Political Digest April 4, 2010

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

Happy Easter to Christian believers among my readers.

Obamacare was mainly aimed at redistributing wealth
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Obamacare-was-mainly-aimed-at-redistributing-wealth-89725302.html
It hasn't attracted much notice, but recently some prominent advocates of Obamacare have spoken more frankly than ever before about why they supported a national health care makeover. It wasn't just about making insurance more affordable. It wasn't just about bending the cost curve. It wasn't just about cutting the federal deficit. It was about redistributing wealth.
Health reform is "an income shift," Democratic Sen. Max Baucus said on March 25. "It is a shift, a leveling, to help lower income, middle income Americans." In his halting, jumbled style, Baucus explained that in recent years "the maldistribution of income in America has gone up way too much, the wealthy are getting way, way too wealthy, and the middle income class is left behind." The new health care legislation, Baucus promised, "will have the effect of addressing that maldistribution of income in America." At about the same time, Howard Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman and presidential candidate, said the health bill was needed to correct economic inequities.

AG Helps Illegal Alien Gangbangers Charged With Murder
http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2010/apr/holder-helps-illegal-alien-gangbangers-charged-murder
Excerpt: Three illegal immigrant gang members who faced the death penalty for murdering a Maryland man last summer have been spared by the nation’s chief law enforcement officer who has ordered prosecutors not to seek the maximum punishment. Attorney General Eric Holder intervened on behalf of the El Salvadoran gangbangers by directing federal prosecutors handling their conspiracy and murder case to rule out the death penalty, according to a Virginia-based news web site that broke the story this week. The three illegal immigrants are members of a notoriously violent street gang called Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) that has spread throughout the country like the plague. Last summer they robbed and murdered a man in Virginia as part of a conspiracy to extort money from his prostitution business. A few months later the illegal alien gang members were indicted with federal racketeering and murder. Federal prosecutors indicated that they would seek the death penalty and a court-appointed attorney for one of the defendants was dismissed because he lacked the proper certification for trying a death penalty case. Just a few weeks ago, defense attorneys prepared jury questionnaires that alluded to the death penalty and eliminated jurors who might discriminate against Latinos. But as the May trial approaches, Holder stepped in and ruled out the death penalty. He refuses to explain the last-minute order claiming that that the attorney general’s decision-making process and final decision involving the death penalty is confidential. Court documents cited in the news report say that Holder “authorized and directed” the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Neal McBride, “not to seek the death penalty” against the illegal immigrants. McBride subsequently filed a corresponding court document (Government’s Notice of Intent Not to Seek the Death Penalty) making it official.

Health care hikes rejected
http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2010/04/02/state_rejects_health_insurance_rate_hikes/
The destruction of private insurance begins. Drive up their costs; limit their income to pay the costs. Excerpt: Making good on Governor Deval Patrick’s promise to reject health insurance rate increases deemed excessive, the state Division of Insurance yesterday denied 235 of 274 increases proposed by insurers for plans covering individuals and small businesses. The rulings, following a review process set in motion by emergency regulations Patrick filed in February, mark the first time the state has used its authority to turn down health premium increases. The action immediately sent ripples through the state health care industry....Several health care industry officials said that as a result of the state’s stance, insurers will probably take a tougher position with hospitals and other health care providers when current contracts expire, in an effort to limit reimbursements.

Arizona Firearms Freedom Act Passes Both Houses!
http://arizona.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2010/03/arizona-firearms-freedom-act-passes-both-houses/
Will be a VERY interesting court case. Excerpt: HB 2307, The Arizona Firearms Freedom Act, has just passed the senate with a vote of 22-8! The proposed legislation confronts the position taken by most members of Congress that the “Commerce Clause”, found in Article I, Section 8, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, gives them nearly unlimited power to regulate anything which even remotely affects interstate commerce. This bill challenges that claim, by exempting guns manufactured in Arizona from federal regulation, as long as they are stamped “Made in Arizona” and do not leave the state. The legislative findings contained in this bill assert Arizona’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment and the people’s unenumerated rights under the Ninth Amendment. They also emphasize the fact that when Arizona entered the union in 1912, its people did so as part of a contract between the state and the people of Arizona and the United States. It is very likely that this Firearms Freedom bill will be signed by Governor Brewer into law. This will add Arizona to the list of states like Montana, Tennessee, South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah that are arresting the evil of Congressional Commerce Clause Abuse.

Marine Major running against Barney Frank
http://www.seanbielat.org/about
Tough district for a Republican. But Massachusetts was tough for Scott Brown too.

Palin's Fox Show Crushes the Cable Competition
http://jammiewearingfool.blogspot.com/2010/04/palins-fox-show-crushes-cable.html
Naturally it's spun here as performing modestly. Sarah Palin’s Real American Stories performed modestly for Fox News on Thursday night. Its 2.073 million viewers and 472,000 adults 25-54 dwarfed the competition, but compared to On the Record with Greta last Thursday at 10pm, there was nothing special about Palin’s ratings. Last Thursday Greta averaged 2.3 million viewers and 654,000 adults 25-54. Whether it was the upcoming Good Friday and Easter holiday, TV viewing was down a bit in general and all the broadcast networks took it on the chin.
It performed modestly, yet it dwarfed the competition. OK. Sure, it didn't get the same numbers as Greta Van Susteren in the same slot the week before, probably since it wasn't a live news program. But to say it performed modestly is pretty weak.

Black Tea Party Activists
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9msUFzaJC0&feature=player_embedded

Mexico drug gangs turn weapons on army
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-fg-mexico-gunbattles2-2010apr02%2C0%2C5886596.story
Think Hillary said they are buying their guns in the US, so it’s our fault. Think I’ll pick up an armored car and grenade launcher at my local gun dealer this week. Sure my IL FOID card will be enough. Excerpt: Drug traffickers fighting to control northern Mexico have turned their guns and grenades on the Mexican army, authorities said, in an apparent escalation of warfare that played out across multiple cities in two border states. In coordinated attacks, gunmen in armored cars and equipped with grenade launchers fought army troops this week and attempted to trap some of them in two military bases by cutting off access and blocking highways, a new tactic by Mexico's organized criminals.

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Atlantis) doubles down: "You wingnuts are too dumb to get what I meant”
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/300113.php
Excerpt: When last we heard from Rep. Hank "The Man from Atlantis" Johnson, he was gravely warning us about his "fear" that the Island of Guam was going to "tip over and capsize" from 8,000 new military personnel being stationed on it. Remember, Johnson's Scientific Theory of Island Stabalization posits that the stability of an island is inversely proportional to the population that gathers upon it at its "least widest" point. He doesn't like that his theory is being scoffed out all over talk radio and the blogosphere, though. So he has defended it the only way he can: not on the scientific merits of his claim (which, I am told, has the potential of radically reshaping the way man views the sciences of Geology and Vulcanology) but by insinuating that critics are simply too stupid to get the gist of what he was saying.

Spiegel does 8 part series on current state of climate research
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,686697,00.html
Excerpt: Plagued by reports of sloppy work, falsifications and exaggerations, climate research is facing a crisis of confidence. How reliable are the predictions about global warming and its consequences? And would it really be the end of the world if temperatures rose by more than the much-quoted limit of two degrees Celsius?

President calls for end to partisan 'vitriol'
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts1437
Excerpt: George Bush was lambasted horrendously while in office, accused of being callous about the death of American soldiers, a real war criminal, a coward, a phony soldier, a religious nut, a self-righteous reformed alcoholic, etc, etc, and in fact, that continues to some degree even now. And he never made direct accusations of any of his detractors, he basically went on without comment. (And this does not mean I think he was without blame for anything done in his presidency, in my opinion he deserved some serious criticism.) But now it's a bad thing for the country to have pointed criticism, nasty zingers, directed at the current President? Well, it's another "that was then, this is now" thing. I find this pretty ridiculous, and clearly Mr. Obama's skin is not really that thick.

Obama backtracks on airline security measures after CAIR and its funders object
http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2010/04/02/obama-backtracks-on-airline-security-measures-after-cair-and-its-funders-object/
Excerpt: Obama backtracks on airline security measures after CAIR and its funders object
That didn’t take long. CAIR objected, and their funders – the Saudi’s were angered (below). And two months later the policy is scrapped. Looks like all those jihad-friendly Obama appointees at DHS and TSA are rapidly taking control of U.S. security policy – all to the benefit of the jihad. via U.S. to impose new airline security measures.

Amnesty International Boss Endorses "Jihad in self-defence"
http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2010/04/amnesty-international-boss-endorses-jihad-in-self
Problem is, everyone says they are acting in self-defence, including Hitler when he invaded Poland. Excerpt: Amnesty International (AI) Secretary-General Claudio Cordone has come under fire for defending jihad when it occurs in "self-defence" – a position many other human rights advocates believe "would gravely undermine the future of the human rights movement." Cordone's comments came in response to a February 13 "Global Petition" to AI by human-rights and women's -rights advocates protesting the suspension of Gita Sahgal, a senior AI official in London. Sahgal was suspended after the Sunday Times of London reported she believed Amnesty's collaboration with former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzem Begg "fundamentally damages" the group's reputation. In a letter sent to senior AI officials, Sahgal charged that Amnesty has mistakenly aligned itself with Begg and his organization Cageprisoners, which calls itself a human-rights organization working to "raise awareness of the plight of prisoners" held in the war on terror.

Former Def. Minister: Israel Will Attack Iran by Nov.
http://www.newsmax.com/KenTimmerman/Timmerman-Israel-Iran-nuclear/2010/04/02/id/354614
Excerpt: Israel will be compelled to attack Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities by this November unless the U.S. and its allies enact “crippling sanctions that will undermine the regime in Tehran,” former deputy defense minister Brig. Gen. Ephraim Sneh said on Wednesday in Tel Aviv. The sanctions currently being discussed with Russia, China, and other major powers at the United Nations are likely to be a slightly-enhanced version of the U.N. sanctions already in place, which have had no impact on the Iranian regime. And despite unanimous passage of the Iran Petroleum Sanctions Act in January, the Obama administration continues to resist efforts by Congress to impose mandatory sanctions on companies selling refined petroleum products to Iran. In an Op-Ed in the Israeli left-wing daily, Haaretz, Sneh argues that Iran will probably have “a nuclear bomb or two” by 2011.

Six killed in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6302EI20100401
More members of that “tiny minority of extremists” who didn’t get the “Islam is a religion of peace” memo. Excerpt: Suspected Islamic insurgents shot dead six Buddhist villagers in Thailand's restive south Thursday, police said, the latest attack in the troubled region bordering Malaysia.

Koch Outraged By Obama's Treatment of Israel Over Housing Construction
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/01/koch-outraged-obamas-treatment-israel-housing-construction/?test=latestnews
Excerpt: Former New York Mayor Ed Koch expressed disappointment in President Obama on Thursday for his treatment of Israel after it announced it would continue construction in East Jerusalem – the section of the holy city claimed by the Palestinians. "I have been a supporter of President Obama and went to Florida for him, urged Jews all over the country to vote for him saying that he would be just as good as John McCain on the security of Israel. I don't think it's true anymore," Koch told Fox News' Neil Cavuto. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got a chilly reception at the White House last week after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new apartments for Jews in East Jerusalem during a visit from Vice President Biden. The announcement drew sharp condemnations from Washington and calls to cancel the construction plans – requests that Netanyahu says he will not heed.