Performance Expert & Treasury Chief Can't Calculate Taxes

It's a sad day when President Elect Barack Obama's expert money man can't calculate his self employment taxes, at least not without a $42,702 multi-year error. Timothy Geithner omitted Medicare and Social Security taxes to the tune of $34,000 from 2001 to 2003. The rest was interest.

But Tim paid up. The first chunk, $16,732 came in 2006. He ponied up the remaining $25,970 just days before Obama announced his nomination.

Geithner isn't alone. Obama's performance expert, Nancy Killefer failed to live up to IRS standards. Her failure to pay taxes on household workers resulted in the District of Columbia placing a $946.69 tax lien on her home in 2005. How many performance experts let things go until they reach the tax lien stage? What happened to Nancy's management mojo, accountability, transparency and incentive pay?

"Olmert Lackey" Bush Flails to the Finish

According to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, he summoned President Bush from the podium during a Philadelphia speech. "Beckon call" George W. learned he needed to stop the United Nations resolution on Israel's pummeling of Gaza. Bush called Condi Rice, telling her not to vote for the resolution, the one she worked so hard to create and shape.

The State Department tried to contradict Ehud Olmert's version of events. Here's their rationalization:

After the vote, Rice said that the United States fully supported the resolution but abstained because it "thought it important to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation," referring to an Egyptian-French initiative aimed at achieving a cease-fire.

Huh? That's like saying, "I didn't vote for the President because I wanted to see who's nominated in 2012." Olmert crafted U.S. foreign policy. He's rather proud of it.

The public owes George W. Bush a huge thank you. On the political stage, Bush bumbled into the blue curtain, the one behind the play offered for public consumption. Behind the fear, scarcity and bootstrap drama sit big money boys and heavy handed power heads. They trade money, influence and arms. Every now and then they need more. An itchy trigger finger develops and blam! Innocents are hurt. The U.S. calls them collateral damage. The world shudders.

Hillary Clinton Brushes Legitimate Palestinian Aspirations

The Senate hearings on Hillary Clinton's service as Secretary of State looked more like a backslapping club. Questions on the Gaza conflict, currently in Day 18, were few and far between. Mrs. Clinton addressed the situation in her opening remarks. Haaretz reported:

As we focus on Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, we must also actively pursue a strategy of smart power in the Middle East that addresses the security needs of Israel and the legitimate political and economic aspirations of the Palestinians," Clinton said in prepared remarks.

Smart power? The same smart power that got Hamas elected to numerous positions in democratic elections? The smart power that had the U.S. train and equip Fatah thugs as Palestinian security forces, extorting Gazans? Hamas threw them out in a violent civil war.

Hillary Clinton and General James L. Jones received an update on Israel-Gaza in early December, at least Tony Blair said he briefed the pair. Did that include the secret agreement between Abbas and Olmert, also leaked by Mr. Blair?

Here's the smart power translation:

Hamas illegitimate
Fatah legitimate

What about the 1.5 million Gazans, now traumatized by nearly three weeks of war. That's on top of a two year siege? Why are so many innocents pawns in the games world leaders play?

Israel's other security need relates to Iran. The Jewish state repeatedly said it will not stand for a nuclear armed Iran. Hillary repeated same in her opening remarks.

She said the United States must pursue a foreign policy that "effectively challenges Iran to end its nuclear weapons program and sponsorship of terror and persuades both Iran and Syria to abandon their dangerous behavior and become constructive regional actors."

"No option is off the table," she told the confirmation hearing as top U.S. diplomat. "But we will pursue a new, different approach," she added. "What we have tried has not worked."

If House Foreign Affairs Chair Howard Berman is prescient, it will involve a 3 month negotiation with the demand of Iran ceasing nuclear enrichment. President elect Obama promised a swift negotiation with Iran on ABC's This Week. When it fails, Israel's security must be assured. the world knows the favored method. Bombs away!

President Elect Obama Meets with Mexico's Calderon

Didn't Barack Obama say there's only one President at a time when it comes to foreign affairs? He burst that bubble by meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

Day 18 of the Gaza razing produces more civilian deaths, already 900 with thousands more injured. A December 12th Chicago Tribune story may shed some light on President elect Obama's relative silence:

Barack Obama: The first Jewish president?

Chicago circle nurtured him all the way to the top

"If Clinton was our first black president, then Barack Obama is our first Jewish president," says Abner Mikva, the Chicago Democratic Party stalwart and former Clinton White House counsel, who was among the first to spot the potential of the skinny young law school graduate with the odd name.

"I use a Yiddish expression, yiddishe neshuma, to describe him," explains Mikva. "It means a Jewish soul. It's an expression my mother used. It means a sensitive, sympathetic personality, someone who understands where you are coming from."

Obama, of course, is a Christian.... Certainly, Obama is comfortable with Jews, especially Jews from Chicago. Axelrod will remain at his side as senior adviser, and Rep. Rahm Emanuel will be White House chief of staff.

Meets with Mexico, won't weigh in on Gaza?

Blomert Monster Razes Gaza

The Jerusalem Post reported on a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, half of the Blomert monster. President George W. Bush is the other half.

Speaking in Ashkelon, Olmert took pride in demonstrating his close relations with US President George W. Bush and his great support for Israel when he recounted how he urged the US president to intervene.

"Early Friday morning [Israel time], [we knew that] the secretary of state was considering bringing the cease-fire resolution to a UNSC vote and we didn't want her to vote for it. Suddenly, within ten minutes it became clear that, the vote was going ahead.

"I [called the White House and] said, 'Get President Bush on the phone.' They tried, and told me he was in the middle of a lecture in Philadelphia. I said, 'I'm not interested, I need to speak to him now.' He got down from the podium, went out and took the phone call. I told him that the US cannot possibly vote in favor of this resolution. He immediately called the secretary of state and told her not to vote for it. She was left quite embarrassed."

This is why I monitor Israeli newspapers. What happens in Israel, frequently manifests in America . It normally takes longer than a phone call to a lackey President.

Israel's Gaza Operation & Bush's Two State Solution

In his final news conference President Bush said he believes a two state solution will be achieved. A month earlier Quartet Middle East envoy Tony Blair leaked a deal had been reached between Palestinian Authority Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Hamas stood as a major barrier to implementation.

In the conflict's 17th day, ground forces called in a series of air strikes after troops pushed into a heavily populated area of Gaza City. Prior news reports indicated Israel's use of cluster bombs and white phosphorous, heinous weapons that inflict harm and death on innocent civilians.

Israel says it has the humanitarian end covered, a patently laughable claim for a nation keeping 1.5 million people under siege in an active war zone. But 165 truckloads of aid entered Gaza on Day 17. That's 0.00011 of a truckload for each Gazan. It sounds like a pittance.

To date 900 Palestinians were killed and thousands wounded, 13 Israelis were killed. What can stop the carnage? The NY Times reported:

Tony Blair, former British prime minister and now an international envoy to the Palestinians, said in an interview that “the only way this is going to stop is if there is a genuine plan to end the smuggling into Gaza and a genuine plan to open the crossings.”

Can I introduce you to my friend Mahmoud Abbas? He has a U.S. trained security team ready to do the job. Of course, they'll have Israeli backing.

Memo Announcing Obama's Middle East Neocon

A think tank sponsored by the Israeli lobby passed the word on their boy's appointment. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy proudly announced Dennis Ross will serve as Special Adviser to President Barack Obama. His focus is the Middle East and Iran. The memo stated:

In that seventh-floor job, designed especially for him, Ambassador Ross will be the secretary’s top advisor on a wide range of Middle East issues,from the Arab-Israeli peace process to Iran.

How many neocon's get a job designed especially for them, especially in an administration that promised to divorce America from its disastrous foreign policy? And it covers areas with the greatest potential for violence. I expressly voted against Bush III.

Now change means No Change from W.