President Bushsidestepped the Senate and installed embattled
nominee John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations on Monday,
ending a five-month impasse with Democrats who accused Bolton of
abusing subordinates and twisting intelligence to fit his conservative
ideology. "This post is too important to leave vacant any longer,
especially during a war and a vital debate about UN reform," Bush
said....read on
This was a fairly obvious move by the President. If
anybody thinks that Bush will ever care what the Senators, House, or
the American people think are sadly mistaken. If he could recess
appoint his Social Security plan he would. ( lol ) Cole thinks it doesnt matter either way.
I wonder given today's advancements with the
internet(s) and 24/7 if Bolton's appointment now makes him look like a
bigger lame duck than normal. The amount of coverage his nomination
received was viewed world wide with endless discussions for and against
him and I wonder if this sends a terrible message to the world. We have
a democratic process, if it stalls the President acts like a King and
makes the appointment anyway. Not that it hasn't been done in the
past, but the visibility of it so much much higher now.
Countdown w/o Olbermann has the video of Bolton being
booed as he enters the UN. Also the segment includes reactions from
Obama, Dodd, Voinovich and Kofi.
Yellow Dog digs up this piece on Richard Holbooke's nomination.
"Richard Holbrooke, who Republicans delayed for 14 months as Bill
Clinton's nominee to the U.N., refused to bypass the Senate with a
recess appointment, saying that it would introduce him to the world
body with no credibility or authority."
The Iraqi Rocky Horror Show could get a whole-lot more Horrible!
Do say your prayers tonight. The print edition of the American Conservative includes a startling passage
-- one which my readers will find evocative and horrifying. According
to the article, Dick Cheney has personally instructed the Pentagon...to draw up plans to nuke Iran immediately after the next terror attack. And we all know that such an attack is inevitable.
Iran will fry even if that nation has nothing to do with the terrorism!
In
Washington it is hardly a secret that the same people in and around the
administration who brought you Iraq are preparing to do the same for
Iran. The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick
Cheney’s office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command
(STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in
response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States.
The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both
conventional and tactical nuclear weapons. Within Iran there are more
than 450 major strategic targets, including numerous suspected
nuclear-weapons-program development sites. Many of the targets are
hardened or are deep underground and could not be taken out by
conventional weapons, hence the nuclear option. As in the case of Iraq,
the response is not conditional on Iran actually being involved in the
act of terrorism directed against the United States. Several senior Air
Force officers involved in the planning are reportedly appalled at the
implications of what they are doing—that Iran is being set up for an
unprovoked nuclear attack—but no one is prepared to damage his career
by posing any objections. (more...)
The lives of untold millions may be saved if those officers develop a conscience and go public.
Of course, right-wing propagandists have tried to convince us that Mr. and Mrs. Average Iranian really, really love
America, deep in their hearts. That, presumably, is why Dick Cheney
wants to turn them into glowing green vapor stew, even if they are
innocent of any crime against us.
The US would suddenly find its influence throughout the world
plummeting, its economy badly hurt by boycotts. It would become a
pariah nation. And, if it thinks it faces a terrorist threat now, you
can only imagine what kind of retribution would be exacted.
Rabid dreams are dreamt along the Potomac by persons who routinely foam
at the mouth. Some, like gadfly warmonger Michael Ledeen, or wild-eyed
Ghorbanifar dupes like Congressman Curt Weldon, are dying to get other Americans' boys killed in
the sands of Iran. For the rest of us, these reveries are nightmares.
This nuclear scenario is a fleeting and insubstantial such bad dream,
which can no more be implemented as policy than a Hollywood horror film
could be.
Some Marines to Lose Hundreds in Pay Starting Today
BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Untold numbers of
servicemembers residing off base will see their next paycheck shrink by
as much as $250 -- and many of them may not even know the blow is
coming.
Disbursing shops at several 1st Marine Division and 1st
Force Service Support Group battalions surveyed over the past week said
they learned only recently about the elimination of "geographic rate
protection" under the Basic Allowance for Housing.
The change,
outlined in Marine Administrative Message 315/01 and slated to take
effect Monday, shelves a DoD policy enacted nearly five years ago. The
old policy allowed servicemembers to retain higher housing allowances
even when they moved to cheaper neighborhoods, said Master Sgt. Ervin
Ramos, staff noncommissioned officer-in-charge for the Consolidated
Personnel Administration Center, Headquarters and Support Battalion,
Marine Corps Base.
"It’s money that you don't rate," Ramos said. "Some Marines will have to prepare themselves for the pay cut."
Ramos
is among administrative Marines sounding the alarm. By early last week,
he had already sat down with 40 Marines in his battalion affected by
the change, he said.
But many others on base may not find out except via the MarAdmin, the grapevine or the sticker shock of a leaner paycheck.
One example of how drastic the slash in income will be: An E-7 with family members currently drawing San Diego BAH will now draw Camp Pendleton BAH — and stands to forfeit $422 per month.
Staff
Sgt. Elliot T. Threat, a substance abuse control officer with
Headquarters and Support Battalion, commutes 60 miles one way every day
and stands to lose $600, he said.
He was previously stationed
at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego and received
permanent-change-of station orders to Camp Pendleton — but continues to
draw the MCRD rate.
Until Monday.
His current BAH rate matches his mortgage, he said.
"I'm worried because I'm just waiting on a response from headquarters. I'm not prepared," he said.
Threat, originally from San Jacinto, said he doesn't know whether he'll have to sell his home. He's still mulling his options.
Under the old system, an E-5 transferring to Camp Pendleton could retain his previous rate at Miramar based on proximity.
If
Headquarters Marine Corps did not authorize a move, servicemembers were
allowed to maintain a physical address anywhere within the geographic
area.
Geographic rate protection is expiring because BAH rates
have climbed so that servicemembers no longer have to pay out-of-pocket
expenses for housing, Air Force Col. Virginia Penrod, DoD's director of
military compensation, said in an American Forces Press Service
article.
But Ray Solly, a retired master gunnery sergeant
who's now a realtor in Escondido, said no out-of-pocket costs in San
Diego for home buyers is a pipe dream.
"I think they're
looking at the national picture. They're not looking at the situation
in San Diego County," said Solly, adding that he helps at least a dozen
servicemembers a year buy homes — though mostly not in San Diego
County.
Solly said a master sergeant with a family, and a
housing allowance of $1,696 a month, can't come close to the $2,302
he'll pay monthly for a three-bedroom, two-bath home larger than 1,500
square feet. And that’s a home valued at $400,000 — even though most
homes with those specifications go for $450,000 or higher, he said.
Even with an interest-only loan, the monthly payment — $1,875 — requires money out of pocket.
To
avoid pocket dipping, servicemembers are moving to southwest Riverside
County, and commuting an hour or more each way, for a chance — no
guarantees — to make it on BAH alone.
"They're willing to commute to realize the American dream," he said.
Individual
Rate Protection — which insulates servicemembers against rising housing
costs — will remain in effect despite the changes, as long as
servicemembers stay within the same geographic area, according to the
AFIS article.
If average housing costs go down, people already living in the area will continue to receive the higher amount.
However, servicemembers moving into the area will receive the lower amount, according to the article.
Under
new BAH guidelines, a servicemember moving to a new area will receive
the appropriate BAH rate for that area, regardless of whether troops
already living there are receiving a higher rate, Penrod said.
BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- Untold numbers of
servicemembers residing off base will see their next paycheck shrink by
as much as $250 -- and many of them may not even know the blow is
coming.
