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Posts tagged with Biden

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1:16 PM

March 7, 2010

Economic Stimulation, a la Obama

For anyone continuing to think that the Recovery Act (the stimulus) was a waste, think again.

These provide countenance to the fact that not only has our economy turned around, but that said turn-around occurred like clockwork with the Recovery Act becoming law. I was propelled to include these charts after criticism mounted over the supposed “bias-nature” of the graphic released by the White House that was created with the same data that created the above graphs. For a refresher, or for those who didn’t happen to see it, this is the White House’s graphic on job loss/the recession/the stimulus:

Beyond the obvious red/blue divide, nothing more partisan exists. One cannot simply claim the graph is partisan because it displays facts that support the arguments and views of a political party, especially not when these facts are indeed true. Add to the overall objectivity of the White House’s release of stimulus-related and economic data these charts on real GDP and Payroll Job Losses and you can see that there isn’t much room to claim on principle that the stimulus failed. (Both come from a Feb 17th report on the 1 year progress of the stimulus issued by VP Joe Biden).

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10:17 AM

February 5, 2010

More Iraqi reversals

The news that an appeals court had overturned the banning of over 500 candidates for the March elections came as a boon to the perceptions of the Iraqi government’s oversight mechanisms. But it turns out that Al-Maliki and his party believe such action by the appeals panels of the Central Criminal Court of Iraq is evidence of US interference and that the un-banning was unconstitutional. The whole issue of under whose legitimate authority this decision rests is exactly what the Iraqi government should be probing, and should be rectifying (if indeed this move was unconstitutional); but to claim that this decision was made because of US interference is kind of ridiculous (keep in mind that VP Biden visited Iraq at the end of January to urge the Iraqi gov’t to reinstate the banned candidates in order for this election to be viewed as free and fair, but had little direct success). Not only is the Al-Maliki government taking a page out of the Iranian government’s playbook, but the need to demonize the US’s role is tangential to what the actual concern is over the banned candidates. Juan Cole provides an in-depth analysis of the decision making processes involved in this dispute, and conspicuously the US was never an integral part of the process nor a relevant actor.

The issue has caused the Independent High Electoral Commission to delay the beginning of campaign season in order to allow enough time for the Federal Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of the previous reversal.

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8:44 AM

February 3, 2010

Iraqi reversals

The much publicized banning of 500+ candidates from the March elections in Iraq now has a new chapter – an appeals court in the Justice and Accountability Committee temporarily lifted the ban.

So to recap : VP Joe Biden recently went to Iraq to try and work something out with the Iraqi government to lift the ban placed on these candidates, stressing how the elections must be free and fair, and had limited success – only about 50 banned candidates were unbanned as a result of his engagement. But now, the issue has been seemingly rectified not through external influence and domination, but through the oversight mechanisms in the government of Iraq itself.

I’m sure that this decision being made by Iraq itself (not imposed upon Iraq) will do much to allay the concerns of electoral unfairness towards Sunni Arabs in Iraq. Interestingly though, Juan Cole attempts to express a theory on the Iraqi government’ s view of regional politics and power (specifically in regard to Iran) in the context of the banned candidates.

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10:07 PM

February 2, 2010

Riding That Train

President Obama, Vice President Biden to Announce $8 Billion for High-Speed Rail Projects Across the Country

Mmm, mmm, mmm, I’m still thinking about those trains. I hear about them from everyone who is so bold to visit Japan or travel Europe, and every time I do I’m left imagining how radical it would be to jump on a train and confidently traverse the US. Somehow I don’t think I’m the first to have that daydream, but man is it a good one. More encouragement, from a White House press release :

The majority of the dollars announced today will go toward developing new, large-scale high-speed rail programs.  This includes projects in Florida, which is receiving up to $1.25 billion to develop a new high-speed rail corridor between Tampa and Orlando with trains running up to 168 miles per hour, and in California, which is receiving up to $2.25 billion for its planned project to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco and points in between with trains running up to 220 miles per hour.

I grew up in a city that thrives largely because of the revolutionary potential of the railroad – Barrington, IL – it lies along one of the early northwest lines from Chicago and its railroad station dates from the 1920s. That train is predictably packed every day, shoveling working men and women to/from their suburban lives from/into all corners of the city. All these people benefit from the risky, headstrong investment started in the 1850s.

Now, I live in a city that doesn’t have the railroad enmeshed in its identity – Eugene, OR. Sure, we have a railroad station, a commuter train and there are freight trains. But this infrastructure is a vastly inferior amenity than the railroad is around Chicago. The rail stops in Eugene along the way from Sacramento to Seattle and is party to a beautiful landscape all through Southern Oregon. But I haven’t found a single opportunity to make good use of the train yet (this is terrible for me to realize as I’m now thinking about how essential the train was in Barrington). I say this because the one time I attempted to make a good use of the train, a week long trip from Eugene to San Fransisco with my lovely lady, we were delayed for about 12 hours and the train proved too expensive and unreliable to ride it back (we flew back). To say the least, Eugene and larger Oregon is wasting the potential of the rail.

Below is a segment of the award descriptions and amounts in the “West Region” made up of California and Eugene-Portland-Seattle :

Considering that California is now going to be moving forward with the LA – SF High-Speed Rail, I am a bit dismayed that there isn’t any movement in that direction yet in the Pacific Northwest. An Eugene – Portland line that can reliably ferry larger volumes of commuters would do wonders for the people of the Willamette Valley – and it could easily transfer to the Airport light-rail in Portland. It could even benefit the relationship between Eugene and Corvallis, which have so much to offer each other – currently though, if I am going to get in the car and go 40 minutes anywhere it will be into the mountains or to the ocean. That is a much different situation though, if it is a no-hassle ride on the train for a low-easy fare.