Military Power

The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal and professional records, some covering applicants’ spouses and grown children as well, that are forcing job-seekers to rummage from basements to attics, in shoe boxes, diaries and computer archives to document both their achievements and missteps.

Only the smallest details are excluded; traffic tickets carrying fines of less than $50 need not be reported, the application says. Applicants are asked whether they or anyone in their family owns a gun. They must include any e-mail that might embarrass the president-elect, along with any blog posts and links to their Facebook pages.

The application also asks applicants to “please list all aliases or ‘handles’ you have used to communicate on the Internet.”

Just in case the previous 62 questions do not ferret out any potential controversy, the 63rd is all-encompassing: “Please provide any other information, including information about other members of your family, that could suggest a conflict of interest or be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the president-elect.”

The answer could duplicate the response to Question 8: “Briefly describe the most controversial matters you have been involved with during the course of your career.”

On yet another morning of grim economic news, President Obama sought to further distance himself from his predecessor on Friday as he announced steps that he said would strengthen organized labor and improve the lot of middle-class Americans.

At a White House ceremony, the president signed three executive orders that he said would “reverse many of the policies towards organized labor that we’ve seen these last eight years, policies with which I’ve sharply disagreed.”

Soon afterward, Vice President Biden drew applause when he flung another dart at former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney (on Mr. Cheney’s 68th birthday) as he told labor officials in the audience, “Welcome back to the White House.”

“I do not view the labor movement as part of the problem,” Mr. Obama said. “To me, it’s part of the solution.”

White House aides indicated that President Obama will sign a $410 billion spending bill, even though it contains thousands of special projects or earmarks. The AP reports the White House "on Sunday downplayed massive deficit spending and President Barack Obama's pledge not to sign legislation laden with billions in earmarks amid Republican criticism that he was recanting on a key campaign promise."

The New York Times reports Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel "said Sunday that President Obama would sign a $410 billion spending bill that includes thousands of pet projects, known as earmarks, despite campaign promises to put an end to the practice." Republican leaders, "meanwhile, accused the president of breaking his promises to change Washington's ways."

First it was the $787 billion spending package. Then it was his $3 trillion budget. And what does the president choose to lecture Americans on? Fiscal responsibility! And for that, he gets our Liberal Translation treatment:

OBAMA: Just as a family has to make hard choices about where to spend and where to save, so do we as a government.

LIBERAL TRANSLATION: And the hard choice has been made: We're going to spend. Hey, it's your money, not mine!

OBAMA: There are times when you can afford to redecorate your house, and there are times when you need to refocus on rebuilding its foundation. Today, we have to focus on foundation.

LIBERAL TRANSLATION: But that doesn't mean we aren't doing some redecorating too. Take the $44 million I am spending to renovate the Department of Agriculture, for example.

OBAMA: Having inherited a trillion dollar deficit that will take us a long time to us close...

LIBERAL TRANSLATION: Especially now that I have DOUBLED it.

OBAMA: ... we need to focus on what we need to do to move the economy forward, not on what is nice to have.

LIBERAL TRANSLATION: And by "we" I mean YOU. I'm not giving up my plane, chopper, limo and personal chef.

Only hours after President Obama's national speech on being responsible with money, Congress is already pushing a $410 billion omnibus spending bill loaded with pork! The bill’s 8,570 "disclosed earmarks" will cost another $7.7 billion! Here are some of the absolutely necessary projects:
$900,000 to fight flies in Nebraska
$400,000 to combat bullying in Montana
$200,000 for tattoo removals in California
$4.5 million for the Center for Grape Genetics

KnightTemplar wrote:Ok, I know Barack Obama isn't the most popular person on hear right now, and I know that several of you have "fears" about what his presidency will mean to the U.S. I also know that I do not like limiting what people can and can't say, but this thread is just getting ridiculous. Please keep the Obama-bashing to a minimum and only post relevant information here. Thank you.