June 15, 2009 – Capitol Hill Blue

The USSR and modern day Iran

June 15, 2009

THE SOVIET LESSON

On April 26, 1986, the world changed. It wasn’t immediately obvious, nor would it be for five more years, but the early morning explosion at the #4 reactor operating in Chernobyl, Ukrainian SSR, killed thousands almost immediately, caused tens of thousands of cases of deadly radiation poisoning, irradiated 600,000 survivors, and eventually forced the forced evacuation of more than 350,000 Soviet citizens. More than any other factor or event, Chernobyl also caused a fatal split between the Soviet State and its citizens.

Banging Sarah Palin’s daughters

June 15, 2009

Alaska Governor and national political figure wannabe Sarah Palin got her panties in a bunch last week after late night comedian David Letterman joked that New York Yankees man about town Alex Rodriquez knocked up Palin’s daughter.

The brouhaha erupted after Palin and 14-year-old daughter Willow attended a Yankees baseball game. Letterman later claimed his joke was directed at 18-year-old Palin daughter Bristol, whose unwed pregnancy surfaced during Palin’s 15 minutes of fame last year as John McCain’s vice presidential candidate.

Are Republicans dumping the Reagan legacy?

June 15, 2009

Now here’s a twist: President Barack Obama often refers to former President Ronald Reagan in glowing terms while Republicans seem to be backing away from the man who used to be the symbol of the modern GOP.

The Reagan mystique sure ain’t what it used to be — at least when you listen to some Republican leaders.

Is this a case or reality overriding myth or simply practical politics of discarding a canard that no longer works.

Good question.

CIA boss: Cheney wants a new terrorist attack

June 15, 2009

CIA director Leon Panetta says it’s almost as if former vice president Dick Cheney would like to see another attack on the United States to prove he is right in criticizing President Barack Obama for abandoning the "harsh interrogation" of terrorism suspects.

"I think he smells some blood in the water on the national security issue," Panetta said in an interview published in The New Yorker magazine’s June 22 issue.

Obama to docs: Back my health care plan

June 15, 2009

President Barack Obama, continuing to barnstorm for his health care proposals, will urge doctors gathered in Chicago to support wider insurance coverage and targeted federal spending cuts.

Obama planned to tell the American Medical Association’s annual meeting in his hometown on Monday that overhaul cannot wait and that bringing down costs is the most important thing he can do to ensure the country’s long-term fiscal health, a senior administration official said.

More unemployment benefits = no food stamps

June 15, 2009

When President Barack Obama increased unemployment benefits as part of his economic stimulus, he also made some Americans ineligible for hundreds of dollars a month in food stamps.

Under the economic recovery plan, laid-off workers have seen a $25 weekly bump in their unemployment checks as part of a broad expansion of benefits for the poor. But the law did not raise the income cap for food stamp eligibility, so the extra money has pushed some people over the limit.

GOP turns to buzz words to taunt Dems

June 15, 2009

Republicans are lining up behind a pointed political attack line: President Barack Obama is nationalizing American industry and socializing medicine.

Drawing on the government’s ownership stakes in auto giants, insurance companies and banks — and the billions of tax dollars at risk — the GOP is trying to develop wedge issues in the national debate over how to repair the economy and expand health insurance.

It’s a strategy they hope will pay off in campaigns for Congress next year and, in the process, help rein in Obama’s outsized influence.