The position created and dedicated to maintain transparency in Obama's administration has been axed. Mr. Eisen has been transferred to the Czech Republic and most of his responsibilities have been handed over to WH Counsel Bob Bauer. Mr. Bauer seems to be more of a "government knows best" and less of a "people have a right to know" kinda guy.
President Obama has abolished the position in his White House dedicated to transparency and shunted those duties into the portfolio of a partisan ex-lobbyist who is openly antagonistic to the notion of disclosure by government and politicians.
Obama transferred "ethics czar" Norm Eisen to the Czech Republic to serve as U.S. ambassador. Some of Eisen's duties will be handed to Domestic Policy Council member Steven Croley, but most of them, it appears, will shift over to the already-full docket of White House Counsel Bob Bauer.
Bauer is renowned as a "lawyer's lawyer" and a legal expert. His resume, however, reads more "partisan advocate" than "good-government crusader." Bauer came to the White House from the law firm Perkins Coie, where he represented John Kerry in 2004 and Obama during his campaign.
Bauer has served as the top lawyer for the Democratic National Committee, which is the most prolific fundraising entity in the country. Then-Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., the caricature of a cutthroat Chicago political fixer, hired Bauer to represent the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In the White House, Bauer is tight with Emanuel, having defended Emanuel's offer of a job to Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., whom Emanuel wanted out of the Senate race.
Interesting. I suppose in a bid to take over the planet, it helps to have synchronized watches.
[T]he supremacy of Greenwich Mean Time is being challenged by a gargantuan new clock being built in Mecca, by which the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims could soon be setting their watches.
Residents of Mecca will also be reminded that it is time to pray when 21,000 green and white lights, visible at a distance of 18 miles, flash five times a day.
But Islamic scholars hope the clock’s influence will stretch far further than the sands of Saudi Arabia, as part of a plan for Mecca to eclipse the Greenwich Observatory as the “true centre of the earth”.
For the past 125 years, the international community has accepted that the start of each day should be measured from the prime meridian, representing 0 degrees longitude, which passes through the Greenwich Observatory.
A standard time by which other clocks were set was needed to organise global travel and communications, but in the Islamic world the idea that it should be centred on a part of London is seen as a colonial anachronism.
As Mohammed al-Arkubi, manager of one of the hotels in the complex, put it: "Putting Mecca time in the face of Greenwich Mean Time. This is the goal."
As a followup, here is a fairly short but informational video on three things you probably didn't know about Islam.
Two articles I read today saying essentially the same thing: the economy is in serious trouble. At CNBC, Jochen Wermuth, the CIO of Wermuth Asset Management is quoted as saying
America today looks like Russia in 1998. Consumers, companies and the government are all highly indebted. America as a result is a bankrupt Mickey Mouse economy.
The big evil for the IMF in Russia in 1998 was the prospect of the central bank funding government debt. The Fed is now even buying mortgage-backed securities.
Even before the [Troubled Asset Relief Program] and the expansion of the Fed's balance sheet, the ratio of total US public and private debt was 290 percent, that figure is now far higher.
US credit risk is huge and America has two options, either default or let the currency depreciate substantially against currencies such as the yuan and the rouble.
Let’s get real. The U.S. is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills.
What it can and must do is radically simplify its tax, health-care, retirement and financial systems, each of which is a complete mess. But this is the good news. It means they can each be redesigned to achieve their legitimate purposes at much lower cost and, in the process, revitalize the economy.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund released its annual review of U.S. economic policy. Its summary contained these bland words about U.S. fiscal policy: “Directors welcomed the authorities’ commitment to fiscal stabilization, but noted that a larger than budgeted adjustment would be required to stabilize debt-to-GDP.”
But delve deeper, and you will find that the IMF has effectively pronounced the U.S. bankrupt. Section 6 of the July 2010 Selected Issues Paper says: “The U.S. fiscal gap associated with today’s federal fiscal policy is huge for plausible discount rates.” It adds that “closing the fiscal gap requires a permanent annual fiscal adjustment equal to about 14 percent of U.S. GDP.”
In doing some poking around about this topic, I ran across an older post at Faultline USA. Although not exactly the same focus, it does have more information about how the U.N. relates to Christianity and traditional American values. Worth reading along with the rest. Here is an exerpt from the above article:
Would you knowingly join, attend, support, or allow your children to be indoctrinated in a Christian church that . . .
*Promotes the moral equivalency of all forms of global spirituality *Focuses on the creation of an earthly Utopia as opposed to “outmoded” notions of the Kingdom of Heaven *Stresses “consensus” Christianity over sound theological foundations and Biblical authority. *Teaches that all war is contrary to God’s will *Is critical of capitalism and democracy *Fosters the notion that American patriotism and sovereignty is akin to racism *Accuses the U.S. of being the source of international poverty and unjust warfare *Promotes a revolutionary leftist/Marxist social agenda often referred to as Liberation Theology *Promotes multilateralism through international institutions where the UN and the International Court would overrule the U.S. Constitution *Is actively working towards the implementation of a Global church and Global government overseen by the UN
The U.N. apparently wants to start them young with the "plan." Traditional American ideals, such as of free speech, individualism, personal property, and Christianity are gone. New economic, environmental, and social guidelines take their place.
The agenda of the United-Nations-funded and -run International Baccalaureate Curriculum is making massive inroads into America's public schools, with operations already established in more than 1,000 locations.
"This U.N. curriculum is extremely hostile to Christians. It's hostile to American values and ideas and very big on humanism, redistribution of wealth, and very big on pluralism and that all religions are equal," Howse told WND.
"The man wrote me an e-mail, and he said, 'It's crazy how we're not informed and how so many parents, Christian parents, are shuffling their kids into these programs thinking it's a good thing, a positive thing," Howse said.
Howse points to the program's objectives that say the entire curriculum is shaped by the U.N.
According to a report at EdNews.org, the program should overrule any "parochial" values or beliefs, with a heavy focus on a social agenda throughout classes.
"Math Studies curriculum explores problems concerning the weather, environmental protection, conservation and energy. … The statistics unit will examine a variety of problems from a global perspective, such as the disparity of wealth distribution between first- and third-world countries."
USA Today: front page, right in the center of Friday's paper. The polls put the Broncos at #5 starting the season. With Virginia Tech polling at #6, it should be a very interesting season opener! From KTVB:
BOISE -- Front page, center, and above the fold. That is where the Boise State Broncos are featured in Friday's regional issue of USA Today.
While the Broncos were ranked fifth in USA Today's preseason college football coaches' poll Friday, the headline of the paper's top story asks the question, "Is it Boise State's time?"
The fans will surely argue 'yes' while other teams will spend their seasons trying to spoil Boise State's plans for another run at a BCS bowl game or even the national championship.
Last year, the Broncos were ranked 16th in the same preseason poll.
Also of note is the August 16th cover of SI, shown below for your viewing pleasure.
