Political Digest March 26, 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.

Democrat Clout
Reading John Kass’s excellent column, below, on how the politically-connected in Chicago were able to clout their kids into the good schools under Obama Education Czar Arne Duncan, you can understand why Democrat politicians voted for a government takeover of health care and the school loan program. Their families will be on the clout list for good healthcare and education loans. Only we chumbalones will suffer.

Arne Duncan’s list and the Chicago Way
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0324-20100324,0,3694071.column
Excerpt: When human beings are seeking what's best for their children, they're not exactly interested in complaining about how City Hall runs things. Dealing with entrance exams, lobbying for school placement, writing appeals to the lords of the magnet schools is difficult enough. Naturally, they're not eager to be seen by City Hall as beefers. If any group understands how bureaucracy can sting, it is the city's professional class. They know that in Chicago, there's no percentage in shouting the emperor has no clothes. So they behave. Daley didn't exactly force parents at swordpoint to bend their knees and kiss his regal garments. His genius here is more coercive, not the force of the warrior, but the subtle work of the arborist. They eagerly graft their branches to his trunk. The first-tier kids go on to top colleges, the parents sing Daley's praises. The second-tier workers are rooted firmly in the status quo. And the tree blooms and bears fruit, mayoral election after mayoral election.

U.S. Rep. Stupak, other Dems get threats over health care reform vote
http://www.freep.com/article/20100324/NEWS15/100324078/1319/Stupak-other-Dems-get-threats-over-health-care
Excerpt: U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan is among the Democratic lawmakers who have been threatened after voting for a federal health care bill. Stupak, a former state trooper from Menominee, has received phone messages with profanity, his office confirmed today. “I hope you bleed ... (get) cancer and die,” one male caller told the Catholic congressman between curses. In another message, a female caller said, "There are millions of people across the country who wish you ill.” Stupak received a faxed letter with a drawing of a noose. The note says, "All Baby Killers come to unseemly ends Either by the hand of man or by the Hand of God."

Violence, threats and vandalism
Let us be perfectly clear. There is no excuse for conservatives acting, even in a very minor way, like Bill Ayers and the 60s leftist who blew up buildings and murdered innocent people to further political goals. Those that do will suffer Bill Ayers’ fate—they’ll become respected professors in Chicago, make a lot of money from books and launch political careers in their living rooms, a terrible fate!

But let us also be clear. Wishing Stupak “ill” is not necessarily a threat. I wish that President Obama’s agenda of government takeover of everything will be defeated and that he will be defeated for re-election in 2012, and will do all I can to bring that “ill” for him about. I do not wish him or his family personal harm, and as a Marine would give my life to protect him from physical harm, which would be a disaster for our country. (I’m not protecting the teleprompter, though—it’s on its own. Nor can I protect Obama from Biden’s mouth.) As to Stupak, I wish him the ill of defeat in the 2010 election, but no personal harm.

MSNBC poll wants to know if you are Happy or Angry about the Health Care Bill. Click on the link to vote
http://politics.polls.newsvine.com/_question/2010/03/21/4048693-the-house-has-passed-an-historic-health-care-overhaul-are-you-excited-or-angry?GT1=43001
Please pass this on.

House to take up corrected reconciliation bill tonight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032500006.html?hpid=topnews
Republicans may be making a bad mistake here. Millions of the uninsured and millions more concerned about high health care costs have been demanding for years that the Government take over the student loan program from private banks. Nothing could be more central to “Health Care Reform” unless it was funds for airports in Stupak’s district…. Excerpt: Senate Republicans scouring the final piece of President Obama's landmark health-care package for ways to challenge it have identified two minor violations of reconciliation rules that will force the Senate to change a bill of revisions Thursday and ship it back to the House of Representatives for final passage.

President Obama to repeal-minded Republicans: 'Go for it'
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/89109-obama-to-repeal-minded-gopers-go-for-it
It won’t be repealed until after the coming fiscal collapse repeals all entitlements. Excerpt: President Barack Obama on Thursday flipped into campaign mode and dared Republicans to repeal the healthcare law. With his signature agenda item signed into law, Obama switched from selling the bill to aggressively promoting it during a speech in Iowa City, Iowa, the town where Obama announced his healthcare reform agenda as a candidate in 2007.

What Republicans Should Do Now--Karl Rove
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703312504575142032773435558.html?mod=djemITP_h
Excerpt: Democrats are celebrating victory. The public outcry against what they’ve done doesn’t seem to bother them. They take it as validation that they are succeeding at transforming America. But we’ve seen this movie before and it won’t end happily for Democrats. Their morale rose when the stimulus passed in February 2009. The press hailed it as a popular answer to joblessness and a sluggish economy. At the time, Democrats thought it brightened their chances in the 2009 gubernatorial elections. But a flawed bill, bumbling implementation, and unfulfilled expectations turned the stimulus into a big drag on Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey. A CBS News/New York Times poll recently reported that only 6% of Americans believe the stimulus package created jobs. Democratic hopes that passing health-care reform will help them politically will be unfulfilled because ObamaCare only benefits a small number of people in the short run. Until the massive subsidies to insurance companies fully ramp up in 2017, this bill will be more pain than gain for most Americans. For example, changes in insurance regulations in 2011 and two new mandates in 2014 that force everyone to buy insurance and require everyone to be charged a similar price regardless of age or health will cause insurance premiums to rise more than they would have otherwise. The 10 million people who have a health savings account will also be hurt starting in 2011. With each passing year after that, they will be able to put less away tax free for medical expenses.

Dan Coats, the anti-Obama
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/senate/dan-coats-the-anti-obama.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
Excerpt: Ask Dan Coats why he decided to come out of political retirement to seek the Indiana Senate seat he vacated in 1998 and he offers just two words: "Barack Obama".
"What I saw him doing went against everything I have ever believed, everything I have ever stood for," Coats said in an interview with the Fix earlier this week. "I saw this country in a tailspin under this agenda." That Coats, a Republican who held a seat in the Senate from 1989 to 1998, would so explicitly run against Obama speaks to the drastic shift in the political winds since the President carried the Hoosier State in 2008. (Obama was the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Indiana since Lyndon B. Johnson.)

Reflection – A Sign Of America's Future?
http://patriotsforamerica.ning.com/profiles/blogs/reflection-a-sign-of-americas
Excerpt: Now, cycle ahead to 2010 in the United States of America…a little known Marxist with questionable constitutional credentials exploded on the scene and sworn into office as President of the United States. With a promise to “transform America”, the process of destroying a divinely inspired Constitution, economic system based on free enterprise, less government intrusion, less tax, personal freedom, and liberty began. Finally, on March 21, 2010, in another astonishing flash and a move away from freedom, the United States Congress has taken America into the column of a lawless, unconstitutional nation ruled by Congressional and Executive individuals with an attitude of “there are no rules, we make up the rules as we go along”. The 111th Congress, acting as a tyrannical body, passed unconstitutional health care legislation on March 21, 2010 that makes every State a slave to government mandates and citizens can expect fines and/or imprisonment if we refuse to buy government health care. Recalling the chilling, dead, desolate, dark grey caste of East Berlin as compared to the bright, bustling, energetic West Berlin while entering the city, makes me wonder if the East German model is coming to America?

The Patriot Declaration
http://patriotpost.us/alexander/2010/03/25/the-patriot-declaration/
"Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage on them." --Thomas Jefferson. Across our great nation, there is a groundswell of protest against the leftist agenda of those now holding power in the Executive and Legislative branches of the central government. The tenor of this grassroots movement is growing louder as its number swells and its purpose becomes defined. It is a protest characterized not by a roar for revolution, but by a clarion call for restoration -- repair of our Constitution's authority and return to its standard for Rule of Law. George Washington proclaimed, "The Constitution, which at any time exists 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People, is sacredly obligatory upon all."

An Introduction to Change
http://www.gulf1.com/columns/pappas/pappasframe.htm
Excerpt: During a deployment to Taiwan I found a plaque inscribed with a creed that aptly described what it meant to be an American during the last century. It was written by Dean Alfange a New York politico. He was of Greek origin, legally immigrated with his parents as a small child, fought in WWI and died at age 91. It is notable that he was regarded as a liberal during his era, certainly a far cry from today’s crop by the same brand. The following is what Alfange wrote: “I Do Not Choose to Be a Common Man, It is my right to be uncommon—if I can. I seek opportunity—not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and to succeed. I refuse to barter incentive for a dole. I prefer the challenges of life to the guaranteed existence; the thrill of fulfillment to the stale calm of utopia. I will not trade freedom for beneficence nor my dignity for a handout. I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat. It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid; to think and act for myself, enjoy the benefit of my creations and to face the world boldly and say, ‘This I have done.’” That creed was the essence of what most felt about America from the turn of 20th Century until after WWII. But with the passage of time it gradually changed and culminated in the signing away of fundamental freedom on March 23rd, 2010. Some applaud that for reasons explained in the last essay; others find it highly offensive, invasive and overreaching. It is the antithesis of “seeking opportunity—not security;” it is the implementation of being a “kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state” look after one; it is a step in the direction of a Soviet style future for our children and grandchildren; unless!

Bond Markets Reflect the True Cost of Obamacare
http://townhall.com/columnists/MichaelBarone/2010/03/25/bond_markets_reflect_the_true_cost_of_obamacare
Another harbinger of the coming collapse. Excerpt: Not many people noticed amid the Democrats' struggle to jam their health care bill through the House, but in recent weeks U.S. Treasury bonds have lost their status as the world's safest investment. The numbers are pretty clear. In February, Bloomberg News reports, Berkshire Hathaway sold two-year bonds with an interest rate lower than that on two-year Treasuries. A company run by a 79-year-old investor is a better credit risk, the markets are telling us, than the U.S. government.

Dem Pollster: ‘Brutal’ election for Democrats in the Midwest
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=12242
Excerpt: Following up on my post yesterday about gubernatorial elections in the Midwest, the Public Policy Polling — a Democratic firm, mind you — says things are going to get ugly in November in Big Ten states: If the election was today Democrats would likely lose something they currently hold in every state where they have something to lose- Pennsylvania Governor and perhaps Senate, Michigan Governor, Ohio Governor, Indiana Senate, Iowa Governor, Wisconsin Governor and perhaps Senate, and Illinois Senate and/or Governor. Only Minnesota doesn’t join the party because Democrats have nothing to lose there.

Yellow Journalism and Demagoguery
http://www.galganov.com/editorials.asp?id=1214
Excerpt: What happened to Ann Coulter in Ottawa this week says all there is to say about the condition of Freedom of Expression in Canada. In my last editorial (March 23, 2010), I wrote about Ann Coulter’s speech that she was “GOING” to give at Ottawa University in Canada’s capital, and how she was WARNED by the University Provost to watch what she says. What the Provost said, is that in Canada, Free Speech has its limits, unlike Free Speech in the USA, so be careful what you say so as to not violate our hate-speech laws. I also wrote about LEFTIST THUGS who were able through violent intimidation to stop a Netanyahu speech several years ago at Concordia University in Montreal. What I forgot to mention in the last editorial, is that Concordia University is also widely known, especially amongst its Jewish student body as GAZA U. But, back to Ann Coulter in Ottawa - Just as it was with Netanyahu, the THUGS egged-on by the LEFTIST Academic Elitists were able to keep Coulter from speaking through MOB intimidation. The speech was canceled even after half the speaking hall was filled, with more than twice as many standing outside hoping to get in. In a live FOX News interview with Megyn Kelly (March 24, 2010), a Canadian (Toronto) journalist told Kelly who commands the biggest TV audience in America at this time of the day, that in Canada, “We don’t believe in Freedom and Free Speech”. I am neither misquoting nor making this up.

Afghan soldiers way below standard, exasperated Marines say
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/03/24/91014/afghan-soldiers-way-below-standard.html?storylink=addthis
Excerpt: If the U.S. Marines at Combat Outpost Turbett have any problems with their Afghan colleagues, they're with the Afghan soldiers who followed them into battle against Taliban fighters, not with the elite police officers who've stepped in to help fill the security vacuum. While the Marines praise the Afghan National Civil Order Police force, they can barely conceal their contempt for the Afghan soldiers who live alongside the Americans in this one-time drug den in Marjah. The greatest concern is that the shortcomings of the Afghan soldiers could undermine U.S.-led efforts to present ANCOP as the new, more respectable face of the Afghan government. Marines routinely disparage soldiers in the Afghan National Army as lazy and incompetent. One platoon leader recently avoided taking Afghan soldiers on patrol in favor of ANCOP officers because the soldiers were hours away from ending their tour of duty.

The Scent of Weakness
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/the-scent-of-weakness.htm
Excerpt: Dogs have been trained to carry bombs to attack enemies for decades. The Soviets and others have used dogs as low-tech smart bombs. Yet canine platoons likely would rebel if they caught scent they were being duped to die. Today, more sophisticated people employ men (mostly) to deliver bombs in Afghanistan. Gullible souls are selected, conditioned, trained and deployed. Malleable minds are identified then loaded with psychic software that uses their minds to create a vision. Evil persons of superior intellect identify the raw material—that raw material might be an engineer from a stable family—and trains them to fetch myths. Suicide attackers have murdered countless thousands of people around the world. They go by various names, such as Kamikaze, Black Tiger, and Martyr. The attackers are not all men. Some are Tigresses. My friend Alex Perry met a wannabe Black Tigress in Sri Lanka. She was 18. Alex described the girl in Time Magazine:

An Israeli diplomat expelled? But look who the British government won't get rid of…
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/douglasmurray/100031077/an-israeli-diplomat-expelled-but-look-who-the-british-government-wont-get-rid-of/
Excerpt: So the British government has decided to expel an Israeli diplomat over the alleged forging of British passports relating to the assassination of a Hamas terrorist in Dubai on January 20. We are told that the British government believes British passport holders would be at risk as a result of the assassination of the Hamas terrorist. So it is interesting to record just some of the people whom the British government will not expel and who it must therefore believe pose no threat whatsoever to British passport holders. Abu Qatada: known as Osama bin Laden’s ambassador to Europe. He has been in London since 1993. He came here on a forged UAE passport. In 1999 he was convicted in absentia in Jordan for conspiracy to cause explosions, relating to an attempted bomb attack on an American school and a car bomb explosion outside an Amman hotel that was frequented by tourists in 1998. He was also convicted in absentia of conspiracy to cause explosions at Western and Israeli targets in Jordan, to coincide with the millennium New Year celebrations. Farj Hassan al-Saadi: entered the UK illegally in March 2002. He was added to the United Nations Sanctions Committee’s permanent register of al-Qaeda and Taliban members in November 2003. The Special Immigration Appeals Commission ruled that his cell ‘clearly was a group of men with extremist Islamist views supportive of violence against the West which had been acting together for some time in the ways we have set out including recruiting for Al Qaeda, raising money for terrorist activities and obtaining false documents for that purpose. This group can properly be regarded as a serious terrorist group’ and al-Saadi was ‘a highly respected member of the group and that he may well have been its leader for a while’. On 7 February 2008, he was found guilty in absentia in Italy of belonging to a terrorist group and being part of a terrorism plot in 2002. At the trial, he was described as the ‘European envoy’ of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the head of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Ismail Kamoka: a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group who arrived in the UK in November 1994 from Saudi Arabia, claiming asylum.

Photo of the Left’s allies in the Middle East
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/03/palestinian-muslims-invoke-the-nazi-mufti-of-jerusalem-tell-the-truth.html
Worth a thousand words. Excerpt: Palestinians hold a sign depicting a swastika during clashes at Qalandiya checkpoint near the West Bank city of Ramallah March 19, 2010.

FBI's plea deal with Mumbai jihadist causes uproar in India
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/03/fbi.html
Yet again, as with Israel, Obama troubles an ally and aids our enemies. As Pamela Geller asks trenchantly, "Is this jihadi worth more than our relationship with so strategic an ally as India?"

The Glass
Pessimist: The Glass is Half Empty
Optimist: The Glass is Half Full
Marine: Hey, Mary! We’re going to need another round of beer over here, Sweetheart!

Generic News Report
http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/02/the-worlds-most-generic-news-report.html
Adult language, but true enough to be funny.

Krauthammer's take on Biden's comment
"I think he is the man who, perhaps without intending, has given historical context to this presidency. After all, Obama sees himself as a successor to FDR and Truman, so now we have the historical procession: the New Deal, the Square Deal, and the "Big F**n Deal."'