Going into discussions about the Republican-proposed America in Retreat Budget Act, I wonder about updates on facts and visuals.
Back in 2009, we had these informative charts, below — are there good updates on them, now?
How Trillion Dollar Deficits Were Created:
Graphic from the New York Times, June 10, 2006 accompanying an article by David Leonhardt
George W. Bush’s Legacy in a Pie Chart:
Sources of our Federal Deficits, 2009 – Matthew Yglesias, ThinkProgress
Got updates?
Leave a Comment » | 
Barack Obama, Economics, Federalism, Government, Politics, President Obama, Taxes | Tagged: Bush Budget, Economics, Federal Budget, Federal Deficits, Government, Obama Budget, Politics, Taxes | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
CNN, of all outlets, let Anderson Cooper roam through Michelle Bachmann’s absurd, hoax claim that President Obama’s trip to India would cost $200 million a day. Cooper really owns Bachmann on this one.
Vodpod videos no longer available.
4 Comments | Barack Obama, Hoaxes, Political Smear, Politics | Tagged: Anderson Cooper, Barack Obama, CNN, Hoaxes, Michelle Bachmann, Political Smear, Politics | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
I’m a great lover of political cartoons and political cartooning, of all stripes. Great truths sneak out of the pens that produce stunned laughter in a reader (viewer), I think, especially when they stun me into a new realization.
Political cartooning stumbles along through hard times. Where once upon a time a major U.S. city, like St. Louis, would have three or more daily newspapers, each of which would employ more than one cartoonist, the newspapers themselves disappear (more slowly this year, but no new ones have been birthed, either), and those few surviving newspapers try to get along with one or fewer political cartoonists, and they even reduce the number of syndicated cartoons.
Where U.S. history teachers revel in the glorious images and humor of Thomas Nast (even though he was a Republican sympathizer), Thomas Keppler, Berryman, Ding Darling, Herblock, Bill Mauldin, and other bright cartoonists of the 19th and 20th centuries, Daryl Cagle has gallantly tried to preserve the profession and the art, with a group that spreads cartoons of a lot of cartoonists employed by papers or free-lancing.
I subscribe to the electronic newsletter of Cagle Cartoons. I’ve found their processes for getting approval not to work well for me (or work at all — I have yet to get any response on any cartoon I’ve asked them about). But I hope cartoonists like the brilliant Sherffius, or Calvin Grondahl from my almost-native Utah, get enough additional exposure to make them comfortable and keep the cartooning.
Lately I’ve been despairing. Cagle added columns by cartoonists and others. Most of that material tends toward hard conservatism, I find, and lack of reportorial and intellectual rigor.
Like this piece of guano from a reporter named Phil Brennan. Oh, we should have expected it to be lightweight, his being a regular contributor to the disinformation source NewsMax.
But still.
Brennan argues that birthers should give up on their challenges to Obama’s eligibility, because of the chaos that would be caused were Obama to be replaced by John McCain so far into an administration. (Yeah — just hold on. I know.) All the laws Obama signed would be nullified, Brennan wrote, all his appointments nullifed, and the slate wiped clean for McCain and Palin to occupy the White House. Obama’s defended his birth in a U.S. territory successfully so far, so birthers should give up trying for change.
Just for a moment, imagine that the Court does its job and it turns out that Obama can’t come up with a legitimate birth certificate showing that he was indeed born on U.S. soil in what was then the territory of Hawaii, and the Court declares that he is therefore ineligible to serve as the nation’s chief executive.
Should that be the case nothing that he has done, no appointments that he has made nor executive orders he issued would be valid. And under the provisions of the Constitution, John McCain would be declared the legitimate President of the United States and Sarah Palin the Vice President starting with Inauguration Day, 2009.
It might cause a civil war, Brennan says.
Mr. Brennan: I know the U.S. Constitution. I’ve read the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is a friend of mine. What you describe is not in the Constitution, and doesn’t bear any resemblance to reality.
Here’s the comment I posted to Brennan’s piece at Cagle Cartoons:
A couple of fact checking issues here:
1. Hawaii was a state in 1961, not a territory. Hawaii became a state in August 1959.
2. Under the Constitution and federal laws on succession, if the person at the top of the ticket becomes ineligible to serve, the person next in line in succession becomes president. Were Obama declared ineligible, we’d have President Joe Biden.
3. There is no provision to nullify laws and directives of a federal officer later found ineligible for the office. Under pretty well-established law, all of those actions stand unless repealed later. Congressional actions, especially, would not be rolled back. All appointments stand.
4. Obama has already provided unassailable proof of his birth. Under the full faith and credit clause of the Constitution, all states and the federal government must honor official actions of the states. Hawaii issued, under seal, a document verifying that Barack Obama was born in Honolulu in 1961. “Under seal” is the highest authority we can give a document under statutory and common law — it’s got more than 800 years of precedent behind it. The only possible way to get at a document under seal is to provide clear and convincing evidence of fraud on the state. There is no showing of any fraud that stands up in court, under Hawaii or federal rules of evidence.
In short, almost everything stated as fact for the premises of that piece, is fiction.
Bad enough that joints like the Discovery Institute, NewsMax, the Washington Times and others have fired all their fact checkers — but shouldn’t a high school-educated person know better? Is there no editing at Cagle Cartoons at all?
8 Comments | Accuracy, Barack Obama, Birth Certificate, Cartoons, Law, U.S. Constitution | Tagged: Accuracy, Barack Obama, Birthers, Cagle Cartoons, Cartoons, Fact Checkers, Journalism, Law, U.S. Constitution, U.S. Law | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Mad, as in insane, not mad as in angry.
A sign of insanity is failing to get angry at appropriate times.
Some person using the handle “globalpeace” posted this in response to another knee-jerk whine about Obama (see comment #2):
You didn’t get mad when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President.
You didn’t get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy.
You didn’t get mad when a covert CIA operative got outed.
You didn’t get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.
You didn’t get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us.
You didn’t get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war.
You didn’t get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq.
You didn’t get mad when you saw the Abu Grahib photos.
You didn’t get mad when you found out we were torturing people.
You didn’t get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans.
You didn’t get mad when we didn’t catch Bin Laden.
You didn’t get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed.
You didn’t get mad when we let a major US city drown.
You didn’t get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark.
You finally got mad when.. when… wait for it… when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all ok with you but helping other Americans… well [expletive deleted] that. That about right? You know it is.
Not getting angry at appropriate times can indeed be a sign of madness.
13 Comments | Barack Obama, History, Politics, President Obama, Whom the gods destroy they first make mad | Tagged: Compassion, History, Politics, President Obama | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
When President Barack Obama met with a group of outstanding Boy Scouts in the Oval Office a few weeks ago to discuss policies affecting Scouting, and especially policies affecting children, teen agers and young adults in the U.S., very few conservative sites thought it important to cover. Let’s be more precise: No conservative Obama critics, nor much of anyone else, bothered to cover it. I’d love to see links even of local media in the Scouts’ hometowns that printed a story or photo.
To the credit of the White House, neither did the press promote the meeting as a political point. Scouting prefers not to be a political football, and Scouting policy asks that Scouts avoid even looking like politicking while in uniform. (Scouts are encouraged to participate in the political process, including through the three citizenship merit badges, which encourage Scouts to communicate their concerns about policy to elected representatives, while working for the merit badge and in the future as participating citizens.)
2010 is a grand year for Scouting. It’s the centennial of Scouting’s coming to the United States. There’s a special Scout Jamboree, being held at Fort A. P. Hill in Virginia (the last time the Jamboree will be held on federal property — that’s another story for another time). It’s always fun when presidents come to the Jamboree and speak, but it’s not always possible.
But today, news comes that President Obama will send a video speech to the Scouts at the Jamboree, as has been done sometimes in the past. Many of us are disappointed that President Obama will not appear in person; but some of us who have experience scheduling such things know that elected officials cannot make every appearance they would like to. Presidential schedules in the modern world are particularly difficult; for an appearance at Fort A. P. Hill security must be imposed (even on a Scouting event), aircraft landing sites need to be arranged and secured . . . dealing with more than 30,000 Scouts becomes an onerous task.
Still, we’re disappointed.
Adding to that disappointment, comes now a group of harpy Obama critics, no friends of Scouting that I can determine, but anxious to claim this scheduling decision as some sort of snub to Scouting, and to the American flag.
Media Matters has the facts, and puts the scheduling stuff into perspective, “Overhyped conservative nonsense of the Day: Obama hates the Boy Scouts.” Update: Blue Wave News has it in perspective. Wonkette’s satire, unfortunately, goes awry, but her heart and brain are in the right places.
The snub is by those critics who attempt to turn Scouting into a political football. The insults are all from them.
Shame on them, collectively and individually:
Update: We’re going to have to add on a wing to accommodate the Wall of Shame:
Hmmmm.
I’ll wager none of those authors bothers to volunteer for Scouting. I’d be surprised (and disappointed) to discover any were Scouts. Scouting wouldn’t revoke their citizenship merit badges, but they’ve forgotten them, if they ever earned them.
Scouting faces severe hurdles these days, some of them I would say were placed by poobahs at the top of Scouting; these guys listed above are not helping.
Here are some tests to see which of these blogs and pundit outlets is friendly to Scouting: Which of them covered the award, this morning of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award to Tuskegee Airman Charles McGee? Which of them covered the dedication of the U.S. Postal Service’s stamp honoring the Scouting Centennial, today? As of this moment, I can find no media coverage of these things at all, even by local media.
Why do these pundits cover Scouting only when it gives them a chance to make an unfair shot at a politician they don’t like? Seriously, who is doing disservice to Scouting, and the nation?
Good news about Scouting’s 100th Year, and the Jamboree:
102 Comments | Accuracy, Barack Obama, Boy Scouts of America, Ethics, History, Journalism, Patriotism, Political Smear, Politics, President Obama, Presidents | Tagged: Accuracy, Boy Scouts of America, Ethics, History, Journalism, Politics, President Obama | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
President Barack Obama shakes hands with a young Cub Scout, during a meeting with representatives from the Boy Scouts, in the Oval Office, July 12, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
I suspect this was a press release from BSA, which I found at the Cracker Barrel, a blog for Scouting Magazine:
BSA representatives meet with Obama to discuss top concerns for nation’s youth
A group of Boy Scouts of America youth members and executive leaders met with President Barack Obama today to discuss top priorities for the organization’s next century of service.
During the White House meeting, the president and the BSA delegation shared their mutual goals for addressing key concerns for our nation’s youth: healthy living, service to the community, and environmental stewardship.
Obama has shown his support for each of these issues by introducing three relevant programs: Let’s Move!, United We Serve, and America’s Great Outdoors.
As has been the case with every U.S. president since William Howard Taft, Obama serves as the Honorary President of the BSA and helps recognize the achievements of more than 50,000 Eagle Scouts each year by signing their Eagle Scout cards.
Obama’s three initiatives match several concerns not just for the BSA but also for the entire country, said Chief Scout Executive Bob Mazzuca.
“Health, community service, and preserving our environment are priorities for all Americans,” Mazzuca said. “Our first 100 years in Scouting taught us the importance of these issues to America’s youth; our next century of Scouting will focus on creating programs to expand our efforts in these areas.”
To show its commitment to these issues and in honor of the BSA’s 100th Anniversary, the organization presented Obama and the first lady, Michelle Obama, with two camperships for Scouts in their home councils. These scholarships will help two Scouts attend summer camp: one each from the Aloha Area and Chicago Area councils.
While at summer camp, these two deserving Scouts will see first-hand how much fun it is to stay active in the outdoors and learn how preserving our environment is critical in today’s world.
The camperships were presented by the youth members of the BSA’s delegation. This group was made up of young people who represent several of the BSA’s programs. Eagle Scout Brad Lichota, national Order of the Arrow chief, led the youth members.
Others were Cub Scout Raphael Cash from Bowie, Md.; Venturer Shannon Hoff from Falls Church, Va.; Sea Scout M. Robert Marks Jr. from Pittsburgh, Pa.; and Boy Scout Arnold Mears from Parkville, Md.
The photo came from the White House‘s website, separate from the press release.
2 Comments | Barack Obama, Boy Scouts of America, Citizenship, National Parks, National Wilderness Area, Outdoor Recreation, President Obama, Presidents | Tagged: America's Great Outdoors, Bob Mazzuca, Boy Scouts, Boy Scouts of America, Citizenship, President Obama, Scout Centennial, White House | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Thursday evening WordPress had a glitch — a stray character in code caused the system to overwrite some material, to mess up a lot of blogs. It took a couple of hours to fix.
In the birther world, such things only happen “by design.” Because of a glitch that affected 50,000 blogs (including this one), the birthers feel singled out.
Seriously, at that site where the paranoia runs rampant, My Very Own Point of View, the discussion is on what can be discerned by differences in images from microfiche copies of the newspaper columns announcing births recorded in Honolulu, from the Hawaii Vital Records office, in 1961. In 5,000 words or so, the author determined that there are differences in the images because some of the microfiche is scratched, and some isn’t.
Ergo, the author says, Obama conspired to mess with every microfiche in the world, and he’s therefore an alien (probably from the planet Tralfamador, or maybe a waiter in the Restaurant at the End of the Universe).
I’ve read the piece three times trying to figure out what the point is, other than the author has never thought much about libraries or microfiche or newspapers ever before. Am I wrong?
No wonder there’s an aluminum foil shortage, eh?
Warning: Tinfoil Hat Wearers Too Close for Comfort
I suggested a less ominous meaning behind the scratches on the microfiche, but the blog owner found my comments offensive, and refused to post them. I asked why, and this was the response I got:
Because you are not civil. There is nothing about race in this material or in my posts. There is not a single “conclusion drawn”. If you have an INTELLIGENT debate to advance on the material then do so. If you do not, go post somewhere where your poison is not moderated.
Of course, I made no mention of race. I addressed solely the issues of library archival procedures and how they might make for differences in copies from different libraries. Here is the comment she’s talking about; you decide which of us is crazy, Dear Reader:
Why do you assume that microfilm copies should be the same in all locations? You’re assuming that there were not different editions of the same paper, which is incorrect; you’re assuming there is one source of microfilm copies, which is unlikely (many libraries used to make their own microfilm from paper copies in their collections — it’s unlikely, I think, that the Library of Congress would have used the same microfilm available at the University of Hawaii — in 1961 precedence was given to paper collections, and the microfilming was done later).
You assume that later flaws in the film are not introduced by dust, by reading machines that shred the film.
You assume much that is simply not so in the newspaper industry and in library archiving.
And in the end, what do you claim? A couple of periods disappear in photocopies? A new flyspeck appears?
You need to check the rules of civil procedure, specifically with regard to evidence and contemporary business records. I’ll wager you can figure out why most of what you worry about here is no issue in proving things up in a courtroom.
I don’t think I was uncivil. I think that birthers all fall into that category Euripides described, of those whom the gods destroy, they first make mad.
(And, please, if you can figure out what the complaint is about copies differing in quality at different libraries, please tell us what is going on, in comments.)
11 Comments | Barack Obama, Birth Certificate, Hoaxes, Libraries, President Obama, Rampant stupidity, Weblogs | Tagged: Accuracy, Birth Certificate, Birthers, Hoaxes, Libraries, Politics, President Obama, Rampant stupidity, Weblogs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Justice Holmes might have said, “Three generations of this imbecilic video is enough!”
Over at GetDClue.com, where the motto is “~*~ Get a clue & wake up! ~*~ The best way to lead a nation astray of its values is to keep it ignorant of its history,” author Lisa DeClue is doing her best to lead the nation astray by planting false history to keep us all ignorant.
Today, this reeker plopped into my e-mail box — it’s a hoax video. Repeat, it’s a hoax:
The only reason Obama wouldn’t want you to see that is because it’s a waste of your time. It would be laughable were it a high school student history video (I’d flunk it on accuracy and lack of citations). It’s a hoax from set up to wind down. It should be put down.
DeClue explains the video was struck down from some site (probably for reasons of taste; this is an assault on good taste and manners, just in the insulting way it assumes the viewer is too stupid to have read a newspaper in the past three years). It’s now up again on YouTube — a recycled hoax! This one isn’t nearly as funny nor witty as the Cardiff Giant, however.
DeClue sends out e-mails alerting warning of new posts.
Hello!
I’ve just come across a disturbing video you must watch that supposedly shows Obama’s dossier from the FBI. Apparently his actions we know about are only the tip of the iceburg and portend badly for Israel, the war on terror and other foreign policy issues. Not to mention his abuse of our economy and our rights. Please post your comments on the blog and let’s get a good discussion going! We need to come up with some ideas, fellow patriots! Thank you.
Disturbing in its dishonesty, sure. I took a look. I sent her an e-mail alerting her to the hoax, and I left this comment at her site:
This is one of the most irresponsible things you’ve ever posted.
How’s the ride with Osama? Or is the White Citizen’s Council? And if a hoax, so easily disprovable, suckers you in so easily, can it be for any reason other than your own nefarious goals?
FBI doesn’t release dossiers on active politicians, nor on active investigations. That’s the first clue that it’s complete bunk.
Occidental College has a special page answering the questions so stupidly asked in the video [now moved here.] (you didn’t bother to look; you didn’t bother to look)
You could call Columbia to confirm Obama’s attendance there. Lots of others have. You could call Harvard. For the sake of Jesus, he was president of the Harvard Law Review. Nobody but students get to write on to the law review, no one but an active student can even run for president of the organization.
Obama’s birth certificate has been vetted much more than the drilling plans of any oil company.
Shame on you for posting this.
Rewind. Reboot. Time to retract.
It’s probably still up. The true birther fanatics don’t care about getting the facts. They are desperate to do damage to Obama’s reputation, no matter how false their claims may be.
Ms. DeClue wrote back wondering how I could possibly know it’s a hoax. Naif. I wrote back with more hints:
You could call the FBI and ask. In fact, I recommend it.
I spent a decade in Washington, and among other duties, I staffed the confirmation hearings before the Senate Labor, and occasionally the Senate Judiciary Committee. I’ve read hundreds of the reports, I’ve been involved in Senate investigations of how the FBI compiles them, and I’ve followed the Freedom of Information issues on the stuff, especially from the Vietnam protests, for years.
But don’t take my word for it. Check it out for yourself.
See this news story:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/06/16/kennedys_widow_asked_fbi_not_to_release_personal_files/[The FBI doesn’t release dossiers on living people. The claim in this film is that they got the dossier on Obama. We know that’s false from the get-go. The Kennedy story shows how a dossier might be released publicly — a process that is not alleged by the hoax videographer.]
See this non-governmental site on how to get your own file (but not the files of others):
http://www.getmyfbifile.com/Here’s the FBI’s FOIA reading room information:
http://foia.fbi.gov/How about criminal records on others? See here:
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/fprequest.htmI’ve listed several sites you can visit in a comment at the post — check them out, to see the education record. There’s a lot more.
It’s a hoax video.
Sorry you got taken in by it.
What is it with the birthers and other gullibles and hoaxsters around? Is the trouble we have, with Iraq, Afghanistan, the Gulf of Mexico, the mortgage and housing crisis, the banking crisis, our enormous debts, and a hundred other serious problems, not enough?
But then I listen to Mitch McConnell. He says he’s not so sure about working to make America energy independent, not when Obama can’t pull a Gandalf and wave the Gulf oil spill away.
Is crazy a virus?
How many errors did you find in that video? Does it beat Phelim McAleer’s record for errors/minute?
Get on over to Oh, For Goodness Sake, and get some real facts.
15 Comments | Accuracy, Barack Obama, Birth Certificate, History, Political Smear, Politics, President Obama, Presidents | Tagged: Barack Obama, Birth Certificate, History, Hoaxes, Political Smear, Politics, President Obama | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
First time in years I’ve gotten solid information from a politician that didn’t come wrapped in a plea for money. I got a message from President Obama today (I’m sure a few million of his closest friends got the same one):
Ed —
Yesterday, I visited Caminada Bay in Grand Isle, Louisiana — one of the first places to feel the devastation wrought by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While I was here, at Camerdelle’s Live Bait shop, I met with a group of local residents and small business owners.
Folks like Floyd Lasseigne, a fourth-generation oyster fisherman. This is the time of year when he ordinarily earns a lot of his income. But his oyster bed has likely been destroyed by the spill.
Terry Vegas had a similar story. He quit the 8th grade to become a shrimper with his grandfather. Ever since, he’s earned his living during shrimping season — working long, grueling days so that he could earn enough money to support himself year-round. But today, the waters where he has worked are closed. And every day, as the spill worsens, he loses hope that he will be able to return to the life he built.
Here, this spill has not just damaged livelihoods. It has upended whole communities. And the fury people feel is not just about the money they have lost. It is about the wrenching recognition that this time their lives may never be the same.
These people work hard. They meet their responsibilities. But now because of a manmade catastrophe — one that is not their fault and beyond their control — their lives have been thrown into turmoil. It is brutally unfair. And what I told these men and women is that I will stand with the people of the Gulf Coast until they are again made whole.
That is why, from the beginning, we have worked to deploy every tool at our disposal to respond to this crisis. Today, there are more than 20,000 people working around the clock to contain and clean up this spill. I have authorized 17,500 National Guard troops to participate in the response. More than 1,900 vessels are aiding in the containment and cleanup effort. We have convened hundreds of top scientists and engineers from around the world. This is the largest response to an environmental disaster of this kind in the history of our country.
We have also ordered BP to pay economic injury claims, and this week, the federal government sent BP a preliminary bill for $69 million to pay back American taxpayers for some of the costs of the response so far. In addition, after an emergency safety review, we are putting in place aggressive new operating standards for offshore drilling. And I have appointed a bipartisan commission to look into the causes of this spill. If laws are inadequate, they will be changed. If oversight was lacking, it will be strengthened. And if laws were broken, those responsible will be brought to justice.
These are hard times in Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast, an area that has already seen more than its fair share of troubles. The people of this region have met this terrible catastrophe with seemingly boundless strength and character in defense of their way of life. What we owe them is a commitment by our nation to match the resilience they have shown. That is our mission. And it is one we will fulfill.
Thank you,
President Barack Obama
Good news is that BP now reports some success in stopping the flow of oil. Information flows increase, oil flows decrease — good trends.
Caption from the White House: President Barack Obama talks with U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen, who is serving as the National Incident Commander, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, aboard Marine One as they fly along the coastline from Venice to New Orleans, La., May 2, 2010. John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, is in the background. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza). (This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.)
More information:
1 Comment | Barack Obama, Citizenship, Energy, Environmental justice, Environmental protection, Government, Natural history, Natural resources, Politics, pollution, President Obama | Tagged: Energy, Environmental protection, Government, Gulf of Mexico, Gulf Oil Spill, Natural resources, Politics, pollution, President Obama | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
What? The Texas State Board of Education is doing such a shoddy job of writing social studies standards that they don’t even name the current president of the U.S.?
It’s a cautionary tale of overprescribing, and of looking at everything as if it has some ulterior motive. But is there any rational reason why the SBOE refuses to utter the name “Obama?”
Who is this man? Texas social studies standards let his identity remain a mystery, despite the historical significance of his election.
SBOE should stop gutting social studies standards and vote to simply accept the updates provided by teachers, historians, economists and geographers. The process is out of control, embarrassing to Texas, and damaging to education.
Grading Texas has the story (from TSTA), here in its entirety (but go check out that blog):
April 28, 2010
The president has a name: it’s Barack Obama
TSTA President Rita Haecker created a stir among legislators today when she testified, at a hearing hosted by the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, that the State Board of Education, in its recent rewrite of social studies curriculum standards, had refused to name President Barack Obama.
That bit of news seemed to catch several lawmakers by surprise. They already knew that the right-wing bloc on the board had attempted to rewrite history. But to go so far as to omit the name of the historic, first African American president of the United States seemed preposterous, even by conservative leader Don (the Earth is 5,000 years old) McLeroy’s standards.
Haecker was correct. Barack Obama’s name, so far, has not been included in the history curriculum standards on which the SBOE is scheduled to take a final vote next month. The standards do note the “election of first black president” as a significant event of 2008, but they don’t say who that black president is.
Haecker urged legislators to make changes, if necessary, to the curriculum setting process to protect educator input and ensure that “scholarly, academic research and findings aren’t dismissed or diminished at the whim of a board member’s own political or religious view of the world.”
State Education Commissioner Robert Scott accepted the caucus’ invitation to voluntarily testify on the curriculum adoption process. He said his and the Texas Education Agency’s role was mostly in technical support of the SBOE.
Board Chairwoman Gail Lowe of Lampasas, who also had been invited, declined to attend, even though the caucus had offered to pay her travel expenses.
Predictably, Lowe was skewered for her failure to show up by the mostly Democratic legislators who attended the caucus hearing. Lowe must have figured it was better to be skewered in absentia than in person.
You can read Rita Haecker’s prepared testimony here:
Oh, go on — you can say it — tell your friends:
Leave a Comment » | Barack Obama, Bogus history, History, History blogs, History Revisionism, Rampant stupidity, Social Studies, State school boards, TAKS, TEKS, Texas, Voodoo history | Tagged: Barack Obama, Politics, Rampant stupidity, Social Studies, Social Studies Standards, TAKS, TEKS, Texas, Texas State Board of Education | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
When he interned for our office, he was such a clean-cut, return-missionary sort of guy. Steve Benson’s cartoons continually push the envelope for what is acceptable in an editorial cartoon, not exactly what I had come to expect from his early work with conservatives. A welcome surprise.
This one was probably quite controversial in Phoenix, don’t you think?
Steve Benson in the Arizona Republic, on the Affordable Care Act and President Obama, April 2, 2010
22 Comments | Barack Obama, Cartoons, Health care, Political cartoons, Politics | Tagged: Arizona Republic, Cartoons, Health Care Reform, Obama, Political cartoons, Politics, Steve Benson | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Who said this?
We are pro-growth. We are fierce advocates for a thriving, dynamic free market. But we do think that there have to be some rules of the road in place in the financial sector that will create an even playing field and allow businesses to raise capital and consumers to buy products with confidence.
Coming out of this past decade, there has been a sense on the part of a lot of middle-class families that they have been left behind, even when we were expanding. And I talked during the campaign about the need for us to restore a sense of balance to the compact between business, government, and employees all across the country.
If businesses are making record profits but employees are seeing their wages flatline—and in fact, incomes decline over the course of the decade—that puts enormous strains on families. It puts, I think, a dampening effect on consumers who help drive this economy. We are going to be better off if everybody feels like they have got a stake in growth and innovation moving forward. And I think that balance got lost.
Now, making sure that we restore that balance without tipping too far in the other direction in ways that squelch innovation and investment is going to be an important challenge, and one that we take very seriously. But the important message I would have for the business community—and this is something that I emphasize every time I have lunch with CEOs, and we have had a lot of them in here—is we have every interest in you succeeding.
Another big hint below the fold.
3 Comments | Barack Obama, Economics, Free market economics, Freedom - Economic, Politics, President Obama | Tagged: Business Week, Economics, Free Markets, Politics, President Obama | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Managing the agencies who carry out the policies requires a focus on what government is supposed to do. Democrats tend to make better managers, because they wish government to work well and efficiently. Republicans prefer government to go away, and too often since Dwight Eisenhower’s administration, Republicans have intentionally created havoc for agencies, to stymie their operation at all.
So, how has Obama done in his first year? A couple of radio hosts in Washington, D.C., asked expert opinion.
From the Federal Drive blog at Federal News Radio, which accompanies the radio program by Tom Temin and Jane Norris at 1500 AM in Washington, D.C.
By Suzanne Kubota
Senior Internet Editor
FederalNewsRadio.comToday marks President Obama’s one year in office.
Federal News Radio asked Joe Ferrara, Associate Dean at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute, to give the President a report card on the Chief Executive’s effect on federal employees and the operation and business of government.
Here are the Dean’s grades and a few comments:
Overall grade: B
“In terms of some of the initiatives he’s been pushing: stabilizing the economy, pushing health care.”Federal Government Management Issues
Effort: A
“They have definitely shown a lot of energy in pushing initiatives on contracting, transparency, modernizing technology, etc.”Results: C
“In part because it’s still early. Yes, he has been in office for a year, but as you well know, it takes time for changes to sort of filter through a bureaucracy as large as the federal government.”Overall Planning
“If you look at the last couple of administrations, certainly Bush and Cheney…their umbrella concept was the President’s Management Agenda. They ran it out of the White House. They ran it out of OMB. Clinton and Gore had Reinventing Government. They ran that out of the White House, not necessarily OMB, but a task force made up largely of career federal employees. But they had an over-arching concept: Reinventing Government.”
The lack of a stated overall approach is “worrisome.” “As a former federal employee, I worry about your average federal manager out there seeing the initiative of the day coming forth from OMB, coming forth from the White House, and wondering how does this all fit together.Transparency
“I know they’ve published this Open Government directive. I think that’s definitely a step in the right direction.” Data.gov and the recovery and stimulus fund websites make it “easier for Congress, your average citizen, people in industry to figure out where’s all the money going and what are agencies doing.”
One caveat: “politicians themselves, from the President on down” have to be transparent in pronouncements and the way they make decisions. “It’s not just the technology solution to transparency. That’s an important part of it, but there’s also political solution and I think ultimately you need those two to go together for citizens to really have a strong sense of trust in what the Government’s doing.”
Cybersecurity
The delay in announcing a selection for cybersecurity coordinator “more viewed as sort of the Obama-style of gathering inputs, mulling over options, getting second opinions, getting third opinions – a very extensive vetting process kind of like what we saw with the Afghanistan decision. On the one hand, there’s nothing wrong with that.” On the other hand, said Ferrara, the longer you take to make decisions the more likely it is people will think you don’t put a high priority on the subject.
Cybersecurity “is a very complex bundle of policy issues” and could explain the apparent delay.
Joe Ferrara is Associate Dean at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute.
President Obama’s self-reporting report card to Congress, the State of the Union address, is scheduled to be delivered a week from today, January 27th, at 9 pm EST.
Download an MP3 version of Ferrara’s remarks, from the Federal Radio site.
Broadcast the news:
Leave a Comment » | Barack Obama, Government, History, President Obama, Presidents | Tagged: Cybersecurity, Federal Government, Good Management, Government, History, President Obama | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
2nd place cartoon in the 2009 Ranan Lurie/UN Awards -- by Silvan Wegmann, Sonntag (Switzerland)
What if Obama can’t live up to the hopes Europe has for him? This cartoon won 2nd place, $5000, for Swiss cartoonist Silvan Wegmann in the Ranan Lurie/UN Cartoon competition.
2 Comments | Barack Obama, Cartoons, Europe, foreign affairs, Political cartoons, Politics, President Obama, Presidents | Tagged: 2009, Barack Obama, Cartoons, Europe, Lurie/UN Awards, Political cartoons, Politics, Silvan Wegmann | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Birther “Dr. Kate” sez there’s a case coming to a hearing in Pennsylvania that will go to the Supreme Court no matter how this hearing turns out.
Here’s the table of contents to Kerchner v. Obama. Here’s the full complaint, according to Dr. Kate.
Probably the best thing going for the plaintiffs is that Orly Taitz only appears by name in a bizarre accounting of everything ever said on the issue (except for the lack of evidence and reasons this case will fail which, oddly, isn’t included in the complaint; everything else is included).
I predict the case will be dismissed, but it may be dismissed with prejudice. That is, if it really does come to a hearing. Is that really possible?
Warn others so they don’t get trampled:
17 Comments | Barack Obama, Birth Certificate, History, How do we know what we know, Jurisprudence, Justice, Law, President Obama, Presidential Eligibility, Presidents, Rampant stupidity | Tagged: Barack Obama, Birth Certificate, Birthers, denialism, History, How do we know what we know, Jurisprudence, Kerchner v Obama, Law, Presidency, Rampant stupidity, Taitz | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
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Ed Darrell on Texas's Colorado River
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Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
