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A congressional panel grilled NASA chief Charlie Bolden today (July 12) on Capitol Hill, repeatedly asking him why the space agency has yet to choose a design for its next-generation heavy-lift rocket. Last year Congress gave NASA until mid-January 2011 to pick a design for the rocket, known as the Space Launch System, that will carry astronauts on deep space missions. NASA still has not made an official decision, and members of the House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space and Technology took Bolden to task. "We've waited for answers that have not come. We've pleaded for answers that have...

Freshman Congressman Jeff Landry, R-La., says that President Obama is misusing recess appointments, and he's going to do something about it. "When the president puts up nominees, they go through the confirmation process, and the senate blocks them or doesn't confirm them, and then he waits for a recess appointment just to appoint those people. He is circumventing the Constitution," said Landry on Fox News Saturday.

Less than halfway through his first term, President Barack Obama has appointed more openly gay officials than any other president in history. Gay activists say the estimate of more than 150 appointments so far — from agency heads and commission members to policy officials and senior staffers — surpasses the previous high of about 140 reached during two full terms under President Bill Clinton. "From everything we hear from inside the administration, they wanted this to be part of their efforts at diversity," said Denis Dison, spokesman for the Presidential Appointments Project of the Gay & Lesbian Leadership Institute. The...

Ah, the Obama water-carriers at the NYTimes never fail to disappoint. They describe the Obama White House decision to bypass the Senate and make 15 recess appointments while the Senate is on spring break — including radical SEIU labor lawyer Craig Becker’s appointment to the NLRB, which was rejected by the Senate last month on a 52-33 cloture vote — as a “muscular show of his executive authority.� When that authority was exercised by GOP President George W. Bush, of course, the NYTimes editorial board called it a “constitutional gimmick.�And when Bush used it in particular to appoint John Bolton...

Two Questions for Supreme Court Appointees I would sincerely like to have all Supreme Court appointees answer these two questions. Question #1 : Please explain the meaning of the words, Powers herein granted, as read in Article 1, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States. Ref: All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. Question #2 : Please explain the meaning of the words, powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, as read in the tenth Amendment of...

Two of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's appointees to a city pension board resigned today, one month after receiving a letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission asking them to identify income they had received from companies doing business with their agency. Sean Harrigan and Elliott Broidy, two members of the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions board, were asked to provide information to the SEC, which is investigating allegations of kickbacks at a New York state pension fund. Appearing at today's board meeting, Harrigan said the inquiry had created "a frenzy of media activity" that had placed him in...

Team Obama just can’t seem to set its starting line-up. Nominees, potential nominees, and rumored nominees continue to drop like flies. Annette Nazareth, a former commissioner with the SEC, made “a personal decision” and pulled her name from consideration to be Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s top aide. Then, in a huge blow to TV viewers around the world, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, said he no longer wanted to be considered for the Surgeon General job because of “personal reasons.” Seems to us that “personal reasons” has now become Liberalese for “I haven’t paid my taxes for the...

President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is asking potential appointees detailed questions about gun ownership, and firearms advocates aren’t happy about it. [*snip*] Tucked in at the end of the questionnaire and listed under “Miscellaneous,” it reads: “Do you or any members of your immediate family own a gun? If so, provide complete ownership and registration information. Has the registration ever lapsed? Please also describe how and by whom it is used and whether it has been the cause of any personal injuries or property damage.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) just announced that the Senate will not clear four new appointees for the Federal Election Commission, meaning the panel that acts as a watchdog on political campaigns cannot function during the critical election-year period. Reid is blaming the White House for refusing to withdraw to allow a majority vote on the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky for a seat on the commission. Republicans want von Spakovsky approved as part of a slate of four FEC nominees or they will refuse to consider any of the nominees. Von Spakovsky was recess appointed by President Bush...

Former NYC Police Commissioner Bernard B. Kerik is under federal investigation for possible financial improprieties .....focused on a foundation affiliated with the city’s Department of Correction during Mr. Kerik’s tenure.....Last month, Kerik pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors....Under an agreement that allowed him to avoid jail time and a felony conviction, he admitted accepting $165,000 in apartment renovations from a company accused of having ties to organized crime...... The foundation....came under scrutiny in early 2003..... a former high-ranking Correction Department official was arrested and later pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges, admitting that he stole more than $137,000 from the fund....

In early 1957, when the only thing he commanded was a half-starved band of a dozen "rebels" in Cuba's Sierra Maestra mountains, Fidel Castro was approached by some of his rebel group's wealthy urban backers. "What can we do?" They asked. "How can we help the glorious rebellion? We can write you some checks. We can buy you some arms. We can recruit more men. Tell us, Fidel, what can we do to help?" "For now," answered Castro, "get me a New York Times reporter up here." Bingo! The rest is history. They quickly complied and The New York Times'...

Like killer bees they will swarm in droves. No nominee will be safe. Ultra-Conservative. Stealth Liberal. Anti-(insert special interest here) Ideologue. Extreme Judicial Activist. The labels ascribed to whoever President Bush nominates to the United States Supreme Court will be legion. And they will be entirely useless in assessing whether that man or woman is fit for the Court. This is no postmodernist-gibberish screed on how words don’t mean anything. Indeed, the usual carping about labels in the law and in politics is considerably overwrought. Justice Rehnquist is generally conservative, and Justice Stevens is generally liberal. Labels often fit. But...

Usually, any serious push toward making one a saint, or canonization, happens when that person is deceased. After a five-year waiting period--and the proof of a miracle or three--the candidate for sainthood is deemed to have “attained the blessedness of heaven and authorize the title ‘Blessed’ and limited public religious honor.” Miraculously enough, recently retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has been “sainted” by the mainstream media in less than one news cycle since her announcement on the morning of July 1. Even Pope John Paul II, whose five-year waiting period has been waived, is just beginning his journey...

Pro-family leaders are expressing outrage over a compromise deal in the Senate that will allow a vote on some of the president's heretofore filibustered judicial nominees, but preserves the tactic for liberal Democrats to use against nominees they deem too conservative. Last week, 14 members of the U.S. Senate -- seven Republicans and seven Democrats -- proudly announced a Senate compromise to end Democratic filibusters against three of President Bush's judicial nominees: Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown, and William Pryor. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid told reporters that filibusters will continue against two other Bush nominees -- William Myers and...

A grave and as yet unrecognized danger presently looms for Senate Republicans with respect to the upcoming battle over the President’s judicial nominees. Democrat reaction to the possibility of a Senate rules change has been nearly hysterical, which might seem to offer Republican political strategists reason to rejoice. Yet if they are not careful, the situation can be suddenly turned on them. Despite Democrat caterwauling to the contrary, this situation is not, in their minds, about preserving the Constitution, and it is not about finding some mythical “common ground” between the liberal view of constitutional law and a conservative effort...

It is obvious that the final frontier for liberals–the last best hope to forward their agenda, is in the judiciary. When we look at how this country has become so inundated with the mind set and the trappings of liberalism, it is painfully obvious that little of this change has happened legislatively, but through the pounding of the gavel in both our superior and lower court system. This explains why the Democratic party has ardently filibustered some of the president’s judicial appointments. While Republican’s in the Senate appear to have enough votes to change the parliamentary procedures that would require...

Federal Court Finds DNC Chair Howard Dean’s Judicial Appointees Guilty (PRWEB) February 26, 2005 -- In a 1997 Vermont Press Bureau article, Howard Dean expressed his desire to appoint judges that were not so concerned about the Bill of Rights -- or in Howard Dean lingo “legal technicalities”. Howard kept his aim true. Within two months of his proclamation, he appointed Nancy Corsones and Patricia Zimmerman to the Vermont bench. Shortly afterward, Vermont prosecutors set their sites on a local activist. Judge Corsones chose to advance justice in Vermont by violating the activist’s rights against double jeopardy, his right to...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A week after they voted to against his plan to privatize the state's public pension system, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Thursday ousted four of his appointees to the board of the California State Teachers Retirement System. The sudden firings of Mark Battey, James Gray, Miguel Pulido and Gloria Hom, who were appointed by Schwarzenegger to the board last year, leave one-third of the 12-member board vacant. Last month, Schwarznegger proposed turning the state's two huge public pension plans into a system more like a 401(k) savings plan in which workers make defined contributions. CalSTRS and its board manages...

The pre-spin: Bush will spend about 1/2 the speech on foreign policy, 1/2 on domestic, with heavy emphasis on Social Security reform. It's said he will provide a detailed tutorial on the SS system and its problems with a few details on his personal accounts proposal. Laura's guests are said to be an Afghan voter and an Iraqi voter (too bad there's no Ukrainian wearing an orange hat!). Should we start a drinking game on how many times the pool camera swings to Hillary? Hmmm. Probably not...it would likely hamper out typing ability. Word on the blogs has it that...

The state Legislature has loaned --snip-- Shelley eight non-civil service positions over the last 22 months, giving Shelley as many as 14 political appointees at one time. Combined with extra employees he gained through legislative changes and an administrative maneuver he arranged, the loaned legislative workers gave Shelley seven times the political staff allocated to the secretary of state's office before he was elected to the post in 2002. The so-called "exempt" positions are especially coveted because the elected official can hire and fire them without regard to civil service rules. At various times, records show, Shelley "borrowed" six positions...

Dispirited Democrats are doing what political losers usually do: self-flagellating. Foremost... is figuring out... how to reach those red-state voters?... • The issue is not getting evangelical Christian conservatives; they are to the Republican base what African-Americans are to Democrats. Rather, it is about getting a respectable share of the small-town and exurban working- and middle-class folks, many of them regular church-goers, who should be aligned more with Democrats on economics and health care. • The debate already is veering into false choices: Stick to principles and don't change because we're right or change your views on gays, guns, God...

NAACP: Nonpartisan Branch of the Democratic Party By Andrew L. Jaffee, July 16, 2004 Home   Search   Forum   Terms NAACP Chairman Julian Bond claims his organization is “nonpartisan” while at the same time using vitriolic rhetoric to attack the Bush administration. Why would President Bush wish to speak before the NAACP after the way in which they’ve treated him? Some claim Bush should swallow his pride and speak before the group in the interest of “outreach.” I would argue that Bush has already engaged in more outreach than any other administration in U.S. history: 2001: President George W. Bush appoints: Condoleezza Rice, Assistant...

<p>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday appointed two educators and three business people to the governing board of the California State Teachers' Retirement System.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON - It was both an auspicious and ominous way to begin the week: Auspicious because of President George Bush's resolute demand that Saddam Hussein and his sons leave Iraq. There were also ominous noises from his predecessor in the White House, Bill Clinton, who bared not only his antagonism to the president but his horror at envisioning a strong America.</p>

Two Senate Republicans are considering filing a lawsuit aimed at putting an end to delaying tactics by Democrats trying to block President Bush's nominations to the federal bench. Freshman Sens. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Wednesday they have their staffs as well as outside experts looking at whether such a suit -- filed, in essence, against the Senate itself -- would be feasible. Their announcement comes in the midst of the debate over nominees Miguel Estrada, a Washington lawyer, and Priscilla Owen, a Texas Supreme Court justice. Democrats charge both are too conservative for...

WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats, facing an overwhelming vote against them, dropped their opposition Monday to Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt as head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Minutes before the Senate was to have held a procedural vote that would have ordered an up-or-down decision soon on Leavitt's confirmation, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said the White House had satisfied her demands. Clinton and the Senate's three Democratic presidential contenders -- Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina -- led an effort for weeks to block a vote on Leavitt, protesting Bush administration environmental...

Democrats block EPA nominee vote in Environment Committee By Susan Davis, CongressDaily Senate Democrats Wednesday blocked the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee from voting on President Bush's nomination of GOP Gov. Michael Leavitt of Utah to head the EPA by boycotting a markup. "Unfortunately, the Democrats, in boycotting this markup, have publicly shunned committee precedent and insulted one of the most highly qualified people ever to be nominated for this job," said Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman James Inhofe, R-Okla. Senate rules require 10 members of the 19-member committee to be present to constitute a quorum, and...

<p>Gov. Gray Davis is known for dragging his feet on executive appointments, but in the weeks since a recall election became reality he has moved quickly to fill more than 200 vacancies in state agencies, boards, commissions and judgeships.</p> <p>With Senate confirmation needed before today's scheduled adjournment of the Legislature, the governor on Thursday pushed through two nominations to the sought-after University of California Board of Regents -- one for a major donor, the other for an icon in the farm worker movement, who helped deliver the Democratic Latino vote in last November's election.</p>

<p>Editor's Note: This column is adapted from remarks Wilder made July 17 at the 2003 Virginia Governors' Project at UVa in Charlottesville.</p> <p>Each passing day fills me with a sense of deepening gratitude to the people of Virginia. They didn't listen to the touts of politics and the smart-money guys who said it couldn't and wouldn't be done, and never in Virginia. Virginia stood and stands alone in the distinction of electing an African-American Governor, and I continue to be proud to be a Virginian.</p>

"Who's On First? A Look at Bush Administration Staff & Appointees" Trade and Development Agency - Director: Themla J. Askey , who previously served as a Commissioner with the International Trade Commission after being nominated by President Clinton. Council of Economic Advisors - Member: Mark B. McClellan , was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Treasury for Economic Policy 1998-1999 under Bill Clinton. Special Assistant to the Defense Secretary: Stephen E. Herbits , is a homosexual activist who opposes the ban on homosexuals in the military and has supported liberal Democrat candidates. In the 2000 election cycle, he donated $13,000 to the...