Politics Blog

Dick Morris has some interesting insight on pressuring Iran:

We should pass — and the president should sign — the Dodd-Lantos bill mandating economic sanctions on any foreign company that aids Iran’s energy industry. Domestic companies are already prohibited from such investments.

This Democratic bill, cosponsored by Sen. Chris Dodd (Conn.) and Rep. Tom Lantos (Calif.), is a bold piece of legislation that strikes at the core of Iranian vulnerability.

Who else has joined in this bill? A principled Republican, which is a rare commodity.

And, in a singular act of courage and dedication to principle, Republican presidential candidate Congressman Duncan Hunter (Calif.) has added his name to the legislation as a cosponsor.

What would the effect be?

The original sanctions legislation provided a variety of punishments that the president had to impose on foreign companies that invest in Iran’s oil and gas industries. These ranged from barring their participation in underwriting Treasury issues to prohibiting them from receiving export-import financing, as well as certain government contracts. The sanctions were so effective that they triggered howls of outrage from European governments that objected to what they called “extraterritorial” assertions of American power.

Who is standing in the way?

Hunter’s action is particularly admirable since the bill is designed to force the Bush administration to impose sanctions passed in the 1990s but disregarded by both presidents, Clinton and Bush, ever since.

Presumably neither Bush nor Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wants to rekindle the war of words with European governments, so they have not applied the sanctions that remain on the books. They probably worry that to do so would shatter Western unity in the face of Iranian aggression and the threat of nuclear-weapons development.

It is absolutely nuts that Congress has to go up against this Administration to enforce sanctions that are already on the books. Oh I forgot, this is the Administration that does not follow a whole lot of laws real well, starting with our immigration laws.

The democrats will soon have 1,800 new voters:

WASHINGTON - The Marine Corps is recalling 1,800 reservists to active duty, citing a shortage of volunteers to fill some jobs in Iraq.

I also know that the “volunteer pool” in the US Army Reserve has as many volunteers for Iraq as an Arizona creek bed has water.

UPDATE: I do not know Marine policies at all, so I can only speak as to what the US Army Reserve is doing. Soldiers that are in the IRR with the Army, are being bombarded to either volunteer for Active Duty or get into a Troop Program Unit (a Reserve Unit). Those that are in units, depending on rank and/or specialty, are being recruited very hard to go on Active Duty or go into a deploying unit. If the Marine Corps is anything like that, these guys have already said “no thanks” a thousand times. When they cast their absentee ballots in the 2008 election is there any doubt how they will vote?

Today, President Bush had the following comment on the Supplemental Bill:

`If Congress fails to pass a bill to fund our troops on the front lines, the American people will know who to hold responsible.‘’

What makes this fascinating is that we have an interesting set of Gallup Poll data. 60% of Americans favor Congress, “Setting a time-table for withdrawing all U.S. troops from Iraq no later than the fall of 2008″ but we also have 61% against Congress, “Denying the funding needed to send any additional U.S. troops to Iraq.”

How is this train wreck going to finish? There are several possibilities and I can not see how anyone would know the answer based on the above polling.

Because the public desires a timeline, do they blame Bush for “denying the funding” and “hold” him “responsible?”

Does the public get weak knees and gives up on a timeline and blames Congress for “denying funding?”

Does our matrix have something in between?

Regardless of your political persuasion, or emotions on the issue, it should be rather fascinating.

I found this story interesting:

As the 21st century approached, the nation’s largest museum complex — with 18 museums (plus one under construction), nine research facilities and the National Zoo — was looking a little shopworn, and board members decided that an outside executive, Lawrence M. Small, could liven things up.

Small, who had made his name in the financial community first at Citicorp and then at Fannie Mae, succeeded beyond all expectations. The new secretary of the Smithsonian brought in more than $1 billion in new support and spearheaded the reopening or refurbishing of several marquee museums.

On a salary of just over 900K the guy brought in a billion in donations.
A billion. And of course the boobs in Congress got rid of him,

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) has been leading the charge for corporate accountability at the Smithsonian, asking tough questions about such items as first-class trips by Small and his wife to Hawaii and Las Vegas, $31,000 for upholstery for his office furniture, and household expenses that included $12,000 for swimming-pool upkeep and $273,000 for housekeeping services.

“Mr. Small’s champagne lifestyle turns out to be Dom Perignon,” said Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, who has made corporate governance a key topic of congressional oversight. Referring to the building where the administrative offices are located, he added: “It looks like the Smithsonian Castle has been turned into Mr. Small’s palace.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who as chair of the Rules Committee has oversight responsibility for the Smithsonian, was so upset by reports of Small’s excesses — and the board’s lackadaisical response — that she moved up, to April 11, the date of her committee’s hearings, according to her staff.

Continued proof that these idiots don’t understand how the market works. That’s not to say someone should have 200 grand for housekeeping, but this strikes me as a bit of envy on the part of these Senators. Two years from now the Smithsonian will require more funding because they will replace Smalls with someone who isn’t as effective.

Aw, aren’t those Iranians cute?!

The religion of peace, hard at work folks.