James Carville’s Advice for the President: “Fire. Indict. Fight.”

Posted: September 15, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: U.S. Economy, A My Pet Goat Moment, Democratic Politics, U.S. Politics, Barack Obama, Corporate Crime, 2012 presidential campaign | Tags: , , , , , , | 20 Comments

Earth to Obama: Time to Panic!

Commenter Janicen linked to this article by James Carville on the morning thread, but I thought it deserved a post. Carville’s advice sounds a lot like what I’d expect Hillary or Bill Clinton to say to Obama if they had the opportunity.

In his piece at CNN.com, Carville says things are not going well, it’s time for Obama to panic! It’s time for the President to completely change course! Carville:

Today I was mulling over election results from New York and Nevada while thinking about that very question. What should the White House do now? One word came to mind: Panic.

We are far past sending out talking points. Do not attempt to dumb it down. We cannot stand any more explanations. Have you talked to any Democratic senators lately? I have. It’s pretty damn clear they are not happy campers.

Carville thinks Obama should fire some of his advisers immediately–in fact he recommends firing a lot of people.

Mr. President, your hinge of fate must turn. Bill Clinton fired many people in 1994 and took a lot of heat for it. Reagan fired most of his campaign staff in 1980. Republicans historically fired their own speaker, Newt Gingrich. Bush fired Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. For God’s sake, why are we still looking at the same political and economic advisers that got us into this mess? It’s not working.

I would add that maybe Obama should find some economic advisers who actually know something about economics, and then try listening to them.

Carville further suggests that Obama’s Justice Department should get busy indicting the corporate malefactors who caused the economic crisis that is hurting the middle- and working-class voters who will decide the next presidential election.

Good luck with that. I doubt if Obama will turn on his corporate masters, even if it means losing in 2012.

Next Carville says Obama should start “mak[ing] a case like a Democrat.” Good luck with that one too. I don’t think Obama is capable of acting like a Democrat. But I’d love to be proven wrong.

Finally, Carville says that Obama needs to

Stick to your rationale for what has happened and what is going to happen under your leadership. You must carry this through until the election (never say that things are improving because evidently they are not).

And to sum it all up, Carville sounds the alarm about what we’ll be facing if Obama doesn’t wake up and smell the failed presidency:

As I watch the Republican debates, I realize that we are on the brink of a crazy person running our nation. I sit in front of the television and shudder at the thought of one of these creationism-loving, global-warming-denying, immigration-bashing, Social-Security-cutting, clean-air-hating, mortality-fascinated, Wall-Street-protecting Republicans running my country.

The course we are on is not working. The hour is late, and the need is great. Fire. Indict. Fight.

If only Obama would listen … but I’m not holding my breath.

US Claims “National Security” to Cover Up Embarrassing Deal with Con Man

Posted: February 20, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: income inequality, Psychopaths in charge, Social Security, The Bonus Class, U.S. Economy, U.S. Military, U.S. Politics, We are so F'd | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

According to the politicians running things in our country these days, paying fair salaries to teachers, social workers, and firefighters is irresponsible because it runs up the deficit. Paying Social Security to old folks is driving the country into bankruptcy. But when the feds pour millions of dollars down the drain because they get duped by a con man, that’s a national security secret.

Dennis Montgomery, Con Man

From The New York Times:

For eight years, government officials turned to Dennis Montgomery, a California computer programmer, for eye-popping technology that he said could catch terrorists. Now, federal officials want nothing to do with him and are going to extraordinary lengths to ensure that his dealings with Washington stay secret.

In fact, the Justice Department has argued in court that if they had to reveal the embarrassing details of what happened, it would damage national security. That could be true if revealing how dumb our public officials and “intelligence” experts are puts our country in danger….

Mr. Montgomery and his associates received more than $20 million in government contracts by claiming that software he had developed could help stop Al Qaeda’s next attack on the United States. But the technology appears to have been a hoax, and a series of government agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency and the Air Force, repeatedly missed the warning signs, the records and interviews show.

Get this, Montgomery convinced U.S. intelligence wizards that he had designed some software that could detect secret Al Qaeda messages concealed in Al Jazeera broadcasts! ROFLOL! That’s reminds me of the days when religious nuts used to claim they could detect Satanic messages in rock ‘n’ roll music by playing it backwards.

Montgomery also told the CIA that his magic software could “identify terrorists from Predator drone videos” and pick up sounds from submarines. And the CIA geniuses bought Montgomery’s tale hook, line, and sinker. As a result of the government’s involvement with this grifter, there was

…an international false alarm that led President George W. Bush to order airliners to turn around over the Atlantic Ocean in 2003.

The software led to dead ends in connection with a 2006 terrorism plot in Britain. And they were used by counterterrorism officials to respond to a bogus Somali terrorism plot on the day of President Obama’s inauguration, according to previously undisclosed documents.

OMG, my sides are splitting from laughter! And on top of all that,

C.I.A. officials…came to believe that Mr. Montgomery’s technology was fake in 2003, but their conclusions apparently were not relayed to the military’s Special Operations Command, which had contracted with his firm. In 2006, F.B.I. investigators were told by co-workers of Mr. Montgomery that he had repeatedly doctored test results at presentations for government officials. But Mr. Montgomery still landed more business.

In 2009, the Air Force approved a $3 million deal for his technology, even though a contracting officer acknowledged that other agencies were skeptical about the software, according to e-mails obtained by The New York Times.

Angelo Mozilo, Fraudster

Hold onto your wallets, I think President Obama is going to have to ask us “small people” to “sacrifice” some more to make up the difference. Meanwhile, Mr. Montgomery will very likely get away with his fraud, just like Countrywide’s Angelo Mozilo, formerly of Countrywide, and every other fraudster and bankster who comes down the pike. Don’t worry, though, “sacrifice” is good for you, your parents, and your children and grandchildren.

Well, It’s About Time! Justice Department Sues BP

Posted: December 15, 2010 | Author: | Filed under: Gulf Oil Spill, New Orleans | Tags: , , | 27 Comments

Finally! The Justice Department (PDF) is suing BP and eight other companies over the Gulf oil spill. From the Financial Times

BP faces penalties of $21bn-plus if found fully liable for damages in a lawsuit over the oil accident in the Gulf of Mexico launched by the US government on Wednesday.

Any damages would be on top of the $20bn (£17bn) BP has agreed to pay into a fund to compensate people on the Gulf coast who have suffered financially because of the spill. The final damages figures depend on the US government’s ability to prove gross negligence.

[….]

The US Department of Justice announced that it was suing BP, along with Anadarko of the US and Mitsui of Japan, its partners in the disastrous Macondo well; Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig; and the QBE syndicate 1036 at Lloyd’s of London, which insured the rig.

Eric Holder, the US attorney-general, said: “We intend to prove that these defendants are responsible for government removal costs, economic losses and environmental damages without limitation.”

According to Raw Story:

The lawsuit alleges that safety and operating regulations were violated in the period leading up to April 20.

It says that the defendants failed to keep the Macondo well under control during that period and failed to use the best available and safest drilling technology to monitor the well’s conditions. They also failed to maintain continuous surveillance and failed to maintain equipment and material that were available and necessary to ensure the safety and protection of personnel, equipment, natural resources and the environment, the suit charges.

Before Wednesday, potential class-action lawsuits had been filed in the Gulf oil spill by fishing and seafood interests, the tourism industry, restaurants and clubs, property owners losing vacation renters — even vacationers who claim the spill forced them to cancel and lose a deposit. So far, more than 300 suits have been spawned by the spill and consolidated in federal court in New Orleans.

Specifically, according to the Christian Science Monitor,

The complaint seeks to enforce provisions of the Oil Pollution Act, which government lawyers say provides for open-ended liability for pollution removal costs and other damages.

The lawsuit alleges that the companies failed to take necessary precautions to keep the oil well under control in the period leading up to the explosion. The companies also failed to rely on the best available and safest drilling technology, the suit says.

In addition, the companies are accused of failing to maintain continuous surveillance of the drilling operation and failing to ensure the safety and protection of workers, equipment, natural resources, and the environment.

The suit also seeks civil fines under the Clean Water Act for the oil that poured into the Gulf after the explosion.

The civil suits will be going on at the same time as the Justice Department’s criminal investigation.

The Justice Department is “at a different stage” with its criminal investigation compared with the civil case, Holder said. “We are moving as quickly as we can” on the criminal investigation, said Holder, who didn’t give any timetable for when it might conclude.

The Blog of the Legal Times notes the difficulty posed by running parallel criminal and civil legal actions:

The suit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana comes amid an ongoing criminal investigation of the oil spill, which followed an explosion and fire in April that killed 11 workers.

The suit thrusts the government into the sometimes challenging world of parallel criminal and civil proceedings. The Justice Department also said in the complaint it reserves the right to conduct administrative proceedings against the defendants.

“It is difficult to have parallel proceedings going on at the same time,” said Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., addressing reporters this afternoon at Main Justice. “We need to be careful to make sure that we don’t do anything that violates any of the rules that we have to follow on the criminal side while at the same time proceeding on the civil side. It’s been a little tricky.”

Today was the final day to sue for damages caused by the BP oil spill.

The lawsuit makes it possible for the federal government to seek billions of dollars in penalties for polluting the Gulf of Mexico, beaches and wetlands, and reimbursement for its cleanup costs. More than 300 lawsuits filed previously by individuals and businesses, and now consolidated in the New Orleans federal court, include claims for financial losses and compensation for the families of 11 workers killed in the blast.

The judge overseeing those lawsuits had set Wednesday as the deadline to file certain types of complaints, though it was unclear whether the government was bound by that time frame.

“The Justice Department has left its options open to argue that there was gross negligence and therefore should be higher penalties,” said David Uhlmann, a law professor at the University of Michigan who headed up the Justice Department’s environmental crimes section for seven years. “The government has not limited itself in any way with the filing of its civil lawsuit.”

My main question is where will the money go if the suits are successful? Will the people in the Gulf states receive any compensation from damages paid to the government? I certainly hope so.

Newer Entries →