Cameron's first war

When the prime minister first spoke about a no-fly zone for Libya I wrote a post entitled Cameron's first war?:

"It happens to every prime minister.
 
"There comes a moment when they take a decision which could lead to the loss of British servicemen and women's lives in military action."

Some of David Cameron's allies suggested I was guilty of hyperbole.

Yet officials in Downing Street, the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office will be working into the early hours taking the final steps to co-ordinate military action in Libya with the French, the Americans and Gulf states including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Earlier a government source told me that British forces could be in action as early as tomorrow (Friday), but more likely within days.

Although Defence Secretary Liam Fox stated a few days ago that a no-fly zone could be established without air strikes, I understand that they are being actively considered.

The biggest problem is, I'm told, successfully establishing targets.

The hope of ministers is that tonight's UN decision will persuade senior figures in the Gaddafi regime to refuse to obey orders, to turn on their leader or to defect to the opposition.

For the next few hours this looks set to be as much about psychological warfare as it is about the use of military force.

Colonel Gaddafi must decide whether to try to take Benghazi before Britain, France and the Gulf states can agree on their military strategy or whether to sit tight and provide no casus belli.

David Cameron will feel a sense of vindication tonight.

An idea which was condemned as sabre-rattling, unworkable and unnecessary has been agreed after days of intense diplomacy.

What he will also know is that the hard part starts now.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/03/camerons_first_1.html

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Portune: We?ll take your streetcar money

Now that the state of Ohio is on the verge of yanking $52 million from Cincinnati’s streetcar project, Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune has a plan for at least some of that money – give it to Hamilton County to build decks over Fort Washington Way. At Wednesday morning’s Hamilton County commission meeting, Commissioner Todd [...]

Source: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2011/03/23/portune-well-take-your-streetcar-money/

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Culture warriors pass 6 amendments stripping family planning $

For those who are keeping score, the House has passed six amendments during Friday afternoon's budget debate that take away money for family planning services.

The six amendments, all by Republicans, would take about $54 million of the $100 million the two-year budget allotted for family planning. They'd give it to various social programs, hospital emergency rooms and pregnancy crisis centers, which try to urge pregnant girls and women to have their babies and give them up for adoption.

"What we are doing is cutting each other up, for no reason other than politics," said Rep. Helen Giddings, D-Dallas.

But one after another, the Republican sponsors went to the front microphone and spoke calmly of the need to ease cuts in the budget to programs for kids with autism, mentally ill kids, mentally disabled adults living in group homes and the elderly.

"We don't choose between good and bad," said Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center (right), author of the family-planning raid to help autistic children. "We choose between necessary and necessary."

As House leaders sat on the sidelines and let their right flank win kudoes from right-to-life groups, Democrats seethed.

"It is a charade," said Rep. Rene Oliveira, D-Brownsville, who accused Republicans of being irresponsible with the state's thinly stretched social services budget dollars. "You can talk about family values all day long ... but ... think about facing your folks back home."

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/04/culture-warriors-pass-6-amendm.html

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Obama's Libya Speech, Decoded

Okay, we're familiar with the Obama drill on Libya to date: 1) Write political checks with your mouth that you have no intention of cashing with your military. 2) Keep acting like it's no big thing to your presidency, because you're a busy leader, and let the French take this bit in their mouth for once. 3) When all the ducks (UN, NATO, Arab League) are lined up, commit only the minimum of cutting-edge military assets to make this work, emphasizing no boots on the ground and absolutely no sense of responsibility for the aftermath — besides the usual superpower tithing. So yeah, a responsibility to protect, just no responsibility to pay the Bush-Cheney standard of 90-percent of blood and treasure.

Now for the official sales pitch to the American people, line-by-line:

I want to begin by paying tribute to our men and women in uniform...

Translation: Although every president starts out every war address like this, I'm a Democrat, and so I especially need to do this.

For generations, the United States of America has played a unique role as an anchor of global security and advocate for human freedom. Mindful of the risks and costs of military action, we are naturally reluctant to use force to solve the world's many challenges. But when our interests and values are at stake, we have a responsibility to act. That is what happened in Libya over the course of these last six weeks.

Translation: I know I'm running the world's sole military superpower, and I know Libya meets the obvious minimum standards for an intervention, but remember that this has only been going on for six weeks, so don't you dare label me as...

Source: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/obama-libya-speech-5473207?src=rss

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Half Hezza, half Lawson

George Osborne doesn't want to go down in history simply as the chancellor who made record spending cuts. He wants to be seen as a great reformer. I'm told that he has his eye on emulating two of the Big Beasts of the last Tory era - Michael Heseltine and Nigel Lawson.

Hezza, you may recall, promised to intervene "before breakfast, lunch and dinner" when he was president of the Board of Trade. George Osborne's activism will include new style enterprise zones designed to attract businesses to areas struggling to grow, more apprenticeships and a new emphasis on vocational education.

Lawson is still revered in Tory circles as the great tax reformer. Today the chancellor will use a little read document produced by his own creation - the Office of Tax Simplification - to promise an era of lower, simpler taxes. The office identified no fewer than 1042 tax reliefs and proposed abolishing a raft of them ranging from tax-free coal for miners to luncheon vouchers and meals on cycle-to-work-days. Much more significant, though, were their proposals to merge national insurance and income tax and review the workings of inheritance tax.

National Insurance - created by an Act of Parliament exactly a century ago to pay for old age pensions - has long since become just another pot of Treasury cash. Gordon Brown raised it to pay for the NHS after the 2001 election and Alistair Darling raised it again to help balance the books after the banking crisis. The fact that it has different thresholds from income tax and is administered by employers in a different way can, it's argued, lead to perverse outcomes and high bureaucratic costs. It also allows for easier stealth tax rises. It will be fascinating to see how far and how fast Osborne the reformer feels he can go.

Osborne will know his history well enough to know that a Budget hailed on the day can turn into one condemned long after. Lawson's boldest Budget - in 1988 - cut the basic and the top rate of tax. It was blamed by many later for fuelling - instead of curbing - the excessive growth of the time. That's a problem Osborne would love to be able to worry about but he will know that his Budget - like that one - is likely to be judged later by whether the chancellor was right to stick to his economic policy or should have taken the chance to change it.

PS Having written the line half Hezza and half Lawson I'm finding it hard to get the image of a chubby short chap with flowing blonde locks out of my head...

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/nickrobinson/2011/03/half_hezza_half.html

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Wedding bells to ring for Boehner family

House Speaker John Boehner of West Chester�is about to pick up a new title: Father of the Bride. According to CQ/Roll Call, a swarm of House GOP aides are on their way to Cincinnati as we type to attend the wedding this weekend of Tricia Boehner, the youngest daughter of the new speaker. �(That ‘s [...]

Source: http://cincinnati.com/blogs/politics/2011/03/18/wedding-bells-to-ring-for-boehner-family/

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Obama and Frito Lay: corn chips and electric trucks

Texas isn't exactly high on President Barack Obama's list. The governor fights him at every turn. Republicans win it every presidential election. But a couple of Dallas-area companies got some love today at an event staged to promote clean-energy vehicles.

To push his energy agenda, Obama and his fossil-fueled motorcade headed to suburban Washington -a UPS facility in Landover, Md. -- to look at hybrid and all-electric trucks used by Frito Lay, AT&T, Verizon, UPS and FedEx. The companies represent five of the 10 biggest U.S. fleets.

First stop: a fully electric Frito Lay delivery truck.

"You got some corn chips?" Obama asked, smiling, greeting Steven Hanson, national fleet sustainability manager, and Mike O'Connell, national director fleet operations, both based at company headquarters in Plano.

O'Connell told the president the electric trucks are used on 65- to 70-mile daily routes. The average route is about half that, Hanson said, but this baby is so fuel-efficient, they use it for longer routes to maximize the advantage.

"Our operators love it so far," Hanson said. "...They like the quiet. They like the visibility. And they like not smelling like diesel fumes."

O'Connell said it charges overnight.

"That's terrific. Keep up the good work," Obama said.

Obama also marveled at a pair of AT&T vehicles -- a natural gas/electric hybrid repair truck labeled "a cleaner clearer connection" used in Riverside, Calif., and a stubby van-like vehicle with an electric plug painted on the side, labeled "All-Electric Vehicle." AT&T's Katie Dugan told Obama that one is used in Dallas, and the company plans to get another 18 or so by the end of the year.

"Helping save the environment and the economy," Obama said, approvingly.

The presidential entourage: a regular-emission motorcade of 15 vehicles (two limos, 7 SUVs, 3 vans, 1 car, an ambulance and an ambulance-type supersecret Secret Service vehicle). And that hardly describes the full carbon footprint. An accurate accounting for this excursion would have to include the surveillance helicopters; scores of police cars and motorcycles deployed along the route; and many hundreds of civilian cars idling in traffic as the motorcade passed.

AP photo/Obama, with the secretaries of energy and transportation. Behind, them, an AT&T vehicle used in Dallas.

Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/04/obama-and-frito-lay-corn-chips.html

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