Good Morning, Suckers
President Obama's budget released on Monday proposes to spend $3.73 trillion for 2012. He can't say Bush made him do that. That proposed spending is an undeniable fact that reveals who he is, which he successfully hid from 53% of voters in 2008.
Campaigning in 2008 he promised voters that his plan involved a "net spending cut." That net spending cut translated into $836 billion in increased spending this year from 2008, according to President Obama's own budget documents. That is a federal spending increase of nearly 30% since 2008. Either President Obama does not know what "net spending cut" means in English, or he bamboozled a lot of people in 2008.
Almost makes you want to take to the streets to demand resignations and honest elections. But that couldn't happen here. For one thing, you need a free and independent press to have true democratic elections.
Fool Me Once, Shame on You…
But President Obama keeps on trickin'. In his budget message and in his State of the Union, Obama celebrated what he calls a domestic spending freeze. Actually, the freeze applies only to non-security, domestic discretionary spending, which is 12% of the budget. He wants to freeze these programs now after he increased them by over 80% in his first two years. As Investor's Business Daily said yesterday, "Freezing spending at this elevated level is little more than numbers legerdemain, a kind of three-card Monte played on sucker taxpayers."
That freeze involves a total spending cut in 2012 of $6 billion in 2012 from where spending would have been, out of a total proposed federal budget for the year of $3,729 billion. That is a cut of 0.16%, which is actually not worth even talking about. Put it in the context of your family budget. Suppose you had take home pay of $3,000 per month, and you were regularly falling short of enough to pay the mortgage. So you decide to get serious about controlling your spending. Your proportional equivalent of Obama's discretionary spending cut out of your own family budget would be $4.83.
In contrast to Obama's $6 billion cut for 2012, the House Republicans Monday committed to $100 billion in cuts from Obama's budget for2011. The Republican cuts for 2012 and beyond will come in Paul Ryan's House Republican budget due in April. Moreover, House Republicans already voted to approve trillions in future spending cuts, as scored by CBO, in approving the repeal of Obamacare. This is a fair comparison between the parties today on the budget and spending.
Indeed, as the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, the total spending cuts in Obama's budget for the next three years come in at $20 billion, out of total spending for those years of over $11 trillion ($11,000 billion). As the Journal observed, "Hosni Mubarak was more in touch with reality last Thursday night."
The budget deficit for this year, President Obama's third year in office, is now $1.645 trillion ($1,645 billion), as projected in Obama's own budget documents. This is the highest in world history, let alone U.S. history. That is due to federal spending this year equal to 25.3% of GDP, a quarter of our entire economy. That compares to federal spending of 20.7% of GDP in 2008, and 19.6% in 2007, the last budget year of the former Republican majority Congress.
President Obama's budget projects that this deficit will be cut in half by 2013. But in last year's budget, Obama projected that this year's deficit would be $1.227 trillion, more than $400 billion less than Obama says it will be today. On the basis of his impossible 2013 projection, President Obama is already running around the country expecting applause for his claim that he has made good on his campaign promise to reduce the deficit in half by the end of his first term, while his actual deficit for this year of $1.645 trillion is again the highest in world history! The deficit for 2008, by the way, was $458 billion.
Apart from defense spending cuts, President Obama's budget claims $1.1 trillion in deficit reductions over 10 years. But $700 billion of that is due to tax increases, discussed further below. Another $1.26 trillion is phantom savings supposedly resulting from reductions in costs from "Overseas Contingency Operations." But were we really planning before this budget to spend $136 billion in 2021 in Iraq and Afghanistan? Or $882 billion from 2015 to 2021, over a trillion counting supposed debt service savings? Actually no, so these phantom "budget savings" are actually just another phony budget trick.
Even with these tax increases and phantom budget savings, the national debt held by the public will soar to $19 trillion by 2021, more than triple that national debt total of $5.8 trillion in 2008, again according to President Obama's own budget documents. Indeed, the national debt held by the public will have more than doubled from 2008 by next year, under President Obama's budget. This means President Obama will have accumulated in just one term more national debt than all previous Presidents combined, from George Washington to President Bush.
But that is not the whole picture. Gross federal debt includes the debt held by the Social Security and Medicare trust funds, real debt that will have to be paid to continue to pay promised Social Security and Medicare benefits. That Gross Federal Debt is projected to total $26.346 trillion by 2021, which would be 106% of GDP that year, more than our entire economy that year.
This is why Andrew Sullivan wrote in the Atlantic yesterday, in a pieceentitled, "Obama to the Next Generation: Screw You, Suckers":
MORE AT AMERICAN SPECTATORTo all those under 30 who worked so hard to get this man elected, know this: He just screwed you over. He thinks you are fools. Either the U.S. will go into default because of Obama's cowardice, or you will be paying far far more for far far less because this President has no courage when it counts. He let you down. On the critical issue of America's fiscal crisis, he represents no hope and no change. Just the same old Washington politics he promised to end.
The disingenuous of Obama was on display for all the world to see, but for Obama not all the world's a stage. In a White House press corp where each softball question was followed by another, what we observed was a White House press corp not only out of a league of their own, but mentally genuflecting before their chosen messiah. On another note, it's amazing how easily and with such glibness Obama can lie.
ReplyDeleteAs Obama fielded softball questions about the budget the true Obama still came out and his leftist beliefs were fairly easy to observe. For instance, when he talked of cutting corporate taxes he stated that other taxes had to be raised to compensate (the government) for the loss of corporate taxes. That's Obama in a nutshell. To him the world is a zero sum game where there's only so much pie and the pie has to be cut over and over to feed the same group of people. It also shows that his innate belief that the public is there to feed the government and not the other way around. In that sense, he's of rather limited intelligence because the American pie is actually unlimited.
If only the government would get out of the way.
From the American with Disabilities Act to never ending regulations spun out of the EPA, the business sector in America not only has to pay some of the highest corporate taxes in the world, they have to dance to the whim and whimsy of an army of federal bureaucrats, many of whom have never started a business or created a job. That would include Obama who looks like nothing but a weak ideologue. And Washington is full of them.
The ideologues who gravitate to federal positions have the business world by the throat and the elitism foaming out of these federal agencies kills millions of jobs a year.
Yet, all you get from Washington, D.C, Inc. is that we will have to compromise on cuts which means basically Obama only wants to look like he's for doing something about the budget when he knows the Democrats in the Senate will stop gap any cuts coming from the House.
In essence Obama is the ultimate con man, playing a game he hopes no one detects, engaging in falsehoods that he knows won't solve anything, and posturing himself as the kingmaker on any deal which may materialize, all the while hoping nothing changes.
In the meantime chalk his budget up to a budget full of sound and fury, told by an idiot and amounting to nothing
I posted the entire conference. It is hard to listen to him.
ReplyDeleteIts my opinion that This man is a liarThe US govt is full of liars.They lie to us they lie to their allies,they lie to each other. Too many secrets which leads to curruption. Everybody in that room know for a fact, our govt is spending too much money.Not one person in the room had the balls to stand up and say,Thats it, the free ride stops here.Your not gonna spend anymore money cause we the people are not gonna give you anymore. Stop givin it away. We need it !!!
ReplyDeleteListening to this guy makes me feel like my head will explode.
ReplyDeleteI avoid pulling the pin by not listening.
(click for larger image of my brain)
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of indisputable fact, Corporations paid $3.6 Billion in income taxes last month. That is less than 3% of profits. Hardly the "highest corporate taxes in the world."
ReplyDeleteThat said, this is the first time in my adult life that I'm actually afraid for my country. I'm afraid that my Rulers and Masters have gone quite Mad.
How weak are we?
ReplyDeleteThe Germans just bought our Stock Exchange.
Which, on reflection, is probably a good thing.
ReplyDeleteAs is often the case, rufus, folks are confused by the differences between "tax rates" and taxes paid.
ReplyDeleteBut there is no confusion about the ever increasing Federal intrusion into local economies and the business cycles.
The idea that this is caused by "Obama", or that he is at the root of the problem, more than comical.
The Republicans campaigned on the idea that we should return to 2008 spending levels.
The Republicans won the House, and that is where ALL spending legislation originates. The ball is now in their court as the budget process moves forward.
We shall see if they are true to their word, of if they Stay the Course.
I predict they Stay the Course.
We'll see, won't we.
The Salt Lake Tribune
ReplyDeleteFirst published Feb 15 2011 09:21PM
Updated 6 hours ago Updated Feb 16, 2011 12:18AM
Rep. Chris Herrod’s bill to ward off any federal takeover of family gardens passed the House Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Committee unanimously on Tuesday.
The Provo Republican said his HB249 would ensure that Utahns who want to share their garden bounty with family, friends and other state residents should be free to do so.
“I think it is a basic right to grow your own food, grow your own garden,” he said.
Those voicing support for the measure included the Utah Eagle Forum, tea party activists, the Sutherland Institute, Utahns Against Hunger and fellow committee members. A big factor: Herrod had the original wording refined to address what some committee members feared were “unintended consequences.”
Rep. John Mathis, R-Vernal, noted that part of the impetus for the state legislation, the federal Food Safety Modernization Act passed by Congress last year, exempted home gardens, farmers markets, roadside stands and community gardens.
But Herrod countered: “In reality, everybody is going to be pulled under that law.”
Bloomberg -
ReplyDeleteThousands of Bahraini Shiite anti-government protesters attend the funeral of a comrade who died a day earlier from his wounds following clashes with police, near Manama.
The Wahhabi establishment is finally being threatened, good news, that.
Hope the disruption spreads to Saudi Arabia, soon.
It has been ten years since the Wahhabi attacked US, justice delivered, it is better late than never.
Bahrainis took to the streets for a third day of pro-democracy rallies as Yemeni demonstrators clashed with police and the Associated Press reported the first- ever protests in Libya against leader Muammar Qaddafi.
ReplyDeleteBahrain’s interior minister, Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah al- Khalifa, apologized for the killing of two protesters in clashes with security forces this week, saying an investigation is under way, the official Bahrain News Agency said. Hundreds gathered today at the funeral of a demonstrator who died yesterday. They demand democracy and the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, a member of the Sunni Muslim royal family who has held the post for four decades.
...
“These movements are emboldening everybody who has grievances, whether they are a minority that wants to have equal rights or a majority that wants a functioning democracy,” Ebrahim Sharif, a Sunni who heads Bahrain’s National Democratic Action Society, said in an interview today. “There is a feeling of people being empowered by these movements, that we are powerful. I think we are affecting even Iran.”
We have got to get out of the "Oil Protection Business," and into the "Oil Shock Mitigation" Business.
ReplyDeleteIt's got to be costing us somewhere around $100 Billion/Yr to dick around in Afghanistan. That's gotta go.
We have another 150 - 200,000 troops scattered around the world in places like Europe, Korea, Japan, etc. That's probably a couple of Hundred Billion/Yr, right there. That's gotta go.
We're letting our corporations park all of their profits in Ireland, China, and the Cayman Islands. That's costing us $250 Billion/Yr. That's gotta go.
And, I hate to say it, but we're going to have to cut Rufus' future Social Security Payments.
And, we're going to have to go back to Bill Clinton's tax rates.
This stuff isn't easy for a politician, but Tinkerbell isn't coming to save us this time.
Tinkerbell has done got married, and is starting a family if Brazil. We're on our own.
And, we all know damned well that the politicians aren't going to do any of those things until there is rioting in the streets.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid we're in for some really tough times.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that this is caused by "Obama", or that he is at the root of the problem, more than comical.
The Republicans campaigned on the idea that we should return to 2008 spending levels.
That argument does not wash. It is the same as being pulled over by a state trooper for doing 85 in a 65 zone and claiming everyone else did it.
Obama, whether he likes it or not is CEO of US Corp. He has fiscal responsibilities and will be crowing like a rooster at sunrise whenever something gets better, confident that his crowing caused it to happen.
I think Rufus is right, take it to the streets and give them a "come to Jesus" moment. Nothing else will work.
Cisco’s Chambers echoed the call for lower corporate taxes, part of the reason he says only about $3 billion of his company’s $40 billion is kept in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteU.S. Corps Cash on Hand - $2.4 Trillion
Amount kept overseas - Probably over 90%.
Madness.
That $2.2 Trillion that is "kept" overseas is INVESTED OVERSEAS.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that Obama is not an effective CFO. No debate there.
ReplyDeleteNo debate that the Democrats are no longer in charge of the Legislative agenda, in so far as budgetary policy is concerned.
The Republicans control the House.
There was no need to "take to the streets", we went to the ballot, in 2010.
The "Tea Party" constituents took a vocal part in the process, gaining political control of the
House of Representatives. Where all spending legislation originates.
Obama can only veto their legislation, or the House Republicans can fold in their negotiations with the Senate, on final passage.
That is what I predict will happen.
But the case can be made that the concerned citizens did, "take it to the streets" and won.
Just as they did in Egypt, with the same long term effect.
The military-industrial complex retains control of the country.
In Egypt and the US, tam bien.
Boners Rule!
ReplyDeleteWhen "oil" costs are 6% of the economy we have a serious recession.
ReplyDeleteHistorical Graph
We're back at 6%.
President of the Whirled.
ReplyDeleteChris Matthews begins to market Bill Clinton with that "Title" a few days ago.
Never before had I read of, nor heard, Mr Clinton being referred to, as such.
Now other spots on MSNBC report that Mr Clinton HAS been called ...
"President of the Whirled"
The market has no memory.
Every day is a new day.
It has taken me a long time to admit the truth, that the vast majority of people "live in the moment".
We use about 800,000,000 Gallons of "Oil Products" every day.
ReplyDeleteAt a cost of $3.00/gal that would be $2.4 Billion/Day, or $876 billion/Yr.
With a GDP of about $14 Trillion, that would be about 6.25% of GDP.
We're back to "drop dead" time.
Dan Rather reports tha Mexico has become a "Narco-State", on MSNBC, while speaking on MSNBC.
ReplyDeleteFor the "moment" we look pretty good. There are Powerful forces pushing us forward. Unprecedented "stimulus" spending, Wild, and Crazy Borrowing, Pent-up "Demand."
ReplyDeleteSimilar to a redneck with a 2.8 blood alcohol content, behind the wheel of a Semi.
Sept - Oct would be my guess.
Even Dan Rather gets one right every now and then.
ReplyDeleteHillary Clinton, of all people, told the truth, also. She said you can't do anything about the Drug Trade.
ReplyDeleteShe said "There's too much money involved."
She wasn't talking about Pedro, carrying a bale of maryjane across the border.
I'm sure she wanted to use words like "Citigroup, Bank of America," etc.
.
ReplyDeleteCome back when you have more to say, Trish. :)
ReplyDeleteOne short, nice post. Down the hole.
ReplyDeleteOh, well.
Create my own blog?
*she sighs*
Am reading Chesterton.
Much mention of sanity, and what comically passes for it.
Helluva a way to come round to it - or not, as Rat would say - through the Bar.
"Come back when you have more to say, Trish."
ReplyDeleteShe talks, talks, talks, talks, talks.
I think I have my mother to thank.
Don't take it so seriously, Trish.
ReplyDeleteI guarantee you ain't gettin' out alive. :)
"Am reading Chesterton."
ReplyDeleteWhich may impress some by name, like myself (no, that's not really true) but he's delightful because he's funny and because he seems to have a genuine and benevolent interest in us - we humans. Which, as a human, is not an easy thing to pull off.
"I guarantee you ain't gettin' out alive."
ReplyDeleteSee, this isn't humorous anymore. Or it isn't terrifying anymore. I'm not sure which.
No one gets out of here alive. That's Jim Morrison, right?
I hate that musical era.
I don't know in what movie or play or series it appeared, but I do like the general rebuttal: The only thing I HAVE to do is die.
I'm pretty sure that phrase predates Morrison by a few Millenia, Trish. :)
ReplyDeleteBut let's not argue.
ReplyDeleteIf I somehow carry your card,
I like to think I carry someone else's, too.
Don't spoil it for me.
"I didn't ask to be in this situation."
ReplyDelete"None of us did."
Special Operations.
It's suddenly funny.
The only thing I HAVE to do is die.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to run that one by the IRS, also. :)
Iran is sending a couple of Warships through the Suez Canal.
ReplyDeleteEvidently, this is some sort of breach of Middle East etiquette.
Brent Crude is up $2.20/bbl.
hmmm, protests in Iraq - so much for the meme that Bush made democracy was the catalyst for the rest.
ReplyDeleteProtests in Iraq?
ReplyDeleteIran is trying to evoke a response from Israel.
ReplyDeleteIf Israel falls for it they're even stupider than I thought they were.
It's supposed to be in the 60's Friday.
ReplyDelete(The Oyster and Beer Festival at the Washington Harbor was sadly all sold out.)
There is no gainsaying a sunny, warm day in winter.
The US budget deficit is having an effect on World food prices. Obama should take his Peace prize more seriously and live up to its standards and consider the repercussions of his and the American Congress's reckless indifference to others besides their political fortunes.
ReplyDeleteTroubles are beginning in Lybia.
Libya is now awash with oil money and investment from many major multinational corporations. It, as Egypt and other countries in the region, has no excuse to allow its citizens to go hungry or not be provided with suitable medical care.
Unless these countries go back to an age without internet or international news broadcasts, their leaders have no choice but to treat the people with common decency and live up to the responsibilities that come with their new-found wealth and power.
It is time for us in the West to expect nothing less from the autocrats.
Iranian warships in the Suez?
ReplyDeletehmmm, google doesn't seem to like me putting up a link:
ReplyDelete"Police Fire on Protesters in Iraq"
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17iraq.html?hp
Talk about stupid
ReplyDeleteWill we let the Chinese get away with this? Brilliant of Apple to allow a Chinese company to manufacture their phones…
BARCELONA (MarketWatch) — No longer content to sell basic, cheap mobile phones to operators keen to customize them, Chinese handset makers Huawei and ZTE Corp. are now pushing their own mobile consumer brands in the smartphone segment.
Their ambitions in this lucrative section of the market are considerable and should be taken seriously, if only because the firms’ success in the telecommunications infrastructure business shows how quickly they can catch up to their Western rivals and how aggressively they will compete until they have achieved their objectives.
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2011
HTC
These new models from HTC boast a one-touch shift into Facebook mode.
HTC's Facebook phones
Taiwanese handset maker debuts five smartphones, two aimed at Facebook devotees
Today, privately-held Huawei sits next to Ericsson AB (SE:ERICB 80.80, -0.75, -0.92%) and Alcatel-Lucent SA (ALU 4.81, +0.32, +7.13%) (FR:ALU 3.53, +0.18, +5.37%) as a top three infrastructure vendor. Five years ago its market share stood at just over 6%, according to Gartner.
Privately held Huawei
Ash's link
ReplyDeleteGoogle and I have a thing.
ReplyDelete: )
ReplyDeleteAnd God bless him, he puts off filing tax returns until...he can't anymore.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. That Iraq demonstration was aimed at a "provincial" governor. It doesn't have the same feel to it as the demonstrations in Egypt, Iran, etal.
ReplyDeleteHow about an Iranian Warship in Suez link?
ReplyDeleteBloomberg - Oil Rises as Iranian Gunboats head for Suez Canal
ReplyDeleteReuters - Iranian Gunboats to traverse Suez Canal
ReplyDeleteahhh, "Israel says..."
ReplyDeleteWe shall see if it actually happens.
Republicans Oppose Meat-packing Plant Reforms
ReplyDeleteI'll be damned if I can figure out why "any" farmers vote Republican.
Meanwhile, Jeff Flake, and some other dipshit republican are introducing an amendment to try to roll back the E15 approval.
ReplyDelete2012 might be the first time in my life that I vote Democratic.
Probably not, but if the Pubs run another reactionary fool like McCain I will.
ReplyDeleteRufus II said...
ReplyDeleteIran is trying to evoke a response from Israel.
If Israel falls for it they're even stupider than I thought they were.
they should take about 100 palestinians, that were arrested for attempting to suicide bomb israeli targets, load them into a nice quick boat, filled with seized bomb belts and muntions, and radio control drive it into the Iranian warships..
then deny it...
time to start killing the enemy
America has been turning a blind eye to Iran's murder of Americans for decades..
ReplyDeleteAnd what has that brought us?
Appeasement...
Time to start bitch slapping the iranians...
they have played chess, we have played checkers...
Time to destroy the board...
You want off of middle eastern oil?
easy...
destroy it...
Welcome to the world's only Arab bone marrow registry in the world and it's located in Israel
ReplyDeleteBy Abigail Klein Leichman
February 15, 2011
Only about 1.2 million of the world's 400 million ethnic Arabs live in Israel, yet the sole registry for Arab bone marrow donors is located in Jerusalem.
Since 2008, Dr. Amal Bishara has traveled to 60 Arab villages in search of cheek-swab samples for the world's only Arab bone marrow registry, housed at Jerusalem's Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center. She has gathered 9,000 samples for the registry, resulting in six life-saving donations.
That might not seem like a lot, considering that about 1.2 million of the world's roughly 400 million ethnic Arabs live in Israel. But Bishara, who has a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Hadassah, first has to explain the need for a registry of unrelated, anonymous donors. Since Arabs frequently marry relatives, at least 60 percent of those needing marrow find genetic matches within their own extended families.
Using lectures, publicity campaigns, newspaper articles and social media, Bishara has spread the word that the registry is the best means of locating donors for Arabs suffering from blood cancers and a variety of genetic diseases. And her efforts seem to be paying off.
"A small girl needed a transplant recently and our phone did not stop ringing," Bishara tells ISRAEL21c. "People want to participate. Now my emphasis is on getting university students to join because they are committed, young and healthy." She'd like to beef up the registry to 50,000 names.
Prof. Chaim Brautbar began Hadassah's bone marrow registry 22 years ago, and it now includes 75,000 potential Jewish donors. The information is stored in a global registry of about 15 million names, says Dr. Shoshana Israel, head of the registry and Hadassah's tissue typing laboratory. She says several attempts to convince Arabs to participate had fallen flat until Bishara was brought in.
Intel invests $2.7 billion in its Israeli chip facility
ReplyDeleteBy Karin Kloosterman
February 06, 2011
The 22-nanometer technology that promises to make computers faster, smaller and lighter is coming out of an Intel Israel plant in Kiryat Gat.
In an unstable business environment, where US companies are scaling back and weathering bad times, Intel has made a surprising business move. The chipmaker announced in January that it will invest $2.7 billion in its Israeli plant in southern Israel, which will produce next-generation 22-nanometer chips.
It is expected that 22-nanometer technology will make our computers faster, smaller and lighter.
Not willing to elaborate on what exactly this will mean for our everyday lives, Intel Israel's spokesman Koby Bahar tells ISRAEL21c that "it will be the most advanced technology" available.
The investment is earmarked for upgrading the technology, and not for enlarging the existing fabrication plant, he stresses.
Bahar notes that Intel has also made new investments in the United States and has spent $500 million to re-open a facility in Ireland. Adding Israel to its investment plans just makes business sense.
How the Middle Class Became the Underclass
ReplyDeleteA gay man decides to get a tattoo on his buttocks. On arrival at the tattooist, he spots a picture of the heavyweight boxer, Evander Holyfield.
ReplyDelete"Oh! He's my favorite darling. Can you do him on the cheek of my ass?" he asked the tattooist. So, it was done.
On the way out of the store, he spotted another picture on the wall, this time Mike Tyson.
"Oh good Lord!" the queen blurted out. "I just adore Iron Mike! Can you do him on my other cheek?" So, it was done.
On returning home, his boyfriend says, "Well, drop your trousers, give us a look." He dropped his pants and showed his ass.
His boyfriend gasped and replied, "I think our relationship is over! I sure as hell ain't getting in the ring with those two.
Space Photos
ReplyDeleteOn Feb. 13, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) issued a statement demanding that the government of Pakistan execute U.S. government contractor Raymond Davis or turn him over to the TTP for judgment. Davis, a contract security officer for the CIA, has been in Pakistani custody since a Jan. 27 incident in which he shot two men who reportedly pointed a pistol at him in an apparent robbery attempt.
ReplyDelete...
One of the reasons that the Pakistanis have been able to retain Davis in custody is that while he may have been traveling on a “black” diplomatic U.S. passport, not everyone who holds a diplomatic passport is afforded full diplomatic immunity. The only people afforded full diplomatic immunity are those who are on a list of diplomats officially accredited as diplomatic agents by the receiving country.
...
Over the past few years, relations between the United States and Pakistan have been very strained. This tension has been evidenced not only by public opinion but also by concrete examples. For example, in mid-December, the CIA station chief in Islamabad was forced to leave the country after his name was disclosed in a class-action lawsuit brought by relatives of civilians killed by unmanned aerial vehicle strikes in the Pakistani tribal badlands.
Davis Case