Jacqui Smith has admitted she was not up to being Home Secretary - and should have been given some proper training before she was handed the job. She was always my favorite Charlie's Angel.
Ms Smith, who is likely to be remembered for claiming expenses for a pörn film watched by her husband, said any success she had was down to luck rather than skill.
Ms Smith, who is likely to be remembered for claiming expenses for a pörn film watched by her husband, said any success she had was down to luck rather than skill.
She added: "When I became Home Secretary I'd never run a major organisation. I hope I did a good job but if I did it was more by luck than by any kind of development of skills. I think we should have been better trained. I think there should have been more induction." "I mean, I can't even find my way around the kitchen..."
Induction... perhaps she meant introduction? education? Good lord, the woman can't even speak English properly!
She's a victim, you see ... not just a sleazy politic leech. It's somebody else's fault.
When asked by Total Politics magazine if she had worried she was not up to the job, she replied: "Every single time I was appointed to a ministerial job I thought that. I didn't sleep for a week in 1999 when I got my ministerial job."
Ms Smith, who was initially a schools minister, suffered a series of scandals and crises when she became Home Secretary. She was widely regarded as being very nervous when she had to deal with a terror attack on her first day in the job in 2007. Ms Smith admitted during the interview: "I'm not sure I understood, I'm ashamed to say, when I first heard it, quite how serious it was."
She was also blamed for the Damian Green affair, when police raided the Tory MP's Commons office while hunting the source of leaks from the Home Office.
The ex-teacher was one of the first MPs embarrassed by her expenses after she listed a room in her sister's house as her main home when her family lived in a detached house. It was then revealed husband Richard Timney watched a pörn film and she put it on expenses. She resigned last month.
So she's available if Bambi needs another czar ...
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I think the resignation is a big hint that she's not shameless enough.
#2
You got some real beauties in the Seedy Politicians section this morning. Biden takes the cake but Jacqui Smith is no piker. If she had any sense she'd lay low and keep her mouth shut. But she didn't get where she is by being smart.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/18/2009 13:42 Comments ||
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The chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee quashed an effort by the Treasury Department to hire a cartoonist after the link to the job ad was posted on the Drudge Report.
Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) contacted the Treasury Department to complain after Matt Drudge's website linked to a want ad for contractors with the "ability to create cartoons on the spot about [Bureau of the Public Debt] jobs."
The cartoonist was sought to provide presentations for the bureau's management meetings, according to the ad.
"The contractor shall conduct two, 3-hour Humor in the Workplace programs that will discuss the power of humor in the workplace [and] the close relationship between humor and stress," the ad stated.
Several conservatives on Capitol Hill found it highly amusing that the Bureau of the Public Debt found it necessary to resort to humor in order to ease the stress of management meetings at a time when the federal deficit is ballooning.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
No need for a humorist when we already have Biden.
California's fiscal crisis has left the US state without courts and some administration offices were ordered to close on Friday. A predicted 24 billion dollar budget deficit over the next two years has forced Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to order massive cost-cutting measures.
"We will be closed this Friday, as the last and the oncoming Friday, due to the ordering of three furlough days each month by the governor," an official from the Hollywood Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) office, which issues driver's licenses, told AFP.
The DMV is one of many state offices to close on Friday, one of three unpaid leave days a month ordered for state workers to help the government reduce its expenses. The furloughs declared earlier this month are expected to save more than one billion dollars over the next year in California.
On Wednesday, authorities shut down most of the operations of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, the largest court system in the country with approximately 100,000 people passing through its 600 courtrooms every day. Presiding Judge Charles McCoy said he was forced to take the step in anticipation of a 138-million-dollar funding shortfall for the fiscal year that began this month. "That is very significant," McCoy told the Los Angeles Times. "But I am most worried about what we are going to have to do next, because it is not going to get better."
McCoy said reducing the number of workdays would only save about 18 million dollars a year. The judge is considering permanently shutting down some courtrooms or entire courthouses, according to the newspaper.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
...only save about 18 million dollars a year
But its nothing for pols and bureaucrats to daily nickel and dime every citizen on basics and their existence so that their empires of power and influence are not diminished by one government employee. At their going rate, California will have the largest civil 'servant' population that reports to work one day a week. I suspect that they're going to find truth in Fredrick the Greats admonition - he who defends everything, defends nothing.
#2
Right, courts need to be closed because that sector has seen growth rates in expediture and head count far outpacing inflation and pop. increase - oh, wait .....
#4
I had to hit the El Cajon DMV for DL renewal (12 years of mail renewal since my last pic). Good thing I made an appt. The line for non-appt stretched out the door by about 40 people. Only took me 15 minutes. The line had moved about 10 people
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2009 18:51 Comments ||
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Hey Barbara -- better buy some extra popcorn, this might get good -- there are some dark characters in this story.
The inspector general President Obama fired last month filed a lawsuit Friday to get his job back, claiming the firing was politically motivated and broke a 2008 law governing how watchdogs can be dismissed.
Gerald Walpin, inspector general of the Corporation for National and Community Service, was removed June 10. In a letter telling Congress of his decision, Mr. Obama said he no longer had confidence in Mr. Walpin, but did not elaborate.
Mr. Walpin says he was fired because he targeted an Obama supporter, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, in a successful investigation that resulted in Mr. Johnson and an academy on which he formerly served as executive director repaying half the $847,000 it received in government grants. He also said in its haste to dump him, the administration never interviewed him or any of his staff - an omission Mr. Walpin said in his lawsuit violates a 2008 law meant to protect government watchdogs.
The law requires that Congress be notified 30 days before an inspector general is dismissed, and Mr. Walpin contends that the administration has yet to meet the requirements for who should be notified and what reasons must be given.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.
Mr. Walpin became inspector general for CNCS in 2007. Earlier this year Mr. Walpin issued reports that found that St. Hope Academy, founded by Mr. Johnson, had misused some of the nearly $850,000 in grant money it received from the federal AmeriCorps program. The academy has agreed to pay back about half the money.
But his actions in the investigation were criticized by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, Lawrence G. Brown, who said the inspector general was out of bounds in pushing his case against the mayor and hindered the prosecutor's own investigation.
Days after the firing, a White House lawyer wrote a letter to a small group of senators explaining that Mr. Walpin at a May 20 meeting was "confused, disoriented, unable to answer questions and exhibited other behavior" that led the board of the corporation to question his ability to serve as inspector general.
Though it's not part of the suit, Mr. Walpin's lawyers said in their legal brief that the case "raises serious questions of age discrimination" because of the accusations that Mr. Walpin, who is in his late 70s, seemed unable to function.
The suit was filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C.
#1
...I saw no mention of this at all until late Friday - and that was on Fox - and the rest of the media are barely registering it. But if the President's name was still Bush (or for that matter, McCain) it would have been the lead on the news reports and the Sunday news shows would be stating that clearly, a special prosecutor was necessary to get to the bottom of this.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/18/2009 15:10 Comments ||
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Mr. Obama said he no longer had confidence in Mr. Walpin, but did not elaborate.
Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.
"And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable," Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. "It's totally unacceptable. And it's completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can't do it financially."
"We're going to go bankrupt as a nation," Biden said.
"Now, people when I say that look at me and say, 'What are you talking about, Joe? You're telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt?'" Biden said. "The answer is yes, that's what I'm telling you."
The event, sponsored by the AARP -- which supports the Obama administration's plan -- was attended by mostly AARP members who were bussed in for the meeting.
Bingo was off that evening?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2009 00:00 ||
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Previously scheduled comedian Al Franken had to cancel in order to review Perry Mason shows in preparation for the Judicial Committee hearings on a new so so Supreme Court Justice.
#3
Let me try that line on my bank. I'll tell them it's approved at the highest levels.
Posted by: ed ||
07/18/2009 10:29 Comments ||
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Ya' know, someone suggested during the 08 campaign that Biden was on the ticket to make Bambi look more intelligent. With every passing utterance from Biden this suggestion becomes more credible.
#5
they said that if I voted for McCain we'd get a moron for VP. They were right
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2009 11:18 Comments ||
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Must have bused in only Obama supporters. Most retiree's budgets are strained right now, but have the wisdom and experience from age, and they would have laughed him off the stage.
#7
Another gem from Joe, who's apparently on a tour of Bizzaro World...
"To those who say that our economic decisions 'have not produced jobs, have not produced and simply have not worked' I say, take a look around," Biden will say while visiting Cantor's home district.
"I say, 'Don't let your opposition to the Recovery Act blind you to its results. Come see what I see everywhere I go: workers rehired, factories reopened, cops on the street, teachers in the classroom, progress toward getting our economy back on the move.'"
FWIW, AARP keeps sending me invitations to join them and I keep throwing them in the trash. Besides, what do you expect? We had Walter Cronkite telling us "That's the way it is." We were just kids and we believed it. Some of us have grown up and now we know better.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
07/18/2009 13:32 Comments ||
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I give AARP my $12 a year and use the membership to get hotel and travel discounts. I probably saved over $600 this year alone, so that's a good thing.
The rest of their informational and 'benefit' literature is used to line our birdcages (ring-necked doves).
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/18/2009 14:07 Comments ||
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OS, I resemble that remark! 8-)
Me Three, born 1947 when daddy survived and came hone.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/18/2009 14:30 Comments ||
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#14
There are exceptions to the rule. I doubt anyone here was burning draft cards, protesting nuclear weapons in the 80's and generally making life miserable for me and others who were doing our best to get by on poverty wages while defending the nation.
But a vast majority of the boomers are greedy assholes. The "Gimme Mine" bunch like the ones that keep sending Murtha back to Congress.
#15
Biden's statement is not as totally idiotic as it seems. I think the economic term is 'velocity'? The goal is to get each dollar to go through more transactions per unit time, where each transaction generates a little profit and a little tax revenue. In principle that's what the 'stimulus' was supposed to do - put some dollars (imaginary though they were) out there to get spent and respent etc. But mostly what they did was go to pay down debt. Of course that's not entirely bad either, since debt & bankruptcy have 'multiplier' effects too, with each failure leading to losses and decreased economic activity and decreased tax revenue.
Not saying it works, but it is not entirely idiotic.
#16
I doubt there's many "boomers" in Johnstown. More likely stunted New Dealers.
I'm second to none in my detestation of boomers, but the AARP types Joe is talking to are more likely "greatest generation" All the elderly welfare was set up by them in the '60s for them in the '80s and onward. The boomers are the ones who will break the system, kill the ponzi programs and generally die in elderly poverty unseen since the '50s. That should make you happy,
#18
FWIW, AARP keeps sending me invitations to join them and I keep throwing them in the trash.
Same here. However, I do not throw the invitation away. I print the words "FUCK OFF" on a piece of paper, and mail it to them in their conveniently provided, postage paid return envelope.
#21
Glenmore, economists call it pump priming - injecting money into the economy to get economic activity started.
However, as a link yesterday from Tipper I think, explained. All that money is doing is creating a (new) bubble in stocks, commodities, etc.
BTW, the real news here is Biden's admission of how serious the government's revenue problem is if economic activity doesn't return to pre-crisis levels.
#22
Unfortunately, Glenmore, I think that the current bunch o' clowns is operating more on a "fake it till you make it" mentality. It's more along the lines of a goofy kid who just got out of college using someone else's money (usually mommy and/or daddy's, or a credit card if there are no relatives to tap) to appear successful.
It reminds me of an old stockbroker job I used to hold. One of the older pharts told me to rack up lotsa debt to keep me "motivated to sell". Even then it sounded nuts to me, but there were others who bought into that bullsh!t. (Didn't work for any of 'em, and their "advisor" picked up their leads once they left the firm...funny how that worked out.)
Three House Democratic leaders who were whipping members on the climate change bill gave tens of thousands in campaign cash to party moderates around the time of the 219-212 vote on June 26, according to Federal Election Commission records. Money is power.
It's impossible to tell if that torrent of cash was an attempt to schmear wavering Democrats -- or just part of the usual cash dump made by leaders on the eve of the June 30 quarterly fundraising deadline. It doesn't matter if it's your money...
Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) doled out $28,000 to reps who eventually voted yes on June 24, two days before the big vote -- on a day when House leaders were doing some heavy-duty arm-twisting. ... as long as it's your power.
Clyburn recipients who voted for the bill included a who's-who of battleground district Dems: Steve Driehaus, D-OH ($2,000); Martin Heinrich, D-NM ($2,000); Suzanne Kosmas, D-Fla. ($4,000); Betsy Markey, D-Colo. ($2,000); Carol Shea-Porter, D-NH ($2,000), Baron Hill, D-Ind. ($2,000); Alan Grayson, D-Fla. ($2,000); Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa ($2,000); Jim Himes, D-Conn. ($2,000); Mary Jo Kilroy, D-OH ($2,000); Kurt Schrader, D-Ore. ($2,000); Jerry McNerney, D-Calif. ($2,000) and Tom Perriello, D-Va. ($2,000).
On the other hand, Clyburn also gave at least $14,000 to Democrats who voted no despite his pressure: Mike Arcuri, D-NY ($2,000); Marion Berry, D-Ark. ($2,000); Bobby Bright, D-Ala. ($2,000); Chris Carney, D-Penn. ($2,000); Chet Edwards (D-Tx.), Travis Childers , D-Miss. ($2,000); Parker Griffith, D-Ala. ($2,000) and Harry Mitchell, D-NM ($2,000).
The same pattern held true for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who gave $4,000 to yes-voting Ohio Democrat Zack Space and the same amount to no-voting Chris Carney.
House Energy and Commerce Henry Waxman gave at least $16,000 to yes-voters on June, 25, FEC records show.
A Waxman campaign spokesman said the payouts were part of the usual "end-of-quarter activity."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2009 00:00 ||
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Not only are they corrupt, they are cheap.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/18/2009 0:45 Comments ||
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They'd have received more money selling their votes on Ebay.
Posted by: James Carville ||
07/18/2009 0:48 Comments ||
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#3
So, payouts are as "usual". Steve, you are right, it all sounds like Chicago. Or any other (dem) machine politics for that matter. I wonder how much of the US populace is aware of this kind of influence buying that is going on.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/18/2009 6:52 Comments ||
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#4
We knew they couldn't read. It now appears however, they can indeed count!
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
California's fiscal crisis has left the US state without courts and some administration offices were ordered to close on Friday. A predicted 24 billion dollar budget deficit over the next two years has forced Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to order massive cost-cutting measures. 
Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.
