President Obama still has until January 2017 so this might be premature but it would be fair to say that this administration has been the most scandal free Presidency since that of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Obama administration has not produced any financial, political, or personal scandals. Some people might think this is premature but if there were any skeletons in Obama's closet they would have come out by now. It's odd how nobody points out how scandal free this administration has been. It could be that nobody notices when things go right.
The reality is that the right wing corporate media doesn't want to give the President any credit. It just doesn't want the public to know how well the Obama administration is doing because it would go against the interests of its corporate masters.
The media operates according to scurrilous hysteria, of the kind devised by Rupert Murdoch. As Michael Moore pointed out in "Bowling for Columbine" the Murdoch approach to the news is to keep the viewers in a constant state of hysteria. And most of the other media outlets have followed Murdoch not only in political orientation to the right but also in the same hysterical tactics. Conservatives still whine about the "liberal media" but in reality Liberal voices have become a minority in todays' media culture.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Thursday, March 19, 2015
Schock the Maximum Douchebag
It's getting boring almost keeping up with GOPer malfeasance. Consider, Aaron Schock, a GOPer representative who drew fire when he had his office decorated in a "Downton Abbey" theme. The decorator worked for free, which raised some ethical questions. Schock, who is barely 33 years old, is apparently vain about his looks, and posed for a shirtless pic of himself on the cover of "Men's Fitness" back in June 2011. Which shows what a douchebag he is. But it also turns out he's a crook. According to USA Today and ABC News Schock "... spent over $100,000 in government funds on office decorating and renovations between January 2009 and late 2014, mostly during his first term.[113] Other media reported Schock had charged thousands of dollars for private flights, legal expenses, new cars, tickets to the Super Bowl and Country Music Awards,[114] as well as cufflinks, massage, "gold equipment" and cigars[115] to his government-funded office account. The Associated Press accessed the location metadata on Schock's Instagram photos and correlated it with private flight records to identify flights that did not correspond to his campaign finance disclosures."
Schock, who couldn't stand the heat, has now resigned.
Schock is really only a symptom of the problem. Since the GOP believes that government cannot play a useful role in public life, it appears that GOPers only seek public office in order to line their pockets. The GOPer mentality inevitably leads to corruption. Public corruption has reached levels, just as bad, if not worse than the "Gilded Age"(late 19th century.)
Schock, who couldn't stand the heat, has now resigned.
Schock is really only a symptom of the problem. Since the GOP believes that government cannot play a useful role in public life, it appears that GOPers only seek public office in order to line their pockets. The GOPer mentality inevitably leads to corruption. Public corruption has reached levels, just as bad, if not worse than the "Gilded Age"(late 19th century.)
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
The Great Iraqi Generator Fiasco
Business Insider has recently published an article by Jeremy Bender titled "This broken 700-ton generator demonstrates everything that went wrong with the reconstruction of Iraq." Bender tells the history of an American attempt to install a new electric generator in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk: " the US Agency for International Development (USAID) bought a $50 million Siemens V94 generator which was designated for a new power plant in Kirkuk. It was supposed to single-handed increase Iraq's power generation by six 6%."
Then everything went wrong. According to Bender:
Since the 700-ton generator was too heavy to airlift to its final destination, MOAG was first transported by sea to the Syrian port of Tartous. From Tartous it was driven to the Tishrim Dam east of Aleppo at a painstakingly slow speed of five miles per hour. But the Syrians refused to allow the generator to cross the dam in retaliation for US sanctions on the country.
Moving an apparatus like that would have been a challenge even in a country with a developed road system. Trying it in war-torn countries without good infrastructure and the results can be devastating.
Bender continues " USAID was forced to reroute MOAG overland through Syria to Jordan. To reach Kirkuk from the Jordan, the generator would be forced pass through the Iraqi province of Anbar, the center of the ongoing Sunni insurgency. Instability in the province necessitated that the generator's movement be delayed as a "single Kalashnikov round could destroy it."
The saga continued: "This rerouting caused the generator to sit on the Jordanian border for all of 2004 and the first three months of 2005. James Stephenson, a veteran member of USAID, notes in his book Losing The Golden Hour how the generator's delivery was further delayed until after the battle of Fallujah and the subsequent clearing of insurgents. Moving the generator before the city was pacified — with its maximum convoy speed of five miles per hour — would have given the insurgents an easy and very tempting target. But the costs of protecting the generator in Jordan ran around $20,000 a day in private security fees, Johnson notes . "
We finally reach the conclusion: By April 2, 2005, MOAG finally reached its destination in Kirkuk after a 640-mile journey through Iraq, with 250 to 300 military personnel accompanying MOAG alongside Humees and a number of helicopters. "
But it was all for nothing: "[N]obody had bothered to train the Iraqi plant workers in the operations and maintenance of this state-of-the-art generator," Johnson told The Daily Beast. "So, months after it was handed over in a triumphant ribbon-cutting ceremony, the generator was broken."
The problem wasn't simply bad planning or execution: the US has made so many enemies in that region that it can't even do the simplest things anymore. Just thinking about it gives you a headache.
Then everything went wrong. According to Bender:
Since the 700-ton generator was too heavy to airlift to its final destination, MOAG was first transported by sea to the Syrian port of Tartous. From Tartous it was driven to the Tishrim Dam east of Aleppo at a painstakingly slow speed of five miles per hour. But the Syrians refused to allow the generator to cross the dam in retaliation for US sanctions on the country.
Moving an apparatus like that would have been a challenge even in a country with a developed road system. Trying it in war-torn countries without good infrastructure and the results can be devastating.
Bender continues " USAID was forced to reroute MOAG overland through Syria to Jordan. To reach Kirkuk from the Jordan, the generator would be forced pass through the Iraqi province of Anbar, the center of the ongoing Sunni insurgency. Instability in the province necessitated that the generator's movement be delayed as a "single Kalashnikov round could destroy it."
The saga continued: "This rerouting caused the generator to sit on the Jordanian border for all of 2004 and the first three months of 2005. James Stephenson, a veteran member of USAID, notes in his book Losing The Golden Hour how the generator's delivery was further delayed until after the battle of Fallujah and the subsequent clearing of insurgents. Moving the generator before the city was pacified — with its maximum convoy speed of five miles per hour — would have given the insurgents an easy and very tempting target. But the costs of protecting the generator in Jordan ran around $20,000 a day in private security fees, Johnson notes . "
We finally reach the conclusion: By April 2, 2005, MOAG finally reached its destination in Kirkuk after a 640-mile journey through Iraq, with 250 to 300 military personnel accompanying MOAG alongside Humees and a number of helicopters. "
But it was all for nothing: "[N]obody had bothered to train the Iraqi plant workers in the operations and maintenance of this state-of-the-art generator," Johnson told The Daily Beast. "So, months after it was handed over in a triumphant ribbon-cutting ceremony, the generator was broken."
The problem wasn't simply bad planning or execution: the US has made so many enemies in that region that it can't even do the simplest things anymore. Just thinking about it gives you a headache.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Where's The Outrage?
It seems that Netanyahu is going to speak to the US congress, and the campaign to provoke a war between the US and Iran is gaining momentum. This is the worst insult paid by a foreign nation to the US. The fact that the GOP "superpatriots" of the GOP are a allowing this to happen shows their cynicism. The only puzzle is why the Obama administration even allowed Netanyahu into the US. Furthermore, Ron Dermer, the Israeli ambassador who set this whole stunt up should be declared persona non grata and should be sent packing. In fact, the entire relationship to Israel should be reconsidered.
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