As predicted, in choosing Macfarlane, Obama tapped someone who is on record as opposed to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Macfarlane quite literally wrote the book on the subject–she is the editor (along with Rodney Ewing) of Uncertainty Underground: Yucca Mountain and the Nation’s High-Level Nuclear Waste, a review that is predominantly very critical of the choice of the Yucca site. Because confirmation has to move through the Senate, it would need the consent of Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), a longtime opponent of the Yucca project.

Harry Reid stands boldly behind Ben Bernanke’s nomination to continue as Fed Chair, with a statement of support issued by his office late on a Friday afternoon. Yeah, that’s a real ringing endorsement. Meanwhile, the FDIC keeps eating banks and the unemployment in NV continues to grow.

Martha Johnson’s nomination to head up the General Services Administration has been waiting for a Senate vote since June. Meanwhile, the acting administrator has tired of being away from his family in Denver, and the agency chief of staff has tired of waiting for a new boss to arrive.

There’s a price to be paid when an administration doesn’t push to get its nominees confirmed — and the price is only going to go up.

The worst is the folks at the Fed clearly believe the bogus stress tests were a meaningful exercise. That alone should disqualify them from getting a bigger role in bank supervision. And if you read their pronouncements, they plan to continue to use them, and have the process run by….a monetary economist! Help me! Bernanke also conveniently ignores the fact that the rally might also have a wee bit to do with the fact that he threw a bit over $1 trillion at the markets, as announced in mid-March.

I could go on, but you get the picture. The Fed seems to believe its own PR.