’s gloom has been K Street’s boon.

The $787 billion stimulus package — along with an ambitious new federal budget, bank bailouts and the beginning of a regulatory overhaul — has succeeded in stimulating the economy along Washington’s avenue of influence. In the months since the November election, more than 2,000 cities, companies and associations have hired lobbyists to help them push their agendas on Capitol Hill and at the White House, easily outpacing such numbers after the previous two elections, according to disclosure records.

Nearly every industry and every corner of the country has an issue, especially with so much money at stake.

Energy?…

Read more by clicking the link below…

via In a Down Time Everywhere Else, K Street Bustles – washingtonpost.com.

In a Down Time Everywhere Else, K Street Bustles – washingtonpost.com

By Ellen Nakashima and Brady Dennis

Washington Post Staff Writers

Monday, March 30, 2009; Page A12

Last month, just before Valentine’s Day, business at Holland & Knight was so slow that the law firm laid off more than 240 lawyers and staff, victims of the economic downturn that has dented Washington’s reputation for being recession-proof.

But one area of the multi-service firm was thriving. Rich Gold, head of the firm’s public policy and regulation practice, was hiring more than a dozen lobbyists, bringing his federal lobbying team to about 70, every one of them scrambling to stay on top of provisions and changes in the mammoth economic recovery package that was barreling through Congress. They were handling about 240 clients, including 50 new ones, all eager to win a portion of the stimulus that President Obama wanted passed.

“On the legal side of things, we’ve done our share of downsizing because of the economy, because of reduced demand,” said Gold, the firm’s chief lobbyist. “But on the policy side . . . we’re picking up a couple clients a week at this point.”

Put another way, Main Street’s gloom has been K Street’s boon.

The $787 billion stimulus package — along with an ambitious new federal budget, bank bailouts and the beginning of a regulatory overhaul — has succeeded in stimulating the economy along Washington’s avenue of influence. In the months since the November election, more than 2,000 cities, companies and associations have hired lobbyists to help them push their agendas on Capitol Hill and at the White House, easily outpacing such numbers after the previous two elections, according to disclosure records.

Nearly every industry and every corner of the country has an issue, especially with so much money at stake.

Energy?…

Read more by clicking the link below…

via In a Down Time Everywhere Else, K Street Bustles – washingtonpost.com.