Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A New Day in America

7 Opinions:

Anonymous Anonymous speaks!

Obama Sets New Speed Record For Ethics Reform, and Violating It!

10:33 AM  
Blogger Redjalapeno speaks!

Care to explain?

11:12 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous speaks!

His appointment of Deputy Defense Sec. See http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/09/obama-appointments-a-lobbyist-as-deputy-defense-secretary/

11:53 AM  
Blogger Redjalapeno speaks!

CWilkie,

Thanks for 'clarifying' how President Obama 'violated' his ethics reformation.
Your research and in-depth analysis is stunning.

It would be a waste of time to try to explain to you that he did not violate the ethics reform rules as it is quite clear that 'violate' is what you want to see, regardless of what the facts of the process are.
But what the hell, I'll give it a go anyway.

Since you appear to glean all of your knowledge from random internet searches, I've compiled a few paragraphs from some random internet searches based on William Lynn. The various sources are separated by a dashed line.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jobs in President Barack Obama's Cabinet come with a pay cut for some of his appointees, who made millions from investments and lucrative careers in law, lobbying and business before joining his administration, according to financial reports the government released Tuesday.
At least one must sell stock to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
Obama's choice for deputy defense secretary, William J. Lynn, until recently a lobbyist for military contractor Raytheon, holds Raytheon incentive stock valued at $500,001 to $1 million, the documents show. The stock is due to vest next month. He has Raytheon "unvested restricted stock" worth $250,001 to $500,000.
Lynn has said he will sell the stock. He received a salary of $369,615 last year as a Raytheon senior vice president, and is expecting a 2008 cash bonus of $100,001 to $250,000 to be paid this March, his report shows. Obama has given Lynn a waiver from ethics rules banning employees from taking part in decisions related to their former employers for two years and prohibiting them from taking jobs in agencies they recently lobbied. If he is confirmed as expected, Lynn will be subject to ethics reviews for one year.
Government ethics rules require senior administration officials to provide details annually on their personal finances. The reports include descriptions of assets, income and debt — typically given in ranges rather than exact amounts — and lists of gifts and any outside positions. The disclosures are intended to shine a light on and help avoid any potential conflicts of interest.
-----
President Barack Obama’s pick for deputy defense secretary, William Lynn, has until Friday to respond to questions about possible conflicts of interest from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

Although McCain’s concern about Lynn was raised in response to Obama’s ethics policy barring lobbyists from working on issues they have advocated for, McCain’s inquiries pertain to rules laid down by the Senate Armed Services Committee that would require Lynn to shun issues that could pose conflicts of interest.

“Against that backdrop and to inform whether I can support your nomination, I would like to establish what impact, if any, those restrictions might have on your ability to discharge fully your responsibilities as deputy secretary,” McCain wrote Lynn Monday in a letter available from the Project on Government Oversight.

The committee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who supports Lynn’s nomination, said Tuesday the panel would not move forward until the questions are answered.
-----
William Lynn, tapped by Mr. Obama for deputy defense secretary, was until recently a lobbyist for military contractor Raytheon Co. and will sell company stock valued at up to $1 million when the shares vest next month. He forfeited other stock awards by leaving the company, records show.
Though he cast his new ethics rules as the strictest ever, Obama has left wiggle room for lobbyists he feels he can't do without. On Wednesday, he announced a new policy barring lobbyists joining the government from working on issues for two years that were the focus of their advocacy work. But there are exceptions. The president's choice for a top Pentagon job, William Lynn, was until last year a registered lobbyist for Raytheon Co., a defense contractor.

----

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said in a statement Friday that he won't endorse Lynn until he has more details, the Associated Press reported. McCain, the ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said he is disappointed in Obama's decision to waive the new ethics requirement for Lynn.
----
But for both Cabinet departments, the issues that the two men worked on as lobbyists remain a major part of their policy agenda, and the new administration hasn't fully explained how it will tailor their responsibilities to avoid conflicts of interest.
As a lobbyist, Lynn worked on Pentagon budget matters including contracting policy, the military's use of space, missile defense, munitions and artillery, sensors and radars and advanced technology programs. Raytheon is one of the military's top contractors, doing $18.3 billion in U.S. government business in 2007.
Likewise, Corr lobbied for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids on his new department's budget and a range of tobacco matters, including smoking prevention, curbing cigarette trafficking and making federal buildings smoke-free.
On Thursday, Lynn's nomination was stalled because of questions about his former role. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said his panel won't vote on the nomination until the White House determines whether its new rules will keep Lynn from participating in key Pentagon decisions, or whether the new rules will be waived.
Asked by reporters whether relying on waivers weakens the administration's desire to get tough on lobbyists, Levin said, "I don't think it helps to reinforce the intent of it."
One watchdog group, the Project on Government Oversight, pressed Obama on Thursday to drop Lynn's nomination altogether.
"The defense industry is in a class of its own among all of the industries that have had a pervasive stranglehold on public policy to advance their own financial interests," said POGO executive director Danielle Brian.
"The Obama administration should not allow its ethics standards to begin with a series of waivers and loopholes which immediately undermine its good intentions," Brian said.

End paragraphs.
Emphasis added where applicable.


The choice of Lynn certainly has certainly raised some concerns, however 'violating ethics reforms' is not one of them. There is an ongoing process in place to insure that Lynn can and will do the job without conflict of interest. As can be gleaned from the above paragraphs, if that cannot be assurred then the nomination will not go forward.

A violation of ethics reform would occur if the nominee were to be approved, and then at some later date abused or violated the terms of the appointment and the ethics rules governing it.

It appears from your 'anonymous' drive-by's here and your postings at Dr. C. that you have a very narrow worldview and refuse to entertain anything outside of it. Perhaps you are not capable of doing that or are uncomfortable with the idea of open-mindedness.


You're welcome to drop by anytime and add your two cents, but you really should try to provide more substance to back up your 'assertions' and by all means do sign your comments.

7:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous speaks!

Your rambling seems to reinforce my statement. I won't haggle over the term "violate." You must admit that the declaration of his new Ethics Reform should have been held off until after he appointed a man that, according to all news outlets that I keep up with, contradicts the new/stricter policy. I'm not beating up on the new President (as I am rather fond of him), but pointing out the irony of this blunder, which is in complete contradiction of the rest of his demeanor/tactics. And no, I don't get my news via the Internet, but rather the following: CNN, Network News, CSpan, Meet the Press, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, MacNeil/Lehrer, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Washington Times, Chicago Tribune, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Rep...to name just a few. Its rich how you denouce me as being "narrow minded" when you yourself would make such a rash assumption and are seemingly incapable of admiting the hypocricy of Pres. Obama granting a waiver to an appointee that doesn't meet the standards of his new ethics reform policy enacted just one day earlier.

2:20 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous speaks!

Even The Liberal NY Times Agrees with CWilkie !

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/us/politics/03lobby.html?_r=1&hp

10:44 AM  
Blogger Redjalapeno speaks!

I feel compelled to sweep the floor before moving on, so here we go:

"CWilkie says: Your rambling seems to reinforce my statement."

Here, 'rambling' is used as code for 'I don't understand'. Rambling, used properly, would describe the last sentence of Cwilkie's comment.

"I won't haggle over the term "violate"."

That's good, because 'haggle' is what one does with another over the price of an item that one is interested in purchasing from the other.

"You must admit that the declaration of his new Ethics Reform should have been held off until after he appointed a man that, according to all news outlets that I keep up with, contradicts the new/stricter policy."

Flawed reasoning shaped by narrow worldview. Dissecting the thought process that went into that statement will take more time than I care to devote.

"I'm not beating up on the new President (as I am rather fond of him), but pointing out the irony of this blunder, which is in complete contradiction of the rest of his demeanor/tactics."

Please look up these words, their definitions, and their uses:
cognitve dissonance
projection
irony
contradiction
demeanor
tactics

Once that task has been completed, try and rewrite that part of the comment. If you are able to grasp those words and concepts, most likely you will not rewrite any of this crap..er, comment.


"And no, I don't get my news via the Internet, but rather the following: CNN, Network News, CSpan, Meet the Press, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, MacNeil/Lehrer, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Washington Times, Chicago Tribune, U.S. Senate, U.S. House of Rep...to name just a few."

That's good, we're making progess. Now, change the lens by which you 'get the news' and you might start seeing the world as a mosaic of colors and multiple shades of gray, instead of white and black with simple answers.

"Its rich how you denouce me as being "narrow minded" when you yourself would make such a rash assumption and are seemingly incapable of admiting the hypocricy of Pres. Obama granting a waiver to an appointee that doesn't meet the standards of his new ethics reform policy enacted just one day earlier."

1. See proper use of 'rambling' as noted above.

2. rich, denounced, rash assumption, hypocrisy - all words that you might want to study a bit further.

3. Put down the coffee pot, back away from the bong, put your guns away and read a book.

11:02 AM  

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