"It's time for Americans across this great country to stand up and say, 'We're all Arizonans now'. And in clear unison, we say, 'Mr. President, do your job. Secure our border.'" -- Sarah Palin on Saturday at a news conference with fellow Republican and Arizona Gov. Janice Brewer.
Brewer scheduled the news conference to announce her first appointment to Arizona's new Joint Border Security Advisory Committee and the creation of a web site (http://www.securetheborder.org/) -- complete with a picture of Palin on the home page -- to address the state's new anti-immigration law. However, Palin viewed the news conference as an opportunity to criticize President Obama and essentially blame him for the country's long lasting struggle with illegal immigration. With this being said, during her condemnation of President Obama, she does not acknowledge the fact that Mr. Bush proposed a plan in 2004 to grant amnesty to all illegal aliens currently in the United States. Not surprisingly, Palin also avoids the fact that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), her former running mate in 2008, had previously introduced and sponsored legislation in support of amnesty. And until she does, Palin should stop stumping for conservatives currently embattled in re-election campaigns (such as Brewer) and just do her job for her supposed “fair and balanced” employer?
Monday, May 17, 2010
Hypocrite Within a Matter of Hours
In case you contemplated rubbing shoulders with thousands of right wing nutjobs, you unfortunately missed the National Rifle Association's 139th Annual Meetings & Exhibits, which were held this weekend in Charlotte, NC. One of the keynote speakers at the Celebration of American Values Freedom Experience on Saturday was FOX News's Glenn Beck. During his speech (complete with his usual chalkboard), Beck uttered the following comment: "You go to your PTA meetings and when somebody says something stupid -- you go to your softball games and when your kids win a trophy for just showing up, you take that trophy and you say, 'Our family doesn't accept stuff we didn't earn'."
Rewind to earlier in the day and Beck was delivering the 2010 Commencement address to the graduates of Liberty University, the educational institution founded by Jerry Falwell. And at the ceremony, Beck actually received a honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the university. However, despite the fact that he dropped out of Yale University after only one course, Beck accepted the doctorate degree he clearly "didn't earn".
Rewind to earlier in the day and Beck was delivering the 2010 Commencement address to the graduates of Liberty University, the educational institution founded by Jerry Falwell. And at the ceremony, Beck actually received a honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from the university. However, despite the fact that he dropped out of Yale University after only one course, Beck accepted the doctorate degree he clearly "didn't earn".
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Ridiculous Argument of the Week
On Monday, President Obama nominated Elena Kagan, the current Solicitor General, to replace the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens on the United States Supreme Court. One of the concerns that Republicans have voiced regarding Kagan is her lack of judicial experience. For example, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) released a statement which specifically described Kagan as "a surprising choice" due to the fact that she has never previously served as a judge. Cornyn continued by claiming that "Most Americans believe that prior judicial experience is a necessary credential for a Supreme Court Justice".
Before we examine Cornyn's absurd remarks, let's take a close look at Kagan's current role. According to the web site for the Department of Justice, the United States is involved in approximately two-thirds of all cases on which the Supreme Court decides the merits each year. That same web states that "The task of the Office of the Solicitor General is to supervise and conduct government litigation in the United States Supreme Court...The Solicitor General determines the cases in which Supreme Court review will be sought by the government and the positions the government will take before the Court." The Solicitor General is also responsible for presenting the "oral arguments before the Supreme Court".
Other than the actual justices, the Solicitor General is considered to be among the most influential and knowledgeable members of the legal community in regards to Supreme Court litigation. Four Solicitors General have eventually served on the Supreme Court: Robert Jackson, Stanley Reed, Thurgood Marshall and William Howard Taft (who was Chief Justice and a future President of the United States). Two current members of the Supreme Court have held other positions within the Office of the Solicitor General. Chief Justice John Roberts served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General and Justice Samuel Alito as an Assistant to the Solicitor General, both during the administration of President Ronald Reagan.
But despite all of the information included in the previous two paragraphs, Cornyn still delivered his asinine statement on Kagan's qualifications. However, Cornyn's opinions on the train wreck candidate otherwise known as Harriet Miers are completely different (even though Miers never served as a judge either). Cornyn had this to say in "The Wall Street Journal" about Miers (who withdrew herself from consideration after just twenty-four days): "The court is full of justices who served as academics and court of appeals judges before they were nominated to the bench. What the court is missing is someone who understands the consequences of its decisions on the American people." And the exact same argument that Cornyn uses to defend Miers ironically can apply to Kagan: "41 of the 109 justices who have served on the Supreme Court had no judicial experience at all when they were nominated. These include several luminaries from the school of judicial restraint, including the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist", Chief Justice John Marshall and Justice Louis Brandeis.
Before we examine Cornyn's absurd remarks, let's take a close look at Kagan's current role. According to the web site for the Department of Justice, the United States is involved in approximately two-thirds of all cases on which the Supreme Court decides the merits each year. That same web states that "The task of the Office of the Solicitor General is to supervise and conduct government litigation in the United States Supreme Court...The Solicitor General determines the cases in which Supreme Court review will be sought by the government and the positions the government will take before the Court." The Solicitor General is also responsible for presenting the "oral arguments before the Supreme Court".
Other than the actual justices, the Solicitor General is considered to be among the most influential and knowledgeable members of the legal community in regards to Supreme Court litigation. Four Solicitors General have eventually served on the Supreme Court: Robert Jackson, Stanley Reed, Thurgood Marshall and William Howard Taft (who was Chief Justice and a future President of the United States). Two current members of the Supreme Court have held other positions within the Office of the Solicitor General. Chief Justice John Roberts served as the Principal Deputy Solicitor General and Justice Samuel Alito as an Assistant to the Solicitor General, both during the administration of President Ronald Reagan.
But despite all of the information included in the previous two paragraphs, Cornyn still delivered his asinine statement on Kagan's qualifications. However, Cornyn's opinions on the train wreck candidate otherwise known as Harriet Miers are completely different (even though Miers never served as a judge either). Cornyn had this to say in "The Wall Street Journal" about Miers (who withdrew herself from consideration after just twenty-four days): "The court is full of justices who served as academics and court of appeals judges before they were nominated to the bench. What the court is missing is someone who understands the consequences of its decisions on the American people." And the exact same argument that Cornyn uses to defend Miers ironically can apply to Kagan: "41 of the 109 justices who have served on the Supreme Court had no judicial experience at all when they were nominated. These include several luminaries from the school of judicial restraint, including the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist", Chief Justice John Marshall and Justice Louis Brandeis.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Northern Exposure of the Day
Please don't tell me that the bloom is off the rose. Sarah Palin is being heavily criticized by, of all people, numerous members of the Tea Party movement for her recent endorsement of Carly Fiorina, who is currently running in the California Republican primary for the United States Senate seat. For example, Eric Odom, the Chairman of the Liberty First PAC, described Palin's endorsement as an "unforgivable sin" and "downright confusing, dishonest and leaves me feeling cheated". Dawn Wildman, the co-founder of the Southern California Tax Revolt Coalition, stated that Palin's support of Fiorina shows she "is clearly out of touch with what the Tea Party movement is saying in California".
On her Facebook page, Palin portrayed Fiorina as a "common sense conservative" and as an individual who can be trusted "to do the right thing for America’s economy". However, it is important to note that Fiorina believes in expanding the H1-B visa program "if we want our information technology industry to be the most competitive in the world". That doesn't quite sound like a common sense conservative. Palin also praises for Fiorina for her knowledge of "how to really incentivize job creation". Palin, of course, fails to acknowledge Fiorina's comments regarding her dismissal of nearly 18,000 employees during Fiorina's tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard: "I would have done them all faster. Every person that I've asked to leave, whether it's been clear publicly or not, I would have done faster."
On her Facebook page, Palin portrayed Fiorina as a "common sense conservative" and as an individual who can be trusted "to do the right thing for America’s economy". However, it is important to note that Fiorina believes in expanding the H1-B visa program "if we want our information technology industry to be the most competitive in the world". That doesn't quite sound like a common sense conservative. Palin also praises for Fiorina for her knowledge of "how to really incentivize job creation". Palin, of course, fails to acknowledge Fiorina's comments regarding her dismissal of nearly 18,000 employees during Fiorina's tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard: "I would have done them all faster. Every person that I've asked to leave, whether it's been clear publicly or not, I would have done faster."
Palin continued on Facebook by stating Fiorina "has an understanding that is sorely lacking in [the District of Columbia]". Unfortunately that understanding does not apply to the political process. The "Los Angeles Times" reported that Fiorina has failed to vote in seventy-five percent of all California state elections since 2000, including all gubernatorial elections and presidential primaries. Her excuse? "For many years I felt disconnected from the decisions made in Washington and, to be honest, really didn't think my vote mattered because I didn't have a direct line of sight from my vote to a result." Let me get this right. Fiorina didn't think that her vote mattered despite the fact that, in 2000, she was a 46-year-old grown woman serving as the CEO of one of the largest corporations in the world? With that being said, Hewlett-Packard spent $4.7 million to lobby Congress and donated more than $390,000 to political candidates through the company's political action committee during her tenure as CEO. In addition, Fiorina and her husband have personally contributed more than $100,000 in political donations since 2000.
And since Palin commends Fiorina for her ability to lead "with distinction" and show "real leadership" as the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, let's take a closer look at how Fiorina's reign ended. The company's board of directors forced Fiorina to resign after numerous poor business decisions regarding the company, its various divisions and the acquisition of Compaq, as well as the resulting effect on stock value. Following her resignation, "InfoWorld" magazine ranked Fiorina sixth on the publication's list of "Technology's All Time Top 25 Flops", which primarily consisted of failed products and ideas. Fiorina was also included on "Conde Nast Portfolio" magazine's list of the twenty "Worst American CEOs of All Time".
In December 2007, Fiorina was selected as the Chairperson of Victory 2008, a group created by the Republican National Committee to, among other things, raise money for the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Fiorina was also named in March 2008 as an advisor to McCain's campaign on economic and business issues. During her brief stint in both roles, Fiorina consistently delivered incorrect and misleading statements regarding McCain's stance on various topics. In addition, when she appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" in April 2008, Fiorina uttered the following ridiculous comments on the recent economic crisis: "There's no question that the Iraq War is costing us a lot of money. But it's also the case that the housing crisis has nothing to do with the Iraq War. High fuel prices have nothing to do with the Iraq War, per se. And high food prices, in particular, have nothing to do with the Iraq War. It's not fair to try and make the Iraq War the cause of our current economic difficulties."
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Northern Exposure of the Day
"Gulf: Learn from Alaska's lesson w/ foreign oil cos.: Don't naively trust - VERIFY. Livelihood affected by spill? Don't sign away remedy rights." -- Posted by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on her Twitter page in response to the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
How ironic it is that Palin speaks so negatively of internationally based oil and petroleum companies considering the fact that she has such close ties with those companies. As I mentioned in my previous posting, Palin's husband Todd was employed by British Petroleum (BP), which leased the damaged oil rig in the Gulf Coast and is headquartered in Great Britain, for approximately twenty years until his resignation in September 2009. And while President Obama previously received more than $77,000 in campaign contributions from BP, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Palin's running mate in the 2008 presidential election, has received nearly $45,000.
Palin has also targeted Venezuela and its President, Hugo Chavez, in the past, as well as the country's state owned oil companies. During an interview with Univision in October 2008, Palin stated: "We want through negotiation and sanctions if need be to put pressure on a dictator like Hugo Chavez, to let them see that they will not mess around with America the way that they want to. Hugo Chavez especially wanted to use energy sources as a weapon. Again, that brings us to how important it is for our country to get firmly on a path towards energy independence, where we create jobs here by tapping into domestic and alternative sources of energy to allow us to be less and less reliant on someone like Hugo Chavez." However, her anti-Venezuela sentiments apparently do not extend to her husband. Todd Palin's snowmobile racing team was sponsored this year by Mystik Lubricants, a division of Citgo. (Citgo is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, the national oil company of Venezuela.) Aside from serving as the "proud sponsor" of Todd's racing team, Mystik Lubricants was also the "official lubricant sponsor of the 27th Annual Iron Dog event" for the second year in a row. By doing so, the company supplied 250 cases of snowmobile oil to the competitors and 500 safety vests to the volunteers. After the race was completed, the former governor appeared in a promotional video for the Iditarod Trail Race while standing in front of a snowmobile with the logo for Mystik Lubricants.
How ironic it is that Palin speaks so negatively of internationally based oil and petroleum companies considering the fact that she has such close ties with those companies. As I mentioned in my previous posting, Palin's husband Todd was employed by British Petroleum (BP), which leased the damaged oil rig in the Gulf Coast and is headquartered in Great Britain, for approximately twenty years until his resignation in September 2009. And while President Obama previously received more than $77,000 in campaign contributions from BP, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Palin's running mate in the 2008 presidential election, has received nearly $45,000.
Palin has also targeted Venezuela and its President, Hugo Chavez, in the past, as well as the country's state owned oil companies. During an interview with Univision in October 2008, Palin stated: "We want through negotiation and sanctions if need be to put pressure on a dictator like Hugo Chavez, to let them see that they will not mess around with America the way that they want to. Hugo Chavez especially wanted to use energy sources as a weapon. Again, that brings us to how important it is for our country to get firmly on a path towards energy independence, where we create jobs here by tapping into domestic and alternative sources of energy to allow us to be less and less reliant on someone like Hugo Chavez." However, her anti-Venezuela sentiments apparently do not extend to her husband. Todd Palin's snowmobile racing team was sponsored this year by Mystik Lubricants, a division of Citgo. (Citgo is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela, the national oil company of Venezuela.) Aside from serving as the "proud sponsor" of Todd's racing team, Mystik Lubricants was also the "official lubricant sponsor of the 27th Annual Iron Dog event" for the second year in a row. By doing so, the company supplied 250 cases of snowmobile oil to the competitors and 500 safety vests to the volunteers. After the race was completed, the former governor appeared in a promotional video for the Iditarod Trail Race while standing in front of a snowmobile with the logo for Mystik Lubricants.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Northern Exposure of the Day
"I repeat the slogan 'drill here, drill now' not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills." -- Excerpt from a posting titled "Domestic Drilling: Why We Can Still Believe" on the Facebook page of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin after an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and caught fire.
Not surprisingly, there are multiple offensive aspects of Palin's comments on Facebook. First and foremost, while she has used the expression "drill here and drill now" in the past, she is much more closely associated with the tag line "Drill, baby, drill". (Palin uttered both phrases at last month's Southern Republican Leadership Conference: "Let's drill, baby, drill. Not stall, baby, stall. We need to give it all we've got. Drill here and drill now.") With that being said, it is extremely interesting to witness Palin avoid the casual and folksy "drill, baby, drill" when commenting on an oil spill which is affecting millions of individuals and animals.
Not surprisingly, there are multiple offensive aspects of Palin's comments on Facebook. First and foremost, while she has used the expression "drill here and drill now" in the past, she is much more closely associated with the tag line "Drill, baby, drill". (Palin uttered both phrases at last month's Southern Republican Leadership Conference: "Let's drill, baby, drill. Not stall, baby, stall. We need to give it all we've got. Drill here and drill now.") With that being said, it is extremely interesting to witness Palin avoid the casual and folksy "drill, baby, drill" when commenting on an oil spill which is affecting millions of individuals and animals.
But despite that suffering by the inhabitants (man and beast alike) of the Gulf Coast, Palin felt the need to discuss her resume during that same Facebook posting: "It is inexcusable for any oil company to not invest in preventative measures. They must be held accountable or the public will forever distrust the industry. This was the position I took as an oil and gas regulator and as Governor of Alaska." Palin also tapped into the fear apparently living inside all Republicans by stating "We need oil and, if we don’t drill for it here, we have to purchase it from countries that not only do not like America and can use energy purchases as a weapon against us but also do not have the oversight that America has". (The only thing Palin was missing from those remarks was the phrase '9/11'.")
Palin does mention on Facebook that, as Governor of Alaska, she "instituted new oversight and held British Petroleum (BP) financially accountable for poor maintenance practices". This is somewhat of a surprise considering the connection between BP and Palin's husband Todd. BP, which leased the damaged oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, employed Todd for approximately twenty years until his resignation in September 2009. What is not a shock is Palin's omission of Halliburton from her posting. In case you have been living under a rock for the last 10+ years, Halliburton, which assisted in building the oil rig, was honored by having Dick Cheney as its CEO and Chairman of the Board from 1995 to 2000.
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