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| This Week's Commentary: | Volume VIII, Number 5 |
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Obama Orders American Gulag Closed -- As one of his first acts as president, Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay and the “secret” prisons in eastern Europe run by the CIA. While many defenders of the Bush administration claim this will undermine American security, the closure deprives Al Qaeda and its fellow travelers of one of their greatest propaganda points. Additionally, the American gulag didn't rehabilitate any alleged terrorists. Instead, it created and hardened them. Above all, the order restores the rule of law to the US.
Lobbyists Get Ethics Waivers to Join Administration -- President Obama has made his first mistake in office with the ethics rules waivers he has given to two lobbyists. The first is William J. Lynn III, a registered lobbyist for Raytheon Co. from 2003 to June of last year, who is to be the number two man at Defense. The second is William Corr, nominated for Deputy Secretary of the Health and Human Services Department. House and Senate records last year show he lobbied the agency on behalf of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. Under the ethics rules set up on Mr. Obama's first day in office, no lobbyist can work on matters for which he lobbied or in any agency that he lobbied in the past. Obama to GOP on Stimulus Deal: “I Won” -- The Republican Party is still having trouble adjusting to the fact that it is a minority party. The Rovian belief that “bipartisanship” means Democrats must vote for GOP policies is still going strong. In a recent meeting with Congressional Republicans, President Obama played the ace of trump when he noted, “I won.” For the next year or so, those will be the words that mark the end of negotiations on a variety of issues. Science is Back in Fashion -- The forces of the Counter-Enlightenment lost November's election badly, and as a result, science has become fashionable again. The Bushevik record in the field of science is truly appalling. Either spinning scientific research results or outright suppression of them was the order of the day. In 2004, some 60 scientists (including 20 Nobel laureates) wrote a letter that said the Bush White House had “misrepresented scientific knowledge and misled the public about the implications of its policies.” President Obama's approach couldn't be more different. © Copyright 2009 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.
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