The Gvlshornbook

CQ Politics | Lobbyists Stew After Being Bounced From Boards

A tide of anger and dismay is rippling down K Street as the Obama administration implements a new policy limiting the roles of lobbyists on federal advisory committees.

The policy change, described by the White House as the next step in President Barack Obama ’s drive to limit influence-peddling in Washington, could affect hundreds of lobbyists who serve on the panels, which were created by Congress in the 1970s to provide private-sector advice to the government.

“There is fury,” said a lobbyist who sits on one of the committees. “Absolute fury.” K Street veterans say they sit at the intersection of policy wonk-dom, Washington savvy, and the needs of business, and are therefore best suited to populate the panels.

…K Street sources describe a process they say was completely opaque and undertaken without their input. Several lobbyists who sit on the panels said they were not consulted and don’t know of anyone who was. Indeed, some sources on the panels contacted just before the Sept. 23 announcement said they were either unaware of the new policy or had heard little more than rumors.

“This was done in a vacuum,” said another business lobbyist who sits on one of the panels. “The decision was made in a room of the White House without consultation.”

The thing that worries me, is these lobbyists are part and parcel of the screeling against this administration. Will the untoward, seditious speech grow more shrill,now that the elephant is wounded more deeply?

We need to remember, that Labor and his other allies are also being removed:

Administration allies in labor and elsewhere will not be spared.

“The President recognizes that some lobbyists advocate for public interest goals shared by this Administration,” Eisen wrote. “Nevertheless, the President made a commitment to the American people to reduce the influence of lobbyists in Washington.”

Glenn Beck on US Healthcare from a very personal perspective:

Accroding to some of the Orthodox/fundamentalist Jews I’ve met here, bending halakah and Torah to justify the trafficking is now a growing sport. WTF? It’s JUSTIFIED? These are same mamzers who say they can’t donate an organ, because to do so would “mutilate” the body, and therefore not OK under Jewish Law. yet, they see no hypocrisy in paying people to ‘mutilaite’ themselves at a price. I grew up on the West Coast, a “Reformed” Jew, therefore not a ‘good enough Jew’ for the East coast Jews, yet, I never heard of anything as disgraceful as this.
It’s right up there with saying torture is ok under jewish Law, because it’s to save lives.

I’d rather have a rasher of bacon.

‘Organ trafficking’: Rabbis arrested over massive crime ring

“FBI officials painted a picture of brazen criminality.

The money laundering ring allegedly stretched from New Jersey and New York to Israel and Switzerland, while politicians easily exploited loopholes in state law to disguise bribes as campaign contributions.

Although New Jersey is more famous for a history of Italian Mafia families, it was Jewish clergy who allegedly played a central role in the crime network.

Authorities raided several synagogues and among those arrested was the chief rabbi of Syrian Jews in the United States.

One rabbi, Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, was charged with conspiring to broker the sale of a human kidney for transplant.

Marra said Rosenbaum’s “business was to entice vulnerable people to give up a kidney for $US10,000 ($A12,300), which he would turn around and sell for 160,000 dollars.”

He’d allegedly been peddling kidneys for a decade….
“This is “not about politics, certainly not about religion. It is about crime. It is about criminals who use politics and religion.”

Jeffrey Toobin: Sessions Says Only White Men Are Without Prejudice | Third Branch

In my last posting, I described ways of securing your computer. Here, I give you a pressing reason why:

Botnet worm in DOS attacks could wipe data out on infected PCs | Security - CNET News
The denial-of-service attacks against Web sites in the U.S. and South Korea that started last weekend may have stopped for now, but code on the infected bots was set to wipe data on Friday, security experts said.
There were no immediate reports of any of the compromised PCs in the botnet having files deleted, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t happening or won’t in the future, said Gerry Egan, a product manager in Symantec’s Security Technology Response group. (Click here for Larry Magid’s related podcast with Symantec expert.)
There are only about 50,000 infected PCs around the world being used in the attacks, which is relatively small compared to the millions that were infected with Conficker, he said.
The attacks started over the July 4 weekend launching distributed DOS attacks on dozens of government and commercial sites in the U.S. and South Korea. The attacks, which resurged during the week at least twice, affected sites including the White House, the Federal Trade Commission, the Secret Service, and The Washington Post.

July 4, DDoS Analysis (PDF)
Securing your computer is now a matter of Homeland Security, and National Defense.

I love actor reels. Don’t you? Here then, is the Audition reel for the “Gathering Storm” Please take note of the Greenscreen

Here, you may abuse me to your hearts content I guess the twenty who visited this little spaced didn’t want to have to go through moderation…. I would have posted what ever blither they chose to write.

Here then, is the full exchange as shared with a friend via IM: It began with a comment from someone who saw a sign that said there should be “an aptitude test for president” while tweeting about the teabagging that is going on:

Kelly Lincoln (23:53:20): @ChristinaPerk Palin/McCain would fail that test. #teaparty #tlot #tcot #sgp
Kelly Lincoln (23:53:22): ChristinaPerk @ExitPass lol…funny..& biden would copy someones answers & pelosi would sell it to the highest bidder to do it for her
Kelly Lincoln (23:53:36): @ChristinaPerk you do mean bush/cheney, don’t you?
Kelly Lincoln (23:53:55): ChristinaPerk @ExitPass you understand that ..oh nevermind I’m sure you don’t understand when you have been using kool aid intravenously.. run along TROLL
Kelly Lincoln (23:54:08): @ChristinaPerk LMAO. I love it. when it’s something you don’t find funny, it’s “koolaid”; when you parrot FOX TP? Gospel.
Kelly Lincoln (23:54:20): ChristinaPerk RT @ExitPass: @ChristinaPerk you do mean bush/cheney, don’t you?////< -----------------------LOOK! Another faceless TROLL ....SHOCKER!!!!!!
Kelly Lincoln (23:54:55): @ChristinaPerk oh, no, I have a face. http://kellylincoln.ws/Welcome.html. oh, and you can leave comments here: http://tinyurl.com/ck2op6
Kelly Lincoln (23:55:14): wmiar @ExitPass Yeah, that’s EXACTLY what he said. No, wait. No he didn’t. When “O” taxes Kool-Aid, then you’ll be mad
Kelly Lincoln (23:55:24): @wmiar Tax kool-aid? fine by me. I hate the stuff. oh, and it was “Flavr-aid” that was consumed in Jonestown.

FBI rules out Taliban claim on New York killings | Top News | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI on Saturday ruled out Pakistani Taliban militant leader Baituallah Mehsud’s claim that he was responsible for an attack on a U.S. immigration assistance center in New York state in which 14 people were killed….Mehsud told Reuters in Pakistan earlier Saturday that his group was responsible. “I accept responsibility. They were my men. I gave them orders in reaction to U.S. drone attacks,” Mehsud said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

MIAC Strategic Report - The Modern Militia Movement