Tag: President Obama

Obama got a round tuit – Nominates Felicia Adams for north Mississippi USA

Reportedly, President Obama has finally gotten a “round tuit” and nominated “Felicia Collette Adams of Jackson…for U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Mississippi.

Adams, current chief of the Southern District’s civil division, faces U.S. Senate confirmation before she can take the office vacant since Bush appointee James Greenlee retired more than a year ago.

Adams was not available for comment when the announcement was made late Wednesday.

“Felicia Adams has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to justice throughout her career, and I am honored to nominate her to serve the people of Mississippi as U.S. attorney for the Northern District,” said President Obama in a White House news release.

Hmmm. Continue reading “Obama got a round tuit – Nominates Felicia Adams for north Mississippi USA”

“as near a dictionary definition of ‘damning with faint praise’ as you’re likely to get” – Fortune reports lone CEO supporting Obama is Allstate’s Tom Wilson!

“We’re screwed” wrote the SLABBED reader who sent an email with the link to CEO support of Obama: The lone voice from Allstate:

Allstate CEO Tom Wilson is a rare breed: a corporate executive who hasn’t soured on the Obama administration. After a summer of increasingly loud complaints from business leaders that the White House is hostile to private enterprise, Wilson is calling for a cease-fire.

A Chicago native and early Obama supporter, Wilson went to Washington, DC, last week to present the findings of the latest in a series of quarterly polls the insurance giant is cosponsoring to track American economic attitudes. The survey — officially the Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll — painted a dark picture of the impact the recession is having on the public outlook…

Lots of food for thought in this article but, nonetheless, “faint praise” for Obama.

Obama to appeal "who dat' Judge" Feldman's ruling – POTUS v Katrina's don't-know-wind-from-water 5th Circuit "who dem" BP-stock-owning judges

“We will immediately appeal to the 5th circuit the president strongly believes as the Department of Interior and the Department of Justice argued yesterday that continuing to drill at these depths without knowing what happened does not make any sense and… potentially puts the safety of those on the rigs and the environment in the Gulf at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford right now,” said spokesman Robert Gibbs during Tuesday’s briefing.

Y’all come on down, Mr. President,  and sample some of Judge Edith’s home cooking.

 

The chief judge is one Edith Jones, who received international notoriety a few years back when she ruled that a fellow named Calvin Burdine, convicted of murder and sentenced to death row, received a fair trial even though his court appointed lawyer slept through a good bit of the trial. A sleeping attorney didn’t’ seem to bother Jones, who wrote in upholding the conviction that “we cannot determine whether the defense counsel slept during a critical stage of Burdine’s trial.” So, according to Jones, it’s OK to nap a bit during a trial if you are representing a defendant who could be (and in this case was) given the death penalty. Just pick and choose when you doze off.

Jones was nominated by President Reagan and joined the Court in 1985.  SLABBED examined the “absurdity of Judge Jones’ reasoning” a year ago; so no one should be surprised to see BP stock listed in her financial disclosure report (shown below). Continue reading “Obama to appeal "who dat' Judge" Feldman's ruling – POTUS v Katrina's don't-know-wind-from-water 5th Circuit "who dem" BP-stock-owning judges”

Will Mabus savus after all?

Earlier, I asked Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the Navy, a former governor of Mississippi, and a son of the Gulf, to develop a long-term Gulf Coast Restoration Plan as soon as possible.  The plan will be designed by states, local communities, tribes, fishermen, businesses, conservationists, and other Gulf residents.  And BP will pay for the impact this spill has had on the region.

So much for those who coined “savus from Mabus”,  Obama picks ‘Son of the Gulf’ Ray Mabus to lead restoration:

President Barack Obama’s selection of Navy Secretary Ray Mabus , a former Mississippi governor, as his go-to person in charge of developing a long-term Gulf Coast restoration plan won widespread praise Wednesday.

While details are sketchy, the selection of Mabus, which Obama announced Tuesday night in an Oval Office speech to the nation, is meant to quell rising unease, especially on the Gulf Coast , about the government’s response to the eight-week-old oil spill.

Describing Mabus as a “son of the Gulf,” Obama said, “the plan will be designed by states, local communities, tribes, fishermen, businesses, conservationists, and other Gulf residents.” Continue reading “Will Mabus savus after all?”

Slicked and Slabbed

“BP is responsible for this leak — BP will be paying the bill…”

Mr. Obama met with Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana upon the arrival of Air Force One in New Orleans. Then he went to Venice for two hours — by road, rather than helicopter, because of inclement weather — to look at the response.

He stopped to speak to several fishermen, assuring them that BP would reimburse them for lost earnings. But reimbursement may be one of the largest battles to come, given that federal law sets a limit of $75 million on BP’s liability for damages, apart from the cleanup costs.

“It’s going to be extremely tricky” to reimburse fishermen and others if economic damages tally above $75 million, said Stuart Smith, a New Orleans-based lawyer who is pushing for Congressional action to amend the law…

Offhand, I’d say oil will freeze over before the law is amended. Like “big insurance”, “big oil” spends its money on influence – spreading dollars around the politically “slick” – and few politicians are slicker (pun intended) than Louisiana’s own David Vitter:

The potential magnitude of the disaster and the limited liability established in law, “big oil” is spilling into federal court about as fast as its leaking out of the deep water well: Continue reading “Slicked and Slabbed”

“Our livelihood and our brotherhood” – and the “brotherhood” of Massey Coal

“How can we fail them? How can a nation that relies on its miners not do everything in its power to protect them?” Obama said. “How can we let anyone in this country put their lives at risk by simply showing up to work, by simply pursuing the American Dream?”

President Obama delivered an eloquent “eulogy to the workers who died in the worst mine accident in a generations” as Obama: W.Va. miners died in pursuit of better life reported:

“In coveralls and hard-toe boots, a hardhat over their heads, they would sit quietly for their hourlong journey, 5 miles into a mountain, the only light the lamp on their caps, or the glow from the mantrip they rode in,” Obama said.

“Most days, they would emerge from the dark mine, squinting at the light. Most days, they would emerge, sweaty, dirty, dusted with coal. Most days, they would come home. Most days, but not that day.”…

“All that hard work. All that hardship. All the time spent underground. It was all for the families… these miners lived — as they died — in pursuit of the American Dream.”

Money earned working in the Massey-owned mine made it possible for the 29 miners to pursue the American Dream that became a nightmare for their families after the explosion at Upper Big Branch.  Massey’s owner had a bigger version of the American Dream – one that created the nightmare of equal justice for all revealed in Caperton v A.T. Massey Coal Co:

Justice Brent Benjamin of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia refused to recuse himself from the appeal of the $50 million jury verdict in this case, even though the CEO of the lead defendant spent $3 million supporting his campaign for a seat on the court–more than 60% of the total amount spent to support Justice Benjamin’s campaign– while preparing to appeal the verdict against his company. After winning election to the court, Justice Benjamin cast the deciding vote in the court’s 3-2 decision overturning that verdict… Continue reading ““Our livelihood and our brotherhood” – and the “brotherhood” of Massey Coal”

Always know your place. Never let anyone put you in it

Desirée Rogers… has been cruising for a bruising since telling The Wall Street Journal in April: “We have the best brand on Earth: the Obama brand. Our possibilities are endless.” She wanted to pose for The Journal in an Oscar de la Renta gown in the first lady’s garden, but the press secretary, Robert Gibbs, vetoed that.

The statuesque social secretary brandishing a Harvard M.B.A. and animal-print designer shoes is not any mere party planner. The old friend of the first couple from Chicago has the exalted and uncommon title of social secretary and special assistant to the president.

Instead of standing outside with a clipboard, eyeballing guests as Anne Hathaway did in “The Devil Wears Prada,” Desirée was a guest at the dinner, the center of her own table of guests, just like the president and first lady…

Desiree Rogers obviously didn’t know her place.  Sop slabbed her yesterday in Speaking of Allstate, Anyone else remember Desirée Rogers? and Maureen Dowd’s Op-Ed for the NYT  Who’s Sari Now? definitely put her in it – and well it should. ( h/t observant reader)

…the breached White House wall serves as a prism to examine our society, our president and our values. Continue reading “Always know your place. Never let anyone put you in it”

Editilla on Hope a Dope

Irreverently insightful and, at times, just so damn funny I laughed aloud, Editillia does us proud.

We were all set to see our Hope Vote validated this past 8/29 Anniversary, but His O’ner blew our Holy Day in The City The Corps Forgot to go on vacation after only 6 months on the job and play golf at a Rich People’s Place. Thus we saw the ‘Hope’ first begin to uncoil.

Then we heard about the White House trip to the Gulf, a 3 Hour Tinkle-Stop Tour, to check on the status of Hurricane Katrina recovery by A) Not going to Mississippi where Katrina actually hit, causing total devastation, and B) Going to New Orleans where Katrina did not hit and did not cause our total devastation –thence we saw the ‘A’ -hidden behind his back, a foreign object.

Then the Big Show finally arrives amidst obvious disregard and Presidential hubris that we should all be so grateful the president took the time to come and blow smoke up our asses and use our wounded city to Campaign for his Health Care/Economic Thingy.

Butt, it wasn’t until His O’ner opened his mouth and out came the Wise Blood channeling Elmer Gantry (as a Yankee might think we southerners behave in “N’Awlins”) that Editilla saw the scene completed, saw the ‘Dope’. That is when I saw His O’ner “just getting started” on his wind-up to whip us with Hope’A’Dope. Continue reading “Editilla on Hope a Dope”

SLABBED Daily – October 1

The big slab of the day comes from President Obama who apparently can’t tell a federal flood from a hurricane.  Geoff Pender reports for the Sun Herald.

The White House on Wednesday indicated that President Barack Obama’s trip to the “hurricane damaged Gulf Coast” will not include Mississippi, nor, apparently, the Gulf Coast.

“The President will travel to New Orleans,” a White House spokesman said in a written response to the Sun Herald’s question of whether he would travel to Mississippi in his first trip to the region after being elected. Obama had promised to visit the Katrina damaged region by the end of his first year in office.

So the change we need is…a map.  Quick, someone get the President a map!

It appears State Farm has a similar problem.  Deborah Trotter’s response in opposition to State Farm’s motion to compel New Light Baptist Church to supplement discover tells that story: Continue reading “SLABBED Daily – October 1”