Abu Wabu

Expiration Dates...

From The Swamp via Ace:

When is a ban on lobbyists in an administration not a ban on lobbyists in an administration? When you need a lobbyist who knows how the Pentagon works to help run the defense establishment.

That's the situation the new Obama Administration finds itself in. Obama nominated William J. Lynn III as his Deputy Defense Secretary in a role that would require Lynn to essentially be the chief operations officer in that mammoth bureaucracy. But Lynn was, among other things, a lobbyist for Raytheon Co., one of the nation's largest defense contractors.

To not violate the new executive order the president signed yesterday, Lynn would require a waiver from the new administration.

That would seem to violate the spirit of Obama's ban, something which numerous people, including the Project on Government Oversight, are now pointing out.

In response, an aide to the Messiah says that tough rules occasionally require reasonable exceptions (also known as Leader Imposed Expiration Sanctions). True dat.

Labels: Leader-Imposed Expiration Sanctions

While the Hopey Changelings are happy Club Gitmo might be closed, the Messiah is admitting that George Bush was right: terrorist assholes will be subjected to harsh interrogation methods if the situation requires it.

But the orders leave unresolved complex questions surrounding the closing of the Guantánamo prison, including whether, where and how many of the detainees are to be prosecuted. They could also allow Mr. Obama to reinstate the C.I.A.’s detention and interrogation operations in the future, by presidential order, as some have argued would be appropriate if Osama bin Laden or another top-level leader of Al Qaeda were captured.

The new White House counsel, Gregory B. Craig, briefed lawmakers about some elements of the orders on Wednesday evening. A Congressional official who attended the session said Mr. Craig acknowledged concerns from intelligence officials that new restrictions on C.I.A. methods might be unwise and indicated that the White House might be open to allowing the use of methods other than the 19 techniques allowed for the military.

Listening to the audio of the signing I noticed that the Messiah had to ask his counsel if there is an Executive Order for the disposition of the Club Gitmo prisoners. The Chief Executive doesn't know and has to ask if he has issued an Executive Order for the disposition of the Gitmo prisoners. If Bush had ever asked that, you'd still be hearing about it because Bush was so stooopid, but you never heard Bush ask such a ridiculous question- he knew what he was doing because he was in command, which the Messiah is obviously not. In fact, it sounds in the clip as if Greg Craig is the POTUS.

So there's some Change right there.

This is what I'm coming to think of as typically bizarre Messiah-think:

"The president believes that there's no more important job that he has than to keep the American people safe," Gibbs said at the White House press briefing room.

"The president believes that what he did today will enhance the security of the American people, that it lives up to our values as Americans, and that it will protect the men and women that we have in uniform," he said.

Because The Messiah Says So™. Someone in Unicornland tell me how closing Club Gitmo, especially without knowing what they are going to do with its animal population, will enhance the security of the American people, live up to American values, or protect the men and women in uniform.

Answer: It won't. It's just stupid and dangerous political pandering to the idiot base with unknown costs to American national security, the American people and the men and women in uniform.

To conclude:
A) The Messiah is clearly not in charge and
B) Whatever the Messiah says something is, that something is in fact likely the exact opposite.

Labels: Leader-Imposed Expiration Sanctions