Senator Webb comes out against Gitmo.

You have the right to neither surprise, nor a sense of betrayal.

[UPDATE] Welcome, Hot Air readers.

Oh, Webb is saying that he’s merely against the timetable, but that’s just political-speak for ‘I need to start laying down the groundwork for my retreat on this issue.’ By this time next year he’ll be telling everybody how he’s fully satisfied that Obama’s ‘reform’ of Gitmo addresses the issues brought up during the campaign, etc, etc, etc. Amazing how quickly some of these guys catch Washington Establishment Disease, huh? Continue reading Senator Webb comes out against Gitmo.

Reps. Barton & Upton to Rep. Waxman: What’s the rush?

From a letter to Rep. Waxman by Rep. Barton & Rep. Upton on the apparently burning need to pass HR 2454 before Memorial Day:

In your March 27 letter to President Obama concerning climate legislation in the 111th Congress, you seemed to agree. You told the President that “hearings, markups, and regular order are the best way to forge the compromises that will unite members from all parts of the country. As we work to achieve this consensus, we hope Republican members of our committee and of the full House will join the process too, so that truly bipartisan answers can be developed.”

However, your self-imposed Memorial Day deadline for reporting this bill necessarily requires that we short-circuit the logical legislative process that our democracy thrives on, and replace it with a frantic rush to judgment.

What is the hurry? If we wanted a bill sure to embarrass our committee, this is precisely the process we would adopt to create one. It began with secret negotiations, moved on to a decision to skip subcommittee consideration altogether, and now we face a scheduled markup. We appreciate that today you provided us with a copy of your revised language in the form of an introduced bill—H.R. 2454—that is 284 pages longer than your original draft. However, since the House is not in session today and will not be voting until Monday evening, Members will not have had any meaningful chance to even look at your new language; much less try and understand it before you start the markup. Not that this would make any difference, as we understand that you will be offering a complete substitute amendment at the markup that we will not see until it is offered. Mr. Chairman, this is no way to write any public law, much less one that will transform the way every person in our country lives and works.

Continue reading Reps. Barton & Upton to Rep. Waxman: What’s the rush?

Democrats set to remove meddlesome anti-corruption prosecutor.

Elections have consequences.

(Via Instapundit) No, not Fitzgerald: Illinois is a little too prominent right now for that kind of shenanigans. North Carolina, on the other hand…

Democrats fix sights on GOP prosecutor

John Edwards admits federal investigators are asking him questions. Federal subpoenas were issued Friday related to Mike Easley.

As the separate federal probes into a former senator and the former governor are emerging, Democrats are taking steps to replace the Republican prosecutor who is spearheading the inquiries about the highest-profile North Carolina Democrats of the past decade.

All the nearly 100 top federal prosecutors across the country serve at the will of the president. Any replacement for U.S. Attorney George E.B. Holding, a Bush appointee who has kept a priority on public corruption cases from Raleigh to the coast, will be subject to U.S. Senate confirmation.

The process gives a key role in the decision to U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat who was in the state Senate leadership for several years until she unseated Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole in November. Already, Hagan has formed a panel to screen candidates. It is led by Burley Mitchell, former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court who now works at the Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice law firm.

They’re claiming that this screening process is ‘coincidental’ to the investigations, of course.

Of course. Continue reading Democrats set to remove meddlesome anti-corruption prosecutor.

‘Boehner to Pelosi: Put Up, or Shut Up.’

Whoops! I was channeling Maureen Dowd there, for a moment*.

Anyway, the title is of course from Hot Air Headlines, and it refers to this story:

GOP leader: Pelosi should show proof or apologize

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A key Republican leader demanded Sunday that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi produce evidence to back up her assertion that she was misled by the CIA on the use of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques.”

[snip]

“Lying to the Congress of the United States is a crime,” House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“If the speaker is accusing the CIA and other intelligence officials of lying or misleading the Congress, then she should come forward with evidence and turn that over to the Justice Department so they be prosecuted. And if that’s not the case, I think she ought to apologize to our intelligence professionals around the world.”

Continue reading ‘Boehner to Pelosi: Put Up, or Shut Up.’

Obama yanking Granholm out of Michigan?

I note with some interest (via a post from The Other McCain) that there are some Democrats still out there that are apparently seriously contemplating supporting the nomination of Governor Jennifer Granholm to the Supreme Court.

Granholm seen as possible fresh face

DETROIT, May 17 (UPI) — Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm would provide a fresh perspective to the U.S. Supreme Court if she is nominated by President Barack Obama, analysts say.

Yes, I suppose that the Governor would provide a ‘fresh perspective’ to the Supreme Court. To the best of my knowledge, no sitting Justice there has managed to almost double an entire state’s unemployment rate in five short years. Particularly when the national unemployment rate was trending downward for most of that time:

miunemployment
Michigan/USA Unemployment Rate

Or is it just a case of testing to destruction The Peter Principle once and for all? If so, I give full credit to the Obama administration for seriously contemplating rescuing the people of Michigan from one of its primary (and no doubt, well-meaning) tormentors… but must it be the Supreme Court? Surely they have not filled all the slots at Fish & Game yet? My father-in-law would vehemently object to that particular suggestion, but sacrifices must sometimes be made.

Moe Lane

PS: Interestingly, this line of thought suggests that Rep Conyers hates Michigan, and wishes for it to suffer some more.

Crossposted to RedState.

Captain Obvious, President Obama, and our unsustainable debt.

Herself of Maenianum Secundum categorizes her response to President Obama’s recent comments about our ‘unsustainable‘ debt load as ‘Captain Obvious‘:

Solution: Stop spending and then we won’t need to borrow any more money.

You’d think that it would be a Captain Obvious moment, wouldn’t you?  Alas, my own (depressing) experience has shown me that there’s a whole list of things that people should know, but don’t know, because everybody who could have told them had assumed that it was already common knowledge.  So, here goes:

Spending more money than you have is a bad idea.  You will eventually need to find a way to pay it all off, and all of the ways of doing so are deliberately designed to be not fun.

So, don’t do that.

As I said: depressing that this is necessary.

Moe Lane

PS: Honestly, if I had the money I’d send a copy of How Much Is a Million? to every freaking member of Congress and the White House. I suspect that part of the problem is that they don’t conceptualize the money being tossed around.

Crossposted to RedState.