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Daily Digital NewspaperLibertyNewsprint.com U.S. Edition13/01/09 - 15/01/09
America to Obama: Stimulate Me!
By David Knowles (Political Machine)
Submitted at 1/15/2009 1:33:00 AM
Filed under: President Bush, Democrats,Barack Obama, Featured Stories, EconomySuch are the findings of a new WallStreet Journal/NBC poll on what to doabout our sagging economy:As a whole, the nation's mood remainsglum, with three out of four peoplesurveyed expecting the recession to persistfor at least an additional year.Asked about the economic-stimuluspackage, now estimated to cost $850billion over two years, 43% of peoplesurveyed called it a "good idea," while27% said it is a "bad idea." The rest didn'thave an opinion.Even Republicans and independentsthink GOP lawmakers should work tomove the legislation forward.Of course, there is a catch. Americans,bitter about the way the first round of WallStreet and banking bailouts turned out,want to know what's in it for them thistime. Another poll captures the "f ool-me-once" anger brewing beneath the surface of the electorate:Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Americanadults are opposed to a governmenteconomic recovery plan that does not cuttaxes, according to a new RasmussenReports national telephone survey.While Bank of America(one of the too-big-to-fail variety) and the governmentnegotiate another taxpayer cash infusion,it's no wonder that people are feeling a bitspiteful about the lack of transparency toHenry Paulson and George Bush's magicfix. Like disgruntled shareholders of Apple, average Americans wonder whetherthey've been duped. Why hasn't thestimulus stimulated?The answer, of course, is not as simple asthe ones culled from yes-or-no surveyquestions. If you solely focus on credit, forinstance, there are signs that the first roundcash infusion may be starting to work.Still, the battle here is more akin tofighting a California wildfire with a fewmeasly garden hoses. For every hot spotyou managed to soak with water, a newwind kicks up scattering sparks acrosswaiting kindling. As a result, theconflagration continues to spread.One only needs to check out the latestheadlines from The Great DepressionNews:Nationwide home foreclosures were up81 percent in '08.Jobless claims continue to rise at a worsethan expected pace.People are flocking to libraries. As anovelist, this sounded like great news atfirst. But it turns out they're all just goingto use the free internet to look for jobs.Even Google is cutting its workforce.All of this brings us back to stimulus.Congress votes today on whether or not torelease $350 billion in Tarp money fromthe first bailout to still-not-technically-your-president Barack Obama. They should.We must not delude ourselves intobelieving that the consequences of doingnothing are indistinguishable from thestimulus we've undertaken so far. In part,though that statement may seem toperfectly describe what has alreadyhappened, we really cannot envision thedevastating results we'd have witnessed if the government had allowed our nation if we'd let our financial sector go into free-fall. Consider the collapse of our largestbanks. The wiping clean of the FDICinsurance fund. The immediate shutteringof the big three automakers. The end of theinsurance industry as we know it. Theseare but the first dominoes in a long andintricate chain. Our current unemploymentrate of 7.8% is peanuts compared to whatinaction would have meant.So, while there are plenty of things to beangry about--Freddie and Fannie, laxgovernmental regulation, bold-facedswindlers, a skyrocketing deficit, and alack of accountability to date on the moneyalready paid out-- it would be wise totemper one's outrage when it comes to howto move forward.Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs|Comments
Hillary Clinton EasilyConfrimed Secretary ofState, One NotableDissenter
By David Knowles (Political Machine)
Submitted at 1/15/2009 2:29:00 AM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Democrats,Republicans, Breaking News, ObamaAdministrationHillary Clinton has been called a lot of things in her political career. As of today,you can add "Madame Secretary" to thatlist. Only one Senator voted againstconfirming Hillary. Can you guess who itwas? None other that Louisiana's escort-loving favorite son, David Vitter, the guywho once publicly chastised Bill Clintonfor his lax morals in the Monica Lewinskymatter. Small world, DC politics is.Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs|Comments
LIVE VIDEO: Eric Holder Attorney General Confirmation Hearing
By Michael Kraskin (Political Machine)
Filed under: Obama AdministrationVisit msnbc.com for Breaking News,World News, and News about theEconomyPermalink| Email this| Linking Blogs|Comments
Timeline: The presidents ofthe United States
By Christine Oliver (World news | guardian.co.uk)
Submitted at 1/15/2009 5:00:55 AM
Timeline: The presidents of the UnitedStates from 1789 to 2008.
 
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Obama Transition Team Attempts 'Cover-Ups;?
By Matt Lewis (Political Machine)
Submitted at 1/15/2009 3:51:00 AM
Filed under: Democrats, ObamaAdministration For those who may havegrown tired and disgusted of the"secretive" dealings of George W. Bush,Barack Obama's election was supposed tousher in a new era of transparency andopen government, right?Wrong.Those of us who followed the Obamacampaign closely, of course, quicklyrealized that (unlike McCain) Obama wasvery adept at tightly controlling andmanaging information.He took this to a new level. In fact, tostifle dissent, reporters representing papersendorsing McCain were quickly thrown off the campaign plane.And then, immediately after winning theelection, Obama's transition websiterefused to post any questions relating toBlago.So I suppose it's no surprise that thisNixonian tendency has already manifesteditself prior to his even being sworn-in aspresident.Politico's Roger Simon noted that -- notonly did Tim Geithner not pay his taxes --but the Obama transition team attempted tocover it up:So in November, Team Obamaannounced that Geithner had this littleproblem and was paying his back taxeswith interest and that it was all an honestmistake and no big deal, right?Wrong. They decided to keep it a secret.But The Wall Street Journal discovered itand blew the whistle Tuesday.Another prime examples includes CarolM. Browner, Obama's pick as "globalwarming czar." Once Obama's team settledon her for this position, they (apparently)quickly attempted to scrub any mention of her involvement with a socialist group.As the Washington Times reported:Until last week, Carol M. Browner,President-elect Barack Obama's pick asglobal warming czar, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group'sCommission for a Sustainable WorldSociety, which calls for "globalgovernance" and says rich countries mustshrink their economies to address climatechange.By Thursday, Mrs. Browner's name andbiography had been removed fromSocialist International's Web page ...Yesterday on Fox, Bob Beckel attemptedto argue that there was nothing wrong withSocialism. This, of course, begs thequestion: Then why try to hide past herinvolvement with this group?Of course, you could argue that Obama'steam is doing nothing more than playingthe political game. While this may be true,the entire rationale for his candidacy wasthat he would be a new kind of politician.And while Obama may be merelyplaying the political game, it occurs to methat he has gotten off to an impressivelyquick start. The Obama team is alreadyattempting to cover-up socialist ties andfailure to pay taxes, one can only imaginewhat things will be like when they actuallyhave power...Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs|Comments
Outlook Very Bleak for Caroline Kennedy Senate Appointment
By Tommy Christopher (Political Machine)
Submitted at 1/15/2009 4:20:00 AM
To the naked eye, the fight to seatCaroline Kennedy as Hillary Clinton'ssuccessor in the Senate may look like a see-saw battle, but in reality, it has been prettyone-sided. The media, with the aid of Kennedy supporters, has been pushingdown hard on Caroline's side of the teeter-totter, but the other side hasn't reallybudged.My sources, and the Governor's office,have consistently refuted reports thatCaroline was a shoo-in. One source eventold me, "The Associated Press hasembarassed itself twice now, getting itwrong. (Their sources) are badlymisinformed."What I'm hearing today is even lessencouraging for Ms. Kennedy's chances atthe seat.One source close to the situation tells methat the Governor's decision will be "basedmore on the current perspective, asopposed to the historical perspective." Hewent on to say that "she's been given a fairshake by the public, by the media, and nowshe can be judged based on what we'veseen in the past few months, not whatwe've hoped for over the last 30 years."It also appears that the appointment willbe made after the Inauguration, not before.The Governor is "hoping to get a littleleeway with this while the Inauguration'sgoing on."Another bad sign is the absence of pressure from the President-Elect's office.While there was a considerable push whenKennedy's appointment was first floated,there has been nothing since. That initialsurge of muscle behind Kennedy seems tohave hurt more than it helped. TheGovernor viewed it as an "unwelcomedistraction," and the public pushed back against what many of them saw as acoronation.While I have't been able to pin down afront-runner, I can tell you that since myfirst reporting on this, I haven't been ableto get a single source to bite at AndrewCuomo. In fact, one told me, ratherpointedly, that there are a lot of goodcandidates in New York, and that no onefamily has a monopoly on good ideas.Everyone is being very cagey about this,even off the record, so while nobody willname a front-runner, there is only onename that I've heard over and over again:Kirsten Gillibrand. The Congresswomanfrom the 20th District is a Hillary Clintonprotege, who won re-election in a landslidein 2008.I like Gillibrand's chances, and picking aHillary loyalist would be good politics. Onthe other hand, Gillibrand is a Blue Dog,more conservative on many issues.Caroline Kennedy would be a reliablyliberal pick. With all of the aisle-reachingthese days, it would be nice to shore up theDemocratic wing of the Democratic Party.Tommy on: BlogTalkRadio I Digg! IFacebook I TwitterPermalink| Email this| Linking Blogs|Comments
CNN's Sanchez Gives Joethe PlumbingCorrespondent the What For
By Denise Williams (Political Machine)
Submitted at 1/15/2009 2:56:00 AM
Filed under: Humor, Media I tend to findCNN's Rick Sanchez an overbearing bore,but sometimes the world is a better placefor overbearing bores. Watch Sanchez tearJoe the Plumber a new one for his recentcomments on war reporting. For the nextcouple of days, Sanchez gets a bye fromme wishing for another taser lesson.Watch more LiveLeak videos on AOLVideoh/t BC and WonkettePermalink| Email this| Linking Blogs|Comments
Chargers May Bid Farewell toTomlinson
By jonasvoss (AOL News)
Submitted at 1/14/2009 6:06:20 PM
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Treasury Nominee TimothyGeithner Knowingly ReceivedPayment for Unpaid Taxes
By Mark Impomeni (Political Machine)
Submitted at 1/14/2009 11:45:00 PM
Filed under: Obama Administration Moreallegations of tax irregularities surroundingTimothy Geithner, President-elect Barack Obama's nominee to be Secretary of theTreasury, were revealed today, and theyindicate that Geithner was fully aware thathe was flouting U.S. tax law during thetime he worked for the InternationalMonetary Fund. Geithner has admitted thathe made errors in his tax returns between2001 and 2004, when he worked for theIMF. Obama has dismissed the chargesagainst Geithner as an "innocent mistake."But documents posted on the SenateFinance Committee web site show thatGeithner filed signed forms to receivereimbursement from the IMF for taxes paideach year that he worked there. Geithnernever paid the taxes after receiving thereimbursement.The IMF does not withhold SocialSecurity or Medicare taxes from itsemployees' paychecks. Nor does itwithhold federal and state income taxes.But the international agency providesevery employee with a tax manualexplaining their tax liabilities, as well asquarterly and year end statementsspecifically designed for the purpose of calculating taxes owed. The agency alsorequires that employees fill out and signthe reimbursement forms, which contain apledge that the employee will pay the taxesfor which he was reimbursed. Geithnersigned the forms, but never paid the taxes.President-elect Obama characterizedGeithner's tax problems as "common"among Americans working forinternational organizations in Washington.But the IMF went out of its way to makesure that its employees did not make taxmistakes. Geithner was aware that he owedfederal and state income taxes on his salaryas evidenced by the documents he signedand the tax allowances he received. Butstill, he failed to pay his taxes. That isneither innocent nor common, and suggeststhat Obama's pick to be the nation's chief financial officer is simply a common taxcheat. Geithner's bid to be the man incharge of the IRS, among other things, wasalready in serious trouble when SenateRepublicans forced a delay in hisconfirmation hearings. The revelation thatGeithner knew, or should have known, thathe was delinquent with his taxes could be adeath blow to his nomination. President-elect Obama should seriously considerwhether he wants to put Geithner throughthe embarrassment of what will certainlybe a contentious and sensationalizedconfirmation hearing.Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs|Comments
Michael Moore Angers War Photographer
By Brandon Barker (Political Machine)
Submitted at 1/15/2009 3:31:00 AM
Filed under: Scandal, Gaffes, Media TheNew York Post's Page Six is claiming thatMichael Yon, a former Special Forcesfighter, is planning to sue Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore formisuse of his photo showing a bloody Iraqichild carried by an American soldier.According to the report, Mr. Yon, nowknown for his pro-soldier blog reportsfrom wartime Iraq and Afghanistan, takesgreat pains to ensure the integrity of hisimages and "goes out of his way to makesure they aren't used for demagogicdiatribes."Mr. Moore's Web site, which also goesby the name Demagogic Diatribes "R" Us,used the dramatic image in a posting lastyear to show his disgust with the Iraq war,the George W. Bush Administration, andpossibly Carl's Jr. For nearly sevenmonths, Yon tried to contact Moore todiscuss the issue, but he never heard back.Page Six spoke with Yon's lawyer, whosaid, "The implication on Moore's Web sitewas that our soldiers were somehowresponsible for that kid being wounded...That is absolutely not true." Yon alsoweighed in, saying, "I've never suedanyone in my life. It looks like Mr. Mooremight be the first."The image (see below), which wasselected by TIME.com viewers as 2005'sbest photo, shows Army Maj. Mark Biegercarrying an Iraqi girl fatally wounded by acar-bomb.B. Brandon Barker can also be foundhere.Permalink| Email this| Linking Blogs|Comments
Google Axes Dodgeball, Jaiku, Videoand More
By Jason Kincaid (TechCrunch)
Submitted at 1/14/2009 8:07:13 PM
At Google, when it rains, it pours. In thewake of announcing its first round of layoffs this afternoon, Google has releasedseveral blog posts detailing the upcomingshutdown of a number of services(compiled here by Danny Sullivan).Included among the upcoming closuresare: Google Notebooks, Google Catalogs,Dodgeball, Google Video, Google MashupEditor, and future development of Jaiku(though the service will live on).Below we’ve summarized the upcomingchanges:Jaiku is currently being ported to GoogleApp Engine, and will be released as anopen source project on Google Code.However, while there will be no furtherdevelopment from Google, it will continueto stay online.Dodgeball, which allows users to sharetheir current locations using SMSmessages, will be discontinued entirelythough Google has yet to establish atimeframe more specific than “a couple of months”.The Mashup Editor (which is in privatebeta) is being replaced by App Engine.(Click here for Google’s post on Jaiku,Dodgeball, and its Mashup Editor).Google Notebook will continue tofunction for current users, but will nolonger accept new ones. However, existingusers won’t be able to use the browserextension, which makes the servicesignificantly less useful. Among Google’ssuggestions for replacements areSearchWiki, Google Docs, Tasks (Gmail),and Google Bookmarks.Catalog Search was meant todemonstrate Optical CharacterRecognition, and fit the bill nicely. Now ithas fallen out of favor as attention hasshifted to Google’s Book Search.Finally, Google Video will have itsupload capabilities disabled in a fewmonths, though users will still be able towatch content that’s already in the system.This has been a long time coming, asGoogle Video has largely been consideredredundant following Google’s acquisitionof YouTube in 2006.It’s unclear at this point if this is the startof a new trend: has Google slashed all it’sgoing to in the upcoming months, or arethe future of its less popular products indoubt? Knol, Google’s Wikipediacompetitor, has largely failed to catch on.And what about Grand Central - theadvanced telecom service that has a devoutfan base, but still hasn’t been released tothe general public?Crunch Network: CrunchBoard becauseit’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Did Baltimore Try to Hurt Chris Johnson?
By ChrisJBurke08 (AOL News)
Submitted at 1/14/2009 11:21:26 AM
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