Well, according to TFA, Arizona rates a C+.

Under Bush/Chertoff, the U.S. DHS has scored anywhere from D's to F's in most assessments.

Sounds like she'd still be a huge step up to me.

So the problem is that she didn't pour money down a specific set of holes?

It does look bad, however, that she's the one that drew up the list.

BlueDjinn: Well, according to TFA, Arizona rates a C+.

Under Bush/Chertoff, the U.S. DHS has scored anywhere from D's to F's in most assessments.

Sounds like she'd still be a huge step up to me.

But, but Bush?

Hardly a shining record, but she got a C+ from some Republican dude and "Most parts of the Arizona plan are completed." So, hardly a terrible record, either.

BURN HER AT THE STAKE!

mmm burnt steak....

its my hope that her first action as head of homeland security is to completely disband it.

Seriously. "Homeland Security". Does that or does it not sound like something out of Soviet Russia? That name has ALWAYS given me the creeps.

Occam's Chainsaw: It does look bad, however, that she's the one that drew up the list.

Yea, I'm not going to go full retard here, but the past couple of appointments BO has made have been troublesome. Financial Guy who didn't pay his taxes for several years, and now the Homeland Security person who failed to enact her own policies towards homeland security?

He's wavering a bit from his strong start.

However, the 20th is right around the corner and soo many people will be on an Inauguration High Alchohol Pachouli binge that they won't notice for several months.

SilentStrider: its my hope that her first action as head of homeland security is to completely disband it.

Seriously. "Homeland Security". Does that or does it not sound like something out of Soviet Russia? That name has ALWAYS given me the creeps.

"Political Correctness" creeped me out more to be honest.

That's what happens when you effectively have ZERO political experience and run for President at an opportune time, then win because there's no real viable alternative... and the majority of voters are dumber than a sack of hammers to begin with.

Just one of MANY massive fails to come in the next eight years. After all, Bush was elected... twice!

And he wasn't even the Messiah.

As if turrists would attack Arizona anyways. Pretty sure they try to blow up stuff in other countries to get away from the monotony of blowing crap up in desert wastelands nobody cares about.

So she'll probably have trouble spying on us. Why is that a bad thing?

The only question that really matters with any of Obama's appointments is
CAN THEY DO THE JOB?

If only the Bush Administration had used that metric.

Meatzilla: That's what happens when you effectively have ZERO political experience and run for President at an opportune time, then win because there's no real viable alternative... and the majority of voters are dumber than a sack of hammers to begin with.

Just one of MANY massive fails to come in the next eight years. After all, Bush was elected... twice!

And he wasn't even the Messiah.

Meat! You win one ton (that's 2000 pounds for all you husseiniacs) of Obama pronz.* You can flip it on ebay or whatever.
/those commemorative plates and coins and embossed toilet paper will go fast for phat profits!

*I don't got no obamapronz! This promise was made in theory only..in lieu of one net. Inter, net that is.


Rate me, biatches. And then go fu*k off and pound your leel pud.

But but but Clinton Bush...

Meatzilla: That's what happens when you effectively have ZERO political experience and run for President at an opportune time, then win because there's no real viable alternative... and the majority of voters are dumber than a sack of hammers to begin with.

Just one of MANY massive fails to come in the next eight years. After all, Bush was elected... twice!

And he wasn't even the Messiah.

I'd rather have a Constitutional scholar (probably not quite the right word, but I don't care) with zero experience then a C student who got everything in life handed to him on a silver platter, then proceeded to fark up damn near every opportunity he was given.

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss"

Androgynous Janet will be good for this country. As AG then governor, she was pretty much the governor of Phoenix and vetoed anything that smelled like "yeah but the UN is going to invade us" types of things that infect Arizona politics.

/go Janet!

It's kinda sad. If the people spouting the whargarbl spent even 5 seconds criticizing the Bush administration for what it did wrong, his administration wouldn't have been the bucket of fail it was.

/doesn't think Obama is the Messiah[tm]

Brockway: Obama is such an idiot. He hasn't even been inaugurated, and already it's clear that he's going to make Bush look like Einstein.

+2 for effort

this is good news, for patriots

Royal Vodak: I don't got no obamapronz! This promise was made in theory only..in lieu of one net. Inter, net that is


You don't get no Obamapornz!

Brockway: Obama is such an idiot. He hasn't even been inaugurated, and already it's clear that he's going to make Bush look like Einstein.


At least his appointee's have experience in the position they will be running.

Half the people Bush put in charge hadn't one iota of experience in the field. Remember the FEMA director during Katrina?

Obama's administration: Incompetent, but still better than Bush.

Let this be a lesson to all voters; elect Democrats and competency will then matter to those in Washington DC.

Napolitano would face challenges on an even larger scale at the Homeland Security Department.

With a better budget than Arizona's.

From the examples in the article, it sounds like the reason it's not finished is because of budgetary limitations (which would be Congress' job to deliver, not hers). That blame can't be laid at her doorstep.

Now, if people have objections to how she allocated the money, or what her priorities were, that's one thing, but if she didn't complete the plan because the plan wasn't fully funded, that's beyond her control.

CanisNoir: Yea, I'm not going to go full retard here, but the past couple of appointments BO has made have been troublesome. Financial Guy who didn't pay his taxes for several years, and now the Homeland Security person who failed to enact her own policies towards homeland security?

The "Financial Guy" did pay income tax. He didn't pay SECA taxes (basically, social security and medicare).

He was in kind of an odd situation -- he was working within the USA for the International Monetary Fund, but the IMF, for tax purposes, counts as a foreign organization, and for tax purposes, Geithner was considered self-employed, and was obligated to pay self-employment tax.

It's kind of an odd thing (being legally self-employed despite working for an employer) and even his tax lawyer didn't catch it. It does sound like an honest mistake; I'd wager very, very few people would even think that a "self-employment" tax would be applicable to them if they weren't actually self employed.

Sum Dum Gai: It's kind of an odd thing (being legally self-employed despite working for an employer) and even his tax lawyer didn't catch it. It does sound like an honest mistake; I'd wager very, very few people would even think that a "self-employment" tax would be applicable to them if they weren't actually self employed.

I dunno, it still doesn't place a mark in "The smartest guy to be running government finances" column. He obviously missed a few things no?

Random Reality Check: The only question that really matters with any of Obama's appointments is
CAN THEY DO THE JOB?

If only the Bush Administration had used that metric.


Approves.

Wait, I thought we were waiting a decade for historical perspective before judging a President's decisions. What happened with that?

its

Change we can believe in

Read the list of goals and accomplishments. Those things they actually accomplished were creating the bureaucracy and new agencies, but did not complete the infrastructure.

FTFA:
The state created a homeland security agency, opened a counterterrorism center to collect and share intelligence, bolstered disease surveillance systems, appointed a border liaison officer and updated its emergency plan.

In these situations, I am always curious - none of these things are covered by another agency already? "Counterterrorism center" Isn't that covered by the FBI an local police departments? "Homeland security agency" - what do they actually do? Isn't it already of someone in the state government to have an emergency action plan? So now they have two? "appoint a border liaison officer" Who does this officer liaise with? Is this office simply to liaise between existing federal and state authorities and the new agencies?

Just like "Department of Homeland Security", it all sounds like a colossal waste of enormous sums of money.

CanisNoir: I dunno, it still doesn't place a mark in "The smartest guy to be running government finances" column. He obviously missed a few things no?

You know, as a small business owner (and a concerned one, at that) I can tell you that trying to get solid tax advice from anyone, tax attorneys, accountants and even the IRS is impossible.

A few years back, we paid three different tax attorneys to help us file our taxes and got three different answers, not a little different, completely different. One thing they all agreed on was, if there is a question, no matter how small, do not pay the tax and the IRS will correct you.

I can see how this might have become an issue for this gentlemen - especially with the Big Lie Machine^(TM) working full time on the problem.

I would have thought that a guy like yourself would know this.

What winterwhile thinks he is posting."WHARRGARBL"

What I read when he posts.

I GOT NOTHIN'

Janet Napolitano was the first Democrat I ever voted for. She was competent, as governor wasn't in a position to do any real damage, and her opponent was the kind of Republican everyone hates.

She's done a good job of running the state and avoiding hot button issues.

par for the course.

Sum Dum Gai: He was in kind of an odd situation -- he was working within the USA for the International Monetary Fund, but the IMF, for tax purposes, counts as a foreign organization, and for tax purposes, Geithner was considered self-employed, and was obligated to pay self-employment tax.

It's kind of an odd thing (being legally self-employed despite working for an employer) and even his tax lawyer didn't catch it. It does sound like an honest mistake; I'd wager very, very few people would even think that a "self-employment" tax would be applicable to them if they weren't actually self employed.



Being an independent contractor when working for an employer is not that odd at all, by any stretch of the imagination, it happens all over the place and more and more every year. You are giving this guy a HUGE pass. He will be in charge of the IRS and I'm sorry, but this is a no go. He has to prosecute folks for doing what he did?

Are you some kind of Obama apologist?

Gated Community Organizer: Being an independent contractor when working for an employer is not that odd at all, by any stretch of the imagination, it happens all over the place and more and more every year.

I think you're on crack. The entire concept of "independent contractor" is that you're not employed: you're coming in and doing a job but not "employed by" the entity you're working for.

Remove all Republicans: People doubted Hillary Clinton and even his pick of Joe Biden. Have trust in the man. He was editor of Harvard's law review, for god's sake.


Are you being funny? You are either a genius comedienne, or batshiat crazy? Harvard Law Review is nothing. So is Constitutional Scholar for teh record


/BTW...[whispering]...Joe Biden is a moran

Remove all Republicans: People doubted Hillary Clinton and even his pick of Joe Biden. Have trust in the man. He was editor of Harvard's law review, for god's sake.


And Ann Coulter worked for a Supreme Court Justice. Your point?

BlueDjinn: Well, according to TFA, Arizona rates a C+.

Under Bush/Chertoff, the U.S. DHS has scored anywhere from D's to F's in most assessments.

Sounds like she'd still be a huge step up to me.

Head, meet sand. Enjoy each other for at least four years with this kind of objective assesment.

Gated Community Organizer: He has to prosecute folks for doing what he did?

The IRS doesn't prosecute people for mistakes, they collect taxes and fines. In fact, if you stop to think about it, if they did prosecute people for making mistakes somewhere near half the US population would be behind bars - which might not be a bad idea considering how many of them vote.

Gated Community Organizer: Are you some kind of Obama apologist?

What you can't seem to grasp is that there is a difference between making a mistake and intentionally trying to not pay taxes, ie. by committing fraud, etc.

Do you have any proof that this man tried to defraud the government and that this wasn't an honest mistake?

No?

Why am I not surprised?
What are you, a raging, right wing, lunatic?

Phil Herup: Remove all Republicans: People doubted Hillary Clinton and even his pick of Joe Biden. Have trust in the man. He was editor of Harvard's law review, for god's sake.


Are you being funny? You are either a genius comedienne, or batshiat crazy? Harvard Law Review is nothing. So is Constitutional Scholar for teh record


/BTW...[whispering]...Joe Biden is a moran

No, Joe the Plumber is nothing.
Get your facts straight.

3_Butt_Cheeks: Enjoy each other for at least four years with this kind of objective assesment.

I'll tell you what, when any of Obama's appointments screw up, and I mean royally screw up like Michael Brown did reacting to the New Orleans disaster, I am going to be very interested in crucifying that person.

Until that time, I'm going to hold off, you know, in case it never happens.

Does that make sense to you or are you trying to tell us you can see into the future - because, you know, that would be delusional - especially given your support of the Bush Administration.

Random Reality Check:
What you can't seem to grasp is that there is a difference between making a mistake and intentionally trying to not pay taxes, ie. by committing fraud, etc.

Do you have any proof that this man tried to defraud the government and that this wasn't an honest mistake?


Well, there is the document he signed while working at the IMF that said "I understand I am responsible for the Payroll tax". Kind of hard to say "I didn't know" when you had to sign the document numerous times.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123194884833281695.html?mod=special_page_campai g n2008_mostpop

Current and former IMF officials said the fund provided numerous warnings to U.S. employees about payroll taxes. According to IMF documents released by the Senate Finance panel, Mr. Geithner regularly received information about his tax obligations.

And, of course, claiming a sleepaway camp as a child-care credit when he was explicitly told by his accountants that the credit was illegal.

But hey, whatever. As long as he implements those policies so that Americans don't have to pay payroll and FICA, I'll support him.

/what? that's not what he's going to do?

smeegle: Napolitano would face challenges on an even larger scale at the Homeland Security Department.

With a better budget than Arizona's.

From the TARP to the new proposed stimulus package, I was unaware the Federal Government even had a budget.

Random Reality Check: Gated Community Organizer: He has to prosecute folks for doing what he did?

The IRS doesn't prosecute people for mistakes, they collect taxes and fines. In fact, if you stop to think about it, if they did prosecute people for making mistakes somewhere near half the US population would be behind bars - which might not be a bad idea considering how many of them vote.

Gated Community Organizer: Are you some kind of Obama apologist?

What you can't seem to grasp is that there is a difference between making a mistake and intentionally trying to not pay taxes, ie. by committing fraud, etc.

Do you have any proof that this man tried to defraud the government and that this wasn't an honest mistake?

No?

Why am I not surprised?
What are you, a raging, right wing, lunatic?

According to some articles the IMF calculated the amount owed in taxes to it's workers. So the IMF did the grunt work and figured out how much he owed. If true, there's really no excuse to not pay the correct amount.

link (new window)

Random Reality Check: 3_Butt_Cheeks: Enjoy each other for at least four years with this kind of objective assesment.

I'll tell you what, when any of Obama's appointments screw up, and I mean royally screw up like Michael Brown did reacting to the New Orleans disaster, I am going to be very interested in crucifying that person.

Until that time, I'm going to hold off, you know, in case it never happens.

Does that make sense to you or are you trying to tell us you can see into the future - because, you know, that would be delusional - especially given your support of the Bush Administration.

Of course only time will tell, but given the track record of failure just in one state, it certainly does not bode well for trying to coordinate the entire nation.

Of EVERYONE that could have been vetted and chosen, this pick is mind boggling. To be defending this pick with the facts at hand is going a bit soft, even moreso with the Hillary pick.

CanisNoir: Yea, I'm not going to go full retard here, but the past couple of appointments BO has made have been troublesome.

Don't forgot the Illinois republican for transportation secretary. Guy sounds more crooked than my Tower of Goo.

/ level took me 4ever

"Messiah" and "The One" are added to my list of words and phrases that immediately tell me that someone is a right wing nut with a room temperature IQ. Added to "Elite" and "Progressive".

When will Obama admit his presidency has been a failure and resign in shame? He has made decision after decision that has destroyed America.