Nice Vetting
It turns our that Timothy Geithner, the man chosen to be the new Secretary of the Treasury, has had tax problems.
We are supposed to ignore this because it was “an honest mistake”, not paying his unemployment taxes for three years while he worked for the International Monetary Fund. How was anyone to know that they had to pay their self-employment taxes after being told repeatedly by the IMF that they were responsible for them?
What the hell, just because he will be over the Internal Revenue Service, and can’t file an accurate 1040, Obama wants him to lead the recovery. I guess the fact that he makes “honest mistakes” on his tax returns is what endears him to Wall Street, and we all know how important it is to cater to Wall Street after all it has done for the nation.
The immigration status of his housekeeper is really a minor issue. She was legal when hired, and her re-certification was delayed.
16 comments
I’ve been trying to think of a suitable comment… but the only thing that really springs to mind over this is…
Can someone explain the Presidential difference between Bushmoron and Obama? It escapes me just at the moment. *sigh*
This is something that should have been cleared up months ago. The Republicans will use it without a doubt. Of all the positions, this one is critical at the moment and they couldn’t find anyone with clean hands. It’s just unbelievable.
“Can someone explain the Presidential difference between Bushmoron and Obama?” – Kryten42
Two words, Kryten: Supreme Court.
I will probably deplore some of Obama’s Court appointments, or at least be very disappointed in them. But had Bush’s approach to the selection of Justices been continued by McCain, we would be living in an actual theocracy within four years. We almost got there during Bush’s reign, um, I mean, term.
We don’t know how many judges will be appointed or what positions will be open, so we must await decisions. We can hope, but we won’t know until it happens.
I am not encouraged by what I have seen so far.
Yeah…”honest mistake”…my donkey.
cookie jill´s last blog post..darth cheney…disconnected from reality.
I know what you mean Steve. 🙂 I’ll hold judgment until Obama has been Prez a couple months I think. But so far, it doesn’t bode well with me I’m afraid.
Speaking of Judges… You might find this interesting from one of our Newspapers (The Age):
US judge admits torture tactics in Guantanamo
So, as many of us know and have been saying for years, this is another reason that torture doesn’t work. As well as being immoral, generally unproductive, torture victims can’t be prosecuted even if they actually have a reason to be prosecuted. It’s lose-lose all around.
Stupid.
That article is long, but worth reading. Here’s the last part:
…
Last May, she ordered the war crimes charges against Qahtani dropped but did not state publicly that torture was the reason. “It did shock me,” she said. “I was upset by it. I was embarrassed by it.
“If we tolerate this and allow it, then how can we object when our servicemen and women … are captured and subjected to the same techniques? How can we complain? Where is our moral authority to complain? Well, we may have lost it.”
She said the techniques used against Qahtani were approved by the then defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld. “A lot of this happened on his watch.”
Judge Crawford said she did not know if five other detainees accused of taking part in the September 11 plot, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were tortured. “I assume torture,” she said, noting that CIA director-general Michael Hayden had said publicly that Mohammed was one of three detainees waterboarded by the CIA.
The five detainees face capital murder charges, and Judge Crawford said she let those charges go ahead because the FBI satisfied her that they gathered information without using coercive techniques.
She said Mr Bush was right to create a system to try unlawful enemy combatants but the implementation was flawed.
“I think someone should acknowledge that mistakes were made … and take responsibility for it,” she said.
“We learn as children that it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than it is for permission,” Judge Crawford said. “I think the buck stops in the Oval Office.”
A sane intelligent person might think the buck stops at the Oval Office. Sadly, the politicians don’t think so, nor do many Republicans.
So, in years to come, when children ask why the people responsible for the 9/11 attack got away with it, you can tell them “It’s President Bush and his administration and his supporters fault.” Of course, if you are Republican, you can just blame the Liberals, as always. Reality really sux, right? 😉 LOL
The laws of probably say there must be someone connected to the financial sector who is an honest, law-abiding citizen, Jill. We just need to find them to give the keys of the Treasury to, not someone who has already proven to be a bit free and easy with the rules.
It’s as if the transition team forgot about Whitewater, and how long a Democrat was hounded for losing money in a scam. If the Republicans will do that to a victim, what will they do to someone who actually broke the rules?
Kryten, almost nothing that they have acquired on the people in Guantanamo is going to be admissible in a US court. The FBI tried to explain that in the early days of the Afghan invasion with the first interrogations, but the Hedgemony has been constantly looking for short cuts. Nobody seems to understand that torture only works in movies and novels. In real life it has always been used to elicit false confessions. The evidence on it goes back centuries. There is no point is torturing someone for lies, people will offer those for free.
As history has proven time and again, the only people who use torture are those who enjoy inflicting pain on others and as a means to beak people so they will be totally compliant and agreeable with any falsehood the torturer wishes. And that includes people who torture by proxy, as history proved with the Spanish Inquisition, Hitler’s SS, E. German STASI, and now the USA Bush Administration. Nice company to keep and be referenced with in future history *books*. 🙂 I suspect, with some decent research, it might be proven that more torture has been committed by Christians than by any other religious faith or sect. History has certainly documented more torture by Christians over the past 2,000 years than any other religion I am familiar with. Ans the US is, *of course* (/snark) the epitome of a ‘Christan Nation’! So it follows that they would continue this fine Christian tradition. 🙂 That and many other immoral behaviors. LOL
Of course, if there are ant *real* Christians in the USA, they would of course denounce and repudiate Bush and his Administration who used torture as Christians. 🙂
Unfortunately, it’s not funny. And neither are anyone who would condone or agree with torture in any form (physical, emotional, or mental). Anyone who does should be burned at the stake IMNSHO. Give them a taste of their own I say. There is something to be said for the Old Testament’s ‘eye for an eye’. Of course, only non-Christan believers can get away with that, as Christians are *supposed* (ha, ha ha!) to be primarily following the New Testament (hence why they are called ‘Christians’ in the first place). 🙂
As a refresher, Jesus announced a new covenant in his own blood in Luke 22:20. See also Hebrews 8 :6 and Hebrews 12:24. 🙂
Ya know… one day, I may actually meet more Christians that have actually read, and understood, and followed The Bible and Christs teachings. I met one over a decade ago, and we have been friends ever since, and have known, or know, others. So, they do exists. Just hard to find! 😉
There ya go Bryan… troll bait for ya! 😉 I know you are bored. LOL
Hmmm. Maybe that was a tad harsh to Christians generally. I do know that there are some good and decent Christians. Sadly, there are also far to many pretenders and hypocrites that use Christianity as a cloak and an excuse (just as there are those who use Judaism and Islam as and excuse for what evil they do). My comments are aimed, as always, at them.
If my escape and evasion instructors are to be believed, even the godless commies knew they weren’t going to get anything but false confessions from torturing people, but confessions were exactly what they wanted.
The problem, Kryten, is that following the rules and being moral is just too difficult for the short attention span politicians we get today. Being fundamentally lazy people they assume that there must be a faster, easier way of doing things than just doing what has always worked. With cunning born of ignorance they believe that people are hiding the truth from them, but they are clever enough to discover it.
It is pathetic to watch them praying to the IT gods to produce instant answers from all of the garbage they have been hoovering up. They don’t understand computers, so they believe they are omnipotent.
Being people who don’t “know” anything, they are ready to “believe” in the most abject foolishness.
How does one distinguish the True Believers in torture… I suspect Dick Cheney may be one… from the merely cruel and mean-spirited people who just like to inflict pain? Maybe it doesn’t really matter in the long run; everybody pays the price if the U.S. institutionally advocates and/or uses torture.
But if I hear one more neocon-loving idiot say, “it is more important for America to be feared than to be admired,” there may be an idiot walking around with my spit (or worse) on his $200 tie. There is a fairly consistent way that people and societies respond to individuals and nations who torture, and that way is not beneficial… ever, in any way, short-term or long-term… to the torturers.
Steve Bates´s last blog post..Family Values
Shrug. He would still be billed for his taxes even if he was the titular head of the IRS. Being IRS does not get one out of taxes — actually the rules are even stricter for them.
Scorpio´s last blog post..Israel
The simple truth, Steve, is that is doesn’t work and it just gives others license to do it to our troops. These idiots have never cared about the troops and the increase in danger that this causes. The other problem is that it reduces the possibility of volunteer surrender by the enemy. No one is going to give themselves up if they expect to be tortured.
Scorpio, my complaint is more about giving the Repubs an opening to create more faux outrage. Another excuse for obstructing things and staging amateur theatrics about “corruption”. Hillary wasn’t nominated, but that won’t stop the Repubs and media going Clintonesque on the next administration.
Well… If you want to know how bad Obama’s nominees are… Orin Hatch is enthusiastic about them! 😐
Orrin Hatch gives the seal of approval to Obama’s nominees!
Sadly, C&L seem to think this is a good thing. 🙁
The people in charge still haven’t figured out that GOP acceptance is almost a guarantee of failure.
This “bi-partisanship” is just a synonym for surrender.