Blue Lyon

First Day at Foggy Bottom

Posted on January 22, 2009 by bluelyon

BERJAYA

Hillary’s first message to the employees at the State Department.

Filed under: Hillary Clinton | No Comments »

Tears in my eyes

Posted on January 22, 2009 by bluelyon

Sec. 2. Definitions. As used in this order:

[ . . . ]

(f) “Treated humanely,” “violence to life and person,” “murder of all kinds,” “mutilation,” “cruel treatment,” “torture,” “outrages upon personal dignity,” and “humiliating and degrading treatment” refer to, and have the same meaning as, those same terms in Common Article 3.

Yeah baby, I sat here and read Obama’s executive order, and I wept. I’ll admit it.

Filed under: Politics | No Comments »

Obama puts hold on new regs, orders closure of Gitmo

Posted on January 22, 2009 by bluelyon

Does this apply to the new HHS “conscience” regulations? Oh, please, make it so!

Guantanamo is bye-bye within a year. I wait to see what will be done with the detainees, but this is a very good start. From the Executive Order:

(c) The individuals currently detained at Guantánamo have the constitutional privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. Most of those individuals have filed petitions for a writ of habeas corpus in Federal court challenging the lawfulness of their detention.

(d) It is in the interests of the United States that the executive branch undertake a prompt and thorough review of the factual and legal bases for the continued detention of all individuals currently held at Guantánamo, and of whether their continued detention is in the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and in the interests of justice. The unusual circumstances associated with detentions at Guantánamo require a comprehensive interagency review.

Doing a happy dance tonight.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Choice, Civil Liberties | Tagged: Guantanamo | No Comments »

My best wishes to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton

Posted on January 22, 2009 by bluelyon

BERJAYA

I sent Hillary my best wishes at the Secretary of State’s blog.

Madam Secretary,

I am so proud of all you have done, and while I wish you had made it to the White House, I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you will be a fantastic Secretary of State. America needs some polishing on the world stage, and you are just the one to do it. After all, you won me over, remember?

Congratulations!

Hillary, Claudia and Me in Fernley, October 16, 2007

Filed under: Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton, Politics | 1 Comment »

Cue ZZ Top

Posted on January 21, 2009 by bluelyon

Oh fuckety fuck.

The dress followed her curves — paying special attention to the hips — and announced that the era of first lady-as-rectangle had ended. It signaled a generational shift in what women could be on the national stage. They could boldly embrace color and reveal their power, their femininity and their legs.

Filed under: Feminism, Michelle Obama | 2 Comments »

Oh. My.

Posted on January 20, 2009 by bluelyon

U.S. Stocks Slide in Dow Average’s Worst Inauguration Day Drop (Bloomberg)

Ugly. Very, very ugly.

U.S. stocks sank, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst Inauguration Day decline, as speculation banks must raise more capital sent financial shares to an almost 14-year low.

State Street Corp., the largest money manager for institutions, tumbled 59 percent after unrealized bond losses almost doubled. Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. slumped more than 23 percent on an analyst’s prediction that they’ll need to take steps to shore up their balance sheets. The Dow’s 4 percent slide was the most on an Inauguration Day in the measure’s 112-year history, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and the Stock Trader’s Almanac.

I am NOT glad about this.

Filed under: Economy | 2 Comments »

Double Standard?

Posted on January 19, 2009 by bluelyon

What do you think the odds are that the Center for American Progress is going to do one of these pieces for the Obama inaugural?

I was appalled in 2005, and I am appalled in 2009.

Inauguration: Lifestyles of the Rich and Heartless
January 20, 2005

A look at this week’s festivities by the numbers:

$40 million: Cost of Bush inaugural ball festivities, not counting security costs.

$2,000: Amount FDR spent on the inaugural in 1945…about $20,000 in today’s dollars.

$20,000: Cost of yellow roses purchased for inaugural festivities by D.C.’s Ritz Carlton.

200: Number of Humvees outfitted with top-of-the-line armor for troops in Iraq that could have been purchased with the amount of money blown on the inauguration.

$10,000: Price of an inaugural package at the Fairmont Hotel, which includes a Beluga caviar and Dom Perignon reception, a chauffeured Rolls Royce and two actors posing as “faux” Secret Service agents, complete with black sunglasses and cufflink walkie-talkies.

400: Pounds of lobster provided for “inaugural feeding frenzy” at the exclusive Mandarin Oriental hotel.

3,000: Number of “Laura Bush Cowboy cookies” provided for “inaugural feeding frenzy” at the Mandarin hotel.

$1: Amount per guest President Carter spent on snacks for guests at his inaugural parties. To stick to a tight budget, he served pretzels, peanuts, crackers and cheese and had cash bars.

22 million: Number of children in regions devastated by the tsunami who could have received vaccinations and preventive health care with the amount of money spent on the inauguration.

1,160,000: Number of girls who could be sent to school for a year in Afghanistan with the amount of money lavished on the inauguration.

$15,000: The down payment to rent a fur coat paid by one gala attendee who didn’t want the hassle of schlepping her own through the airport.

$200,500: Price of a room package at D.C.’s Mandarin Oriental, including presidential suite, chauffeured Mercedes limo and outfits from Neiman Marcus.

2,500: Number of U.S. troops used to stand guard as President Bush takes his oath of office

26,000: Number of Kevlar vests for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan that could be purchased for $40 million.

$290: Bonus that could go to each American solider serving in Iraq, if inauguration funds were used for that purpose.

$6.3 million: Amount contributed by the finance and investment industry, which works out to be 25 percent of all the money collected.

$17 million: Amount of money the White House is forcing the cash-strapped city of Washington, D.C., to pony up for inauguration security.

9: Percentage of D.C. residents who voted for Bush in 2004.

66: Percentage of Americans who think this over-the-top inauguration should have been scaled back.

Filed under: Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Hypocrisy | No Comments »

What Susie said

Posted on January 19, 2009 by bluelyon

I’ve been pondering a “don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out” post about Bush, but why? Just go, Junior.

Susie at Suburban Guerilla sums it up for me:

I’m weary. I’m weary not only about what’s been done, but about how willing so many Americans were to go along with it. And frankly, I don’t think people have learned much. I’m not all that optimistic about anything right now (although I’m happy that a new level of competence will be present in what’s left of our decimated government agencies) but I’m also worried we will see what amounts to a shell game, switching Iraq for Afghanistan. I hope I’m wrong, but we’ll see. Obama does give a nice speech, and at least some of that will translate into positive action.

Filed under: Barack Obama, George W. Bush | No Comments »

And so it goes…

Posted on January 19, 2009 by bluelyon

No Bishop Gene Robinson On HBO Inaugural Concert Broadcast (Joe.My.God.)

After days of controversy and outrage from the religious right, openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson opened Barack Obama’s inauguration concert on the National Mall today with a request that the nation pray for “understanding that our president is a human being and not a messiah.”

But only the people AT the concert heard that, because HBO did not televise Robinson’s message. Who engineered this blackout of Robinson? I suspect we’ll hear lots about this in days to come.

[. . . ]

UPDATE IV: AfterElton.com has spoken to HBO, who says the decision to cut Robinson was made by the Obama transition team.

Contacted Sunday night by AfterElton.com concerning the exclusion of Robinson’s prayer, HBO said via email, “The producer of the concert has said that the Presidential Inaugural Committee made the decision to keep the invocation as part of the pre-show.” Uncertain as to whether or not that meant that HBO was contractually prevented from airing the pre-show, we followed up, but none of the spokespeople available Sunday night could answer that question with absolute certainty. However, it does seem that the network’s position is that they had nothing to do with the decision.

So, openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson, thrown into the festivities at the last minute as a crumb to the gay community is cut from the telecast, but Rick “I eat in gay people’s homes” Warren will be front and center tomorrow. Yeah, okaaay. So inclusive, isn’t it? So very “progressive.”

Filed under: Barack Obama, GLBT | 1 Comment »

Business as usual

Posted on January 18, 2009 by bluelyon

A Must Read.

Arthur Silber:

In this manner, the Establishment informs us that, in terms of every fundamental principle, it will be business as usual. All will essentially go on as before, another point I recently discussed.

And at the end of his article, Krauthammer says:

The very continuation by Democrats of Bush’s policies will be grudging, if silent, acknowledgment of how much he got right.

From the monster’s lips, to the ears of those liberals and progressives who will nonetheless expend untold energy and write countless articles and blog posts to defend the indefensible, to justify the unjustifiable, to attempt to eradicate the growing pools of blood that flood the world.

For certain people, no matter what Obama does, the refrain will be unchanging: “But he’s Obama! He’s a Democrat, and a progressive! He doesn’t mean it (aggressive war, torture, pauperizing all “ordinary” Americans to keep the ruling class fat, rich and powerful, etc.)! If he could do what he really wants to do, everything would be great!”