Former Vice President Dick Cheney explains that the Bush administration acted under the guidance of the Department of Justice at the time when the U.S engaged in waterboarding. Additionally, Cheney says that he does not call waterboarding torture because it was conducted under a legal framework. (0:53)
Former Vice President Dick Cheney maintains that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility was a good choice for coping with dangerous criminals. Cheney also criticizes President Barack Obama’s decision to close the prison by the end of the year without calculating the consequences of such an event, in particular regarding where the prisoners will be kept once they are moved from the Cuba-based facility. (0:39)
Coffee Brown, University of New Mexico, Talk Radio News
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer expressed the “outrage that all Americans feel” at AIG executives taking large bonuses on taxpayer money. “These people tried to separate risk from responsibility,” he said, but he was unsure whether there was any legal way to reclaim the money. “The right question is, how can they take these bonuses? Have they no shame? No sense of decency?” The right thing, he continued, would be for them to return the bonuses.
“They thought they would never have to pay the piper. The piper is being paid; not by them, but by the taxpayers,” he finished.
Hoyer also criticized a remark by former Vice President Dick Cheney two days ago that,”I don’t think you can blame the Bush administration for the creation of those (economic) circumstances.” Hoyer provided various quotes from Cheney, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, Republican Leader John Boehner, and former President George Bush to the effect that Republicans were not responsible for the current financial crisis.
“The last administration started with a January growth of 164,000 jobs. The Obama administration took over in a January that lost 351,000 jobs,” he said. Hoyer contrasted the $5.6 trillion surplus that Bush started with against the $4.5 trillion deficit that Obama inherited. “It’s mind-boggling that the former vice president simply said, ‘well, it’s not our fault.’”
Former Vice-President Al Gore speaks at a Climate Change hearing and says that “we must take bold action now” in order to find solutions for our climate crisis which will lead to solutions for our economic and national security problems as well. We are buying foreign oil and using burning it in ways that destroy our planet. Gore says that “the first step is already before us. I urge this congress to quickly pass the entirety of President Obama’s Recovery Package.” (1:25)
by Suzia van Swol and Candyce Torres, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service
