Neither did I, until I read this dreck from Nancy Gibbs of Time Magazine…
The Nobel committee cited "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." His critics fault some of those efforts: those who favor a missile shield for Poland or a troop surge in Afghanistan or a harder line on Iran. But even his fans know that none of the dreams have yet come true, and a prize for even dreaming them can feed the illusion that they have.WTF???!!!
At this moment many Americans are longing for a president who is more bully, less pulpit.Proof? Anywhere in sight?? Hello???
The president who leased his immense inaugural good will to the hungry appropriators writing the stimulus bill, who has not stopped negotiating health care reform except to say what is non-negotiable, whose solicitude for the wheelers and dealers who drove the financial system into a ditch leaves the rest of us wondering who has our back, has always shown great promise, said the right things, affirmed every time he opens his mouth that he understands the fears we face and the hopes we hold. But he presides over a capital whose day-to-day functioning has become part-travesty, part-tragedy, wasteful, blind, vain, petty, where even the best intentioned reformers measure their progress with teaspoons. There comes a time when a President needs to take a real risk - and putting his prestige on the line to win the Olympics for his home town does not remotely count.Ummm…there actually is s point there, I realize; I’d like to see Obama do more on repealing DADT and the ridiculous “Defense of Marriage Act,” as well as getting us the hell out of Afghanistan. But as I’ve said before, every time you get unhappy with him and consider the alternative offered last year, just say “Vice President Palin,” and that helps to put things in perspective right quick.
And besides, what the hell does any of this have to do with winning the Nobel Peace Prize?
And if you thought such wankery was a one-time occurrence for Ms. Gibbs, this tells us of similar ruminations on the Obamas’ decision to send their daughters to Sidwell Friends School, this tells us of her fiction that Bill Clinton once referred to Obama’s candidacy as a “fairy tale” (Clinton, rightly or wrongly, was talking about Obama and Iraq), and this tells us that Gibbs gave former CIA Director Michael Hayden a pass on his inconsistent statements about warrantless surveillance.
Oh, and I suppose I’d better not tell Gibbs about this either, or else she’ll proclaim that Obama will lose his likely bid for re-election in 2012.
One more thing (and I have Avedon Carol at Eschaton to thank for this suggestion); I’ll do a deal with the wingnuts on this. If you don’t say anything about Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, I won’t say anything about Henry Kissinger, one of the most grotesque liars in our history, winning it, OK?
The U.S. House and Senate met yesterday to negotiate the final conference report on the fiscal year 2010 Homeland Security Appropriations bill. Even though both the House and Senate have previously overwhelmingly voted to prevent the transfer and release of Guantanamo detainees into the U.S., the conference report contains language allowing detainee transfers for the purpose of prosecution in U.S. criminal courts.There actually is a bit of truth there, but only a bit; as noted here…
…
The Democrats in the conference committee have defied the will of Congress and the American people and have voted to allow terrorist detainees to be brought onto American soil at taxpayer expense.
Democratic senators and congressmen added language to a Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill that “prohibits” detainees from being transferred to the US “except to be prosecuted.”So if Lewis wants to oppose bringing terrorists to this country for prosecution (which, to a filthy, unkempt liberal blogger such as yours truly, seems like the smartest way to try them), he can vote against the measure (to say nothing of housing them here – Lord knows we have enough supermax space for at least some of them). Otherwise, he should shut up.
Such transfers would only be allowed after Congress receives a plan detailing the risks involved, how to mitigate them and other demands.
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The measure must still face a vote before the full Senate and House of Representatives. Just last week, the House voted to prevent the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to the United States for any reason.
And for more fun with Rep. Lewis, click here.
If increased traffic was a legitimate reason to block development, none of us would be here. The land on which our homes sit would still be growing alfalfa. And the deer would have plenty of room to roam. That leads us to Aria (formerly Frankford) Hospital's request to move from its hemmed-in site in the crowded Oxford Valley Mall area to the more open environs of Lower Makefield.I guess that argument makes sense in a universe where Thumper The Rabbit operates an ATV and Bambi drives a Hummer.
Best as we can tell, the supervisors' chief complaint is the traffic the hospital would generate - their attorney's 21 reasons to reject the proposal notwithstanding. The problem with the traffic argument is this: Hospitals don't generate a lot of rush-hour traffic because their employees work shifts.Obviously, though the paper has obviously forgotten that an actual engineer did write a really good Guest Opinion on this subject last April (a man named Joseph Hochreiter), and in it he looked at traffic access issues, all kinds of infrastructure issues (water, sewer, electrical), the development of “feeder” roads hinted at in the Courier-Times editorial, and the question of what would happen to the current Frankford site on Oxford Valley Road in the event of a move (you can tell he knew what he was talking about because of the volume of wingnut umbrage he generated in the comments).
Just look at nearby St. Mary Medical Center, which has grown into a small city. Its only access point is on Route 413, a heavily traveled two-lane highway. While traffic backs up at times, the situation isn't dire or dangerous. Compare that to the multi-lane Newtown Bypass, which would provide one access point to Aria. It's a busy highway; there's no doubt about that. But Aria's plans include measures to mitigate additional traffic generated by the hospital, offices and surgery center.
We're not experts on traffic engineering.
Oh, and do you know what else Hochreiter talked about? Patient care, that’s what.
As in wondering how the hell the residents of Levittown and Fairless Hills are supposed to be served by the closing of Frankford and a re-opening in Lower Makefield (along with the relocation of Capital Health to very nearly the same area).
If you want to keep current with the developments on this issue, click here (it would probably do the Courier Times more than a little good to go to the site and read up on this in case they decide to pontificate on this matter again).
Finally, though I beat up the Courier Times on this issue, I have to point out that they’re absolutely right to note in this “Thumbs Down” segment the supposed bet between the mayors of Philadelphia and Denver on the baseball playoffs and the pittances pledged by all the “corporate citizens” involved (the winning city gets $2K for the homeless and the loser gets $500, and the participants involved are the First Bank of Colorado along with Citizens Bank and Comcast).
It would have been less insulting had they not even bothered to place the wager at all.
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