Republican puts crosshairs on Holder over WikiLeaks
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder should quit if he can’t stop WikiLeaks from disclosing government documents, Darrell Issa, incoming chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee said Sunday on Fox News.
“He’s hurting this administration. If you’re hurting the administration, either stop hurting the administration, or leave,” Issa said.
As chairman of the oversight panel when the new Congress convenes Wednesday, the California Republican has the authority to investigate the government for waste and fraud and will be able to issue subpoenas to obtain information he believes he needs.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has angered the United States by releasing secret diplomatic cables on his website and teaming up with newspapers around the globe to amplify the impact of the disclosures.
“If the president says ‘I can’t deal with this guy as a terrorist,’ then he has to be able to deal with him as a criminal, otherwise the world is laughing at — at this paper tiger we’ve become,” Issa said of Assange.
Issa said his panel would address WikiLeaks “to get that right so the diplomats can do their job with confidence and people can talk to our government with confidence.”
A Justice Department spokesman declined comment on Issa’s remarks.
Republican Issa backs off Obama corrupt comment
What a difference an election makes to one’s perspective.
Republican Congressman Darrell Issa now says it was in the “heat of the campaign” that he shot off the comment about President Barack Obama heard around the blogosphere.
Memory refresher: It was on Oct. 19 that Issa said on the Rush Limbaugh show: “There will be a certain degree of gridlock as the president adjusts to the fact that he has been one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times. He has ignored the very laws that he said were so vital when he was a senator.”
Now that Republicans have won control of the House of Representatives, Issa is set to become chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and has softened the rhetoric.
George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s Good Morning America tried every which way to press Issa on whether he stood by his Obama comment.
Issa, who opposed the financial bailout, complained that the Obama administration had “failed to be accountable” about the “$700 billion worth of walking around money in the stimulus…”
(The pricetag for the stimulus package is actually $814 billion).
I’d still like to know why Issa never ran for California governor after he sponsored the Gray Davis recall vote. Was he too afraid to run himself, or was it all really just a charade to put Ahnold in the gov’s mansion?
Lawmakers question U.S. Postal Service money saving priorities
U.S. Postmaster General John Potter says the nation’s mail system faces a “dire” financial future as more people and businesses switch from snail mail to email and electronic funds transfers.
He is asking Congress to give him authority to drop Saturday delivery service and close some post offices.
Those are a couple of money saving possibilities outlined by the Postmaster General at a congressional hearing on Thursday. But the suggested cutback on services did not sit well with a number of members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Representative Carolyn Maloney said cutting out Saturday service could hurt the economy and Representative Gerry Connolly wondered if companies like Netflix will be able to maintain its customer base if folks can’t get movies delivered on Saturday.
Connolly suggested the Postal Service look at other ways to save money including replacing its gasoline powered fleet with electric vehicles. It not only would save money by not buying gasoline but also make money by selling back to the power company any left over battery juice at the end of day, he said.
Representative Darrel Issa suggested the postal service has not been aggressive in reducing its work force as the number of pieces of mail delivered each day dropped. He cited Kodak as an example of how to deal with a business that is being destroyed by technological advancements.
“Film was going away faster than any projected retirement rates. Now today they produce state of the art inkjet printers, they are first in digital they are making a comeback by reinventing itself,” Issa said.
TRUTHFULLY AND SIMPLY…WITHOUT THE POSTAL SERVICE OUR
UNITED STATES WILL NO LONGER BE UNITED! THINK ABOUT IT!
THE USPS IS PERHAPS THE ONE AND ONLY ‘GOVERNMENT OFFICE’
WHERE WE CAN ENTER AND KNOW – WITHOUT A DOUBT – THE PRICE
WE’LL PAY….HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE…..WHETHER INSURANCE
IS NECESSARY (PROVIDED FOR BY USPS)…RETURN RECEIPTS…
AND HOLD TRUE TO THE WORDS, ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ BY
DELIVERING LETTERS EVEN TO ‘SANTA CLAUSE’ WAY UP THERE IN
THE NORTH POLE. IN MY OPINION, TOUCHING THE USPS
POSITION IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM WOULD BE LIKE AIMING A
MISSILE RIGHT AT THE HEART OF OUR UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA. THANKS – JUST ME, LISA! TTFN
Go For IT. Go after all the people that have stolen U.S. secrets. Start with Putin, demand the Russians surrender him for trial under the U.S. Espionage Act. This should be fun.