What the Czars Believe

“The Obama administration has created a two-tiered government—fronted by Cabinet secretaries able to withstand public scrutiny (some of them, just barely) and then managed behind the scenes by shadow secretaries with broad powers beyond congressional reach. Bureaucratic chaos serves as a useful smokescreen to obscure the true source of policy decision-making” (Michelle Malkin).

Glenn Beck info on Czars: http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/29391/

“The goal from this White House is to have as much nonspecific language passed by Congress in policy areas like health care and the environment and then use [the Czar’s offices] to put in place the regulatory language called for by Congress that gets us to where [Obama] wants us to be. It may very well be the most important job in this administration, given the lack of success [Obama] may have on Capitol Hill,” says a White House source.

(warning: long post - initial research into the policy leanings of Obama's Czars)

1. Herbert Allison Jr., bailout czar, [replaced Bush bailout czar Neel Kashkari, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Stability confirmed by Senate] a. Fannie Mae's president and CEO; in charge of TARP; partly responsible for housing meltdown in 2008-2009

2. Alan Bersin, border czar a. Co-chairman Mexican Council on Foreign Relations (COMEXI); pushes for dissolving our border b. Ex-Clinton border czar

3. Dennis Blair, intelligence czar [Director of National Intelligence, a Senate confirmed position] a. proposed the creation of an intelligence officer training program in colleges and universities … “The students' participation in the program would probably be kept secret to prevent them from being identified”

4. John Brennan, counterterrorism czar a. Former NSA and domestic security expert; now extending Bush policies for Homeland Security intelligence to enhance spying on Americans

5. Carol Browner, energy czar a. listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group's Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for "global governance" and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change b. ran the EPA under President Clinton; she was on the board of directors for the National Audubon Society, the League of Conservation Voters, the Center for American Progress and former Vice President Al Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection

6. Adolfo Carrion, urban affairs czar a. As Bronx Borough president, Carrion took tens of thousands of dollars in donations from real estate firms just before and after the developers snagged lucrative deals or crucial zoning changes for their projects. In turn, he made millions in public tax dollars available to his cronies.

7. Ashton Carter, weapons czar [actually Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics and so subject to Senate confirmation] a. declared that Reagan's "Star Wars" (SDI) was nothing but a pipe dream; was the author of a report during his stint at MIT that sought to put the kabosh on Reagan's plans for missile defenses. b. he was one of the prime architects for the deal with the North Korean commies to halt their nuclear programs in 1994.

8. Aneesh Chopra, technology czar a. he's seeking "quick wins" that demonstrate a "big impact," … "Not all of these initiatives require laws... This is just about mindset."

9. Jeffrey Crowley, AIDS czar a. [openly gay white man]

10. Cameron Davis, Great Lakes czar a. president of a Chicago environmentalist group, the Alliance for the Great Lakes b. the Alliance for the Great Lakes was caught “napping” while the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) has poured billions of gallons of raw sewage into Lake Michigan

11. Nancy-Ann DeParle, health czar a. DeParle ran the behemoth Medicare and Medicaid programs under Bill Clinton b. member of the government-chartered Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC), an influential panel that advises Congress on what Medicare should cover and at what price. Last month, former MedPAC member DeParle cozily announced that Obama was “open to making recommendations of [MedPAC] mandatory unless opposed by a joint resolution of Congress.” c. DeParle has unmeasured clout in directing $19 billion of federal stimulus money earmarked for, yes, health information technology. d. Health Care Lobbyist – William Weldon (chairman of Johnson & Johnson) paid DeParle $7,500 for a recent speech. Wayne Smith (CEO Community Health Systems) which merged with Triad Hospitals, where DeParle served on the board of directors, converted DeParle’s stock options into cash payments worth $1.05 million.

12. Earl Devaney, stimulus oversight czar a. former Secret Service agent who helped expose lobbyists' corruption at the Interior Department

13. Joshua DuBois, religion czar, aka God czar a. Senate aid to Obama b. Acts as a liaison between faith and secular community groups and the White House, often partnering with them to tackle social issues. Helps these groups apply for federal grants available to them.

14. Arne Duncan, education czar a. Formerly in charge of Chicago Public Schools; schools failed to meet federal No Child Left Behind standard five years in a row; his Special Education District failed to adequately educate 80% of its students b. repeatedly urged the New York state legislature to renew unlimited mayoral control of New York City schools, with no checks and balances and no parent input allowed c. disseminated U.S. Department of Education teachers guides accompanying the announcement of Obama’s speech directly to principals across the country—circumventing elected school board members and superintendents now facing neighborhood revolts. Called concerned parents “Just Silly”.

15. Kenneth Feinberg, pay czar a. Former Chief of Staff for Senator Ted Kennedy b. first task is to review proposed compensation plans from the seven U.S. banks still taking part in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP); the banks have to submit plans for their top 25 highest paid employees; three of the banks submitting proposals to him are clients of his law firm.

16. Daniel Fried, Guantanamo closure czar a. accompanied (flew on the plane with) four Chinese Muslims and their lawyers on a flight from the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to Bermuda upon their release b. Ewart Brown, the Bermudian Premier, said that the United States had agreed to bear the costs associated with relocating the men on the island

17. J. Scott Gration, Sudan czar a. Gration is a close personal friend of Obama and has experience on African issues

18. Melissa Hathaway, [no longer active] cybersecurity czar a. Melissa Hathaway, who completed the Obama administration's cybersecurity review in April, said in an interview that she was leaving for personal reasons; she took her name out of the running for cybersecurity czar b. She lost favor with the president's economic team after she said it should consider options for regulating some private-sector entities to ensure they secure their networks, said cybersecurity specialists familiar with the discussions. Being a holdover from the Bush administration didn't help either

19. David J. Hayes, water czar [a Deputy Interior Secretary and therefore subject to Senate oversight] a. served as the Global Chair of the Environment, Land & Resources Department at Latham & Watkins, a department comprised of nearly 100 lawyers who work on environmental, energy and resources matters throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Latham & Watkins has been recognized as the leading environmental legal practice in the world b. served as the Deputy Secretary of the Interior during the Clinton Administration

20. Richard Holbrooke, Afghanistan-Pakistan (Af-Pak) czar a. offerred former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic a promise of immunity from prosecution for war crimes in exchange for his withdrawing from politics in that country b. earned $800,000 while the Board of Directors for AIG c. delivered private briefings at the annual invitation-only conference held by an elite international organization known as the Bilderberg group in May 2009, often credited with creating a strategy for a single European Currency leading to a single world currency

21. John Holdren, science czar a. radical environmentalist who argued that trees have legal rights and should be allowed to go to court b. From his book Human Ecology: Problems and Solutions, Holdren states that newborn babies remain nonhuman even after they are born, [until such a time as The State] deems them to have been sufficiently socialized c. once floated the idea of forced abortions, "compulsory sterilization," and the creation of a "Planetary Regime" that would oversee human population levels and control all natural resources as a means of protecting the planet i. Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not; ii. The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation’s drinking water or in food; iii. Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise; iv. People who “contribute to social deterioration” (i.e. undesirables) “can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility” — in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized. v. A transnational “Planetary Regime” should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans’ lives — using an armed international police force.

22. Kevin Jennings, safe schools czar [nominated to be Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education, Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, a newly created post; openly gay founder of an organization dedicated to promoting pro-homosexual clubs and curricula in public schools] a. founder of the pro-homosexual GLSEN organization, "to oversee the nation's safe schools" program. Jennings was involved in the 2000 "Fistgate" scandal in which homosexual adults at a GLSEN youth workshop "guided young teens on how to engage in sexual perversions, including the violent gay practice known as "fisting" b. one of the most vitriolic anti-Christian activists in America; Jennings is known for his prolific use of obscenities to describe Christians c. told attendees at a GLSEN conference over a decade ago that he looked forward to the day when promoting homosexuality in schools will be seen in a positive light d. authored the forward for the book titled Queering Elementary which argues for the teaching of sexual "identity" (what you could easily call "indoctrination", "initiation", or "brainwashing") to the children in the elementary education stage of life. e. His memoir, Mama’s Boy, Preacher’s Son, seethes with bitterness toward Southern Baptists, the country’s largest Protestant denomination f. in his book Always My Child, Jennings calls for a “diversity policy that mandates including LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender] themes in the curriculum.” But he wants only one side of this controversial issue to be aired, and apparently believes in locking sexually confused kids into a “gay” identity.

23. Van Jones, [resigned but still being paid by WH?] green jobs czar a. In his book The Green Collar Economy, he paints the “new green movement” as full of virtue, while actually attacking large, Bible-believing churches. Specifically he stated, “Mega-church pastors with mega-white teeth assured their far-flung flocks that, with the right amount of prayer and right mental attitude, great abundance, tons of wealth, and high profits were sure to be enjoyed by all ... So we ordinary people...ran after every solo solution we could find. We worked longer hours. We worked extra jobs. We hocked our homes. We bought lottery tickets. We sought shelter under a house of credit cards.” b. Blames the US [Bush] for 9/11 … "The bombs the government drops in Iraq are the bombs that blew up in New York City." c. VALERIE JARRETT, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: We were so delighted to be able to recruit him into the White House. We have been watching him, really, for — he's not that old — for as long as he has been active out in Oakland in all of the ways that he has — creative ideas that he has. And now we have captured that.

24. Gil Kerlikowske, drug czar a. policy of treating drug abuse as a public health issue rather than a law enforcement matter b. former police chief of Seattle; was president of the Major Cities Chiefs Association which joined in the Brady Center's amicus brief in District of Columbia v. Heller. That brief argued that the D.C. handgun ban, and the ban on using any firearm for protection in the home, are both constitutional and are not violations of the Second Amendment. c. strong ally of Washington Ceasefire, lobbying the state legislature on behalf of their gun-ban agenda on ending gun shows, on making an adult liable if a minor lays hands on a loaded gun and on outlawing so-called "assault weapons." In March 2006, he was honored in a ceremony by Ceasefire for his role in supporting their agenda.

25. Ron Kirk, trade czar a. failed to pay $10,000 in taxes over the span of three years beginning in 2005 b. former Mayor of Dallas

26. Vivek Kundra, infotech czar [Shoplifted four shirts, worth $33.50 each, from J.C. Penney in 1996 (source)] a. was convicted of misdemeanor theft. He stole a handful of men’s shirts from a J.C. Penney’s department store and ran from police in a failed attempt to evade arrest. Kundra was a 21-year-old adult at the time of his attempted thievery and attempted escape from the police b. two of Kundra’s underlings, Yusuf Acar and Sushil Bansal, were charged in an alleged scheme of bribery, kickbacks, ghost employees, and forged timesheets

27. Douglas Lute, war czar [retained from Bush administration, married to Jane Holl Lute, currently a Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security] a. Nominated by Bush; retained by Obama b. says that from a military standpoint, a return to a draft should be part of the discussion

28. George Mitchell, Mideast peace czar a. Land for Peace … Mitchell is pressured the outgoing Israeli government to destroy the so-called outpost communities in Judea and Samaria and expel the hundreds of Israeli families who live in them. To defend this call for intra-Israeli instability and violence, Mitchell notes that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave his word to former president George W. Bush that he would destroy these communities. Lest Israelis believe that Mitchell will drop this demand once Olmert leaves office, he has made clear that as far as he is concerned, Olmert's pledge was not his own - but Israel's. In Mitchells' view, it binds Netanyahu no less than Olmert. b. Former chairman of the international law and lobbying firm DLA Piper until the end of 2008. Mitchell, a well known rainmaker for the firm, now holds the title of chairman emeritus of DLA's global board. The firm has considerable international reach: It boasts a fast-growing Middle East practice with some big government and private clients, plus offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, Oman, and Saudi Arabia. c. met with Palestinian Authority Chairman and "Moderate Terrorist" Mahmoud Abbas and when he came out he said that Israel should open the borders with Gaza, because open borders will prevent smuggling

29. Ed Montgomery, car czar [replacing Steve Rattner, who stepped down amid controversy over his former firm’s role in a possible kickback scandal] a. economist who specializes in job training and local economic development. Montgomery's currently Dean at the University of Maryland, and he's a former Labor Department Deputy Secretary in the Clinton administration. Also, as far as we can tell he's never actually been involved in the auto industry, but he has taught at Michigan State University in Lansing and been a member of the Auto Industry Task Force

30. Lynn Rosenthal, domestic violence czar a. former executive director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) b. NNEDV has from its earliest days, promoted the questionable “solution” of divorce as the only approach to the issue. It has been instrumental in denying women the practical help they want and need, choosing instead to ignore realities and propagate feminist political theory.

31. Dennis Ross, Mideast policy czar a. last year, campaigning for Obama, Ross could be found declaring that “the Bush administration walked away from peace-making for more than six years.” b. Ross served throughout the two Clinton Administrations as Middle East envoy

32. Gary Samore, weapons of mass destruction czar a. Backs off missile defense; said that Russia's objections are legitimate as Washington and Moscow should pursue nuclear reductions b. Wants to get agreement with the Russian Federation on START before it expires in December 2009 c. Believes nuclear disarmament will be difficult

33. Todd Stern, climate change czar a. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has named Todd Stern as special envoy for climate change and vowed that America will “vigorously pursue negotiations, those sponsored by the United Nations, and those at sub-global, regional, and bilateral level that can lead to binding international climate agreements.” b. “The time for denial, delay, and dispute is over,” Stern said. “The time for the United States to take up its rightful place at the table is here.”

34. Cass Sunstein, regulatory czar a. wants to ban hunting, animal agriculture and give animals the right to sue in court; would tweak the Endangered Species Act to achieve his aims b. books: “The Second Bill of Rights: FDR's Unfinished Revolution—And Why We Need It More Than Ever” and “A Constitution of Many Minds: Why the Founding Document Doesn't Mean What It Meant Before” c. stated that [Constitutional] fundamentalism does not justify the view that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms d. "We ought to ban hunting", Cass Sunstein, in a 2007 speech at Harvard University e. “the law should impose further regulation on hunting, scientific experiments, entertainment, and (above all) farming to ensure against unnecessary animal suffering”, Cass R. Sunstein, “The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer” f. Free speech – “To the extent that they weaken the power of the general interest intermediaries and increase people’s ability to wall themselves off from topics and opinions that they would prefer to avoid, emerging technologies, including the Internet, create serious dangers.”, Cass Sunstein, University of Chicago Law School g. Taxes - “In what sense is the money in our pockets and bank accounts fully ‘ours’? Did we earn it by our own autonomous efforts? Could we have inherited it without the assistance of probate courts? Do we save it without the support of bank regulators? Could we spend it if there were no public officials to coordinate the efforts and pool the resources of the community in which we live?... Without taxes there would be no liberty. Without taxes there would be no property. Without taxes, few of us would have any assets worth defending. [It is] a dim fiction that some people enjoy and exercise their rights without placing any burden whatsoever on the public fisc. … There is no liberty without dependency. That is why we should celebrate tax day …”-- Cass R. Sunstein, “Why We Should Celebrate Paying Taxes”

35. Larry Summers, economic czar a. Better Times are Ahead … ” The number of people searching for the term ‘economic depression’ on Google is down to normal levels”, Summers said b. Back in 1991, Summers argued that the subject of economics was no longer up for debate: The answers had all been found by men like him. "The laws of economics are like the laws of engineering," he said. "One set of laws works everywhere." Summers subsequently laid out those laws as the three "-ations": privatization, stabilization and liberalization. Some "kinds of ideas," he explained a few years later in a PBS interview, have already become too "passé" for discussion. Like "the idea that a huge spending program is the way to stimulate the economy."

36. Michael Taylor, food czar a. While Taylor was at the FDA in the early 90's, he also oversaw the policy regarding Monsanto's genetically engineered bovine growth hormone (rbGH/rbST) -- injected into cows to increase milk supply. The drug was banned in Canada, as well as Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. But it was approved in the US while Michael Taylor was in charge. His drugged milk might have caused a significant rise in US cancer rates. b. Taylor misled officials on the safety of genetically-manipulated (GM) foods and safety risks c. former Vice President for Public Policy at Monsanto; worked closely for years with the FDA, passing legislation that restricts organic farming

37. Arturo Valenzuela, Latin-American czar (nominee) [although this post is referred to as a czar, he is nominatied to be Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs and so is subject to Senate confirmation] a. Valenzuela is a member of an advisory board at Human Rights Watch, a member of the National Democratic Institute, as well as, a member of The National Council of La Raza (The Race). These organizations espouse views which directly contradict United States law and harm relationships with important allies. b. Valenzuela serves on the advisory board of Americas Watch with George Soros. The chairman of the board, Lloyd Axworthy, is a former Canadian diplomat who loathed President George W. Bush.

38. Paul Volcker, economic czar number two

39. Elizabeth Warren, TARP czar [chair of the [Congressional Oversight Panel for the Trouble Assets Relief Program; note that Herb Allison is more frequently called the TARP czar]

40. Jeffrey Zients, government performance czar [replaced original nominee Nancy Killefer who withdrew her name after issues with her personal income tax filings surfaced]

41. Ron Bloom, manufacturing czar Positions established but not yet filled...

41. behavioral science czar

42. copyright czar

Positions being planned:

1. income redistribution czar

2. land-use czar

3. consumer financial protection czar, aka mortgage czar (source)

4. radio-internet fairness czar

5. student loan czar, to oversee a program of mandatory service in return for college money (source)

6. voter list czar

7. zoning czar

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