Political Digest January 18, 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.

Scott Brown Files Ethics Complaint- SEIU Used State Resources to Urge Workers to Volunteer for Coakley
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/01/breaking-scott-brown-files-ethics-complaint-seiu-used-state-resources-to-urge-workers-to-volunteer-for-coakley/
Excerpt: FOX News Boston reported: Republican Senate hopeful Scott Brown has filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission after a report that a union backing rival Martha Coakley used state resources to urge workers to volunteer for Coakley’s campaign.
The report by FOX25 said the Service Employees International Union used state computers and e-mail addresses to direct state employees to volunteer for Coakley, the Democratic state attorney general. Coakley’s campaign referred questions to the attorney general’s office. A spokeswoman said the attorney general’s office has received the letter from Brown’s attorney and will review it before commenting. The SEIU did not immediately return a call for comment. (No big deal. If the SEIU isn’t beating people up, they still expect to win.)

Democrats scramble in Massachusetts to retain Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011504069.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: BOSTON -- Shaken by polls showing Republican Scott Brown surging in the Senate race that could decide the fate of President Obama's agenda, Democrats on Friday scrambled to shore up the battered candidacy of Martha Coakley, the state attorney general whose once-commanding lead appeared to vanish in the space of two weeks. The White House announced that Obama will campaign here Sunday. Former president Bill Clinton broke away from promoting Haitian relief to rally the Democratic faithful, which polls show has taken a victory by Coakley as much for granted as analysts say her campaign clearly did. Both candidates announced plans to barnstorm the three days before Tuesday's special election. Brown will mount a bus tour; Coakley will place her hopes on a recast stump speech unveiled at the rallies with Clinton.

MSNBC’s Schultz: “I’d Cheat To Keep These Bast*rds Out”
http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/01/16/msnbcs-schultz-id-cheat-to-keep-these-bastrds-out/
No surprise here. The statists are committed to statism, and to get it will kill freedom, like the freedom to vote. Alert ACORN. Excerpt: MSNBC’s Ed Schultz told radio listeners yesterday he thinks cheating is justified in order to prevent Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts.

Mark Steyn: Can Obama hold Teddy's seat?
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/educated-229341-massachusetts-obama.html
Excerpt: I've been out of the country for a couple of days, so let me see if I've got this right: America's preparing to celebrate the first anniversary of Good King Barack the Hopeychanger's reign by electing a Republican? In Massachusetts? In what the tin-eared plonkers of the Democrat machine still insist on calling "Ted Kennedy's seat"? Remember the good old days when the glossy magazine covers competed for the most worshipful image of the new global colossus? If you were at the Hopeychange inaugural ball on Jan. 20, 2009, when Barney Frank dived into the mosh pit, and you chanced to be underneath when he landed, and you've spent the past year in a coma, until suddenly coming to in time for the poll showing some unexotically monikered nobody called Scott Brown, whose only glossy magazine appearance was a Cosmopolitan pictorial 30 years ago (true), four points ahead in Kennedy country, you must surely wonder if you've woken up in an alternative universe. The last thing you remember before Barney came flying down is Harry Reid waltzing you round the floor while murmuring sweet nothings about America being ready for a light-skinned brown man with no trace of a Negro dialect. And now you're in some dystopian nightmare where Massachusetts is ready for a nude-skinned Brown man with no trace of a Kennedy dialect. How can this be happening? You don't need to have been in an actual coma. Subscribing to The Boston Globe, the unreadable and increasingly unread Massachusetts snooze-sheet, has much the same effect. As the house organ of a decrepit one-party state, the Globe endorsed Martha Coakley with nary a thought using its Sober Thoughtful Massachusetts Election Editorial template ("[INSERT NAME OF CAREERIST HACK HERE] For Governor/Senator/Mayor/Whatever") and dutifully obscured what happened when one of the candidate's minders shoved to the sidewalk a reporter who had the lese majeste to ask an unhelpful question. If you're one of the dwindling band of Bay Staters who rely on the Globe for your news, you would never have known that a Massachusetts pseudo-"election" had bizarrely morphed into a real one – you know, with two candidates, just like they have in Bulgaria and places. On Friday, the paper finally acknowledged that something goofy was happening: As the revealing headline put it, "Race Is In A Spinout." As in "spinning out of control"? You mean, out of the control of the party and its dopey media cheerleaders? What they really mean is that the Democrats' coronation procession is in a spinout.

Coakley’s Top Ten
http://townhall.com/columnists/JillianBandes/2010/01/18/coakley%e2%80%99s_top_ten
Excerpt: Here are ten things you should know about Democrat Martha Coakley going into Tuesday’s primary.

Overwhelmed With Grief, Aging Rock Star and Special Envoy to Haiti Abandons Post, Flees to Massachusetts to Campaign For Coakley
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=9355
Excerpt: I heard Bill Clinton the other night saying how desperate the situation in Haiti is. Which makes you wonder how he, as “special envoy” to the crippled country, can find the time to abandon the suffering people to go campaign for a hack politician from Massachusetts. No wonder he and Obama roped George W. Bush into the Haiti relief effort. They’re too busy stumping for Martha Coakley.

Heckling Obama ...Blue Blue Boston U
UPDATE: BROWN Rally Breaking Records
https://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&shva=1#inbox
Excerpt: Stumping for Coakley, Obama gets uh, stumped. It's not pretty, and the heckling goes on for a quite some time. And he couldn't fill the hall. “It holds 3,000 and frankly only 2,000 to 2,500 showed up.” (FOX reported) Obama Heckled at Coakley Rally in Boston… At a University? (Video)

New Coakley ad claims Scott Brown is Bill Buckner
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/
Satire.

IDF in Haiti
www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk?blend=1&ob=4#p/a/u/0/NdplDDY9MGA
And the Saudis are where? IDF Spokesperson January 16th, 2010: The IDF Medical and Rescue Team has arrived in Haiti, set up a field hospital in Port-Au-Prince and is beginning to treat patients there. In addition, the forces are locating and rescuing survivors trapped in ruined buildings, including many who were injured during the collapse of the UN headquarters. The field hospital is prepared to receive dozens of ambulances evacuating injured children from the different disaster struck areas. Between Friday night and Saturday, dozens of truckloads of medical and logistical equipment were unloaded and the field hospital set up. The Israeli delegation landed in the capital of Port-Au-Prince yesterday evening and has located itself in a soccer field near the air port. Upon arrival, C4I teams deployed communications infrastructure in preparations for the hospital's establishment. Two teams, comprised of search and rescue personnel and canine operators from the IDF canine unit were sent out on rescue missions. The first team was sent to the Haiti UN headquarters in order to assist in rescuing survivors. The rescue teams are working in cooperation with local authorities in order to reach disaster struck areas where survivors can be located and assisted. The delegation is scheduled to stay in Haiti for a minimum of two weeks. Further stay will be assessed at the end of this period.

The March Toward “Gleichschaltung”
Is the U.S. Heading Toward Socialism?
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.5272/pub_detail.asp
Excerpt: In 1933, Hitler began a systematic attempt to eliminate opposition and bring about conformity with the Nazi agenda. Using the policy of Gleichschaltung or “Synchronization,” he consolidated his authority within the Reich bureaucracy and key aspects of German culture and life using propaganda, intimidation, appointments of Party loyalists and new laws and directives. Hitler employed the services of an invasive police force and seized control of schools, labor unions, the military, media, the arts, churches, social service organizations and recreational clubs. Similarly, the United States is currently undergoing widespread economic and political change under the Obama administration which is using a series of extensive actions and techniques that, but for intent, bear a striking resemblance to steps taken in pre-war Germany. In the space of a year, the administration, which campaigned on a platform of “hope and change” and publicly avowed support for the redistribution of income in the notorious “Joe the Plumber” interchange, has begun sweeping programs utilizing a system of czars, costly spending plans, takeovers of entire industries and a proposed seizure of the healthcare and energy sectors. In this way, the administration has increased the size, power and jurisdiction of the federal government. It has also maintained unprecedented control of the media and the message, encouraged “spontaneous” content from children singing Obama’s praises on the Internet and begun legislation to secure government control over broadband and the Internet. America would do well during this time of economic and political upheaval to keep close watch on the measures taken by the administration to ensure that our free-enterprise system and our personal freedoms are not overwhelmed by the zeal for change that characterized prewar Germany and led to Hitler’s national socialist dictatorship.

Lawmakers protest healthcare bill’s caps on benefits over policyholder's lifetime
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/76519-lawmakers-protest-health-bills-caps-on-benefits
A cadre of Democratic lawmakers and patient groups is urging congressional Democratic leaders to abandon plans to permit health insurance companies to set lifetime limits on their customers’ benefits. In letters sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the other senior Democratic lawmakers authoring the final version of healthcare reform legislation, 29 House Democrats and seven Senate Democrats press the leaders to adopt the House’s take on the bill, which would prohibit insurers from establishing a dollar cap on how much they will pay out during a policyholder’s lifetime. (And will policy holders or taxpayers pay the additional costs of this increased coverage?)

Payments to states emerges as major obstacle to healthcare reform
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/76487-payments-to-states-emerges-as-major-obstacle-to-health-reform
Bribes coming home to roost? Excerpt: Some House Democrats believe their states would get shortchanged in the overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system and the funding issue is fast becoming a major hurdle to getting a bill signed into law. How much of a burden states would have to shoulder for a proposed Medicaid expansion is the latest friction point between the House and the Senate, and is threatening to blow a hole in the measure’s price tag. There’s a lot of angst right now from members from states like New York and California over this,” a senior Democratic aide said. “And there’s a growing concern that these states are getting the short end of the stick. And that’s particularly frustrating because it was members from these states that carried this bill to the point we’re at now.” Lawmakers from these states and others are disgruntled because states that already offer more generous Medicaid coverage would be offered less additional assistance than states with relatively smaller programs.

Waupaca Woman Finds Gun in Airport Bathroom
http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=11831863
I blame global warming. Don’t you feel secure? Excerpt: A Waupaca woman finds herself in the middle of a major security investigation at Cleveland's airport. Kimmy Janke had gone through security. In fact, she was in a secure part of the terminal when she stopped to go to the bathroom before making her connecting flight. That's when she found a loaded handgun.
An investigation with our ABC affiliate in Cleveland uncovered what one U.S. senator calls a "serious breach of public safety." In an age of colored threat levels and heightened security, this investigation shows another lapse inside our airports. All Janke and her boyfriend Ryan really remember about last September's trip to Portland is what happened inside the Cleveland airport. "Panic. I didn't know what to do. I looked at it and was like, wow, that's a gun. We're past security. What do I do?" (Put it in your carry on. Free gun, past security, and what a surprise if a guy pulls a box cutter!!)

Copts to demonstrate at White House against Muslim persecution of Christians
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/01/copts-to-demonstrate-at-white-house-against-muslim-persecution-of-christians.html
BO will ignore this.

Playwright petrol attack handed to terrorist police
http://www.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/121/article_6538.asp
The intimidation of anyone who speaks out goes on. Excerpt: An investigation into an attack in Paris on the Algerian actress and playwright Rayhana has been handed over to anti-terrorist police. The investigators suspect the attack was linked to Rayhana's play, A mon âge, je me cache encore pour fumer, which focuses on the treatment of women in Algeria.

Husband Shoots Burglar During 911 Call
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ytn8uplERY&feature=rec-fresh+div-r-2-HM

I’m Tired
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/userletter/?letter_id=4494628646
Another Congressman puts up my piece. Maybe I should move to Oklahoma.