Archive for the ‘Card of the Day’ Category

U – PEACE PROCESS – OBAMA

OBAMA HAS A REAL CHANCE OF MOVING THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE TALKS FORWARD WHERE NOBODY ELSE COULD

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR 9-3-2010

MIDEAST PEACE TALKS, LAFRANCHI

The idea all along – from the second full day of his administration, when the president named former Sen. George Mitchell his special envoy for Middle East peace – had been to get the parties in the six-decade-old conflict back together and negotiating swiftly. Instead of leaving this Everest of US diplomacy for the end of Obama’s presidency, as the two previous chief executives had done in theirs, the goal was to show progress quickly and get an accord before the administration’s time ran out.

It didn’t quite work out that way. Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian lands, Hamas in Gaza, and an aggressive Iran progressing inexorably in its nuclear program all made for a tough diplomatic environment.

But many regional experts – and some old hands at difficult negotiations, including Mr. Mitchell – agree that the novelty of reaching for a Middle East peace accord early in an administration now stands out as a key reason why this time, despite tall impediments and deep skepticism, the talks might actually succeed.

‘Time ran out’ for other presidents

“President Obama is the only president in recent times, to my knowledge, to have established this as a high priority immediately upon taking office and to have acted immediately at that time,” Mitchell said Sept. 2 at the State Department, when asked by journalists why he thought this time was different.

“It’s very clear that at least in a couple of instances [in the past], time ran out…. This president, I believe, will succeed. But as [Obama] said” in relaunching the talks, “neither success nor failure is predetermined or guaranteed – but it isn’t going to be because time ran out at the end.”

Just getting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to Washington together was a big first step. But by the time Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton wrapped up the first day of formal talks, the results were modest: The leaders agreed to meet again in their region Sept. 14-15 and to continue meeting every two weeks or so after that.

We are back! Here’s our first card of the day for this season:

NO AGENDA ITEMS BETWEEN NOW AND NOVEMBER – CONGRESS IS DEADLOCKED

REUTERS 9-1-2010

OBAMA STRUGGLES WITH URGENT TASK OF FIXING ECONOMY, BOHAN

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama has declared fixing the U.S. economy his “central mission” but he has few tools to bring down nearly double-digit unemployment or jump-start the faltering recovery this year.

To get a quick fix, he would need a big initiative, but the president stands almost no chance of getting Congress to pass any substantial legislation in the few weeks left before the mid-term elections — a stretch of time he calls the campaign “silly season.”

Even if he could, it would be too late to help his Democratic party before Election Day on November 2.

“Between now and the time the Congress packs up for good to spend full-time on the fall campaign, the chances are between slim and none that any new significant economic legislation will pass,” said William Galston, a former domestic policy adviser to President Bill Clinton and now a scholar at the Brookings Institution think-tank.

Obama returned on Sunday from a 10-day vacation in Martha’s Vineyard to confront a batch of grim economic data and rising frustrations among Americans about the scarcity of jobs.

His week is jam-packed with foreign policy events, and he has scrambled to tell voters that the economy is his top concern.

Obama and his aides are discussing new measures they want to roll out quickly but the White House has suggested these will be “targeted” rather than a bold new package.

So that leaves the presidential bully pulpit as the main tool Obama must rely on to both convince voters and inspire confidence among businesses, consumers and investors.

But critics accuse him of fumbling that effort.

“This is a president who has lost control of his public message. It wanders unleashed from park to alley, stopping to sniff every cable news story along the way,” Michael Gerson, a former speech writer for President George W. Bush, wrote in the Washington Post on Wednesday.

Gerson said that instead of focusing on “jobs, jobs, jobs,” the White House has allowed the conversation to drift to subjects like immigration and a planned mosque near the site of the September 11 attacks in New York.

IMPACT – START – NUCLEAR WAR / SPILLOVER

START PAVES THE WAY TO REDUCTIONS WORLDWIDE AND PREVENT NUCLEAR CATASTROPHE

HUFFINGTON POST 4-27-2010

NEW START AND THE OBAMA NUCLEAR AGENDA, GARD

New START is also being criticized for not going much further in reducing not only deployed strategic warheads but also the number of warheads each side holds in reserve. Yet the treaty must be evaluated in the context of President Obama’s full nuclear agenda as outlined in his April 5, 2009 speech in Prague. Russia and the United States, between them, hold about 95% of the world’s nuclear weapons. Restoration of a stable and predictable U.S.-Russian nuclear relationship and further movement away from their dangerous cold war nuclear postures are important to obtain the cooperation of other states in the comprehensive nuclear agenda. Also, the President views New START as an interim step towards seeking to reduce nuclear weapons stockpiles of the other nuclear states, such as China, France, Great Britain, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea.

It is widely recognized that the worldwide nuclear non-proliferation arrangements embodied in a 1970’s treaty signed by most of the nations is eroding. Strong measures must be taken to prevent an increase in the number of states with nuclear arsenals, with the attendant increased dangers of their use and to decrease the likelihood of terrorists obtaining a nuclear bomb. The Administration’s nuclear policy study, released on April 6th, elevates the prevention of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism to the top priority on the U.S. policy agenda. The new policy is another important step in reducing the salience of nuclear weapons in U.S. security strategy by limiting the circumstances in which nuclear weapons would be employed.

At President Obama’s invitation more than forty heads of state or their representatives gathered in Washington, DC, on April 12th and 13th, with the goal of setting guidelines to prevent terrorists from stealing or buying the materials to make nuclear bombs. The summit focused on securing all worldwide fissile materials, useful in fashioning nuclear bombs, within four years.

New START is just that: a start. Despite the end of the U.S.-Soviet competition, the remaining 23,000 nuclear bombs across the globe present a clear and present danger to U.S. security. The President’s program to focus the world’s attention on this problem and to take serious steps to ameliorate this threat is critical to preventing nuclear catastrophes.

IMPACT – START – IRAN

START WILL BOOST US-RUSSIAN COOPERATION ON IRAN

INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE 4-9-2010

US SIGNALS NUCLEAR ARMS TREATY WITH RUSSIA, BAKER

Mr. Obama hopes to use the trust built during

the treaty negotiations to leverage more cooperation from Moscow on other issues, most notably pressuring Iran to give up its nuclear program.

Speaking after signing the treaty with Mr. Medvedev, Mr. Obama said the United States and Russia were ”part of a coalition of nations insisting that the Islamic Republic of Iran face consequences, because they have continually failed to meet their obligations” under international rules governing the use of nuclear materials.

”Those nations that refuse to meet their obligations will be isolated and denied the opportunity that comes with international integration,” he said. Iran maintains its nuclear program is for civilian purposes, but the United States and its Western allies suspect that Tehran wants to build a nuclear weapon.

CONSENSUS IS THAT OBAMA WILL GET HIS CHOICE OF NOMINEE BUT IT WON’T BE WITHOUT A MAJOR FIGHT

INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY 4-12-2010

JUSTICE STEVENS’ EXIT MAY MOLD SENATE MORE THAN COURTS, HIGGINS

GOP No Longer Powerless

Scott Brown’s stunning Massachusetts victory on Jan. 20 means Republicans have the power to block an Obama nomination. Last year, they lacked the strength to even try to filibuster Sotomayor’s confirmation. The consensus is the president ultimately will get his choice on the bench, however.

Stevens, who turns 90 this month, was nominated by President Ford in 1975. Initially assumed to be right-leaning, he moved left early on and became the leader of the court’s liberal wing after the retirement of Justice Thurgood Marshall in 1991.

With the current court so closely divided, any vacancy holds the possibility of tipping its balance. That makes the stakes high for the Senate since the nomination could influence the court for decades.

The last several nominations have been intensely fought with White Houses trying to satisfy core supporters without getting bogged down in confirmation battles.

Carrie Severino, chief counsel to the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, notes the timing of Stevens’ announcement puts the onus on Obama to have a replacement before October, when the court’s next session begins.

“The president will be under a lot of pressure to appoint somebody who can actually be confirmed. He’s got one shot to do this,” Severino said.

Pushing through a liberal nominee in the current environment will likely be tough. That may explain the brief statements from many Democrats Friday stressing a need to avoid conflict.

“Fair, Respectful Hearings’

Reid called for the GOP to join them in “conducting fair, respectful hearings and (a) swift confirmation.” Sen. Pat Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Judiciary Committee, called for a “thoughtful and civil discourse.”

Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the other hand, sounded like he was gearing up for a fight.

“Americans can expect Senate Republicans to make a sustained and vigorous case for judicial restraint and the fundamental importance of an even-handed reading of the law,” McConnell said in a statement.

Ponnuru said that if — as is likely — Obama nominates somebody who is seen as a liberal, Republicans will use that in the election “because the electorate this year is a conservative electorate.”

“Republicans have moved away from the simple-minded deference to presidential nominees that characterized their behavior during the Clinton years,” Ponnuru said, noting that Democrats similarly fought against Republican nominees.

This time, liberals are treading carefully. Asked if she had an ideal nominee, Aron said yes, but she wasn’t going to say who.

“That would be the kiss of death, so I’m just going to keep my big mouth shut,” she said.

We’ve got updates on new disads including Education Reform and Nuclear Power, as well as some old staples including Health Care, Budget Deficits, Climate Change, and more!

Get your file here.

AFF – IMMIGRATION REFORM – INTERNAL LINK

NO CHANCE OF IMMIGRATION REFORM – NOBODY IS PUSHING

LA TIMES 2-10-2010

COME TOGETHER RIGHT NOW, JACOBY

Like a door slamming shut, the conventional wisdom is hardening. The chances that Congress will take up comprehensive immigration reform this year are increasingly seen as poor to nil.

What killed the prospect, many think, was the Massachusetts special election to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. Democrats and Republicans both heard the message: Voters are angry at Washington, and incumbents are at risk for their political lives.

And many lawmakers drew what seemed like the obvious conclusion: Don’t touch anything controversial between now and election day in November. Stick to the blandest diet possible, nothing but political comfort food.

And of course, immigration reform is anything but political comfort food.

OBAMA WILLING TO COMPROMISE WITH GOP PRIORITIES ON ENERGY LEGISLATION

ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY NEWS 2-9-2010

OBAMA SAYS HE’LL MEET REPUBLICANS ‘HALFWAY’ ON ENERGY, SAMUELSOHN

Darren Samuelsohn, E&E senior reporter

President Obama said today that he is willing to tack toward the center on climate and energy legislation following closed-door bipartisan talks with Capitol Hill leaders on how to move the administration’s domestic agenda during this election year.

“Bipartisanship can’t be that I agree to all the things that [Republicans] believe in or want, and they agree to none of the things I believe in or want and that’s the price of bipartisan,” Obama told reporters after a meeting with Republican and Democratic leaders from the House and Senate. “But that’s sometimes the way it gets presented.”

During the meeting, Obama said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) “said something very nice … on how he supports our goals on nuclear energy, and clean coal technology and more drilling to increase oil production.”

“Well, of course he likes that,” Obama added. “That’s part of the Republican agenda for energy, which I accept. And I’m willing to move off some of the preferences of my party in order to meet them halfway. But there’s got to be some give from their side, as well. That’s true on health care. That’s true on energy, that’s true on financial reform, that’s what I’m hoping gets accomplished.”

Obama did not go into specifics on where he would be willing to budge when it comes to the energy and global warming debate. Last week in New Hampshire, he acknowledged pressure from some moderate Democrats to slice the cap-and-trade provisions out of an energy bill even as he insisted that a price on greenhouse gas emissions was necessary to spur technological developments.

IL – DADT – POLITICAL CAPITAL

OBAMA’S PERSONAL INTERVENTION WILL BE KEY TO DADT

DEFENSE AND AEROSPACE BUSINESS 2-10-2010

EXPERTS SAY PRESIDENT OBAMA’S REMARKS ON GAY BAN, PALM CENTER

Experts said tonight that President Obama’s endorsement of congressional repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” during his State of the Union address falls short of the challenges ahead for repeal in 2010. “Including repeal in the State of the Union Address makes clear that the President considers this issue important,” said Christopher Neff, Deputy Executive Director of the Palm Center and previously the first federal lobbyist for “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal. “Yet the path to repeal will require both a command decision by the President and a clear timeline which follows. Leadership from the Pentagon will likely be mixed during upcoming hearings, and votes will be close in the House and Senate. It’s the President who is the game-changer on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ in 2010.”

U – BIPARTISANSHIP

OBAMA DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS ARE COMMITTED TO WORKING TOGETHER TO ADVANCE A WIDE VARIETY OF AGENDA ITEMS

RIGHT VISION NEWS 2-12-2010

CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS AND OBAMA PROMISE TO WORK TOGETHER, INDIA

Washington, Feb. 12 — Following a rare bipartisan meeting, US President Barack Obama and the Congressional leaders have pledged to work together on a range of issues including jobs, health care, trade and energy.According to our correspondent, despite that the federal government was closed because of snow blizzard over the weekend, and city officials were still digging out snow from road, top Congressional leaders from both Democratic and Republican party drove down to the White House for a two-hour meeting with Obama.“We all understand that there are legitimate and genuine differences between the parties,” Obama told White House Correspondents in a surprise appearance at their press room.”But despite the political posturing that often paralyses this town, there are many issues upon which we can and should agree,” he said.Terming it a productive meeting, the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, said: “Senate Democrats remain hopeful that our Republican colleagues will work with us this week to take swift action and pass legislation to help businesses thrive and create jobs.”Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said: “We had a good meeting with the President and what I’d like to emphasise is there are some areas of potential agreement.”Referring to the State of the Union address of Obama in which he supported nuclear power, offshore drilling, clean coal technology and trade agreements, presumably with Colombia, Panama and Korea, the ones that have been languishing now for a year and a half or so, McConnell said these are the areas where there could be pretty broad bipartisan support to go forward in a collaborative basis.”Obviously, there will be areas of disagreement, but emphasising the things that we might be able to work on together, I would mention those four areas, all of which, I think, would be job generators: nuclear power, offshore drilling, clean coal technology, and pass those languishing trade agreements which we know create jobs here in the United States,” he said.”We are interested in a bipartisan conversation with regard to health care, but a bipartisan conversation ought to be that, bipartisan from the beginning.

We’ve been asking to be involved in these health care conversations going back to a letter that we sent to the president last May and we got no response to it,” McConnell said.Reid told reporters that he planned to introduce job-creation legislation later Tuesday, which he had hoped to unveil last week but was delayed by the snowfall that paralysed much of Washington, and is now threatening to keep the Senate in session through the weekend to debate the measure.”I don’t know of any sticking points at this stage,” he said, adding: “I think we are in pretty good shape.”

For one of the biggest weekends of the year, we’ve made sure to include the most recent evidence hot off the presses from this morning.

DC is largely snowed in, but many politics scenarios are ripe for running this weekend.

• DADT
• Midterms
• Jobs Stimulus
• Climate Change & Energy

and MORE!

Get your politics updates now!

NUCLEARIZATION – SANCTIONS FAIL

SANCTIONS ARE IDIOT DIPLOMACY – WILL ACCOMPLISH NOTHING IN IRAN

THE GUARDIAN 2009

IMPOSING IDIOT SANCTIONS ON IRAN, JENKINS, 12-2

At this point the interventionists reach wearily for their favourite whip – tighter economic sanctions. Two decades of sanctions did not bring Saddam to his knees. They enriched him, ruined Iraq’s middle class, drove opposition into exile and entrenched a siege economy. The same happened with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The idea that sanctions will dismantle Natanz, crush the Revolutionary Guards and drive Ahmadinejad to respect the outcome of the summer election is barmy.

Sanctions are idiot diplomacy. They are the last gasp of the “something must be done” brigade, before surrendering to the military/industrial complex and going to war. Bred in the ideological bone to intervene in the affairs of other states, these people cannot admit that sometimes nothing can be done, or that anything done might make matters worse. Yet more sanctions are the proclaimed policy of David Miliband. Only Moscow and Beijing protest that sanctions do more harm than good.

Sanctions will not stop Iran developing nuclear weapons. But so what? Such weapons have become useless. While it is just arguable that they prevented an east-west war in the second half of the last century, in every other theatre they are ineffective, even in tactical form. Their possession by one side or other made no difference in Korea, Vietnam, the Falklands, Lebanon, India-China, Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Gaza. They are useless in the new wars of separatism and insurgency.

OVERRULING UNRAVELS PRECEDENT AND DEVASTATES RULE OF LAW – RISKS A SLIPPERY SLOPE

GERHARDT 2006 – PROF CONLAW UNC

SUPER PRECEDENT, 90 Minn. L. Rev. 1204

Chief Justice Roberts was a model for avoiding pitfalls in the confirmation process. It is possible he may have been too good a model. He constantly espoused respect for precedent throughout his hearings. He may or may not have been a firebrand when he worked in the Office of the Attorney General, the White House, or in Office of the Solicitor General, but he was not a firebrand when he appeared in front of the Senate  [*1228]  Judiciary Committee. He no doubt understands that President Bush would love to see him not only vote as Chief Justice Rehnquist did but also move the Court further to the right. Yet, John Roberts the nominee accepted some judicial decisions inconsistent with that political agenda, including those recognizing a marital right of privacy, ⁹⁸ the framework for analyzing separation of powers conflicts, ⁹⁹ the constitutionality of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, ¹⁰⁰ and heightened scrutiny for gender classifications. ¹⁰¹ Roberts even acknowledged Roe as “settled law,” and recognized that overruling a precedent would be “a jolt to the legal system.” ¹⁰² One has to assume that some overrulings would produce more of a “jolt” to the system than others, and some might fatally electrocute the system. While Chief Justice Roberts suggested it was not unthinkable for the Supreme Court to overrule settled law, he made abundantly clear that his philosophy of judicial modesty is grounded, at least in part, on respect for what came before. Roberts acknowledged that predictability, stability, consistency, and reliance are values to be taken into account in constitutional adjudication, and it would seem to follow that these values ought to count in most cases. ¹⁰³ It further follows that there may be at least some instances in which the values promoted by fidelity to precedent become compelling. A Court that overrules too many precedents not only sets a bad example for the Courts that follow (because it provides no incentive to respect the work of its predecessors), but also signals permission for other branches to view its decisions with the same lack of respect with which it views them. A healthy respect for precedent means learning to live with decisions with which you disagree. When Roberts went further to describe himself as a “bottom-up” kind of judge, ¹⁰⁴ he signaled that his inclination is to decide cases incrementally and to infer principles from the records of the cases below. A bottom-up judge is willing to learn from experience, which necessarily means that a good deal of our experience has to be left in tact.

OBAMA’S NEW NASA FUNDING IS VITAL TO GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, ECONOMIC GROWTH, AND AMERICAN LEADERSHIP

BUSINESS WIRE 2-3-2010

ORGITAL SCIENCES CORPORATION STATEMENT ON NASA’S NEW DIRECTION, DULLES

Under a new five-year program for the 2011-2015 period, NASA intends to stimulate the development of advanced technologies and new business models, building the foundation for 21st Century solar system exploration, Earth climate monitoring and environmental protection, and next-generation aerospace workforce inspiration and education. By working in innovative new partnerships with U.S. industry and academic institutions, NASA will maintain America’s leadership in space while also contributing substantially to our country’s economic well-being.

NEW FEDERAL FUNDING FOR LSC IS VITAL TO JUSTICE FOR THE POOR

STATES NEWS SERVICE 1-29-2010

LSC SENDS FISCAL YEAR 2011 BUDGET TO CONGRESS, WASHINGTON

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) today asked Congress to provide $516.5 million in Fiscal Year 2011 funding, with more than 95 percent of the budget request going to fund 136 nonprofit legal aid programs across the nation that provide civil legal assistance to the nation’s poor.

The 2008 recession and the rise in unemployment during 2009 created new stresses for legal aid programs, which are able to serve only half of those seeking help with pressing civil legal problems. The Corporation’s 2009 Justice Gap Report showed that in one category — foreclosures — LSC programs are turning away two people for every client served.

Many legal aid programs are confronting a downturn in non-federal funding at a time when they report increasing requests for help by low-income Americans. In particular, Interest on Lawyers’ Trust Accounts (IOLTA) — a major source of funding for legal aid programs — has declined significantly because of the drop in short-term interest rates.

In addition to providing $484.9 million for the provision of civil legal assistance, the Corporation’s Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Request proposes $6.8 million for technology grants that improve access to legal assistance and self-help guides for the poor, $1 million for student loan repayment assistance to legal aid lawyers, $19.5 million for management and grants oversight and $4.35 million for the LSC Office of Inspector General.

The 2009 Justice Gap Report found that for every client served by LSC programs, another person who seeks help is turned away due to a lack of program resources. The conclusion reaffirmed the findings of the original report on the justice gap published by LSC in 2005.

LSC is the single-largest funder of civil legal assistance for the poor in the nation. Established by Congress in 1974, LSC operates as a private, nonprofit organization to promote equal access to justice and to ensure the provision of high-quality legal assistance to low-income Americans.