:: Jan. 23 - A bank which received bailout money, employs the wife of House Republican Whip Eric Cantor. Bolding is mine. From PROPUBLICA:
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor [1], a rising star in the Republican party, has been a prominent voice demanding accountability in how the government doles out hundreds of billions for bank bailouts.
This Thursday, Cantor cast a high-profile vote opposing release of another $350 billion in bailout funds. Unpublicized until now was a recent development: The Treasury Department used $267 million of taxpayer funds to buy preferred stock in a private banking company that employs Cantor's wife.
The bailout for New York Private Bank and Trust (NYPBT) [2] came earlier this month as part of a Treasury Department program to boost "healthy banks" with extra capital. NYPBT is the holding company for Emigrant Bank [3], a savings bank with 35 branches in and around New York City. Diana Cantor runs the Virginia branch of Emigrant's wealth-management division, called Virginia Private Bank & Trust, which targets an ultra-rich clientele.
Hmm...and where exactly is your accountability re this direct conflict of interest, Mr. Cantor?
Mark Wilson/Getty Images.
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:: Jan. 23 - Obama meets with the Republicans on the stimulus plan, and delivers two pointed jabs to their collective egos. As he should. From NYP:
"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package."There are big things that unify Republicans and Democrats," the official said. "We shouldn't let partisan politics derail what are very important things that need to get done."
That wasn't Obama's only jab at Republicans today.
In an exchange with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) about the proposal, the president shot back: "I won," according to aides briefed on the meeting."I will trump you on that."
Not that Obama was gloating. He was just explaining that he aims to get his way on stimulus package and all other legislation, sources said, noting his unrivaled one-party control of both congressional chambers.
"We are experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis that has to be dealt with and dealt with rapidly," Obama said during the meeting.
AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File
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:: Jan. 22 - Tuesday night on MSNBC, whistleblower and former National Security Agency analyst, Russell Tice, told Keith Olbermann that the NSA spied on journalists/the press inside of the United States borders.
I would expect that President Obama will address the situation at the NSA sooner rather than later, particularly after this information was revealed.
This is the video which, when I viewed it on Tuesday night infuriated me, and motivated me to write a post about Democracy and patriotism. You can read it here.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Hat Tip/ HUFFPOST
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:: Jan. 22 - After Justice Stevens flubbed the oath at the inauguration, Obama re-took the oath of office yesterday in order to err on the side of caution. From the Chicago Tribune:
WASHINGTON — In his first full day in the White House, Barack Obama pushed his top military advisers for a plan to withdraw combat troops from Iraq, and in an extraordinary exercise took the oath of office a second time over concern about a miscue during his swearing-in.
Obama retook the oath before a handful of aides in the White House Map Room—31 hours after he spoke the words before more than a million people arrayed on the Mall. In the first go-around, Chief Justice John Roberts botched the wording, deviating from the language in the Constitution. Following along, Obama repeated the mistake.
"Out of an abundance of caution," White House Counsel Greg Craig said in a statement, Obama decided to retake the oath Wednesday. Roberts again presided.
AFP photo.
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:: On Geithner:
Jan. 23 - Geithner to take a harder line on trade with China. From NYT:
WASHINGTON — Timothy F. Geithner, who moved closer to confirmation as Treasury secretary on Thursday, told senators that President Obama believed China was “manipulating” its currency, suggesting a more confrontational stance toward that country than under the Bush administration.
It remained unclear whether Mr. Geithner was signaling that Mr. Obama would officially declare later this spring that China was engaging in currency manipulation, when the administration is required by a 20-year-old trade law to report to Congress on exchange rate issues. Such a finding would begin a legal process that starts with diplomacy and could end with the imposition of trade barriers like tariffs. The objective would be to persuade China to let the value of its currency, the yuan, freely float — a move that would let its value rise and would increase the cost of its exports.
Geithner approved by the Senate Finance Committee, very likely to be confirmed by the full Senate on Monday. From The Wall Street Journal:
Geithner faces a towering in-box starting his first day, assuming he’s confirmed by the Senate: revamping how the remaining $350 billion of TARP money is used; shepherding an $800 billion-plus stimulus package through Congress; reforming the financial system; and reassuring foreign investors and governments that U.S. finances will be in order over the long term by tackling entitlement reform.
And on paper, Geithner appears to fit the bill. As a top Treasury official in the Clinton administration, rising to head of international affairs, Geithner is a link to the boom times of the 1990s. And as head of the New York Fed more recently, he’s intimately involved with the banking and financial crisis. Even if the regulatory and policy response has been far less than perfect, Geithner needs no on-the-job training.
AP photo.
:: Geithner’s Skill May Trump Tax Issue - NYT
:: Geithner’s Tax Mistake Was Honest, Experts Say - NYT
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:: Jan. 22 - President Obama to order the closure CIA "black sites". From the Washington Times:
President Obama on Thursday will order the closure of so-called black sites, where CIA and European security services have interrogated terrorist suspects, under executive orders dismantling much of the Bush admistration's architecture for the war on terror, according to four individuals familiar with a draft executive order.
Mr. Obama will shutter "all permanant detention facilities overseas," the draft said, according to the individuals who asked not to be named because the orders have not yet been signed. There are at least eight such prisons, according to published reports. The Bush administration never revealed the number or location of the facilities, although several were said to be in Eastern Europe
Ingage courtesy of NYT/Doug Mills.
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:: On the Palin front:
Jan. 22 - Palin is apparently eager to expand her celebrity, such as it is, with a book, tv, whatever, and to that end, she's hired an attorney to broker deals. Not surprising. She came to McCain's attention because she spent $30k of state money to hire a personal publicist.
I would be thrilled if she fell in to an Alaskan crater, or whatever.Can you imagine that lying whacko as a tv news anchor?? From Hollywood Reporter:
The former GOP vice presidential candidate has apparently enlisted the help of superstar Washington attorney Robert Barnett, who has brokered book deals for such political A-listers as President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Additionally, he has handled TV deals for a lot of top anchors and reporters such as Brian Williams, Lesley Stahl, Neil Cavuto, Christiane Amanpour and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
While not an immediate option, TV news is considered an intriguing possible future career path for the telegenic Palin.
Jan. 23 - And, according to NewMajority, Palin's $180k spending spree is now stuffed in to plastic garbage bags at the RNC headquarters. From HUFFPOST:
NewMajority has a report today that Sarah Palin's infamous wardrobe has not been given to charity as promised by the McCain campaign after the amazing bill was revealed in October.
McCain even told the press that "one-third of the clothing was "given back."
Ingage courtesy of NYT.
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:: Jan. 22 - After her confirmation by the senate, Clinton gets a very warm welcome at the State Department. Obama addressed the staff later in the day to underscore his strong commitment to diplomacy.
According to my trusted source, people at the SD were overhead saying that an SOS had never received such an overwhelmingly appreciative welcome. From MSNBC:
"I believe with all of my heart that this is a new era for America," she said to loud applause in the main lobby of the department's headquarters, which President Barack Obama visited later in the day to underscore his administration's commitment to diplomacy.
AP photo.
To view the video, click here.
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:: Jan. 22 - In the very odd category -- confirmation of the EPA administrator, and the Environmental Quality Chair, have been put on hold by an "anonymous" Republican senator obstructor.
As of today, Jan. 23, the anonymous senator has not yet been found out. At least, not that any goper will admit. From TPM:
All this leaves one huge question unanswered: Who was the Republican senator objecting to approving Jackson and Sutley on the Senate floor two hours ago? If Barrasso and Inhofe really are copacetic, we may just have an anonymous obstructor on our hands after all.
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:: Jan. 22 - Republicans delay Holder hearing for at least a week because of his stance on torture.
So typical. Truth be told, Holder will be confirmed, but first, the Gopers must play more partisan political crap, wasting taxpayer money as they do so.. From HUFFPOST:
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, convened the panel Wednesday and asked for an immediate vote to send Holder's nomination to the Senate. Republicans called for a one-week delay, permitted by committee rules.
Holder told the Judiciary Committee last week that waterboarding is "torture" and therefore illegal. Susan J. Crawford, the top Bush administration official overseeing the trials of detainees, told the Washington Post that at least one individual held at the prison center at Guantanamo Bay was "tortured."
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:: January 22 - January 23 on Media Matters: 
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CBS advances falsehood that Obama's stimulus plan gives "tax refunds for people who don't pay taxes"
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Media Matters: Media menu: Scrutiny, with a side order of sound judgment
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Misinformation starts early in Bernard Goldberg's latest book
- Conservative media figures falsely suggest that Reich proposed excluding white males from stimulus package
- Hannity raises Kennedy "marital issues" rumor, but denounced NY Times McCain article as "nothing but innuendo, rumor"
- Media promote false calculation of job-creation costs in stimulus
- Wash. Times editorial whitewashed Bush administration's role in detainee abuse
- Reporting on his role in "reviewing the current conditions" at Guantánamo, Politico ignored Gates' previous calls to close it
- Media advance falsehood that Pentagon has confirmed that 61 former Guantánamo detainees have returned to battlefield
- Scarborough shares Gibson's view that "it's on Barack Obama" if he abandons Bush policies that "kept us safe"
- NBC's Chuck Todd reports CBO criticism of stimulus, but not Democrats' response
- O'Reilly hosted former tax delinquent Morris to criticize Geithner's tax failure
- CNN, AP falsely claim that Pentagon says 61 Guantánamo detainees have returned to terrorism
- NY Times, MSNBC's Morning Joe ignored evidence undermining former Bush speechwriter's defense of administration's national security policies
- Limbaugh falsely claimed Clinton "imposed" international family planning funding policy
- Limbaugh tells caller with personal economic troubles: "Well, you might want to consult history. ... It was much worse than this 26 years ago"
- Hannity advances false comparison of inauguration costs
- Fox & Friends' Carlson falsely claimed Geithner "kind of put the blame a little bit on a computer program" for tax failure
