Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Washington’s new divide: Paul Ryan Optimists vs. Rand Paul Federalists
On May 16, Senate Democrats continued their three-year-old tradition of failing to pass a budget. But not before voting down four Republican budget plans, plus the Obama budget, which received the special honor of being dispatched unanimously. The real news? The increasing support for the budgets offered by two men named “Paul“: Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, and Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican.
The Ryan budget was defeated, 58-41. The bolder Paul plan, by a more definitive 83-16.
The relative popularity of the two is less important than the fact that both fiscally conservative budgets received more votes this year, an election year, than they did 12 months ago. Despite being savaged by the left. And Mr. Paul’s support more than doubled, from 7 “yeas” to 16.
These “defeats” feel like the sort you find in the first chapter of a victory narrative.
Indeed, we may be witnessing the beginnings of a new era, in which the dividing line is not between conservatives and progressives, as much as it is between two kinds of conservatives, whom I call “managerial optimists” and “constitutional realists.” Or to put it more provocatively, between “Paul Ryan technocrats” and “Rand Paul federalists.”
This new fault line, while faint today, could open into a chasm, should the Republicans get a chance to govern next year.
While the “federalists,” who include the staunch Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), are numerically smaller, they are growing in confidence and will likely grow in numbers, too, after November. They could very well form a “majority within a majority,” steering the entire Senate, and nation, rightward.
Both the technocrats and federalists want government to be smaller, more efficient and less intrusive. Both want to make entitlements more affordable and taxes fairer. But the technocrats want to achieve these goals by streamlining and modernizing government programs, while the federalists want to do it primarily by eliminating programs and decentralizing government power.
Reality Check: 10 More Years and Another 100 Billion For Afghanistan Is An Exit Strategy?
Massive protests have been underway as President Obama and other NATO leaders have been meeting in Chicago.
One of the big topics at that NATO summit has been the strategy for Afghanistan.
Tonight, we know more about the end of the war that really isn’t the end of the war. We are also getting a picture of how much the so called “new mission” is going to cost U.S. taxpayers
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Ron Paul, Still Running for President, Wins Minnesota
Just like he told you, Ron Paul is continuing to rack up delegates and outright state wins in his continuing race for the Republican Party presidential nomination. In the Minnesota state Republican Party convention on Saturday, he came out controlling 32 of 40 delegates from the state.
The Park Rapids Enterprise reports on how Paul, who showed up to talk to his people at the convention the day before the final delegate vote, was received:
To chants of “President Paul,” 2,000 Minnesota convention delegates welcomed the Texas congressman and presidential candidate.
“There are a lot of friends of liberty in this town,” Paul said….
U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Bills endorsed Paul and Paul endorsed Bills. The Senate candidate said he will continue to back Paul until he is out of the race.
Several convention observers said that while Paul was well received, they did not hear probable Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney mentioned during the day-long convention.
Paul, who finished second to Rick Santorum in this year’s precinct caucuses, told the Republicans that it is not just their party that latches onto his ideas.
“It is much, much bigger than this,” he added, saying that independents “and even Democrats” support his ideas.
Things have changed for Paul since 2008 as his liberty movement grows:
NDAA Legalizes The Use Of Propaganda On The US Public
The newest version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes an amendment that would legalize the use of propaganda on the American public, reports Michael Hastings of BuzzFeed.
The amendment — proposed by Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) and Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and passed in the House last Friday afternoon — would effectively nullify the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which explicitly forbids information and psychological operations aimed at influencing U.S. public opinion.
Thornberry said that the current law “ties the hands of America’s diplomatic officials, military, and others by inhibiting our ability to effectively communicate in a credible way,” according to Buzzfeed.
The vote came two days after a federal judged ruled that a counter-terrorism provision in the annual defense bill was unconstitutional.
Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, who released a highly critical report regarding the distortion of truth by senior military officials in Iraq and Afghanistan, dedicated a section of his report to Information Operations (IO) and states that after Desert Storm the military wanted to transform IO “into a core military competency on a par with air, ground, maritime and special operations.”
Davis defines IO as “the integrated employment of electronic warfare (EW), computer network operations (CNO), psychological operations (PSYOP), military deception (MILDEC), and operations security (OPSEC), in concert with specified supporting and related capabilities, to influence, disrupt, corrupt or usurp adversarial human and automated decision making while protecting our own.”
U.S. lets China bypass Wall Street for Treasury orders
The relationship means the People’s Bank of China buys U.S. debt using a different method than any other central bank in the world.
The other central banks, including the Bank of Japan, which has a large appetite for Treasuries, place orders for U.S. debt with major Wall Street banks designated by the government as primary dealers. Those dealers then bid on their behalf at Treasury auctions.
China, which holds $1.17 trillion in U.S. Treasuries, still buys some Treasuries through primary dealers, but since June 2011, that route hasn’t been necessary.
The documents viewed by Reuters show the U.S. Treasury Department has given the People’s Bank of China a direct computer link to its auction system, which the Chinese first used to buy two-year notes in late June 2011.
China can now participate in auctions without placing bids through primary dealers. If it wants to sell, however, it still has to go through the market.
The change was not announced publicly or in any message to primary dealers.
“Direct bidding is open to a wide range of investors, but as a matter of general policy we do not comment on individual bidders,” said Matt Anderson, a Treasury Department spokesman.
While there is been no prohibition on foreign government entities bidding directly, the Treasury’s accommodation of China is unique.