Government & Politics
Briefly: Barack Obama, Change We Can Believe In: July 5
Thu, 07/02/2009 - 09:42 — Dave Culver1 Item
David Culver, ed., Evergreene Digest
Israel's Crimes, America's Silence, John Dugard, The Nation
There is now sufficient evidence to charge Israel with war crimes for its actions in Gaza. Why is Obama silent?
Series: Citizen K Street
Wed, 07/01/2009 - 10:54 — Dave Culver
The Life and Career of Gerald S. J. Cassidy: How Lobbying Became Washington's Biggest Business
Robert G. Kaiser and Derek Willis, Washington Post
Chapter 25: Cassidy hires an important Republican, who reshapes the firm.
Early in 2003, an influential but decidedly un-famous aide to one of the most powerful members of the House of Representatives concluded -- with his boss's blessing -- that it was time to "go downtown." This move had become almost routine for aides to senior congressmen. More than two dozen assistants to the longtime House Majority Leader, Tom Delay, had moved from his office to lobbying jobs downtown. Now it was the turn of Gregg Hartley, the alter ego of Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the House majority whip and a DeLay protégé. At the age of 50, Hartley was ready to try the private sector.
At that moment, Cassidy & Associates was in the market for new talent. Things had gone badly for the InterPublic Group (IPG), the conglomerate that bought the Cassidy firm at the end of 1999. From a high of $58 a share that December, IPG shares had fallen to less than $10 early in 2003. A series of accounting problems had repeatedly forced the company to restate earnings and write off losses.
Census Bureau: We’re Working With Bachmann To ‘Explain The Rules Of The Census’
Mon, 06/29/2009 - 16:02 — Dave CulverYesterday (June 26), Census Bureau spokesman Steve Buckner spoke to Minnesota Public Radio and said that many of Bachmann’s concerns were misguided. First, filling out the entire Census is required under federal law.
Amanda Terkel, Think Progress
Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Thomas Sklarski
Steve Sack
In the past couple weeks, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has used her public appearances to fear-monger about the 2010 Census. In a radio interview with the Washington Times, Bachmann said that she and her family would ignore most of the survey’s questions and answer only “how many people are in our home. We won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that.”
In an interview with Fox News, Bachmann suggested that the Obama administration could use the Census data for nefarious purposes — including the imprisonment of Americans in concentration camps:
BACHMANN: "If we look at American history, between 1942 and 1947, the data that was collected by the census bureau was handed over to the FBI and other organizations, at the request of President Roosevelt, and that’s how the Japanese were rounded up and put into the internment camps. I’m not saying that’s what the Administration is planning to do. But I am saying that private, personal information that was given to the census bureau in the 1940s was used against Americans to round them up."
Related:
Presidential Material? Really?
Mon, 06/29/2009 - 15:48 — Dave CulverIf the rest of the country knew what we in Minnesota know about Tim Pawlenty, would he still be the next big thing?
Paul Scott, Star Tribune | MN
One night last Christmas during our annual family light-watching tour, I drove past Gov. Tim Pawlenty's suburban home. An older brother who lives in the area pointed it out to us, but it wasn't hard to find. To accommodate his security detail, the governor had what can only be described as an ice-fishing house parked in his driveway.
Pawlenty wasn't the first state executive to stiff-arm the Governor's Residence in St. Paul, a burdensome address that could easily be mistaken for that other famous dump, Stately Wayne Manor. And officially, he does in live in St. Paul part of the time. Still, to a proud Minnesotan, something about the grim sight of that shanty-obstructed Pawlenty residence in the suburbs felt like a snub. What exactly was wrong, I wanted to ask, with the gorgeous Tudor we offered you on Summit Avenue?
Related:
Governor Pawlenty Accelerates Race to the Bottom, Nora Ferrell, Minnesota 2020
