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   Dan Savage, the brilliant and foul-mouthed sex columnist, has become one of the most important ethicists in America. Are we screwed?
 The federal government is supposed to issue new rules about debt levels for students in for-profit colleges. In the meantime, the states are working on their own regulations.
 Washingtons budget hawks want to decimate the federal workforce to shrink the deficit. It will have the opposite effect.
 There arent nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of Americas police. So we got these guys instead.
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December 28, 2009
'WE WILL NEVER GIVE IN TO FEAR OR DIVISION'.... Speaking from a Marine base in Hawaii, President Obama spoke for about seven minutes this afternoon about the attempted terrorism on Christmas day, and the developments in Iran over the weekend. Obama covered a fair amount of ground, recapping a bit on what we know about the AbdulMutallab incident in the skies over Michigan, and lauding "the quick and heroic actions of passengers and crew." The president announced the launch of a "full investigation" to find "all who were involved and hold them accountable," before talking about a series of new administration actions, including "enhanced screening and security procedures for all flights," additional federal air marshals "to flights entering and leaving the United States," a review of the U.S. "watch list system ... not only of how information related to the subject was handled, but of the overall watch list system and how it can be strengthened," and a review of "all screening policies, technologies and procedures related to air travel." "Finally, the American people should remain vigilant, but also be confident," Obama said. "Those plotting against us seek not only to undermine our security, but also the open society and the values that we cherish as Americans. This incident, like several that have preceded it, demonstrates that an alert and courageous citizenry are far more resilient than an isolated extremist. "As a nation, we will do everything in our power to protect our country. As Americans, we will never give in to fear or division. We will be guided by our hopes, our unity, and our deeply held values. That's who we are as Americans; that's what our brave men and women in uniform are standing up for as they spend the holidays in harm's way. And we will continue to do everything that we can to keep America safe in the new year and beyond." Obama also addressed developments in Iran and said the United States "joins with the international community in strongly condemning the violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens, which has apparently resulted in detentions, injuries, and even death.... What's taking place within Iran is not about the United States or any other country. It's about the Iranian people and their aspirations for justice and a better life for themselves. And the decision of Iran's leaders to govern through fear and tyranny will not succeed in making those aspirations go away." —Steve Benen 4:05 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (15)
Comments
Now to wait for the trolls to crow, "HE FINALLY SAID SOMETHING!!!" Posted by: Shade Tail on December 28, 2009 at 4:14 PM | PERMALINKAnd he announced the he is replacing Federal Air Marshalls with Dutch tourists on all flights. Posted by: Dale on December 28, 2009 at 4:18 PM | PERMALINKBrand new expensive barn door opens. Horse runs away. Obama closes barn door, says barn door not good enough, will upgrade. Also says America is fantastic country full of hope and courageous Americans where even if barn door opens we can deal with it. Meanwhile, he's gonna get that poor slob who made big mistake in Amsterdam. Millions and millions of passengers daily, and one mistake gives Obama chance to patronize the poor, scared shitless peoples, like he's in control of everything. He's a dick. Posted by: joekool on December 28, 2009 at 4:26 PM | PERMALINK"He's a dick." Oh yeah, and George Bush would have been magnificent. Maybe he could have pulled out his bull horn again. Posted by: SaintZak on December 28, 2009 at 4:29 PM | PERMALINKIf the administration wants to discuss improved methods to prevent explosives from getting onto planes, great. But the new rule that forces passengers on international flights to set in their seats with nothing on their laps, and not to use the rest room for the last hour of flight, is useless, abusive nonsense that would not prevent someone with a bomb on his person from detonating it. All it does is further damage the tourism industry by making it more of an ordeal to travel to the US. So, if I interpret Obama's statement correctly, he is categorically denying that the U.S. is involved in the Iranian protests. In other words, they are not being incited to riot because some U.S. organization wants to discredit the Iranian government. Posted by: GP on December 28, 2009 at 4:56 PM | PERMALINKHe's a dick. quite impressive analysis there joe. a lot of thought went into that, i'll bet. Posted by: mudwall jackson on December 28, 2009 at 4:57 PM | PERMALINKthere's a certain amount of talk about more full body scans -- won't that be a lot of x-ray type exposure for frequent flyers? As if we don't have enough environmentally-caused cancer already... Posted by: elisabeth on December 28, 2009 at 5:17 PM | PERMALINK"As a nation, we will do everything in our power to protect our country..." -- Obama Is anyone else tired of this kind of language? I understand what he's saying -- and it's a hell of a lot better than "keeping America safe" like we used to hear from Bush -- but the fact is there is no such thing as 100% safety and if there was, we'd bankrupt ourselves trying to achieve it. Checking my mother-in-law's shoes for explosives is just a low-percentage bugaboo. Telling me to 'tie a knot in it' during the last hour of flight is ridiculous. I often wonder whether we might do better to focus on the high-percentage threats and acknowledge that once in a while somebody is going to get through. I mean, they get through now -- we just pretend that all these goofy measures will prevent it, and then freak out when it happens. Just sayin...
"As Americans, we will never give in to fear or division. " What country does he live in? The division part of the quote is ominous and irrelevant to the issue at hand. What are we to infer? Looks like we picked the wrong year to try to really reform health care, Wall Street, the banks,... Posted by: Michael7843853 on December 28, 2009 at 6:49 PM | PERMALINKA talk radio station that I was listening to in the car today uses Fox Radio for their top of the hour news. Interesting editing on their part. The Fox radio reader claimed that Obama said: 'We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us, whether they are from IRAQ, Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia' What Obama actually said: "We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us, whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the U.S. homeland." They just can't help themselves, can they ? We will all must have to remove our underwears to go through the x-ray machines is our leader. Posted by: Hayduke on December 29, 2009 at 2:21 AM | PERMALINKOne recalls Bush's magnificent response from the ranch to the Asian Tsunami a couple of years ago- he didn't give a rat's behind for several days. Posted by: bob h on December 29, 2009 at 7:10 AM | PERMALINKOne recalls Bush's magnificent response from the ranch to the Asian Tsunami a couple of years ago-he didn't give a rat's behind for several days.Posted by: bob h on December 29, 2009 at 7:10 AM So, you're saying we've got ourselves another magnificent responder who doesn't give a rat's behind for several days about Americans? Went a little batty, however, when his buddy's kid got a boo-boo in Hawaii, tho. Obama even interrupted his golf game and speedily motorcaded back to the posh estate. Now, THAT was a "magnificent response." That was one great improvement, huh? Posted by: marybel on December 29, 2009 at 8:38 AM | PERMALINKOreo-cookie, O-bought-ma is useless!! Rahmie is the reason, and Jane Hamsher, Grover Norquist want him investigated. YES! Posted by: Rose Hunter on December 29, 2009 at 9:54 AM | PERMALINKPost a comment
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