Saturday, January 2, 2010

Politial Digest January 2, 2010

I post articles because I think they are of interest. Doing so doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with every—or any—opinion in the posted article.




A Civics Lesson
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/12/08/wapo-repeats-inherited-deficit-fallacy/
Excerpt: But back to the civics lesson. Budgets do not come from the White House. They come from Congress, and the party that controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democratic Party. They controlled the budget process for FY2008 and FY2009, as well as FY2010 and FY2011. In that first year, they had to contend with George Bush, which caused them to compromise on spending, when Bush somewhat belatedly got tough on spending increases. For FY2009, though, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George Bush entirely, passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Barack Obama could take office. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY2009 budgets. And where was Barack Obama during this time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills, and he signed the omnibus bill as President to complete FY2009.

Three Terrible Choices
http://www.colony14.net/id228.html
Excerpt: It took him three days, but Obama finally made a public statement about the terrorist attempt to down flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day. Briefly speaking from a Marine Corps base in Hawaii, Obama said on December 28, “We will not rest until we find all who were involved and hold them accountable. The American people should be assured that we are doing everything in our power to make sure you and your family are secure during this holiday season. This incident, like several that have preceded it demonstrates that an alert and courageous citizenry are far more resilient than an isolated extremist. …We do not yet have all the answers about this latest attempt, but those who would slaughter innocent men, women and children must know that the United States will do more than simply strengthen our defenses. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us, whether they are from Afghanistan or Pakistan, Yemen or Somalia, or anywhere where they are plotting attacks against the U.S. homeland. … As Americans, we will never give in to fear or division. We will be guided by our hopes, our unity and our deeply held values.” I can’t speak for all Americans, but I suspect that many doubt whether “deeply held values” can stop terrorists better than automatic weapons in the hands of United States Marines or barrages of cruise missiles fired from Navy ships. In his first 11 months as a temporary occupant of our Oval Office, I haven’t seen much evidence that Obama’s words have been any more effective in stopping the bad guys around the world than the “strongly worded letters of condemnation” routinely issued by bureaucrats in United Nations…. But anyone who thinks about it has to come to the sad conclusion that everyone needs to be “alert and courageous” only because politically correct imbeciles in the United States government are issuing travel visas to radical Muslims and allowing Army Majors to give PowerPoint presentations on jihad without being drummed out of the Armed Forces and placed on 24-hour surveillance. Frankly, most airline passengers don’t want to be alert and courageous; they just want to get where they are going with as few hassles as possible… and arrive alive.

A Must-Read: A Cold-Blooded Foreign Policy
No despot fears the president, and no demonstrator in Tehran expects him to ride to the rescue.
http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052748704152804574628134281062714-lMyQjAxMDA5MDMwMTEzNDEyWj.html
Excrept: With year one drawing to a close, the truth of the Obama presidency is laid bare: retrenchment abroad, and redistribution and the intrusive regulatory state at home. This is the genuine calling of Barack Obama, and of the "progressives" holding him to account. The false dichotomy has taken hold—either we care for our own, or we go abroad in search of monsters to destroy or of broken nations to build. The decision to withdraw missile defense for Poland and the Czech Republic was of a piece with that retreat in American power. In the absence of an overriding commitment to the defense of American primacy in the world, the Obama administration "cheats." It will not quit the war in Afghanistan but doesn't fully embrace it as its cause. It prosecutes the war but with Republican support—the diehards in liberal ranks and the isolationists are in no mood for bonding with Afghans. (Harry Reid's last major foreign policy pronouncement was his assertion, three years ago, that the war in Iraq was lost.) As revolution simmers on the streets of Iran, the will was summoned in the White House to offer condolences over the passing of Grand Ayatollah Hussein Montazeri, an iconic figure to the Iranian opposition. But the word was also put out that the administration was keen on the prospect of John Kerry making his way to Tehran. No one is fooled. In the time of Barack Obama, "engagement" with Iran's theocrats and thugs trumps the cause of Iranian democracy…. What a difference three or four years make. The despots have waited out that burst of American power and optimism. No despot fears Mr. Obama, and no blogger in Cairo or Damascus or Tehran, no demonstrator in those cruel Iranian streets, expects Mr. Obama to ride to the rescue. To be sure, it was in the past understood that we can't bear all burdens abroad, or come to the defense of everyone braving tyranny. But there was always that American assertion that when things are in the balance we would always be on freedom's side.

Putin on Terrorism
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2009/12/30/ouch-putin-answer-about-terrorism-stuns-press-conference-silence
Excerpt: FRENCH JOURNALIST: ...Don't you think that by trying to eradicate terrorism in Chechnya you are going to eradicate the civilian population of Chechnya? VLADIMIR PUTIN: If you want to become an Islamic fundamentalist and be circumcised, come to Moscow. We are multiconfessional. We have very good specialists. I can recommend one for the operation. He'll make sure nothing grows back.

White House Defends its TSA Nominee http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100101/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_tsa_4
Where do they find all these bums? Imagine what the press would say about a Bush security nominee who ran illegal background checks? Excerpt: "I am distressed by the inconsistencies between my recollection and the contemporaneous documents, but I assure you that the mistake was inadvertent, and that I have at all times taken full responsibility for what I know to have been a grave error in judgment," he wrote in a letter to Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine. "This incident was over 20 years ago, I was distraught and concerned about my young son, and never in my career since has there been any recurrence of this sort of conduct." In an October affidavit for the Senate committee, he initially said he asked a San Diego police employee to run a background check on his then-estranged wife's boyfriend and was censured by his FBI superiors 20 years ago for what he said was an isolated instance. But a day after the committee approved his nomination and sent it to the full Senate, he wrote to the senators and told them that he was incorrect, that he twice ran background checks himself.

Our Nation Created, Our Nation Destroyed
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34918
Excerpt: Let’s see -- shall we compare John Locke and Thomas Paine to Saul Alinsky and William Ayres? Perhaps the Baron de Montesquieu to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright? Or maybe Adam Smith to Obama fave Louis Farrakhan? One need not say more in presenting the current set of philosophical/political beliefs that guide this Administration. They are striving to achieve what they think you should have, (not for your good, but for their control over you), despite the fact that you don’t want it. As the American people shout to whomever will listen of their complete disgust with the outright thievery of the stimulus bill, serious consideration by Obama and his cohorts in Congress is being given to pass yet another one.

War? What War?
The Obama administration refuses to admit that we are at war. http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ZWI2MGE2YTE4MzM4M2QyMTE5ZWE0OWI0Y2E3OTZiMGU
Excerpt: Janet Napolitano — former Arizona governor, now overmatched secretary of homeland security — will forever be remembered for having said of the attempt to bring down an airliner over Detroit: “The system worked.” The attacker’s concerned father had warned U.S. authorities about his son’s jihadist tendencies. The would-be bomber paid cash and checked no luggage on a transoceanic flight. He was nonetheless allowed to fly, and would have killed 288 people in the air alone, save for a faulty detonator and quick actions by a few passengers…. The reason the country is uneasy about the Obama administration’s response to this attack is a distinct sense of not just incompetence but incomprehension. From the very beginning, President Obama has relentlessly tried to downplay and deny the nature of the terrorist threat we continue to face. Napolitano renames terrorism “man-caused disasters.” Obama goes abroad and pledges to cleanse America of its post-9/11 counterterrorist sins. Hence, Guantanamo will close, CIA interrogators will face a special prosecutor, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will bask in a civilian trial in New York — a trifecta of political correctness and image management. And just to make sure even the dimmest understand, Obama banishes the term “war on terror.” It’s over — that is, if it ever existed. Obama may have declared the war over. Unfortunately, al-Qaeda has not. Which gives new meaning to the term “asymmetric warfare.” And produces linguistic — and logical — oddities that littered Obama’s public pronouncements following the Christmas Day attack. In his first statement, Obama referred to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as “an isolated extremist.” This is the same president who, after the Ford Hood shooting, warned us “against jumping to conclusions” — code for daring to associate Nidal Hasan’s mass murder with his Islamist ideology. Yet, with Abdulmutallab, Obama jumped immediately to the conclusion, against all existing evidence, that the bomber acted alone.

Former Gitmo detainees help al-Qaeda in Yemen
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-12-31-Al-Qaeda_N.htm?csp=24&RM
Excerpt: SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — As a prisoner at Guantanamo, Said Ali al-Shihri said he wanted freedom so he could go home to Saudi Arabia and work at his family's furniture store. Instead, al-Shihri, who was released in 2007 under the Bush administration, is now deputy leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, a group that has claimed responsibility for the Christmas Day attempted bomb attack on a Detroit-bound airliner. His potential involvement in the terrorist plot has raised new opposition to releasing Guantanamo Bay inmates, complicating President Barack Obama's pledge to close the military prison in Cuba. It also highlights the challenge of identifying the hard-core militants as the administration decides what to do with the remaining 198 prisoners. (So you close Gitmo at Gitmo and, at great expense, create Gitmo in IL, all for PR reasons. Wonder why Bush released some Gitmo inmates to return to terrorism? Might it have been pressure from the left and the media? Who will die because of these decisions? Hopefully leftwing pundits who lobbied for Gitmo to close.)

Underreported Stories of 2009 http://townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2010/01/01/underreported_stories_of_2009
If you depend on the Leftstream media for news, you are missing a lot that doesn’t fit their narrative.

Six killed in new attacks in Thai south: police http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jyrCb-G2Z2GIRWPTN26Z9Ya-JxlQ
Happy New Year from the Religion of Peace. Excerpt: PATTANI, Thailand — Suspected Islamist militants killed two soldiers and four civilians in drive-by shootings in the latest violence to rock Thailand's insurgency-hit south, police said Thursday. More than 4,000 people have been killed and thousands more wounded since a separatist rebellion erupted nearly six years ago in Thailand's troubled provinces bordering Malaysia

Church screening of 'Jesus' film attacked in Pakistan http://www.christianmessenger.in/news/pak_291209/856.php
Merry Christmas from the Religion of Peace. Excerpt: As many as 50 Muslim villagers armed with clubs and axes recently attacked a showing of the 'Jesus' film near Sargodha, Pakistan, injuring three part-time evangelists and four Christians in attendance. Two of the evangelists were said to be seriously injured. The Muslim hardliners also damaged a movie projector, burned reels of the film and absconded with the public address system and donations from Christian viewers in Chak village, about 10 kilometers northeast of Sargodha. Officers at the Saddr police station refused to register a case against the Muslim assailants, sources said.

Misunderstanders of Islam attack security forces in Nigeria, 70 killed http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/12/misunderstanders-of-islam-attack-security-forces-in-nigeria-70-killed.html
Excerpt: They reject "any literature except the Koran," recalling the immortal phrase attributed to the Caliph Umar (but probably apocryphal), on the occasion of the burning of the library of Alexandria: "If the book agree with the Koran, they are superfluous. If they disagree with the Koran, they are heretical."

Houston: Rocket launcher, jihadist writings found in apartment -- no charges filed http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/12/houston-rocket-launcher-jihadist-writings-found-in-apartment----no-charges-filed.html
Excerpt: Rocket launcher? Check. Jihadist writings? Check. But no worries -- the Feds found no ties to terrorism!

Molotov Cocktail Found In Downtown Parking Garage http://cbs3.com/local/Center.City.Molotov.2.1397907.html
Might not have been Jihadists, maybe just liberals. Excerpt: "Before the police arrived, the male left the property. He left behind a Molotov cocktail and literature," Captain Dennis Wilson explained. Investigators said the man left behind anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian books and documentation, along with an Arabic dictionary. "It looks like a Molotov cocktail, some sort of accelerant in a bottle, sealed top, with a fuse," Captain Wilson said.

Pakistan raid kills 'Arab, Sudan fighters'
http://www.france24.com/en/node/4959587
Notice how often we have to get the Jihadist news from non-US media? Excerpt: Pakistan commandos raided a private hospital before dawn in a Taliban stronghold near the Afghan border Thursday, killing four foreign militants and a woman, officials said. Troops laid siege to the private clinic in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan, at 2:00am (2100 GMT) sparking gun battles until around 7:00am (0200 GMT), local administration and intelligence officials said.

My Classmate, the Plane Bomber
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-12-30/my-classmate-the-undie-bomber/
Excerpt: One former UCL student even says he was told whilst enjoying a pint in the union that it was his “duty” as a Muslim to attend society meetings and that he was frequently invited to Islamic study groups. He jokes that he was “probably seen as a sitting duck—I was even studying ‘bomb-making,’ as we affectionately referred to the Department of Chemical Engineering.” He goes on to say: “Everyone knows London universities are full of would-be nutters honing their engineering skills whilst simultaneously becoming increasingly religious. It’s one hell of a dangerous combo when you think about it. We all used to joke about it back then, but it’s not quite so funny anymore.” (Can’t do anything about it though—wouldn’t be PC.)

MA’s Scott Brown runs a new campaign ad
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=8530
A long shot who could use our help.

Honor Crime in America: 2009 Recap
http://www.islamist-watch.org/blog/2009/12/honor-crime-in-america-2009-recap
They are bringing the culture of death to our towns.

Too funny: Man, Do I Hate Holiday Travel
Iowahawk Special Guest Opinion by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk...ay-travel.html
Finding some humor in it all. Excerpt: Yesterday while I was lying in the burn ward getting my crotch bandages changed, I had a chance to catch the air disaster movie marathon on TCM. The lineup included "Zero Hour," "The High and the Mighty," "Skyjacked," and "Airport '75." For all their campy fun and unintentional laughs, those corny old films really serve as a grim reminder how the whole in-flight terror experience has gone completely downhill since the jet set golden years of the 50's, 60's and 70's. What happened to all those pretty stewardesses and polite, well dressed infidels, screaming as the plane plummeted to the ground? Time was, a suicide mission to explode an international jumbo jet was an event full of glamor and excitement; but now it seems to be a endless series of delays, hassles, pushy jerks and third-degree testicular chemical burns. And don't even get me started on the crappy airline food. Take for example a recent flight I took from Lagos to Detroit. With over 100,000 miles on my JihadAir platinum card, I've schlepped enough miles through Heathrow and Gatwick and Yemen International to know I should be at the airport two hours before departure. Especially during the holiday heavy bombing season. Good thing too, because by the time I got there, there was already a mile long line at the explosives counter. And man, talk about smell! I swear half of these stupid shaheeds hadn't bothered to take a shower, let alone a pre-martyrdom ablution ritual. Come on people, how about a little self respect?

Keep the change
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yyuz3jeFw84
Another hit country song.

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