Tuesday Mashup Part 2 (7/21/09)

(I also posted here; took me awhile to get to Part 2 of this.)

BoBo tells us the following from here, perched upon his ivory tower at The Old Gray Lady…

Only 11 percent of the (stimulus) money will be spent by the end of the fiscal year — a triumph of ideology over pragmatism.

Apparently this is the right-wing talking point du jour (and presumably, David Brooks is referring to a report by the Congressional Budget Office).

Well then, please allow me to point out that the CBO forecasted here in January that “only 40 percent of the appropriations money will flow in the first 18 months, and slightly less than 70 percent in the first 30 months” (with that number revised downward to 23 percent in February, as noted here).

More importantly, though, I think we should keep the following in mind, as noted from the American Progress post in January…

It is also important to recognize that contrary to the representations of some critics of the program, job creation under most programs in the package will significantly precede the outlay of federal funds, which is what the CBO data projects. The U.S. Highway Administration, for instance, allocates funds to the states based on a federal highway formula, but states do not actually get reimbursed from the U.S. Treasury (creating an “outlay”) until after the contracts have been signed, employees have been hired, and a phase of the construction project has been completed.

So just because whatever percent of stimulus funds have been allocated, that doesn’t mean that jobs funded from the “stim” aren’t already on the way.

What a shame that “stim” funds aren’t required to staff jobs for corporate media pundits.

And while I was away, the ever-execrable Andrew Malcolm of the Los Angeles Times brought us the following bit of hilarity (from here)…

The president is in a big rush to get (health care) reform through Congress by Aug. 7, when Congress takes another of its lengthy vacations from four-day workweeks.

I think Laura Bush’s former employee has apparently confused the 111th Congress with the 109th, which, as noted here, served for seven fewer days than the infamous “Do-Nothing Congress” of 1948.

Also noted in the WaPo story is the following (written soon after the 109th ended in December 2006)…

With the new calendar, the Democrats are trying to project a businesslike image when they take control of Congress in January. House and Senate Democratic leaders have announced an ambitious agenda for their first 100 hours and say they are adamant about scoring legislative victories they can trumpet in the 2008 campaigns.

Also, this tells us of former Repug House Rep (and now Obama Transportation Secretary) Ray LaHood complaining in essence about having to work a five-day work week as a reason why he wanted to leave Congress (along with fellow House Repug Jack Kingston of Georgia, who I hope has found his flag lapel pin by now, as noted here).

This story tells us the following (hat tip to Mark Halperin of The Page - yeah I know, but fair is fair)…

WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Dick Cheney's Secret Service protection has been extended for at least another six months, beginning Tuesday.

Normally, ex-veeps only get six months of protection at taxpayer expense. But Cheney asked for an extension, and President Obama - whom Cheney has excoriated in several interviews since leaving office - recently signed off.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano signed the order extending Cheney's security detail, her spokeswoman Sara Kuban confirmed Monday.

If the Obama administration hadn't gone along with Cheney's request, he would have been forced to hire his own security agents - or go without.

As noted, far more than any other member of Bushco, “Deadeye Dick” has attacked the Obama Administration with a peculiar kind of vigor not seen while he was in office, lurking in the shadows of his “undisclosed location” (or hiding in the trees in that creepy photograph when Dubya spoke to reporters at the White House a year or so ago).

And by the way, we’re still awaiting proof from the former veep of the success of the “enhanced interrogation” methods he championed (here). And this tells us about the recent disclosure of Cheney’s supposed secret assassination program (with the predicatable Repug response here).

I think a reasonable person would have a hard time arguing the opinion that, at this moment, Dick Cheney is the most disreputable person in the world (or short of that, at least a qualifier for the top five in that category).

Given all of this, I can only add the following:

Mr. President, Dick Cheney can pay for his own damn security (and it’s not as if he can’t afford it).