I'm even going to call her by her proper name for a change.

December 23, 2009

Attorney General of the United States of America
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Attorney General Holder:

We write to demand an immediate investigation into the activities of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. We believe there is an abundant public record which establishes that the actions of the White House have blocked any investigation into his activities while on the board of Freddie Mac from 2000-2001, and facilitated the cover up of potential malfeasance until the 10-year statute of limitations has run out.

The purpose of this letter is to connect the dots to establish both the conduct of Mr. Emanuel and those working with him to thwart inquiry, and to support your acting speedily so that the statute of limitations does not run out before the Justice Department is able to empanel a grand jury.

The New York Times reports that the administration is negotiating to double the commitments to Fannie and Freddie for a total of $800 billion by December 31, in order to avoid the congressional approval that would be needed after that date. But there currently is no Inspector General exercising independent oversight of these entities. Acting Inspector General Ed Kelly was stripped of his authority earlier this year by the Justice Department, relying on a loophole in a bill Mr. Emanuel cosponsored and pushed through Congress shortly before he left for the White House. This effectively ended Mr. KellyÂ’s investigation into what happened at Fannie and Freddie.

Since that time, despite multiple warnings by Congress that having no independent Inspector General for a federal agency that oversees $6 trillion in mortgages is a serious oversight, the White House has not appointed one.

We recognize that these are extremely serious accusations, but the stonewalling by Mr. Emanuel and the White House has left us with no other redress.

There's a bit more to the letter.

And here's the context:

The Obama administration's decision to cover an unlimited amount of losses at the mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next three years stirred controversy over the holiday.

The Treasury announced Thursday it was removing the caps that limited the amount of available capital to the companies to $200 billion each.

Unlimited access to bailout funds through 2012 was "necessary for preserving the continued strength and stability of the mortgage market," the Treasury said. Fannie and Freddie purchase or guarantee most U.S. home mortgages and have run up huge losses stemming from the worst wave of defaults since the 1930s.

"The timing of this executive order giving Fannie and Freddie a blank check is no coincidence," said Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee. He said the Christmas Eve announcement was designed "to prevent the general public from taking note."

Instead of saying the obvious, I'll say something unexpected: elf-knockers.

Thanks to JackStraw.

Posted by: Ace at 02:56 PM | Comments (301)
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The White House really wants you to know that they're on top of terrorism (this time), at least after some richly-deserved me-time with some Hawaiian waffles and pineapple mimosas.

The White House wants the public to know that President Obama, on vacation at a luxurious oceanfront home in Hawaii, has received conference call updates and is keeping close tabs on the situation.

"President Barack Obama's Christmas Day began with a briefing about a botched attack on an airliner in Detroit," began an Associated Press account published Christmas evening. "Obama's military aide told the president about an incident aboard a plane as it was landing in Detroit just after 9 a.m. here [in Hawaii]. The president phoned his homeland security adviser and the chief of staff to the National Security Council for a briefingÂ…'We believe this was an attempted act of terrorism,' one White House official said on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation."

Those details didn't come from nowhere. "Within a few hours of the Delta/Northwest Airlines flight touching down in Detroit, a senior administration official telephoned and e-mailed members of the White House press pool," writes the Atlantic's and CBS's Marc Ambinder, a reliable source of the White House perspective. The administration message: We're on the case. "The apparatus of government is in high gear now," Ambinder reported.

The White House messaging on the Flight 253 affair stands in stark contrast to its handling of the massacre at Ft. Hood, Texas in which Obama, on the day after the killings, cautioned the public against "jumping to conclusions" about the murders of 13 people, and then, a day later, declared that "we cannot fully know" accused killer Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's motives. Now, the administration is openly using the T-word.

Hah! Commenters noticed (I didn't) the White House's Strange New Respect for the word "terrorism."

Terrorism Never Prospers, For If Prospers, None Dare Call It Terrorism: I forget who it was, but a commenter here pointed out a while ago that successful terrorist attacks -- Ft. Hood -- are not called terrorism; the word is resisted there. Because they don't want to admit terrorism succeeded under their watch.

On the other hand, if a plot is foiled, or, as is the case here, a plot fails chiefly due to luck (plus some quick and courageous passenger action), suddenly they welcome the word "terrorism." Hey, there was this terrorism, and we protected you from it guys! Go team! Yay, us!

New Rules: And of course we can't have common-sense rules about sketchy characters who fit the profile of those who wish to kill us; no, we need a bunch of rules that apply to everyone. Like, now you can't get up and walk about the cabin, and you can't have anything on your lap, not even a laptop or pillow.

Thanks to Dave in Texas.

Posted by: Ace at 02:15 PM | Comments (193)
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I asked in my last post on this which official -- and of course I was implying someone taking orders from the White House -- put out the word that this was a case of "firecrackers."

I wasn't just wrong but I could have seen that question wasn't well-founded if I'd read what I needed to read about the matter. Several papers quote passengers or the captain offering this description.

Sorry about that, got very careless, made an error. Tossed out a badly-founded implication without doing the minimum amount of homework necessary to do so.

Posted by: Ace at 10:45 AM | Comments (142)
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Might as well have a music throwdown, not much else doin' today. Here's what I'm listening to:

What you got?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 09:57 AM | Comments (54)
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Since 2003, consumers could use pre-tax dollars in flexible spending accounts and health savings accounts to buy over-the-counter drugs. And we're not talking about a meaningless few. In fact, I bet most of what's in your medicine cabinet right now is on the list (PDF). The OTC rule translated to hundreds of dollars in savings each year for consumers with an FSA or HSA.

I have a small FSA through work and because I never go to the doctor, I use that money almost entirely for paying for things like Claritin, Tylenol, Neosporin, bandages, and Tylenol PM. If ObamaCare passes, no longer.

But Section 9004 of the [] Senate bill and Section 531 of the House bill that passed in November changes the tax code so that “distribution for medicine” from HSAs and FSAs are “qualified only if for prescribed drug or insulin.” Yes, the bills are merciful enough to allow diabetics to purchase insulin under these tax plans, but if you or your family members need Pedialyte, prenatal vitamins or numerous other over the counter health items, you will see a tax hike that could be huge.

Since HSAs and FSA contributions are exempt from both income taxes and 15.3 percent payroll tax for Social Security and Medicare, and since these together can reach more than 40 percent of an employeeÂ’s salary, the effective tax increase on these medicines could be more than 40 percent.

And this tax change will almost certainly cost the health care system billions more dollars in unnecessary spending both to the government and private insurance plans. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that the tax hike will bring in $5 billion in revenues over ten years – itself a drop in the bucket when compared to the bill’s new trillion-dollar entitlement – but that estimate doesn’t take into account behavioral changes as a direct result of this provision.

OTC drugs are much cheaper those available for prescription, but they could now be more expensive to individual consumers given that prescription drugs would still be eligible for favored treatment in the tax plans, and that insurance companies would be mandated to cover many of them. Consequently, any time a consumer has the slightest headache, the financial incentive would often be to see a doctor and get a prescription rather than go to the store and get medicine off the shelf.

In other words, Obama is bending the cost curve...up.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:10 AM | Comments (104)
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AHFF Geoff noticed the WaPo editing its story to help Obama a touch.

First the article read:

A White House official said the incident was an attempted act of terrorism. The FBI is investigating and President Obama, celebrating Christmas in Hawaii, was told of the incident about three hours after the plane landed, officials said.

Well, we can't have Captain Wonderful being mocked like Bush was. So the new sentence:

The FBI is investigating the incident. President Obama, celebrating Christmas in Hawaii, was informed about it, a spokesman said, and he asked his aides to ensure that all measures are in place to provide security for air travel.

Elsewhere in the story they do say...

Obama was alerted to Friday's incident between 9 and 9:30 a.m. in Hawaii, which is five hours behind the East Coast.

...which still works out to a two to two and a half hour delay in informing the Savior of Man, but now they make you work out the math on your own.

I think Obama's people called and demanded the edit, don't you?

More:

A Nigerian man, claiming to be linked to al-Qaeda, allegedly tried to set off an incendiary device aboard a transatlantic airplane Friday as it descended toward Detroit's airport in what the White House called an attempted act of terrorism.

The man was quickly subdued after another passenger leapt on top of him, others on the plane said, and Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam landed safely around 1 p.m. Friday. The suspect was being treated at a hospital for burns he suffered while igniting the device...

The suspect[,] Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab[,] 23, attends University College London, where he studies engineering.

Although not on the TSA's "no-fly" list, Abdulmutallab's name appears to be included in the government's records of terrorism suspects, according to a preliminary review, authorities said.

Abdulmutallab has told federal investigators that he had ties to al-Qaeda and traveled to Yemen to collect the incendiary device and instructions on how to use it, according to a federal counterterrorism official briefed on the case. Authorities have yet to verify the claim, and they expect to conduct several more interviews before they determine whether he is credible, the official said.

Federal authorities have been told that Abdulmutallab allegedly had taped some material to his leg, then used a syringe to mix chemicals with the powder while on the airplane, one official said.

But doing so "caused him to catch on fire," Richelle Keepman, who sat a few rows in front of Abdulmutallab, told WDIV-TV.

...

Officials described the device as incendiary rather than explosive, pending tests by forensics experts at the FBI. Incendiary devices generally deliver less of an impact than explosive devices.

AHFF Geoff also notes the three hour gap that went missing in the WaPo piece also shows up in a Politico article:

White House spokesman Bill Burton said President Obama, on vacation in Hawaii, was informed of the incident about three hours after the plane landed.

He (Geoff) points out the possibility of multiple attacks, possibly requiring fast reaction. So why was the President allowed to snooze in Hawaii undisturbed?

I'm trying to not get too partisan about this, but it sure seems to me that this evidences a casualness about terrorist incidents that seems pretty dangerous.

TERRORIST THREAT LEVEL RAISED! All the way from "Don't Worry, Be Happy" to "Hakuna Matada." more...

Posted by: Ace at 09:32 PM | Comments (356)
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Merry Christmas All! I finally got home to see the family just minutes ago so I'll be out most of the evening. So you'll have to entertain yourselves. Like always.

Best wishes all.

Christmas Carol of the Bells With Dominoes

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:50 PM | Comments (607)
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Ladies and gentlemen, I give you John Murtha, Chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee:

U.S. Rep. John Murtha told reporters Tuesday that he isnÂ’t convinced al-Qaida is still a threat to national security.

Murtha said he visited Kuwait and Afghanistan during Thanksgiving and approves of the militaryÂ’s strategy, but expressed a need to measure progress in Afghanistan.

“I don’t agree there is a threat to national security,” Murtha said, while not ruling out the possibility that he could be wrong about al-Qaida’s influence. “They keep saying they’ve defeated al-Qaida.”

Who is "they" and have "they" made any other statements about foreign policy or the War on Terrorism? 'Cause I'd really like to know who we can start ignoring as a matter of course.

And it would provide endless quivering joy deep in my weaselly little guts to start calling for congressional hearings on this patently inaccurate and politically motivated intelligence assessment by Democrats. Shoe is on the other foot now, biznitches!

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 05:39 PM | Comments (67)
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Hope everybody had a great day today. I just got back from visiting my family up in Dallas, and witnessing the remnants of the first white Christmas there I ever saw in 40 years (am told there were a few in the area, officially DFW recorded the first one this year).

I blame Gore.

Friday night game on the stupid NFL network tonight. Here's some Christmas cheer to go with it.

Thanks for letting me be a part of your AoS experience this year. 2009 was kinda sucky for a lot of morons, so I'll raise a glass to each of you for the coming year...and likely spill whatever this is on my head.

All the best, ya meatheads. more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 03:28 PM | Comments (73)
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I'm certain the Obama Administration fully intended for this be lost in the holiday shuffle:

The Obama administration pledged Thursday to provide unlimited financial assistance to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, an eleventh-hour move that allows the government to exceed the current $400 billion cap on emergency aid without seeking permission from a bailout-weary Congress.

The Christmas Eve announcement by the Treasury Department means that it can continue to run the companies, which were seized last year, as arms of the government for the rest of President Obama's current term.

But even as the administration was making this open-ended financial commitment, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac disclosed that they had received approval from their federal regulator to pay $42 million in Wall Street-style compensation packages to 12 top executives for 2009.

The struggling quasi-private mortgage and loan companies have no incentive to clean up their acts so long as they've got the taxpayer's ATM card. President Obama knows this, of course. Cleaning up would mean taking on fewer risky borrowers.

Treasury is re-writing the terms of the agreement when Fannie and Freddie were taken into conservatorship last year because Obama doesn't want to have to ask Congress for another bailout.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:03 PM | Comments (43)
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