Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - A top official with Mothers Against Drunk Driving is President Barack Obama's choice to lead the federal agency that oversees safety and fuel efficiency standards for automakers. Chuck Hurley was nominated today to become administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. He's served as MADD's chief executive officer since 2005 and has worked for the National Safety Council and Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

If you need a shining example of the utter disingenuousness of Barack Obama's commitment to government transparency, I have two words for you: Ron Sims. This lifelong political hack is to transparency what sunlight is to Dracula, what salt is to a slug, what kryptonite is to Superman, what "The View" is to intelligent debate. That is: lethal. In its press release announcing the nomination of the Seattle-area county executive to the No. 2 post at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the White House described Sims as a "visionary urban leader." The White House also touted Sims'...

Just two days after she revealed that she owed nearly $8,000 in back taxes, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius faced largely friendly questioning from the Senate Finance Committee Thursday – with no questions at all asked about her tax situation. The committee has jurisdiction over tax issues. What’s more, only 11 senators – seven Democrats and four Republicans – out of a total 23 committee members had questions for Sebelius, who is President Obama’s choice to be secretary of health and human services. The sparse attendance and short, cordial exchanges between senators and Sebelius was surprising, since the same committee grilled...

WASHINGTON -- Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' nomination as health and human services secretary remained on course Wednesday, even as she became yet another Obama Cabinet candidate with the back tax blues. On the eve of her appearance before the Senate Finance Committee, news she had to pay $8,000 in back taxes didn't appear to trigger a sudden effort to derail her nomination. "We wouldn't be having this hearing if we didn't think the tax things were pretty well taken care of," said Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the committee's ranking Republican. Another committee member, Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona,...

JUDGES should interpret the Constitution according to other nations' legal "norms." Sharia law could apply to disputes in US courts. The United States constitutes an "axis of disobedience" along with North Korea and Saddam-era Iraq. Those are the views of the man on track to become one of the US government's top lawyers: Harold Koh. Obama has nominated Koh -- until last week the dean of Yale Law School -- to be the State Department's legal adviser. In that job, Koh would forge a wide range of international agreements on issues from trade to arms control, and help represent our...

Good Grief! Who is vetting these people? Seriously? Another Obama failure. Can you say "free fall"? Remember: A tax cheat was confirmed, the tax cheat hired a lobbyist and violated the ethics rule, another lobbyist was hired that violated the ethics rule, a tax cheat withdrew her nomination, another tax cheat withdrew his nomination. Then a nominee violated House ethics rules and is married to a tax cheat. Then another tax cheat was nominated! Then another nominee withdrew over skeletons in the closet.... now this? From Breitbart: WASHINGTON (AP) - Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius recently corrected three...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. John McCain is asking President Barack Obama's nominee for Health and Human Services secretary if she would support giving Americans a $5,000 tax credit for health insurance — the same plan he offered during his failed presidential bid. Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said she supports Obama's plan.

Barack Obama is conducting his own affirmative action program to get more Muslims in the White House. The move began with Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn, who took his oath of office with a hand on the Quran, to solicit the resume of what he considered to be the nation's most qualified adherents of Islam. According to the Denver Post, when White House officials heard about the program, it was put on overdrive. So far, 45 Ivy League grads, Fortune 500 executives and government officials have been submitted for consideration. J. Saleh Williams, program coordinator for the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association,...

Tim Geithner's father, Peter, oversaw the Ford Foundation's micro finance program which was implemented in Indonesia during the 1980's. Barack Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, was involved in that same micro finance program from the Indonesian side. This is significant because Dunham, allegedly dealt with Geithner's father through the The United States Agency for International Development ("USAID"). I was also able to find information that stated that she met Peter in person at least one time during their efforts. After this, years later while with the IMF, one of Tim Geithner's biggest accomplishments was to rescue Indonesia from economic collapse. I...

CHICAGO — In a bid to get more Muslim Americans working in the Obama administration, a book with resumes of 45 of the nation's most qualified — Ivy League grads, Fortune 500 executives and public servants, all carefully vetted — has been submitted to the White House. The effort, driven by community leaders and others, including U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., was bumped up two weeks because White House officials heard about the venture, said J. Saleh Williams, program coordinator for the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association, who sifted through more than 300 names. "It was mostly under the radar," Williams...

Just like in the UK we are now looking to put Muslims in positions of power, desperately hoping that this will actually make things better. Appeasement never works with them and suicide bombers in the UK were doctors and teachers, so their position in the country does not necessarily mean loyalty. This will come back to haunt us.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Prospects for veteran US diplomat Christopher Hill's Senate confirmation as US ambassador to Iraq brightened Tuesday as one of his vocal critics pledged not to block the nomination. "There are better choices out there. But at the end of the day we need an ambassador and, you know, he has many talents," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters after "a good meeting" with Hill last week. "My concern is that this is a very important position. It would be better (to) have somebody who's knowledgeable in the area, knows the players, but we'll see," he said. "I...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has named a former Freddie Mac executive to head the federal housing commission.

President Barack Obama has established a new staff position in his White House with the task of overseeing arts and culture, Kareem Dale. Dale, a partially-blind lawyer previously served as national disability director for Obama's campaign and served on the arts policy committee for Obama in Illinois. No details have been provided about the specific job duties as of yet, but it's been described as "a big step forward in terms of connecting cultural and goverment with mainstream administration policy."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Christopher Hill, President Barack Obama's pick to become the top diplomat in Iraq, will meet privately next week with John McCain after the Republican senator said he opposes the nomination. Three other Republican senators have joined McCain in saying they were disappointed in Obama's choice. Sens. McCain, John Ensign of Nevada, Lindsay Graham of South Carolina and Sam Brownback of Kansas say Hill does not have enough experience in the Middle East.

'Weak' Barack Obama loses another nomineeTom Baldwin in Washington March 13, 2009 President Obama is facing accusations that he failed his first test on the Middle East by allowing America's pro-Israel lobby to force out the nominee for a top intelligence post. Charles Freeman, picked to chair the National Intelligence Council (NIC), withdrew after an internet-led campaign branded him as harbouring Arabist sympathies or being influenced by foreign governments. In a furious message posted to friends and colleagues, Mr Freeman said that the “tactics of the Israel lobby plumb the depths of dishonour and indecency and include character assassination, selective...

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner got such a torrent of angry criticism from Republican senators today that by the end of the hearing some Republicans were feeling sorry for him. "Thank you for taking the job," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told him. "I know it's tough."Graham added, "If you're looking for a way to serve the country, join the Marines or go to Treasury. I think they're both very difficult."

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain today denounced as “highly offensive” remarks about Ronald Reagan made by President Barack Obama’s nominee for the number two spot at the Department of the Interior. At a nomination hearing for David Hayes for deputy secretary of Interior, the former Republican presidential candidate read aloud from an article that Hayes wrote in April 2006 which drew unfavorable comparisons between former President George W. Bush and Reagan.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama will nominate Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske to be U.S. drug czar and remove the job's Cabinet designation, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Kerlikowske would head the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which was elevated to Cabinet level under former President George W. Bush. The nomination of Kerlikowske would end a long search for a candidate to oversee U.S. efforts to fight illegal drugs. Kerlikowske was long speculated to be the front-runner, but revelations about his stepson's arrest on drug-related charged complicated the nomination process,...

The White House Tuesday evening disclosed that almost three weeks ago the Obama administration granted ethics wavers for two additional officials who had previously worked as lobbyists. On February 20 the administration signed waivers for Jocelyn Frye, former general counsel at the National Partnership for Women & Families, and Cecilia Muñoz, the former senior vice president for the National Council of La Raza, allowing them to work on issues for which they lobbied. These two are in addition to deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn, a former Raytheon lobbyist whose waiver was granted two days after President Obama announced on...