Welcome to 201k.com - A Commonwealth Perspective.

Obama Plan Includes $300 Billion in Tax Cuts

WASHINGTON Ñ President-elect Barack Obama plans to include about $300 billion in tax cuts for workers and businesses in his economic recovery program, advisers said Sunday, as his team seeks to win over Congressional skeptics worried that he was too focused on government spending.

Now we get it. When Barack Obama promised "change" he didn't mean changing the government to Democratic principles from Republican principles, he meant changing Democratic principles into Republican principles.

No, we don't expect the majority of his supporters to have any problem with it. He could privatize the public schools and they'd be all for it -- he's Obama!

We look forward to "Yes We Can" progressives espousing the merits of trickle-down economics.

Oh, Yes They Will.

Here's a quick chart of how it works, so you can follow along for the next four years:

Step 1: Obama makes appointment, proposal, or needless concession that violates core progressive value.

Step 2: Specific progressive group affected (and other suspicious characters) complain.

Step 3: Citing "a need for change," unflappable Obama supporters unequivocally endorse policy despite its being a violation of core progressive values and despite its not being a change from current (Republican) policy at all.

Step 4: Faced with the inescapable perniciousness of the policy, Obama supporters concede its flaws [NOTE! This step may not happen!] but defend it on the grounds of "political necessity" -- whether or not it is in fact a political necessity.

Step 5: Repeat.

This is an embarrassment and a disgrace.

Obviously the NHL was in a bad spot, having allowed fan voting over the Internet that allowed fans to spam the vote. But having detected and rectified that issue the league should have had the guts to wipe the slate clean and start the voting over.

Whatever outcry that would have engendered would be preferable to the ridiculous spectacle of four teams representing the entire starting lines of both the Eastern and Western Conferences.

The Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins are in 5th and 8th place. The Chicago Blackhawks and Anaheim Ducks are in 4th and 6th place.

Where are the San Jose Sharks? The Detroit Red Wings? The Washington Capitals? The Boston Bruins?

Sorry -- we will not be watching. If the NHL is going to allow Montreal to turn their 100th Anniversary All-Star Game Celebration into a home-town event, then they can have it.

Hope they enjoy it. A party they're throwing for themselves that no one else is coming to.

No, not Narrow Stairs.

The best album of the year is Consolers of the Lonely by The Raconteurs.

Part I, Wherein Our Hero Selects an Anti-Choice, Anti-Gay Marriage Preacher to Deliver the Invocation at his Inauguration:

Gay leaders furious with Obama

Barack ObamaÕs choice of a prominent evangelical minister toÊdeliver the invocation at his inauguration is a conciliatory gesture toward social conservatives who opposed him in November, but it is drawing fierce challenges from a gay rights movement...

Rick Warren, the senior pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, opposes abortion rights but has taken more liberal stances on the government role in fighting poverty, and backed away from other evangelicalsÕ staunch support for economic conservatism. But itÕs his support for the California constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage that drew the most heated criticism from Democrats Wednesday.

ÒYour invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans,Ó the president of Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solomonese, wrote Obama Wednesday. Ò[W]e feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.Ó

Obama opposes same-sex marriage, but also opposed the California constitutional amendment Warren backed. In selecting Warren, he is choosing to reach out to conservatives on a hot-button social issue, at the cost of antagonizing gay voters who overwhelmingly supported him.

Part II, Wherein Our Hero Selects "A Man Who Can See Both Sides of The Issue of Mining And Drilling For Oil on Federal Land" to be Secretary of Interior:

Praise and Criticism for Proposed Interior Secretary

President-elect Barack ObamaÕs choice to lead the Interior Department, Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, said on Wednesday that his job would be to try to balance protection of public lands with the continued development of domestic sources of coal, oil and natural gas.

His efforts in the past as a state and federal official to thread the difficult political needle between the environment and energy brought him decidedly mixed reviews from environmental groups on Wednesday, but cautious praise from energy and mining interests.

Environmental advocates offered mixed reviews of Mr. Salazar, 53, a first-term Democratic senator who served as head of ColoradoÕs natural resources department and the stateÕs attorney general. He was not the first choice of environmentalists, who openly pushed the appointment of Representative Raœl M. Grijalva, Democrat of Arizona, who has a strong record as a conservationist.

Oil and mining interests praised Mr. SalazarÕs record as a state official and as a senator, saying that he was not doctrinaire about the use of public lands for resource exploitation. ÒNothing in his record suggests heÕs an ideologue,Ó said Luke Popovich, spokesman for the National Mining Association. ÒHereÕs a man who understands the issues, is open-minded and can see at least two sides of an issue.Ó

Mr. Popovich noted approvingly that Mr. Salazar had tried to engineer a deal in the Senate under which mining companies and others could reclaim abandoned mines without fear of lawsuits. (The legislation is pending.) He also backed a compromise under which oil companies could drill for natural gas in limited parts of the Roan Plateau in northwestern Colorado, a plan that most environmental advocates opposed.

Congrats to both Phil and coach Claude Julien. They did this together.

Republican Senators are holding up an auto-industry bailout unless it includes steep concessions by the United Auto Workers union.

Now what constituency could have put that bug in GOP ears?

Who could have instructed Mitch McConnell and company to suddenly see a need and an opportunity to bust a union in the process of bailing out an industry?

Who else?

People expressing surprise at the severity of Sean Avery's suspension from the NHL have missed, from the start, exactly what Avery was saying when he made his ill-conceived remarks.

It was clear to us from the first we heard it that Avery was using the term "sloppy seconds" intending its most graphically sexual and vulgar meaning -- not as "a disparaging term for an ex-girlfriend" but in its most literal, graphic and pornographic sense.

Sean Avery, oft-ridiculed as "Sean Gayvery" for his interest in fashion, wasn't insulting his ex-girlfriends; he was making a sexual insinuation about other NHL players. What he was saying, in so many words, was, "Gee, they call me gay but there's a lot of guys in this league that like to sleep with women after I've slept with them."

As in, immediately after he'd slept with them.

Understand that it isn't the "sexual preference" aspect of this remark that was the problem; it was that Avery intended "sloppy seconds" to be understood in its most literal, graphic, and sexual sense. That's why he's in trouble.

We knew NHL commissioner Gary Bettman would throw the book at him because we suspected that Bettman, aged 56, would hear it the way we heard it.

First: 201k has both Sean Avery and Dion Phaneuf in a fantasy hockey league which only counts PIMs. We're currently in second place in the league; to say we were looking forward to tonight's game would be an understatement.

Second: if Avery had said what he said on the ice, being his usual pest, trying to irritate an opponent -- fine. Keeping (or losing) your composure is part of the game.

But he didn't say it on the ice; he said it on camera, hours before the game.

Furthermore, from the great Kevin Paul Dupont:

Only some six weeks to go before the Players Association informs the Lords of the Boards whether it will keep on keepin' on with the current CBA or whistle it dead after this season. NHLPA boss Paul Kelly has met with 17 of the 30 clubs...

According to Kelly, many of the questions raised by players relate to how to keep revenues growing. "My response is that the guys need to keep doing what they're doing, namely playing competitive and exciting hockey, and continuing to be great ambassadors for the sport off the ice..."

Throw the book at him.

According to Boston.com,

Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets, have been marching toward each other for more than a month in the southwestern sky at dusk. As they've drawn closer together, the sight has been catching more people's eyes, and now the show is reaching its climax.

This evening, weather permitting, you will see Venus and Jupiter blazing about a finger's width apart at arm's length. Look early enough and, far to their lower right, you can find the crescent moon just above the horizon.

We're not convinced it's correct to say that Jupiter and Venus have been "marching" towards each other; Mars marches, but Jupiter "thunders" and Venus "sashays."

The Crescent Moon, of course, "slices" its way across the sky.

For the record, Mercury "slides," Neptune "swims," the Earth "spins," and Saturn "plows."

Meanwhile, Uranus "reels."

Maureen Dowd is worried about U.S. newspapers "off-shoring" reporting:

[James Macpherson] fired his seven Pasadena staffers Ñ including five reporters Ñ who were making $600 to $800 a week, and now he and his wife direct six employees all over India on how to write news and features, using telephones, e-mail, press releases, Web harvesting and live video streaming from a cellphone at City Hall.

I wondered how long it would be before some guy in Bangalore was writing my column about President Obama.

Why would anyone go to the trouble? The Times could just print the talking points directly off the fax from Kennebunkport and skip the middle-woman altogether.

Apparently there's some consternation among supporters of Barack Obama that his cabinet picks and recent rhetoric are far less progressive than they'd expected.

Gee, what a shocker.

Here's another one for you, Poor Readers: while Barack Obama is, and has always been - at best - a centrist who talks like a progressive, Hillary Clinton is a progressive who talks like a centrist.

Voters who confused Clinton with her husband were in error, and we continue to expect it's an error the honest among them will live to regret.

There it is, in living color.

It may not last, but damn it, we got a picture of it.

So hoist one tonight, where ever you may be, members of the Boston Diaspora, to the best coach in hockey, Claude Julien, and the FIRST PLACE BOSTON BRUINS.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A great time at the Bruins' game last night, on "Slapshot Night." Here's a photo of the Boys in the Box wearing their Hanson Brothers glasses:

Photo ©Ê2008 www.201k.com

...tomorrow night is "Slapshot Night" at the Boston Bruins.

How did we get so stupid?

Supporters of the proposition have repeatedly argued that the Proposition 8 was not antigay, but merely pro-marriage.

ÒThe marriage is between a man and women,Ó said Frank Schubert, the campaign manager for Protect Marriage, the leading group behind passing Proposition 8. ÒIf they want to legalize same-sex marriage, they are going to have to bring a proposal before the people of California. ThatÕs how democracy works.Ó

Actually, you're wrong. People's rights are not governed by popular vote. That would be "mob rule." In a democracy, our rights are protected by the Rule of Law.

Not the rule of d***heads.

Grow up, people. Let consenting adults have their lives, their loves, their families, and their marriages. We're the beacon of freedom in the world.

That means freedom for everyone.

Congratulations to all the winners of $10,000 scholarships from the Ultimate College Bowl Voter Registration Drive. Click on "Scoreboard" and scroll down to see the names of the top 10.

Special congratulations to Elizabeth O'Donnell, who not only registered the 5th number of voters nationally, but has the good sense to be our niece.

Way to go, Lizzie!

p.s., she actually goes to Boston University, not Northeastern.

201k.com has had to deal with several "Denial of Service" attack over the last year, as well as having our email addresses spoofed into spam headers repeatedly, the result of which is literally thousand of kicked-back emails a day. On two occasions in the last month we received more than 60,000 emails per day.

Due to these continued attacks we are discontinuing the email accounts associated with this domain. The only way to reach us from now on is through the comments section. As of today no email sent to any address at 201k.com will be seen or read by anyone - they will be filtered directly to trash at the server.

If you have received spam from this domain, it is not coming from us - our domain name has been spoofed into spam email headers. We've worked with our ISP to try to curb the problem, with no success.

- 201k

1. It's perfectly OK for middle-class white idiots to congratulate themselves for congratulating random African-Americans on the street in the wake of the election, because it makes them feel good about themselves.

It's not required that they email everyone they know to tell them about it, but doing so makes them feel even better about themselves, which is all that matters.

2. The media will let off the hook any Republican who said unconscionably nasty things about Obama as recently as Monday night as long as he or she now falls into line and disingenuously mouths all the right things -- and voters will forgive and forget.

3. The next four years will be spent in an entrenched political battle over court appointments, and a huge percentage of swing voters who voted for Obama because they wanted "change" will be swayed by dishonest Republican talking points into supporting outrageous filibusters against his judicial nominees.

Meanwhile the media will fail to debunk those dishonest talking points because the controversies will be good for ratings.

4. As far as his most dedicated supporters are concerned, there are and can be no legitimate concerns about Barack Obama's commitment to any issue, past, present or future, regardless of his statements, his record, or his actions. Any such concerns are purely personal attacks, and are to be refuted not with a dialog about his commitment to the issues in question, but with retaliatory personal attacks. His election made millions of people feel good about themselves, and that's all that matters.

5. Fox News admitted it doesn't report, so you can't decide.

6. Sarah Palin can dish out the Republican Party's smears, but she can't take them.

Fox News political reporter Carl Cameron makes a startling admission at the top of this video report:

"Well, I wish I could have told you back at the time but all of it was put off the record until after the election."

Oh really?

What else is Fox News aware of that it isn't reporting?

Fox News: "We Don't Report So You Can't Decide."

Last night's election of Barack Obama to the presidency was a powerful moment, both on the larger canvass of American history, and on a personal level for Americans -- and indeed, for people around the world.

A million words have probably already been written, with incalculably more to follow, about the challenges Mr. Obama now faces. And here is where the next chapter begins.

Mr. Obama has no record of taking political risks. Yet it will take more than charm and beautiful words to address the many problems created by the Bush administration and its allies in Congress and the media. It will take political courage.

Talk of change is uplifting, but what Americans need, moving forward, is a return to the liberal agenda that in the 20th century transformed this country from an agrarian backwater to a super-power.

Put simply, Americans need their rights protected from the powerful -- a task formerly entrusted to their government, which under the direction of Republicans taking their marching orders from powerful interests, first abdicated that responsibility then reversed it. Since the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the federal government has transformed itself from the agency that protects the weak from the powerful into the agency by which the powerful control everything.

What we want from Barack Obama is not "change," nor "hope," nor any other mere word -- any more than we wanted George W. Bush to declare war on a noun. What we want from Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress is the liberal agenda that guarantees the freedom of all Americans.

Mr. Obama must begin to reverse the disastrous course Ronald Reagan set this country on 28 years ago. He has the political capital to do so. He must be willing to spend that capital.

He must reverse the pernicious power-grabs of the Bush administration.

He must be willing to fight to protect the rights of all Americans to marry, raise families, and live free lives -- gay or straight.

He must be willing to fight to protect the rights of women to control their own bodies.

He must be willing to fight to reverse the Bush administration's curbs of free-speech and invasions of privacy masquerading as anti-terrorist efforts.

The list goes on.

All of these challenges come with considerable political risk. Mr. Obama has the backing of the people, the votes in Congress, and the support of large swaths of the media; he has the means to accomplish them.

What remains to be seen is if he has the political courage.

Do we really want Sarah Palin to be in line for the presidency behind this?

A working-class Republican who turns out to be a moron.

Are there any other kind?

Real Deal on ÔJoe the PlumberÕ Reveals New Slant

By Larry Rohter

Joe the Plumber, as he became nationally known when Senator John McCain made him a theme at WednesdayÕs final presidential debate, may work in the plumbing business, but he is not a licensed plumber.

Thomas Joseph, the business manager of Local 50 of the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters and Service Mechanics, based in Toledo, said Thursday that Mr. Wurzelbacher had never held a plumberÕs license, which is required in Toledo and several surrounding municipalities. He also never completed an apprenticeship and does not belong to the plumberÕs union, which has endorsed Mr. Obama. On Thursday, he acknowledged that he does plumbing work even though he does not have a license.

And he owes back taxes, too, public records show. The premise of his complaint to Mr. Obama about taxes may also be flawed, according to tax analysts. Contrary to what Mr. Wurzelbacher asserted and Mr. McCain echoed, neither his personal taxes nor those of the business where he works are likely to rise if Mr. ObamaÕs tax plan were to go into effect, they said.

Mr. Wurzelbacher, 34...became the hero of conservatives and Republicans when he stopped Mr. Obama, who was campaigning on his street, and asked whether he believed in the American dream. Mr. Wurzelbacher said he was concerned about having to pay higher taxes as an owner of a small business.

ÒIÕm getting ready to buy a company that makes $250,000 to $280,000 a year,Ó he told Mr. Obama. ÒYour new tax plan is going to tax me more, isnÕt it?Ó

That encounter wound up on YouTube and led to appearances on the Fox News Channel, interviews with conservative bloggers and a New York Post editorial, all of whom seized on a small part of Mr. ObamaÕs long reply. ÒI think that when you spread the wealth around, itÕs good for everybody,Ó Mr. Obama had said.

Mr. Wurzelbacher told reporters that the company he works for, Newell Plumbing & Heating, has two full-time employees: himself and the owner, Al Newell.

Neither Mr. Newell nor Mr. Wurzelbacher responded to telephone calls. And Mr. Wurzelbacher has provided only vague information on his and the companyÕs finances since talking to Mr. Obama. But if the plumbing business remained a two-person company and the net proceeds Ñ after deductions for business expenses Ñ were shared by the two men, both incomes would most likely fall well below the top tax brackets on which Mr. Obama wants to raise rates, as would the company itself.

Both, in fact, would probably be eligible for a tax cut, said Bob Williams, senior research associate at the independent, nonpartisan Tax Policy Center...

According to public records, Mr. Wurzelbacher has been subject to two liens, each over $1,100. One, with a hospital, has been settled, but a tax lien with the State of Ohio is still outstanding.

Where would the Republican party be without guys like this?

...our plumber's name is Charlie.

A Poor Reader adds to the list:

"Governor Sarah Palin abused her power as Governor in that her conduct violated AS 39.52.110(a) of the Ethics Act, which provides 'The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.'

- Branchflower Troopergate report, 10/10/08

'Well, I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing...any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that.'"

- Sarah Palin, 10/11/08

This should probably be number one on that list now.

- Karmacomedian

Dan Quayle misspelled a word we ourselves have been known to flub. George H. W. Bush didn't recognize a super-market scanner. Howard Dean screamed like Private Wilhelm. Gary Hart challenged the media to prove he was unfaithful then went to visit his girlfriend.

Yes, there have been some goofs made on the trail to the White House. But according to our scorecard, current Republican V.P. candidate Sarah Palin has said not one, but several of the stupidest things ever uttered by a major-party candidate for national office.

Here's our partial list. Feel free to send in any we've missed.

1. She claims to be pro-life and disagrees with Roe v. Wade, but thinks that the Constitution guarantees the right to privacy.

2. She could not name a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with other than Roe v. Wade.

3. She said she reads several newspapers but could not name one -- not one.

4. She claims to have foreign policy experience because Alaska is near Russia.

That list alone gives her the all-time title. We're sure there's more.

For the record, our favorite is #1. It's one thing to be an ignorant, small-town thug -- hell, there's those in every small town in the world -- but it takes someone really special to passionately hold a belief she wants to force on all Americans -- and be blindingly ignorant of the core issue at the heart of the matter.

Someone very special.

An avowed pro-lifer saying that the Constitution guarantees the right to privacy is like a drunk in a bar saying his favorite Red Sox player is Alex Rodriguez.

Oh yes, she's a special candidate, this Sarah Palin. And melanoma-survivor John McCain proposes to put her a heartbeat away from the presidency.

How is it that in a democracy we face the possibility of the highest office in the land being occupied by one of two candidates, neither of whom were selected by the people?

Both Sarah Palin and Joe Biden were selected by their parties' candidates; neither was selected (or came in second) in any primary election. Yet the vice-president is not only a heartbeat away from the presidency -- he or she casts the deciding vote in a tied Senate.

In the case of Biden, Democrats are proposing that this office be filled by someone, who while qualified, was marginally attractive -- at best -- to his party's voters, while in the case of Palin, Republicans are proposing the office be filled by someone who until a few weeks ago was unfamiliar with even her own party's platform, and whom no one outside of Alaska had ever heard of.

How could this be? Surely in a Democracy the second spot on the ticket should be filled by the second-place voter-getter. That would reflect the will of party voters.

As it is both choices were selected by the candidates. That puts the presidency within reach of two people who were never the choice of any significant number of voters -- or in the case of Palin, by any voters.

How could this be?

New Mexico Bill Richardson says it's OK with him that former President Bill Clinton hasn't forgiven him for backing Barack Obama.

"I did what I thought was best for the country. I'm still very fond of the Clintons. I've reconciled with her. But with him -- he wants to keep a grudge, that's fine with me. I move on. I'm governor of New Mexico. I'm happy where I am."

Richardson, a longtime Clinton ally who served in two top positions in Bill Clinton's presidential administration, mounted his own campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. But despite surprisingly strong fundraising and some attention-getting ads, Richardson never got traction. When he dropped out of the race after poor showings in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, both Hillary Clinton and Obama arduously courted Richardson's endorsement.

After he picked Obama over Clinton, Clinton backer James Carville called it "an act of betrayal" and compared the move to the biblical betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot.

Bill Clinton, who had personally pleaded for Richardson to endorse his wife, was said to be especially incensed.

Richardson did far more than simply pick Obama over Clinton. He stayed in the race well past any hope of success, and participated in a three-way Democratic debate in which he relentlessly attacked Clinton, playing bad-cop to Obama's good-cop. It was clearly a set-up -- any questions as to why he'd stayed in the race were answered by his actions that night.

He did far more than not endorse his old patron's wife: he stayed in the race, on purpose, solely to attack her as a surrogate for Obama.

If 201k were Bill Clinton, we wouldn't forgive him, either -- ever. What he did went way past "politics." If Richardson truly thought Obama was "best for the county" he could have dropped out and endorsed him, and in time the Clintons probably would have forgiven him. But it seems clear he made a deal with the other side -- which may yet be rewarded -- to stay in the race just to get to that debate, and be Obama's wingman.

Maybe there's more to this story; maybe somewhere along the way the Clintons personally offended Richardson, and he was getting his own back -- who knows. But without knowing why he did what he did, one can only stand back and understand completely why he's persona non grata with Bill Clinton.

These two guys are competing for the job of overseeing the fleecing of the American people.

It's like an audition for "Head Liar." Which one of you can trick the people out of their money best?

Poor John McCain -- he's 8 years past his ability to make this sale.

Oh, how he must hate George W. Bush.

S.E.C. Concedes Oversight Flaws Fueled Collapse

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a longtime proponent of deregulation, acknowledged on Friday that failures in a voluntary supervision program for Wall StreetÕs largest investment banks had contributed to the global financial crisis, and he abruptly shut the program down.

Also Friday, the S.E.C.Õs inspector general released a report strongly criticizing the agencyÕs performance in monitoring Bear Stearns before it collapsed in March. Christopher Cox, the commission chairman, said he agreed that the oversight program was Òfundamentally flawed from the beginning.Ó

ÒThe last six months have made it abundantly clear that voluntary regulation does not work,Ó he said in a statement.

You have to hand it to these guys; they've got chutzpah.

The last 80 years made it abundantly clear that voluntary regulation does not work, but we're willing to bet that six months ago this guy was singing its praises -- probably while laughing himself silly into a glass of Chateauneuf du pape, sitting across the table from someone from Bear Stearns.

For his strong support of Eugene McCarthy in 1968 (and effective use of television commercials in California), Newman was 19th on Richard Nixon's enemies list.

What higher praise could there be?

In the eight years he's been president, George W. Bush has given himself the right to declare war, given himself the right to spy on Americans without a warrant (and lie about it), given himself the right to disregard any law passed by Congress he wishes by use of "signing statements," given himself and his staff the right to lie with impunity, to classify, declassify, or "reclassify" any information they wish, "leak" any classified information they wish, withhold any information they wish, and refuse to respond to any subpoena they wish.

Now he's given himself the right to station US troops inside the United States, to be deployed at his discretion.

Just an idle question: if, in January, 2009, George W. Bush refuses to step down from office, who will stop him?

Not the media -- they've cheered him along every step of the way.

Not the Congress -- they're cowed by the power of the media.

No, his only true superior -- the only power he's answerable to -- is Wall Street. But he's about to given them $700 billion of your money.

So: who?

...like David Letterman scorned.

Make sure to watch the whole thing.

PETA's unique suggestion that Ben & Jerry's make their ice cream from human milk set Mrs. 201k (a devoted breast-feeder) into a milky tizz.

Sure, this type of story will always get press. But really...

...with the world in the state it is...

...wouldn't it be nice if PETA set itself to tasks that actually made life better, rather than mount meaningless publicity stunts that make all progressives look foolish in the eyes of mainstream America?

According to the Army Times, U.S. military troops will begin what is expected to become "a permanent mission" here at home, for the first time since the Civil War.

The 3rd Infantry DivisionÕs 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.

Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks.

...this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities.

After 1st BCT finishes its dwell-time mission, expectations are that another, as yet unnamed, active-duty brigade will take over and that the mission will be a permanent one.

In case this sounds to you, Poor Reader, like a violation of The Posse Comitatus Act, you haven't been paying attention. On October 17, 2006, President George W. Bush signed the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 which, as clarified in Wikipedia, states that:

"The President may employ the armed forces to restore public order in any State of the United States the President determines hinders the execution of laws or deprives people of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law or opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws."

Certain provisions of the Warner Act were repealed by HR 4986: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 -- however in signing H.R. 4986 President George W. Bush attached a signing statement indicating that the Executive Branch did not feel bound by the changes enacted by the repeal.

The bottom line is that starting October 1st -- that's in six days -- U.S troops will be stationed in the United States to "restore public order" at the discretion of the President, for the first time since the Civil War.

Just in time for the election.

Mrs. 201k is the nostalgic sort.

The latest huge government bailout of a private financial boondoggle has set her reminiscing about the last huge government bailout of a private financial boondoggle.

Back then, the names involved were McCain and Bush.

Whereas this time, the names are McCain and Bush.

Bill Murray, where are you?