Political Digest March 1, 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.

Pelosi: GOP has had its day; confident Dems can come together
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/84089-pelosi-gop-has-had-its-day-217-healthcare-votes-in-sight
Maybe November 2 will be the GOP’s day if she jams through a bill the voters hate. Excerpt: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday that Republicans have left their mark on the healthcare bill and should accept that the bill will go forward. "They've had plenty of opportunity to make their voices heard," she said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday morning. "Bipartisanship is a two-way street. A bill can be bipartisan without bipartisan votes. Republicans have left their imprint." The public option, for example, has been stripped from the bill because Republicans were so adamantly against it, she said. "They've had a field day going out and misrepresenting what the bill says," Pelosi said. "But that's what they do."

Pelosi's 'campaign mode' could play major role in Rangel's future
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/84115-pelosis-campaign-mode-could-play-major-role-in-rangels-future
Excerpt: For the first time, Speaker Nancy Pelosi must deal with the ethics scandals surrounding Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) as the political winds threaten her majority. Throughout 2009, Pelosi (D-Calif.) defended Rangel (D-N.Y.), refusing to remove him as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. But 2010 brings a new dilemma for Pelosi in the wake of the ethics committee finding that Rangel violated House rules. Few Republicans last year predicted that they could take back the House. But now, the GOP feels like it has a chance, and so do independent campaign analysts. Rangel has been weakened by the new ethics panel finding. Politically vulnerable Democrats, including Rep. Bobby Bright (D-Ala.), have called for Rangel to relinquish his gavel. There are likely to be more Democrats who will follow suit. Late last year Pelosi exuberantly described herself as back in full “campaign mode,” confident that Democrats could tackle tough issues of reforming healthcare and bolstering the economy and retain “a strong majority” after the 2010 elections. Two and a half months later, Rangel’s ethics woes are again snatching headlines as Democrats' elections prospects are looking grim as healthcare, the economy and the war in Afghanistan continue to vex the party in power.

Democrats Check In...but they can't check out
http://plumwoodroad.blogspot.com/
Excerpt: Now that the Health Care Summit is over it’s safe to say that Barack Obama, even if he serves but a single term, is one president who’ll not soon be forgotten. Depending on which side you're on, either for or against Obama’s stated goals, it is clear that for years to come we’ll all be marveling over either the monumental smallness of this man’s accomplishments or the grandness of his missed opportunities. It is now apparent to anyone half-paying attention that Barack Obama and his entire administration are in way over their heads. They come across as callow opinionated student protesters who have barricaded themselves into the Dean’s office and shut down the campus…Now what? There was a moment following the Scott Brown Senate victory back in January, that it looked like the President had gotten the message; he indicated he would go to work on the economy, on lowering unemployment, on getting business moving and keeping the country safe. This was a sad but entirely reasonable fall-back position; write off the first year of his administration as a wild goose chase and go to work on the problems that face the nation. That new focus lasted about a day and a half…then, just like nothing ever happened, it was back to work trying to cram that over-stuffed the 2,400+page Senate Health Care Bill into law. Reports began to leak of Democratic strategy sessions, of possible legislative tricks and legal maneuvering. The Health Care Bill would be declared a piece of “financial” legislation so that Budget Reconciliation could be used to pass it with 50 votes plus the Vice President’s. Holy Criminetly! Now another six weeks has slipped by.

Start Over on Health Care Petition
http://www.huckpac.com/?Fuseaction=Petitions.View&Petition_id=13
Not sure on line petitions are worth a bucket of warm spit, but signing costs nothing.

House Democrats challenge EPA on greenhouse gases
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100226/ap_on_go_co/us_climate_change_congress
The Warmists’ house continues to crumble. Excerpt: Two top House Democrats have introduced a measure aimed at blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating pollution-causing greenhouse gases. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota and Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton of Missouri want to veto the EPA's finding in December that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare.

University ‘tried to mislead MPs on climate change e-mails’
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7043566.ece
The rot spreads. Excerpt: The university at the centre of the climate change row over stolen e-mails has been accused of making a misleading statement to Parliament. The University of East Anglia wrote this week to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee giving the impression that it had been exonerated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). However, the university failed to disclose that the ICO had expressed serious concerns that one of its professors had proposed deleting information to avoid complying with the Freedom of Information Act.

Man who broke the Bank of England, George Soros, 'at centre of hedge funds plot to cash in on fall of the euro'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1253791/Is-man-broke-Bank-England-George-Soros-centre-hedge-funds-betting-crisis-hit-euro.html#ixzz0gnV9JC4d
He’s so destructive, maybe supporting liberals and MoveOn.org is just another way to trash the west. Excerpt: A secretive group of Wall Street hedge fund bosses are said to be behind a plot to cash in on the decline of the euro. Representatives of George Soros's investment business were among an all-star line up of Wall Street investors at an 'ideas dinner' at a private townhouse in Manhattan, according to reports. A spokesman for Soros Fund Management said the legendary investor did not attend the dinner on February 8, but did not deny that his firm was represented.

The Sleep-Deprived Housewives of Victimhood County
http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/02/27/the-sleep-deprived-housewives-of-victimhood-county/
Excerpt: The patriarchy is keeping Naomi Wolf up at night.
Young girls in Yemen are forced into marriages with adult men, lesbians in South Africa face “corrective rape,” and women throughout the Muslim world suffer indignity, violence, and death under Sharia law. But that’s not the sort of horrific oppression interrupting Wolf’s beauty rest.
The “next big issue” women need to address, says Wolf, is lack of sleep.

William Jefferson's Sister, Niece Plead Guilty As Hell
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2010/02/william-jeffersons-sister-niece-plead-guilty-as-hell.html
Excerpt: Now, there's an accomplished Louisiana political family for ya! NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The sister of former U.S. Congressman William Jefferson and her daughter have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, aggravated identity theft, money laundering, and tax evasion. Betty Jefferson and her daughter Angela Coleman admitted Thursday they used political offices and nonprofit groups they controlled to enrich themselves over the course of seven years.

A Cure for Character
http://townhall.com/columnists/GeorgeWill/2010/02/28/a_cure_for_character
Excerpt: This DSM defines as "personality disorders" attributes that once were considered character flaws. "Antisocial personality disorder" is "a pervasive pattern of disregard for ... the rights of others ... callous, cynical ... an inflated and arrogant self-appraisal." "Histrionic personality disorder" is "excessive emotionality and attention-seeking." "Narcissistic personality disorder" involves "grandiosity, need for admiration ... boastful and pretentious." And so on.
If every character blemish or emotional turbulence is a "disorder" akin to a physical disability, legal accommodations are mandatory. Under federal law, "disabilities" include any "mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities"; "mental impairments" include "emotional or mental illness." So there might be a legal entitlement to be a jerk. (See above, "antisocial personality disorder.")

ACORN Goes Madonna and Tries to Reinvent Itself
http://townhall.com/columnists/DougGiles/2010/02/27/acorn_goes_madonna_and_tries_to_reinvent_itself
We must be alert and expose the new ACORNs. Excerpt: Why in God’s name would ACORN fold its national name and rebrand itself under a new make and model? I thought Bertha Lewis, the L.A. Times, the New York Times, Wade Rathke, Carrot Top, Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, Beelzebub and Ed Schultz declared ACORN to be innocent, lily-white virgins of virtue and truth who were viciously slandered and preyed upon by the crazy college pranksters Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe and that dastardly dude Andrew Breitbart?

ATF seizes 30 toy guns, infuriating local business owner
http://www.koinlocal6.com/content/news/topstories/story/ATF-seizes-30-toy-guns-infuriating-local-business/vUVs2QUCAUuZWeRrqgIQaA.cspx
Your tax dollars at work. Excerpt: A local business owner is flabbergasted after a shipment of 30 toy guns for his store was confiscated by ATF agents in Tacoma. Brad Martin and his son, Ben, sell the Airsoft BB guns from their store in Cornelius where they’ve been in business for seven years. The Martins said they buy their stock from Taiwan because the merchandise is less expensive. But the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized a shipment of 30 in October. That shipment is worth around $12,000 and the ATF is promising to destroy the entire shipment. Special Agent Kelvin Crenshaw said the toys can be easily retro-fitted into dangerous weapons. "With minimal work it could be converted to a machine gun," Crenshaw said. (So, they should convert one and shoot it to prove it.)

Determined not to be a victim, retiree fires back
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100228/NEWS03/2280382/1017/news
While the ATF is chasing toy guns—see above—the gangbangers are well armed. In IL and WI, law abiding folk can’t get a permit to carry, so he’d just have had to let them rob and likely kill him. Something about the white Honda bothered Paul Campbell. He had no idea the young men inside were looking for easy targets. In Campbell, a retired school bus driver, they chose the wrong man. Campbell had a permit to carry a handgun. t was a Saturday evening in August, and Campbell and his girlfriend, Alice, were returning from North Nashville to the Southeast Davidson County home he shares with his daughter and her family. Something about the car didn't look right," Campbell said. "It threw a flag up in my head. Maybe it was God telling me 'Look out.' "When Campbell parked on his cul-de-sac, the Honda eased in behind his van. He reached for the .38-caliber revolver under his seat. Two of the young men got out of the car — one held a shotgun, the other carried a handgun and a brown bandanna held up to cover his face. "It ain't going to happen," Campbell said to himself, holding his gun across his lap. The 17-year-old with the handgun said, "Give me your money," cursing Campbell through his rolled-down window. Campbell answered with four shots. The wounded gang member fell back, dropping his weapon. The gangsters fled but were soon caught by police.

The Tragic Truth of War
What we dare not say: Killing the enemy brings victory.
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/hanson021910PF.html
Excerpt: Victory has usually been defined throughout the ages as forcing the enemy to accept certain political objectives. “Forcing” usually meant killing, capturing, or wounding men at arms. In today’s polite and politically correct society we seem to have forgotten that nasty but eternal truth in the confusing struggle to defeat radical Islamic terrorism. What stopped the imperial German army from absorbing France in World War I and eventually made the Kaiser abdicate was the destruction of a once magnificent army on the Western front — superb soldiers and expertise that could not easily be replaced. Saddam Hussein left Kuwait in 1991 when he realized that the U.S. military was destroying his very army. Even the North Vietnamese agreed to a peace settlement in 1973, given their past horrific losses on the ground and the promise that American air power could continue indefinitely inflicting its damage on the North. When an enemy finally gives up, it is for a combination of reasons — material losses, economic hardship, loss of territory, erosion of civilian morale, fright, mental exhaustion, internal strife. But we forget that central to a concession of defeat is often the loss of the nation’s soldiers — or even the threat of such deaths. A central theme in most of the memoirs of high-ranking officers of the Third Reich is the attrition of their best warriors. In other words, among all the multifarious reasons why Nazi Germany was defeated, perhaps the key was that hundreds of thousands of its best aviators, U-boaters, panzers, infantrymen, and officers, who swept to victory throughout 1939–41, simply perished in the fighting and were no longer around to stop the allies from doing pretty much what they wanted by 1944–45. After Stalingrad and Kursk, there were not enough good German soldiers to stop the Red Army. Even the introduction of jets could not save Hitler in 1945 — given that British and American airmen had killed thousands of Luftwaffe pilots between 1939 and 1943.

From a Marine vet of Khe Sanh who now lives on the Rio Grande
It is conceivable that the Mexicans will erect a wall to keep Americans from crossing the border for medical care and jobs. The American model has shit in its own mess kit. The dominate paradigms are: Chinese, European, and Mexican. Due to proximity and the proclivity of our countrymen to patriotically vote against their own interests and to grow a greater separation between the haves and have-nots, I'm betting on Mexico, especially if the Canukes build an ice wall. –Lacey Lahren.

Another Puzzle After Iran Moves Nuclear Fuel
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/27/world/middleeast/27iran.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Comment from the Marine buddy who sent this item: Interesting development. Indeed, why would Iran move "all its enriched uranium" out into the open? The next to last paragraph says " The fuel is stored in one big, specialized cask." Did they open it to check, or are they taking the Iranian's word for what is inside it? I wonder if any of the analysts have ever played "7-card Roll Your Own" or are familiar with the concept of bluffing? The question ought to be: are they bluffing strength in real weakness, or weakness in real strength?—Ron. Excerpt: When Iran was caught last September building a secret, underground nuclear enrichment plant at a military base near the city of Qum, the country’s leaders insisted they had no other choice. With its nuclear facilities under constant threat of attack, they said, only a fool would leave them out in the open. So imagine the surprise of international inspectors almost two weeks ago when they watched as Iran moved nearly its entire stockpile of low-enriched nuclear fuel to an above-ground plant. It was as if, one official noted, a bull’s-eye had been painted on it. Why take such a huge risk?

Female Engagement Teams prep for interacting with Afghan women
http://waronterrornews.typepad.com/home/2010/02/female-engagement-teams-prep-for-interacting-with-afghan-women.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+WarOnTerrorNews+(War+On+Terror+News)&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail
Excerpt: Helmand province, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan– There’s an old adage in the Marine Corps – “adapt and overcome.” It can apply to any number of situations, whether it’s not having a particular piece gear or being heavily outnumbered in a fire fight, Marines excel with what they have. Improvising is one of the organization’s hallmarks, and when dealing with something as delicate as respectfully overcoming cultural and social taboos, it is especially important for success in a combat zone? Effectively identifying the wants and needs of the people of Afghanistan requires a unique approach, and female Marines rise to the occasion. Though males are prohibited from speaking with Afghan women, the Corps has been able to breach this cultural barrier by fielding teams of graduates from Female Engagement Team courses like the one conducted by a group of female Marines and sailors of Combat Logistics Battalion–6, Combat Logistics Regiment-2, Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan, here Feb. 1-6.

Islamic radicals 'infiltrate' the Labour Party
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/7333420/Islamic-radicals-infiltrate-the-Labour-Party.html
Excerpt: The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) — which believes in jihad and sharia law, and wants to turn Britain and Europe into an Islamic state — has placed sympathisers in elected office and claims, correctly, to be able to achieve “mass mobilisation” of voters. Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Jim Fitzpatrick, the Environment Minister, said the IFE had become, in effect, a secret party within Labour and other political parties. “They are acting almost as an entryist organisation, placing people within the political parties, recruiting members to those political parties, trying to get individuals selected and elected so they can exercise political influence and power, whether it’s at local government level or national level,” he said. “They are completely at odds with Labour’s programme, with our support for secularism.” Mr Fitzpatrick, the MP for Poplar and Canning Town, said the IFE had infiltrated and “corrupted” his party in east London in the same way that the far-Left Militant Tendency did in the 1980s. Leaked Labour lists show a 110 per cent rise in party membership in one constituency in two years.

Iran's Khamenei urges jihad unity
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3855250,00.html
Excerpt: Leading Palestinian terror figures visit Tehran, meet with Islamic Republic's supreme leader Iran's Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met Hamas Politburo Chief Khaled Mashaal Saturday and told him that the liberation of Palestine will only be achieved through further resistance. "Palestine will be liberated through the Palestinian people's tough resistance and unity among jihad groups. Those who support Zionism will be shamefully ushered off the stage of history and departing with a tarnished image," Khamenei said during the meeting, which was also attended by Ahmad Jibril, secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ramadan Shallah

Life term for blasphemy accused
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/life-term-for-blasphemy-accused-620
Freedom of Speech and tolerance in Islamic countries. Excerpt: A blasphemy accused was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday by a sessions court for outraging religious feelings of Muslims while a co-accused was acquitted for want of evidence. Additional District and Sessions Judge (South) Jangu Khan found Qamar David guilty of using blasphemous remarks about the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and Holy Quran and pronounced the verdict after hearing final arguments from both sides.

Abu Sayyaf militants raid Philippine village
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8540275.stm
Didn’t get the “Islam is a religion of peace” memo. Excerpt: Islamist militants have attacked a village in the southern Philippines, killing at least 11 people, military officials have said.

Blogger helps expose alleged military faker
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/02/army_stolenvalor_022210w/
The jerks always overdo it. One silver star might have passed. Excerpt: The goateed man was decked out in a formal Army uniform with a dozen medals pinned to his jacket and a Commander of the British Empire medallion hanging around his neck. To blogger Mark Seavey, the “general” was an obvious fraud. Seavey’s fellow bloggers at the conservative “This Ain’t Hell” posted a photo of the alleged faker online, dead set on smoking him out. “Wearing two Distinguished Service Crosses and a Combat Infantry Badge with two stars, is analogous to saying someone is a pitcher for the Red Sox and a quarterback for the Patriots,” said Seavey. “If that person existed, you would know about them.” The blog post led to tips, angry comments, media attention and ultimately the Feb. 5 arrest of Michael P. McManus, a 44-year-old former Army private first class who served from 1984 to 1987.

Quote of the day from the Washington Examiner
Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn, on Face the Nation, discussing whether Democrats have the votes to pass the national health care bill: “If they had the votes, we wouldn't have had the summit.” Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Quote-of-the-day-85776302.html#ixzz0gssP3Q9q

Lay Me Doone - A Farewell to the Brave
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qC-ujm58ZnY
Scottish tribute to the fallen.