Richard Shelby
Feb 5, 2010 Alabama Republicans, Barack Obama cabinet picks, Defense Procurement, Richard Shelby, alabama, republicans suck
I’ll give Jeff Sessions credit: he at least wrote back to me about his gang-rape vote. Richard Shelby, on the other hand, has yet to acknowledge the complaint. Now Shelby’s put an unprecedented “blanket hold” on 70 Obama nominees, and again refuses to explain himself:
The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.
And what, pray tell, does Shelby want to extort from the administration? The Mobile Press-Register reports:
- A $40 billion contract to build air-to-air refueling tankers. From CongressDaily: “Northrop/EADS team would build the planes in Mobile, Ala., but has threatened to pull out of the competition unless the Air Force makes changes to a draft request for proposals.” Federal Times offers more details on the tanker deal, and also confirms its connection to the hold.
- An improvised explosive device testing lab for the FBI. From CongressDaily: “[Shelby] is frustrated that the Obama administration won’t build” the center, which Shelby earmarked $45 million for in 2008. The center is due to be based “at the Army’s Redstone Arsenal.”
The story of the tanker planes is ridiculous. Northrop wants to team up with Airbus to build them in Alabama; rival Boeing wants to build them in Washington. Now Northrop wants the Air Force to change its criteria for selection or else it will take its football and go home. The second one is new to me, but just how bad is the problem of improvised explosive devices in the United States? Because I don’t see the FBI deploying to Pakistan anytime soon.
Maybe I’m wrong; maybe Northrop/EADS should have the contract and the FBI desperately needs this facility to be in Huntsville. Or maybe Shelby is just a pig at the trough in Washington taking “the party of no” to petty extremes. As I noted back in September amid the “czars” nontroversy, the GOP obstructionism is aimed at hampering Obama’s ability to govern. Effective leadership consists of delegation to competent subordinates; block the subordinates, and you block the leader. As of August, Obama still didn’t have half his team in place:
While career employees or holdovers fill many posts on a temporary basis, Mr. Obama does not have his own people enacting programs central to his mission. He is trying to fix the financial markets but does not have an assistant treasury secretary for financial markets. He is spending more money on transportation than anyone since Dwight D. Eisenhower but does not have his own inspector general watching how the dollars are used. He is fighting two wars but does not have an Army secretary.
He sent Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Africa to talk about international development but does not have anyone running the Agency for International Development. He has invited major powers to a summit on nuclear nonproliferation but does not have an assistant secretary of state for nonproliferation.
All of which suits Shelby and the GOP just fine, I’m sure. After all, they were willing to block Obama’s nomination for head of the Transportation Security Administration just to keep the people at the x-ray machines from unionizing. The funny thing is, I remember when Shelby was the Democrat who unseated Denton by accusing him of overconsuming pork.
Veterans Day Blog
Nov 12, 2008 Barack Obama cabinet picks, Max Cleland, Saxby Chambliss, Tammy Duckworth, chickenhawks, veterans, veterans health care, veterans issues
Today was my day. Veterans Day.
I celebrated by going to my $9/hour job where I sat for eight hours, aggravating my crumbling lumbar spine. I didn’t have enough money for lunch; a co-worker offered to buy me some tacos, but I despise charity, so they offered to “pay me back” for something I didn’t remember doing for them.
Worse, at break time I had to endure the witless intonations of a supervisor who never bothered to serve in uniform, but had a lot to say about which political party “really” supports veterans. Jobs being few and far between these days, I bit my tongue rather than put him to silent shame with certain uncomfortable facts.
But enough about me.
Word today has it that Tammy Duckworth may replace Obama in his Senate seat, but the blogosphere is talking up the possibility that she will be his new VA Secretary. There she is in the picture, visiting the Soldier Field memorial today with America’s president-elect. Now, allow me to exorcise a few demons by channeling Jimmie Dimmick:
Do you see her legs?
Look.
I said:
DO YOU SEE HER LEGS?!
Of course you don’t see her fucking legs, because she hasn’t got any legs!
Take a closer look:
They were blown off while she was flying a helicopter in Iraq. Her arm was left pretty mangled, too. Imagine that: the federal agency that takes care of disabled vets might get run by, well, a disabled vet. Whodathunkit? Except that the VA was already once run by a triple-amputee named Max Cleland, who did a great job and later became a senator. But Cleland was later upended by this lovely ad:
Yessiree, the guy who gave his country three limbs is really secretly pallin’ around with Osama bin Laden, yup. Those missing legs and arm are just a trick to disguise the suicide-bomb in his wheelchair.
Which brings me back to Duckworth. She’s been Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs. She has helped develop state programs to give tax credits to companies that hire vets. She has done her best to get adequate funding for vets homes. She is, in short, an ideal person to head an agency that still hasn’t fixed Walter Reed. She once observed that “there are veterans who, after having served this country, have to go without the basic care they were promised they would get” — and I couldn’t agree more.
For a lifetime of pain, limited endurance and mobility, and probable early-onset arthritis, my compensation is a whopping $230 a month. Woo hoo. But enough about me. Yes, there’s a donation button on my website, but that’s really to recoup the annual costs of keeping this website up.
Today, I have something else in mind: getting the bastard who ran that ad against Max Cleland.
Saxby Chabliss has voted against increased funding for vets health care SIXTEEN TIMES. he repeatedly filibusters bills to increase funding for PTSD and other mental health services. He’s voted against housing vouchers for veterans. In fact, he’s consistently voted against vets at every turn. His voting record reads like a wish-list for someone who hates American soldiers. Someone like…I don’t know…a certain guy hiding in a cave, somewhere.
Now Chambliss faces a runoff against a strong Democratic challenger in Jim Martin. Obama is sending staff to help him organize the state and get out the vote, but what Martin really needs is a cash infusion. I know times are tight (boy, do I ever know!), but if you have a few bucks to spare, please click on over to his ActBlue page right now and make a deposit.
I don’t want charity for Veteran’s Day. I want Duckworth for Senate or VA Secretary, and I want Saxby Chambliss out on his chickenhawk, chickenshit, Vietnam deferment-ass.
