Author: HL

Gadhafi’s Personal Holy War
Moammar Gadhafi has had it up to here with Switzerland. First they arrest his son on charges of beating up two servants at a luxury hotel. Then they pass a pretty horrible law banning mosque’s minarets. Now, Gadhafi has called for a holy war against the country, a move which has received almost universal denouncement. —JCL The Guardian: Libya’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi, ­yesterday [Thursday] called for a jihad, or holy war, against Switzerland, in an escalation of his vendetta against the country where police once arrested his son. At a meeting in the city of Benghazi to mark the prophet Muhammad’s birthday, Gaddafi described the country as an infidel state that was “destroying” mosques. Last year he urged the UN to abolish Switzerland and divide it between Germany, France and Italy. “Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate – is against Muhammad, God and the Qur’an,” Gaddafi said. Read more

Moammar Gadhafi has had it up to here with Switzerland. First they arrest his son on charges of beating up two servants at a luxury hotel. Then they pass a pretty horrible law banning mosque’s minarets. Now, Gadhafi has called for a holy war against the country, a move which has received almost universal denouncement. —JCL

The Guardian:

Libya’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi, ­yesterday [Thursday] called for a jihad, or holy war, against Switzerland, in an escalation of his vendetta against the country where police once arrested his son.

At a meeting in the city of Benghazi to mark the prophet Muhammad’s birthday, Gaddafi described the country as an infidel state that was “destroying” mosques. Last year he urged the UN to abolish Switzerland and divide it between Germany, France and Italy.

“Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate – is against Muhammad, God and the Qur’an,” Gaddafi said.

Read more

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Sen. Bunning Stalls Jobless Benefits Bill
Sen. Jim Bunning was not a popular man among his Democratic colleagues this week. The Kentucky Republican, apparently so concerned about the federal budget deficit that he thought it unwise to allow the passage of legislation extending unemployment and health care help to jobless Americans, enacted a “one-man filibuster,” as the Los Angeles Times put it, and he didn’t budge by Friday afternoon despite the outrage coming at him from the other side of the aisle.  —KA Los Angeles Times: The programs are set to expire at midnight Sunday, and the Senate’s inaction could delay payments. Democratic and Republican leaders had agreed to pass a one-month extension through a process known as unanimous consent, in which no formal vote was required. But Bunning’s objection means the bill can’t go forward. The extension had been passed by the House and was ready to be signed into law. Read more

Sen. Jim Bunning was not a popular man among his Democratic colleagues this week. The Kentucky Republican, apparently so concerned about the federal budget deficit that he thought it unwise to allow the passage of legislation extending unemployment and health care help to jobless Americans, enacted a “one-man filibuster,” as the Los Angeles Times put it, and he didn’t budge by Friday afternoon despite the outrage coming at him from the other side of the aisle.? —KA

Los Angeles Times:

The programs are set to expire at midnight Sunday, and the Senate’s inaction could delay payments.

Democratic and Republican leaders had agreed to pass a one-month extension through a process known as unanimous consent, in which no formal vote was required. But Bunning’s objection means the bill can’t go forward. The extension had been passed by the House and was ready to be signed into law.

Read more

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Harold Pollack: Experts Say: It’s Time to Act on Comprehensive Health Reform
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Hannity is the one “obscuring the facts” on premiums under health care reform

While attempting to correct President Obama, Sean Hannity cited the Congressional Budget Office’s statement that “the average premium” for individual policyholders would increase “10 to 13 percent” under the Senate health bill. However the CBO stated that premiums paid by a majority of people insured on the individual market would decrease when factoring in federal subsidies included in the bill.

From the February 26 edition of Fox News’ Hannity:

HANNITY: Biden’s hot mic wasn’t the only problem the Democrats ran into at yesterday’s health care summit. Facts also seemed to pose difficulty for them. Now that was particularly evident in the President’s exchange with Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander.

OBAMA: So, Lamar when you mentioned earlier that you said premiums go up, that’s just not the case according to the Congressional Budget Office.

ALEXANDER:  If you going to contradict me I ought to have a chance to — the Congressional Budget Office report says that premiums will rise in the individual market, as a result of the Senate bill.

OBAMA: No, this is an example of where we got to get our facts straight.

HANNITY: All right, now a look back at that CBO report commissioned by Indiana Democrat Evan Bayh shows that it is the president who needs to get his facts straight. The report concludes, “the average premium per person covered would be about 10 to 13 percent higher in 2016 than the average premium for nongroup coverage in that same year under the current law.” Wow, what a great bill. No wonder the Democrats are obscuring the facts.

CBO backs Obama: Bill would actually result in lower premiums for most enrollees

CBO: Premiums paid by most individuals would decrease. The CBO estimated that premiums paid by a majority of people insured on the individual market would decrease when factoring in federal subsidies that are included in the bill. CBO stated, “The majority of nongroup enrollees (about 57 percent) would receive subsidies via the new insurance exchanges, and those subsidies, on average, would cover nearly two-thirds of the total premium, CBO and JCT [Joint Committee on Taxation] estimate. Thus, the amount that subsidized enrollees would pay for nongroup coverage would be roughly 56 percent to 59 percent lower, on average, than the nongroup premiums charged under current law.” Conservative claims that the bill would increase premiums in the individual market are based on estimates that do not factor in subsidies. CBO stated that figures identical to those cited by conservatives “indicate what enrollees would pay, on average, not accounting for the new federal subsidies.”

CBO: Premiums increase for some in nongroup market rise due to people buying more coverage. CBO found that the increase in average premiums in the nongroup market was due to people purchasing “a greater amount of coverage:

Average premiums would be 27 percent to 30 percent higher because a greater amount of coverage would be obtained. In particular, the average insurance policy in this market would cover a substantially larger share of enrollees’ costs for health care (on average) and a slightly wider range of benefits. Those expansions would reflect both the minimum level of coverage (and related requirements) specified in the proposal and people’s decisions to purchase more extensive coverage in response to the structure of subsidies.

This increase would be partially offset by “a net reduction in costs that insurers incurred to deliver the same amount of insurance coverage to the same group of enrollees” and “a shift in the types of people obtaining coverage.”

Washington Post’s Ezra Klein: “CBO found health-care reform would reduce premiums.” The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein reported on Alexander and Obama’s exchange in a February 25 post:

Lamar Alexander and Barack Obama just had a contentious exchange on this point, so it’s worth settling the issue: Yes, the CBO found health-care reform would reduce premiums. The issue gets confused because it also found that access to subsidies would encourage people to buy more comprehensive insurance, which would mean that the value of their insurance would be higher after reform than before it. But that’s not the same as insurance becoming more expensive: The fact that I could buy a nicer car after getting a better job suggests that cars are becoming pricier. The bottom line is that if you’re comparing two plans that are exactly the same, costs go down after reform.

CNN’s Velshi: “57 percent of those insured will see a government subsidy, which will bring the average premium down, actually.” During CNN’s coverage of the health care summit, Wolf Blitzer aired a portion of Obama’s exchange with Alexander, and chief business correspondent Ali Velshi stated that Obama was “more right than Senator Alexander.” Velshi stated: “The CBO, which is an independent — independent of the political party — says that rates will go up. But here’s the reality: 57% of those insured will see a government subsidy, which will bring the average premium down, actually. It would be — it would drive average premiums down 7 to 10 percent, but this is all based on assumptions.”

PolitiFact: “CBO reported that, for most people, premiums would stay about the same, or slightly decrease.” A January 27 PolitiFact.com analysis labeled the claim that health care reform would cause premiums for most Americans to increase “pants on fire” false and stated: “The CBO reported that, for most people, premiums would stay about the same, or slightly decrease.” From PolitiFact.com:

On Nov. 30, 2009, the Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, released a detailed analysis on how health insurance premiums might be affected by the Senate Democrats’ health care bill. The CBO is an independent agency whose estimates for pending legislation are considered nonpartisan and rigorous.

The CBO reported that, for most people, premiums would stay about the same, or slightly decrease. This was especially true for people who get their insurance through work. (Health policy wonks call these the large group and small group markets.) People who have to go out and buy insurance on their own (the individual market) would see rates increase by 10 to 13 percent. But more than half of those people — 57 percent, in fact — would be eligible for subsidies to help them pay for the insurance. People who get subsidies would see their premiums drop by more than half, according to the CBO. So most people would see their premiums stay the same or potentially drop.

CBO: Premiums in group market will not increase. CBO estimated that the large group and small group markets make up 83 percent of the insurance market and that those premiums will not increase.

 

After Rep. Resigns In Sex Scandal, Georgia County Elects GOPer Who Had Affair With Mother-In-Law
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Rangel: I Was Misled On Caribbean Junkets; Ethics Panel: Us Too!
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Leahy Calls For Justice Department Investigation Into Missing John Yoo Emails
A long-awaited Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) report released last week found that lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee “had committed professional misconduct in writing legal opinions that authorized torture.” The OPR report revealed that many of Yoo’s emails had vanished: [W]e were told that most of Yoo’s records had been deleted and were […]

A long-awaited Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) report released last week found that lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee “had committed professional misconduct in writing legal opinions that authorized torture.” The OPR report revealed that many of Yoo’s emails had vanished:

[W]e were told that most of Yoo’s records had been deleted and were not recoverable. [Former Deputy AAG] Philbin’s email records from July 2002 through August 5, 2002 — the time period in which the Bybee Memo was completed and the Classified Bybee Memo (discussed below) was created — had also been deleted and were reportedly not recoverable.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) “called on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the destruction of emails” and reported that “he destruction of these emails represents a blatant violation of the Federal Records Act (FRA) and may break criminal laws.”

In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said the deleted records pose “very serious concerns about government transparency and whether the [OPR] had access to all of the information relevant to the inquiries.”

Leahy then asked whether the DOJ has initiated an investigation into the circumstances behind the destruction of the emails. Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler said the DOJ is in the process of trying to establish the facts for why the emails disappeared. Grindler also studiously avoided suggesting that any foul play was behind the disappearance of the emails, stating that there was “nothing nefarious” about the deletions. Leahy then drew a parallel between the Yoo emails and the emails that the Bush White House previously claimed had disappeared:

I recall when millions of emails mysteriously disappeared during the Bush administration, and I had [said] they don’t just disappear. They must be there. And I recall them sending their press secretary Ms. Perino out to say, ‘what is he some kind of IT expert? That’s foolish, they’ve been deleted. They’ve disappeared. We all know they’ve disappeared. Why would anyone suggest otherwise.’ And then we found 22 million emails. […]

During the firing of the U.S. Attorneys…there were a number of emails by Mr. Karl Rove and others in the White House that were missing. Now, two months ago, we finally find those emails of course after the investigation was over and after the time when the U.S. Attorneys might have been reinstated. I hope we don’t have to wait that long this time.

Watch it:

Newsweek reports that the National Archives is pressing the Justice Department to investigate the “possible unauthorized destruction of e-mail and other records” within the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

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Bob Shrum, The Week
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Good Night, Financial Independence

By Mike Luckovich

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Fox News personalities accuse DOJ of sympathizing with terrorists

Numerous Fox News personalities have accused the Department of Justice (DOJ) of sympathizing with terrorists, citing reports that nine DOJ attorneys had previously represented or advocated for terrorism suspects in their private practices. Monica Crowley and Steve Doocy accused the lawyers of being “terrorist sympathizers” and being “sympathetic” to terrorists, respectively, and Michelle Malkin asked whether the DOJ has “jihadis’ best interests at heart.”

Fox News figures suggest DOJ lawyers sympathize with terrorists

Fox & Friends co-host Doocy wonders if DOJ lawyers are “sympathetic to the Al Qaeda cause.” During the February 22 edition of Fox & Friends, Doocy stated: “At least nine of President Obama’s appointees to the Department of Justice have either represented Gitmo detainees — they were their attorneys — or advocated for Gitmo detainees.” The Fox & Friends discussion continued:

DOOCY: And this is extraordinary. Debra Burlingame, whose brother was killed on 9-11, says, “It’s like they’re bringing Al Qaeda lawyers inside the Department of Justice.”

BRIAN KILMEADE (co-host): Senator [Chuck] Grassley [R-IA] said, “Hey, I’m just curious, Attorney General Holder. Who is — who are your appointees, and what are their backgrounds?” It took them three months to get this memo back. And when it’s all said and done, five defended Gitmo detainees and four — what’s the term they used?

ALISYN CAMEROTA (guest co-host): Amicus brief. I think it means “friend of the court.” They filed a brief on behalf of them.

KILMEADE: So, you would say, advocate in their cause.

CAMEROTA: Well, yes. Or you could also say this is — these are just defense attorneys doing their job. You know, defense attorneys don’t shy away from doing the hardest cases of mafiosos or suspected terrorists or mass murderers. In some ways, that’s what they went to school for.

DOOCY: Right, but –

CAMEROTA: They believe in giving them defense. That’s what they would say –

DOOCY: Sure.

CAMEROTA: — and that’s what Eric Holder has said. He says, “Look, we’ll be able to gain from their expertise when they come inside the Department of Justice. Who knows what’s going on in Gitmo better” –

DOOCY: Right.

CAMEROTA: — “than these people?” So, that’s the argument on the other side.

DOOCY: And you — and the argument continues, you know, if they represented these guys, are they sympathetic to the Al Qaeda cause?

Fox News contributor Crowley says DOJ is “relatively stocked” with “terrorist sympathizers.” During the February 23 edition of America Live, Crowley stated, “[I]t seems that we have a DOJ that is relatively stocked with what could be assumed to be terrorist sympathizers, because if you think enough of these Guantánamo Bay detainees to represent them, what does that tell you about where these people are coming from?” Host Megyn Kelly subsequently stated, “[Y]ou can argue that’s what you get paid to do. Argue both sides,” and asked, “Is there evidence here of the couple he — we know of, they’re true believers. They’re not soulless lawyers. They actually believe that these terrorist suspects down in Gitmo are the wronged parties.” Crowley responded:

Exactly right. We’re talking about some very far-left activists here who have taken on the cause of these Guantánamo Bay detainees as a cause célèbre, as a legal cause célèbre.

Fox News contributor Malkin suggests DOJ has “jihadis’ best interests … at heart.” During the February 25 edition of Fox & Friends, Malkin stated, “It raises all sorts of conflicts of interest questions, and, more importantly, national security questions.” She continued: “I think that the American people have a right to know whether the people who are working for them in the government are people who have the jihadis’ best interests, and not our best interests, at heart.” Doocy responded that the attorneys would probably say they are not sympathetic to the terrorism suspects.

The Fox Nation: “Department of Jihad?” The Fox Nation featured the headline “DOJ: Department of Jihad?” and linked to an Investor’s Business Daily editorial. The IBD editorial stated:

The Justice Department employs nine lawyers previously involved in the defense of terrorist detainees. This is a colossal conflict of interest. Just whose side are they on?

From The Fox Nation, accessed February 25:

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Frank Gaffney Posits That Missile Defense Logo Is Evidence of Obama’s ‘Submission To Shariah’
Frank Gaffney, a protégé of Richard Perle and an influential figure in right wing national security circles, has firmly entered the world of right wing tin-foil hat paranoia. Media Matters documents the development of a new right wing conspiracy theory, claiming that the Obama administration manipulated the redesign of the Missile Defense Agency to look […]

Frank Gaffney, a protégé of Richard Perle and an influential figure in right wing national security circles, has firmly entered the world of right wing tin-foil hat paranoia.

Media Matters documents the development of a new right wing conspiracy theory, claiming that the Obama administration manipulated the redesign of the Missile Defense Agency to look like his campaign logo. This theory then evolved to claims that the new logo incorporates the Islamic crescent as well:

This nutty conspiracy theory was escalated by Frank Gaffney, who sees it as explaining Obama’s rationale behind his cuts to missile defense. How so? Well because he is a secret Muslim of course, which since all Muslims are out to destroy America, means Obama is out to do the same:

A just-unveiled symbolic action suggests, however, that something even more nefarious is afoot… Team Obama’s anti-anti-missile initiatives are not simply acts of unilateral disarmament of the sort to be expected from an Alinsky acolyte. They seem to fit an increasingly obvious and worrying pattern of official U.S. submission to Islam and the theo-political-legal program the latter’s authorities call Shariah… the new MDA shield appears ominously to reflect a morphing of the Islamic crescent and star with the Obama campaign logo… Watch this space as we identify and consider various, ominous and far more clear-cut acts of submission to Shariah by President Obama and his team.

So according to Gaffney, Obama hates missile defense so much that he wants to change the Missile Defense Agency’s logo to reflect his campaign symbol, as well as his secret Muslim identity? While this makes no sense, as Brendan Nyhan explains this is part of a strategy to spread fear-mongering “smears against Obama’s loyalty and false claims about Obama’s religion. As laughable as ‘Logo-gate’ may be, the underlying strategy is deeply disturbing.” As Matt Duss has noted:

Gaffney’s own past work strongly argues against taking him seriously as an analyst. As someone willing to cast deeply irresponsible and transparently bigoted accusations against the president, however, he should be taken very seriously.

Yet Gaffney is a prominent member of the right wing security establishment. He writes a regular column for the Washington Times, is a frequent commentator on cable television, and runs his own right-wing defense organization. Just this past October, at Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy “Keeper of the Flame” annual award dinner, Vice President Cheney was the featured speaker and recipient of the reward. Other guest speakers included Sen. Jon Kyl and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

By spreading this crazy paranoid conspiracy, Gaffney not only is defaming the President, he is also defaming the people who work and lead the Missile Defense Agency. The idea that the President would pay attention to an agency logo redesign or that the design in anyway reflected some secret Muslim agenda, as Richard Lehner of the Missile Defense Agency noted, “is ridiculous.” Lehner told Fox that “it isn’t a new logo to replace the official logo. It’s a logo developed for recruiting materials and for our public Web site. Also, it was used prior to the 2008 election and it has no link to any political campaign.”

Additionally, the one to approve the new logo is likely the head of the Missile Defense Agency, Lt. General Patrick O’Reilly, someone the right wing must now presumably believe is complicit with Obama’s secret plan to further the United States’ “submission to Islam.”

Health Care Summit Analysis: Closing thoughts
Washington Post reporters broke down the key flashpoints in real time as Republicans and Democrats shared their competing visions of health-care legislation.

Rep. Peter Roskam makes remarks at White House health summit
BOEHNER: I want to yield to Peter Roskam from Illinois.

Sen. Chris Dodd makes remarks on coverage at White House health summit
DODD: Well, thank you, Mr. President. And I’ll try and keep this brief and turn it over to Patty, so we’ll take the time for one person and divide into two.

Rep. Rob Andrews makes remarks on cutting health-care costs at White House health summit
OBAMA: OK. I’m going to let Rob — feel free to respond to anything they’ve indicated, or to any of the other issues that have been discussed.

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Obama is Liked, But He Isn’t Feared
Rupert Cornwell, The Independent
What went wrong? In January 2009, Barack Obama took power in a nation that overwhelmingly yearned for him to succeed. He was a fresh face, eloquent, thoughtful, plainly intelligent. On Capitol Hill, his party had massive majorities. All of that remains true. Yet, just 13 months later, America is in about as foul a mood as when George W. Bush reached his nadir. Most parties that win the White House lose seats at the next mid-term elections. This November though, Democrats are bracing for a wipe-out that could conceivably see them lose control of both House and Senate, as the independent voters…

How Obama Screwed Volcker
Charles Gasparino, The Daily Beast
Enter your email address:Enter the recipients' email addresses, separated by commas:Message: AP Photos The president needed the gravitas of the former Fed chairman to sell his bank reform to Wall Street. And when the “Volcker Rule” didn’t fly, Obama sold him out.Barack Obama owes Paul Volcker a lot, but he apparently owes the fat cats on Wall Street even more. That’s the only reasonable conclusion that can be made from the president’s timely and, in some ways, bizarre about-face on the former…

Let’s Be Sure of Climate Change Facts First
Roddy Campbell, Prospect
An automatic weather station being installed on Butler Island, AntarcticaThe belief that man is warming the Earth's climate via greenhouse gas emissions is supported by evidence showing a modest increase in global temperatures over recent decades. But what is the scale of these increases, and are they in any way abnormal? To find out, we need an accurate record over a long period. This is where the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) comes in, and why the “climategate”� scandal over its leaked emails matters so much.The CRU is one of the world's…