2009 American Politics Thread I - My President Likes Spiderman

Okay, time for a proper Obama Administration thread, since most of the cabinet appointees have been named(the first round, at least).

We'll start things off on the right foot:

White House stops pending Bush regulations for review

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama's new administration ordered all federal agencies and departments on Tuesday to stop any pending regulations until they can be reviewed by incoming staff, halting last-minute Bush orders in their tracks.

"This afternoon, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel signed a memorandum sent to all agencies and departments to stop all pending regulations until a legal and policy review can be conducted by the Obama administration," the White House said in a statement issued just hours after Obama took office.

(...)

Controversial late rules by the outgoing Bush administration include allowing the carrying of concealed weapons in some national parks and prohibiting medical facilities from receiving federal money for discriminating against doctors and nurses who refuse to assist with abortions or dispense contraceptives based on religious grounds...

dude is straight kicking ass and all doubters must give props hesitant or no. you can rescind these props later if need be, props do not attach permanently

Too many props in a short time may prove hazardous. See your doctor if you experience painful props lasting for four hours or more.

props may cause drowsiness and/or extended priapism

sorry J0hn but Obama went deep into the Massive Public Approval skill which gives him +300% binding on all received props; this can only be countered by Economic Tsunami or White Girl Panties

or Morbs zingers.

Just the discovery of White Girl Panties?

Or, like, him drunk and wearing them on his head at a press conference?

it's my understanding that the WoW: Obama Admin build expands the White Girl Panties spell into a five-spell rogue-ops suite

"What's that, Helen? Oh, *these*? Heh heh heh. Funny story about that..."

way to bury my politics sabbatical announcement on the other thread, kingfish.

see ya in May (be)

When's the first official presser, anyway? This week? Before the State of the Union?

Do we get to publicly mock all the whiney-ass Corner-types who decry the # of standing ovations that the guy gets during the actual Address?

Right-o, see ya then.

Morbs Zingers is an emote; ineffectual and fun until it's overused, then it's KoS every time someone does it.

When a rogue gets 5 combo points on Obama, they can attempt White Girl Panties on him which will disorient him for 30 seconds. Make sure you have a shaman chain-casting Dubious Couture on Michelle otherwise he's immune.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/WorldofWarcraftPlayersforObama

http://scienceblogs.com/neuronculture/2008/12/world_of_warcraft_obama_hires.php

Oh God no, the puns are coming too quickly to type now. That being said,

So what kind of creature do you have to grind to get White Girl Panties to drop?

lvl 25 White Girls (found in Hillsbrad Foothills wandering near Southshore; they also drop an epic wine cooler)

Old but might as well repost it given the thread so far:

http://www.balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/ah121708obamabig.jpg

lol I have Hymn of Hope, must be a black thing

best thread ever

Today so far

-Went to church
-econ mtg
-chief of staff mtg
-suspended bullshit tribunal at Gitmo

Also, i like this:

But Gibbs said that most such substantive executive orders will probably wait until Thursday or later. The push on Wednesday will be to issue orders making clear Obama's intention to hold all White House staff to high ethics standards and to start delivering on the pledge of making his administration more transparent to Americans.

"Seriously, man, give us like a day to sort thru all this shit. New stuff comes tomorrow."

on the Gitmo tip

...Prosecutor Clay Trivett said all pending cases should be suspended because a review of the military commissions system may result in significant changes. Obama has said he will close Guantanamo and many expect he will scrap the special war crimes court and direct that cases be prosecuted in the U.S.

The 120-day suspension "has the practical effect of stopping the process, probably forever," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, Khadr's defense lawyer.

(....)

War crimes charges are pending against 21 men being held at Guantanamo, including the five charged with murder and other crimes in the Sept. 11 case. Before Obama became president, the U.S. had said it planned to try dozens of detainees in a system created by former President George W. Bush and Congress in 2006.

Relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, who were at the base this week to observe pretrial hearings, told reporters they oppose any halt to the trials.

"The safest place to have these trials is Guantanamo Bay. If they were to move to the homeland it would endanger all of us," said Lorraine Arias Believeau of Barnegat, New Jersey, whose brother, Adam, was killed in the attacks...

Huh? Holding criminal trials in an actual american court for actual crimes makes us less safer? how?

also for FUCKS SAKE can we finally have a moratorium on the term 'homeland'? We now longer have an Admin in power that needs to rely on bullshit fearmongering and stoking domestic paranoids. Not yet, at any rate.

In other news today, the President has chatted with the leaders of the PLA, Israel, Jordan, & Egypt.

like in AIM chatz?

With the new Administration's penchant for employing modern online communication tools, you never know.

Speaking of which, dig the re-design

gaza cio

Amazed, not just by this thread but gotta deadline...

http://img.timeinc.net/time/daily/2009/0901/obama_oval_0121.jpg

Someone loan the new President a laptop or something.

URKEL CHAIR

eeeek.

Eh, they all have that one. Aeron chairs can't be as easily armored, i guess.

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/homepage/hp1-21-09l.jpg

"So I'm thinking a huge flatscreen over there in that empty patch for sports broadcasts."

Payroll freeze, and...

...Obama's new lobbying rules will not only ban aides from trying to influence the administration when they leave his staff. Those already hired will be banned from working on matters they have previously lobbied on, or to approach agencies that they once targeted.

The rules also ban lobbyists from giving gifts of any size to any member of his administration. It wasn't immediately clear whether the ban would include the traditional "previous relationships" clause, allowing gifts from friends or associates with which an employee comes in with strong ties.

The new rules also require that anyone who leaves his administration is not allowed to try to influence former friends and colleagues for at least two years. Obama is requiring all staff to attend to an ethics briefing like one he said he attended last week...

dude is having a good first day, huh

So presidents don't get personal computers, eh?

Oh they probably all drunk by now

> So presidents don't get personal computers, eh?

He has to be careful not to spend all his time lurking on /b/

Did they finally take away his blackberry by force, or did they all work something out?

He has a postracialberry now.

They went to the US equivalent of Q outta James Bond and got something worked out.

yeah really enjoying how today pretty much establishes that the whole "nothing much will change more of the same yawn" crew can basically STFU

for instance:
http://i43.tinypic.com/sne14z.jpg

change we can believe in, because who really wants to sit around all day in yer gddmn suitcoat

get this no one was allowed in the oval office w/o a jacket

yay for guys way too influenced in prep school

yeah people might lose all respect for the office and the one who holds it if he shucks his jacket while, you know, working.

i hope they had a box full of really crappy oversized jackets by the door with a huge presidential crest on them for people who didnt remember to dress up.

naw if you showed up w/o a jacket they just waterboarded u

btw thats how cheney hurt his back

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/the_inauguration_of_president.html

How long are the freepers going to put 'quotes' around President Obama?

More Meaningless Symbolism from ‘President’ Barack Hussein Obama

Best photo of all:

http://cache.boston.com/universal/site_graphics/blogs/bigpicture/44_01_21/4442_17682555.jpg

> How long are the freepers going to put 'quotes' around President Obama?

2016

top marks raggett

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/1428745e6cc5d8e3c3.gif

Plus, the GOP's principles are fine (I don't agree with them, but whatevs.), but a lukewarm rehash of those broad themes -- with virtually no specifics and no citation to evidence -- sounds horribly empty at this stage of the game.

538:

10:29 EST (Nate): If it sounds like Jindal is targeting his speech to a room full of fourth graders, that's because he is. They might be the next people to actually vote for Republicans again.

the republican party is grasping at straws as it attempts desperately to wake up from its post-GWB catatonic state

So how much you wanna bet Michael Gerson wishes he could take this back?

The double laugh line was great, from "can get some consensus"(which everybody cheered) to "deficit we inherited"(which the democrats immediately cheered for louder)

Jindal has the ability to overwhelm any topic with facts and thoughtful arguments

HA! The Amen Corner is perking up, and getting caught on mic, right when he talks about ending the tax breaks, you hear a lady yell "Yeahh!"

the volcano thing is prob another example of intellectually dishonest talking points, in which GOP strategists look for $$$ in the stimulus bill that would be given to a certain agency, then look through any and all possible projects have been proposed under the rubric of that agency, and then accuse the dems of creating an earmark for that specific project that sounds suitably ridiculous. this is how money for the transportation department becomes, in Jindal's speech, money to build a rail line from Vegas to Disneyland. I think Jindal artfully said projects "such as" a rail line to Disneyland so as to not technically tell a blatant lie..

So . . . no rail line from Vegas to Disney?

Even if there is a fucking light rail line between Disneyland and The Palms, it's economically stimulative. Both to build, and then to generate $$$. Why the GOP thinks this is a winning argument is beyond me.

Because only anti-Americans would like mass transit, Johnny! I mean come on now.

I will travel by litter or not at all!

bunch of info on rail funding in the bill:
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=818C04CE-18FE-70B2-A8E73DEB70CA0F58

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/1751/mccain.jpg

grump grump grump GRUMP grump grump

feh

should be me up there

grump grump

hehe, those three. probably kind of pissed abt the Dems cutting deals with Snowe/Collins instead..

our babysitter is going to las vegas this weekend. i'm glad there's no supertrain from there to l.a., next thing you know she'd be waiting tables in santa monica and passing out her headshot, and we'd need a new nanny. bobby jindal's right, the democrats are a menace.

I'm selfish, I just want a train there so I can go eat at Lotus of Siam whenever I want.

heh. even the cspan cameraguys have suits on

i hope the high-speed rail funding doesn't specifically go to a vegas train. yeah vegas has been growing over the past decade in terms of new development and businesses looking for cheap land to overexpand on, but it also seems like it'd be hit particularly hard by foreclosures and layoffs. so we need to give it some time and see if vegas turns out to be the big 21st century boomtown or just a bigger wasteland than it was before.

oh... I think we know already...

i'm very bullish on LA <-> SF though! that would be very practical.

http://4.media.tumblr.com/7gSB5gka1kcxnvqfmB2QgMm2o1_400.jpg
http://4.media.tumblr.com/7gSB5gka1kcxnvqfmB2QgMm2o1_400.jpg
http://4.media.tumblr.com/7gSB5gka1kcxnvqfmB2QgMm2o1_400.jpg

it's like biden just did a magic trick at a cocktail party that no one found funny except for his slightly drunk wife, nancy pelosi

jooooooooooooooooooe the biden, went to a bar

2009 American Politics Thread II - My President Has a Goofy Sidekick

lols

i'm very bullish on LA <-> SF though!

cannot happen soon enough - LA craigslist has all the good amps!

inspiration requires daria to start it.

xp

2009 American Politics Thread II - My President Has a Goofy Sidekick

Watching Jindal's response again, and it's even dumber the second time.

This should be online for like 4 seconds, but enjoy. It's Keith O's "...oh God" caught on mic when Jindal wanders out.

Maddow:

just watching this... holy shit

I love that Maddow lady's response!

b...bababa !

Hugs!

http://d.yimg.com/img.news.yahoo.com/util/anysize/345,http%3A%2F%2Fd.yimg.com%2Fa%2Fp%2Fap%2F20090225%2Fcapt.b7ca0682106241a0927b7388d27cb9e7.obama_speech_dcrl155.jpg?v=2

http://d.yimg.com/img.news.yahoo.com/util/anysize/345,http%3A%2F%2Fd.yimg.com%2Fa%2Fp%2Frids%2F20090225%2Fi%2Fr3016332832.jpg?v=2

Meanwhile, CPAC starts tomorrow! CMJ/SXSW/Comic Con got nuthin' on this!

There's a bunch of shit happening, so let's see the choice bits on the menu:

12:10
The Key to Victory? Listen to Conservatives
Regency Ballroom
Michael Barone, U.S. News and World Report
Rep. Aaron Schock (IL)
Rep. Peter Roskam (IL)*
Rep. Virginia Foxx (NC)*
Saul Anuzis, Michigan Republican Party

Moderator: Al Cardenas, American Conservative Union Board of Directors

-

2:30
Al Franken and ACORN: How Liberals are Destroying the American Election System
Ambassador Ballroom
Hans von Spakovsky, The Heritage Foundation
Heather Heidelbaugh, Republican National Lawyers Association
Mark Braden, former RNC chief counsel

Moderator: Cleta Mitchell, American Conservative Union Foundation

-

2:45
Protecting the Secret Ballot
Regency Ballroom
Hon. Ernest Istook, Save Our Secret Ballot
Mark Mix, National Right to Work
Sue Hensley, National Restaurant Association*

Moderator: Dennis Whitfield, American Conservative Union

-

Presentation of the Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award
Presenter: David A. Keene, American Conservative Union
Recipient: TBD

SPEAKERS:
Rep. Roy Blunt (MO)
Rep. John Shadegg (AZ)
Hon. Michael Steele

ENTERTAINMENT: Wrenn Mangum
--

10:00
What the Government Doesn't Want You to Know, and How You Can Find Out
Putting the Freedom of Information Act to Work for You
Diplomat Ballroom
Sponsored by Judicial Watch
Speakers: Chris Farrell and Investigations and Tegan Millspaw
Beverages Served
Open to all CPAC attendees

--

10:45
Will Congress Take Your Guns?
Regency Ballroom
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)*
Rep. Connie Mack (FL)

Moderator: Chuck Cunningham, National Rifle Association-ILA

---

11:30
Health Care: The Train Wreck Ahead
Regency Ballroom
Rep. Michael Burgess (TX)*
Grace-Marie Turner, Galen Institute

Moderator: Mike Tanner, Cato Institute

--

2:00
Kevin McCullough
Exhibit Hall
Book Signing – The Kind of Man Every Man Should Be: Taking a Stand for True Masculinity

--

2:00
Stephen Baldwin
Exhibit Hall
Book Signing – The Death and Life of Gabriel Phillips

--

Presentation of Jeane Jordan Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award
Sponsored by The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
Presenter: Michael Grebe, The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
Recipient: Stephen H. Balch, National Association of Scholars

--

9:00
Hon. Rick Santorum
Regency Ballroom
Introduction: Tim Goeglein, Focus on the Family

--

3:00
The True Cost Of Global Warming Hysteria
Regency Ballroom
Ann McElhinney, Not Evil, Just Wrong
Phelim McAleer, Not Evil, Just Wrong

Moderator: Andrew Breitbart, Breitbart.com's Big Hollywood

--

2:00
Conservatism 2.0 Conference
Diplomat Ballroom
Sponsored by Pajamas Television
The conservative answer to The View hosted by Kellyanne Conway, Mary Anne Marsh, Michelle Malkin and Jeri Thompson

Panelists: John P. Avlon, Alfonzo Rachel, Glenn Reynolds,and Scott Ott

Complimentary lunch served
Open to all CPAC attendees

It's Keith O's "...oh God" caught on mic when Jindal wanders out.

it was Matthews

asking hans von spakovsky to talk about election integrity is a little like holding a talk on home fire safety and inviting an old dry christmas tree

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/3953/b8965cd4a29d5e2c4789c98.jpg

ok Chris Matthews just went up a lot in my esteem

Saul Anuzis

wild

omg wait did not pick up the implications of "outsourcing" comment first time around

subtext wrt 'outsourcing' is unfortunate but the concept is still valid.

day one and they've struck gold already!

tpm's coverage of that has been awes

In addition to the speakers and seminars, there's a giant exhibition area where different conservative outfits are peddling their wares. My favorite bumper sitcker for sale was "Obama Bin Lyin'. Impeach Him Now." I picked up an "It's OK to be Ex Gay" button. There are rows and rows of conservative talk show hosts broadcasting from here and a bloggers row. There are pro life groups and pro gun groups and anti global warming groups. I was handed an ice cream sandwich by a woman dressed as a polar bear. When I asked her what she was advocating she lifted her mask and cheerfully told me that the polar bears were fine and that conservative principles would do more for the environment than government.

y'know, that's just chilling.