Political Digest for Christmas, 2009

I post articles because I believe they will be of interest, not because I agree with every—or even any—opinion in them.

The Christmas Toy

It came Christmas Time,
But they only have a dime.

Mom and Dad woke the boy
And told him he got a toy.

It was so fun
He thought he got a ton.

He uses it so often,
He still has it in his coffin.

--Britnye Vela, Age 9
(It’s my blog and my granddaughter, and I’ll put what I want on it. Besides, Christmas now qualifies as “political,” which would have horrified the founders.)

Christmas
On Earth, Peace; Goodwill to Men. (Unfortunately, it takes two to make a peace, only one to make a war, or there would be far fewer wars. When a Nidal Hasan comes calling with a gun in his hand, there are only two roads to peace. You can kill him…or die. See the next story.)

Mosul attacks on two Christian churches, three dead and several injured
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=17204&theme=5&size=AAsia%20News%20reports:
Excerpt: In the attack on the church of Saint George three people were killed: a Chaldean Christian and two Muslims, others were injured. Local witnesses report that the explosion was caused by "a cart of vegetables, filled with bombs." From the initial reconstruction, it seems that the target of the attack was a police barracks in the district of Khazraj. In the last six weeks in Mosul four churches and a convent of Dominican nuns have been attacked. The explosions were caused by car bombs producing serious damage to buildings and adjacent homes, Christian and Muslim. Five Christians have been murdered and others have become victims of kidnapping for ransom. These targeted attacks testify to the "ethnic cleansing" in act against the Christian community throughout Iraq. Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, believes today attacks are yet another "disturbing message" to two days before Christmas. These threats, stresses the prelate, "continue to influence the Christian community" that hopes "for peace" but is the victim of violence. "The message of peace and hope - reaffirms the archbishop of Kirkuk - announced by angels, remains our best wishes for Christmas for the entire country: we want to work together to build peace and hope in the hearts of all men and women of Iraq."

A Christmas Tale – 1944 http://townhall.com/columnists/HansAvonSpakovsky/2009/12/24/a_christmas_tale_-_1944
Things tough this Christmas? Read this. Excerpt: Shortly after Christmas, as my mother came home from her forced job in a factory, her mother told her that all civilians had been ordered out of Breslau. It was one of the bitterest and coldest winters on record. The temperature was only five degrees, and the streets were covered in snow and ice. But my grandmother gathered her elderly parents and her children and tried to get to the train station. The station and all the streets leading up to it were mobbed. Panic set in as the crowds tried to desperately get onto the last trains leaving Breslau -- trains already packed with refugees from other cities and towns further east. To my grandmother’s consternation, she couldn’t even get close to the main station. It was just as well; the crowd panicked when it became clear there weren’t enough trains to evacuate everyone, and 60 to 70 children were crushed to death. My grandmother feared what would happen when the Russians arrived (with good reason, as anyone knows of the mass rape, murder and pillaging committed by Russian troops wherever they went). My grandmother was extremely upset that she had been unable to get her family onto a train. Their future seemed even darker than it had at Christmas, and the empty, hungry holiday seemed even more forlorn.

St. Louis County FIRES SEIU-Hate Crime Victim Ken Gladney's brother & public advocate on Eve of XMAS
http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/23/worse-than-scrooge-gladneys-brother-and-public-advocate-fired-hours-before-christmas/
Ya cross the Chicago outfit, you get the Chicago way! Petty bastards. Excerpt: Animal Control Officer, Keith Gladney was fired on December 23rd, less than 48 hours before Christmas Day. Regular readers of Big Government will recognize the sur name of this unfortunate soul who finds himself unemployed just as the holidays are upon us. Yes, Keith Gladney is the brother of Kenneth Gladney, the man who was assaulted by leaders of the St. Louis SEIU outside of Rep. Russ Carnahan’s Town Hall for Health Care on August 6, 2009.

Healthcare Bill—Here’s my plan
I can no longer bring myself to use the word “reform.” As you know, it passed the Senate, 60-39 on Christmas Eve. Here’s my suggestion. If you live in a blue state, call our Democrat member of the House over the holiday week with this message: “If you give in to the Senate and vote for the Senate Healthcare bill, I and my family will never vote for you again.” Then call your Democrat US Senators with the message, “If you give in to the House and vote for the House Healthcare bill, I and my family will never vote for you again.” Since you’d be a statist sellout to ever vote for them in any case, you’ll be telling the perfect truth, and encouraging disagreement between the branches.

Voting Against Government-Run Health Care http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/12/24/voting_against_government-run_health_care_99671.html
Excerpt: By Senator Tom Coburn. This vote is indeed historic. This Congress will be remembered for its arrogance, corruption and stupidity. In the year of 2009, a Congress ignored the coming economic storm and impending bankruptcy of our entitlement programs and embarked on an ideological crusade to bring our nation as close to single-payer, government-run health care as possible. If this bill becomes law, future generations will rue this day and I will do everything in my power to work toward its repeal. This bill will ration care, cut Medicare, increase premiums, fund abortion and bury our children in debt. (And they’re its good points!)

RedState Catching Ben Nelson Trying to Make Himself Look Honorable While Behaving Dishonorably
 http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/12/24/redstate-catching-ben-nelson-trying-to-make-himself-look-honorable-while-behaving-dishonorably/
Excerpt: DeMint went down to the floor of the Senate and made a motion to suspend the rules of the Senate to allow the insertion of one more amendment into the health care legislation. His amendment? A prohibition on cash for cloture. DeMint’s amendment, which he and Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) had originally co-authored and passed back in 2007 only to see it killed, would prohibit Senators from accepting targeted earmarks for their states in exchange for votes on legislation. This time, Senator Durbin made a motion to table Senator DeMint’s effort, saying he did not understand why Senator DeMint would think an anti-cash for cloture amendment was needed. Ben Nelson of Cornhusker Hustle fame went to the floor of the Senate to vote for Senator Durbin’s effort to kill the DeMint motion. But, once the fair Senator from Nebraska saw that there were enough votes, without his, to kill the DeMint effort, Nefarious Nelson went back and changed his vote.

For Sale: One senator (D-Neb.) No principles, low price
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122202664.html?wpisrc=nl_pmheadline
If I was a Republican in NE, with designs on a seat in DC, I’d send this to every voter in the state. Excerpt: Sometimes there is a fine ethical line between legislative maneuvering and bribery. At other times, that line is crossed by a speeding, honking tractor-trailer, with outlines of shapely women on mud flaps bouncing as it rumbles past. Such was the case in the final hours of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's successful attempt to get cloture on health-care reform. Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, the last Democratic holdout, was offered and accepted a permanent exemption from his state's share of Medicaid expansion, amounting to $100 million over 10 years.

20 Memorable Quotes From Senate Democrooks on Obamacare http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2009/12/20-memorable-quotes-from-senate-democrats-on-obamacare/
We must remind the voters over and over. Excerpt: SEN. BEN NELSON (D-NE): “My Vote Is Not For Sale Period.”

Gift Ideas
http://www.zannel.com/viewupdate.htm?id=SH9TB
If you missed anyone on your list, the BWI Airport, in the heart of Obama Country, has some popular tee shirts. (I’m probably getting underwear again. My wife things my favorite Christmas song is, “I’m dreaming of a tighty-whitey Christmas.” Apologies to those who think any reference to white or black indicates racism in some way.)

Video: Obama in ‘08 promising “every penny” of TARP would go back to taxpayers http://hotair.com/archives/2009/12/24/video-obama-in-08-promising-every-penny-of-tarp-would-go-back-to-taxpayers/
But like no taxes and transparency on healthcare, that was just to get votes from the rubes. Excerpt: Breitbart TV and Naked Emperor News captures the expiration date of another Barack Obama pledge, this time on the repayment of TARP funds. In October 2008, then-Senator Obama promised that TARP funds wouldn’t just disappear, but that “every penny” would get returned to the taxpayers. He didn’t want to give President Bush a “blank check.”

Obama's year of falling swiftly
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Obama_s-year-of-falling-swiftly-8677497-79989702.html
Excerpt: To grasp the depth of the gathering disappointment with Obama, consider this fact: He is less popular today, not quite a year into his first term, than the battered and bruised George W. Bush was at the end of his eight years in office. Here are the numbers: Scott Rasmussen's latest survey of likely voters -- the most reliable predictor of future election results -- finds 56 percent of those questioned either disapprove or strongly disapprove of Obama's performance, with 46 percent falling in the latter category. When Bush left office, 43 percent strongly disapproved of his performance. In the Gallup Poll, only one in four Americans is satisfied with the direction in which Obama and the Democratic Congress are leading the country. Rasmussen's tracking finds Republicans with their biggest lead of the year in the generic congressional party balloting, leading Democrats by 44 percent to 36 percent. Only one in four Americans approves of the job Congress is doing, according to Gallup.

Dramatic New Evidence on Major Nidal Hasan and the Fort Hood Terror Attack http://rubinreports.blogspot.com/2009/12/dramatic-new-evidence-on-major-nidal.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Rubinreports+%28RubinReports%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail
Nothing to do with Islam. Just a nut. Keep saying that. Excerpt: Anwar al-Awlaki, a Muslim cleric who is a U.S. citizen now living in Yemen, says that the mass murdering major, Nidal Hasan, asked and was given by him a religious ruling authorizing him to shoot the soldiers. This would prove premeditation, a rational decision based on Islamic law, and the Jihadist motivation of the attack beyond any ability to conceal it. Awlaki’s al-Jazira interview is translated by MEMRI which, it should be noted, does not at all sensationalize the story. While Awlaki could be talking big or “taking credit” for the terrorist operation, he was the imam at Hasan’s mosque in the Washington DC area for some time. His account is credible though it obviously should be investigated closely.

Pakistan: Taliban continues campaign against the alarming spectre of educated women http://www.jihadwatch.org/2009/12/pakistan-taliban-continues-campaign-against-the-alarming-spectre-of-educated-women.html
Excerpt: The Taliban blew up a girls' school in Pakistan's Khyber district, where troops are fighting against militants in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan, an official said Wednesday. Militants detonated explosives overnight at the government-run school in Bazgarah town, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of Peshawar, capital of the violence-plagued North West Frontier Province.

From John Coleman, the guy who started The Weather Channel http://www.kusi.com/home/78477082.html?video=pop&t=a

Franconas leaders on field, ground
http://sports.espn.go.com/boston/mlb/columns/story?columnist=edes_gordon&id=4768399
Excerpt: Nick Francona wears a uniform to work, too, but there are no numbers on the back. The 24-year-old is a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps, having received his commission after completing six months of training at the officer candidates school in Quantico, Va. There were 59 prospective officers in his class; seven were disqualified for medical reasons, and only half of the remaining 52 finished the program. There are similarities, Nick Francona said, in commanding a platoon and managing a baseball team. His father reluctantly agreed, but cited one critical difference. "If we don't fulfill our obligations," Terry Francona said, "we lose a game. If they don't, kids die." While having lunch in a Newton restaurant this week, Nick Francona said he had some reservations talking about himself. "I don't think of myself as special or different because of who my father or my family is," he said. "Being a Marine is special enough in and of itself. But I realize that I have an opportunity here, to let people know how special this thing is.

Howard, highly decorated Vietnam veteran, dies at 70 http://www.mysanantonio.com/military/80023787.html
Excerpt: Retired Army Col. Robert L. Howard, a Medal of Honor recipient who retired in San Antonio and was one of the most highly decorated soldiers from the Vietnam War, died Wednesday.

Rude awakening for naive Left about big government http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Rude-awakening-for-naive-Left-about-big-government-8677436-79987917.html
Excerpt: To watch the Left turn against President Obama's health care reform is to watch the shattering of an illusion. Liberals' high-minded plan for insuring all Americans has devolved into a congressional orgy of pork. It has produced a bailout for insurers and a generous subsidy for drug makers -- and both industries are backing this bill to the hilt. Why wouldn't insurers support a bill that places a gun at the head of every American and shouts: "Write a check to an insurer, or we'll send you to jail!" Independent-thinking liberals are now suffering from buyer's remorse. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called in vain for the death of Obamacare. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann promised to go to prison before he would comply with the bill's mandate to purchase health insurance. Markos Moulitsas of the liberal Daily Kos wrote on Twitter: "Insurance companies win. Time to kill this monstrosity coming out of the Senate." But none of them will learn the underlying lesson that the legislative process tried to teach them. The free market is a harsh mistress, but a fair one. Big Government, on the other hand, is always for sale to the powerful.