Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 28, 2013

Old Jarhead's Political SitRep for April 28, 2013
Robert A. Hall

I have been out of pocket for a health care lung transplant re-eval at the VA last week. And fighting a touch of the flu. Just back on the computer to over 800 e-mails, many of which I will have to delete unread. Sorry.

Still a lot of interesting links I was able to pull. Muslims who didn't get the "Islam is a religion of peace" memo were apparently very active while I was off line. ~Bob

Information on my books

http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html

Officials found guilty in Obama, Clinton ballot petition fraud
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/26/officials-found-guilty-in-obama-clinton-ballot-petition-fraud/#ixzz2Rh9hYPrd

Excerpt: A jury in South Bend, Indiana has found that fraud put President Obama and Hillary Clinton on the presidential primary ballot in Indiana in the 2008 election. Two Democratic political operatives were convicted Thursday night in the illegal scheme after only three hours of deliberations. They were found guilty on all counts.

N. Korea: Detained American will soon face trial

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/n-korea-says-detained-american-will-soon-face-trial/2013/04/27/47a48818-af12-11e2-8bf6-e70cb6ae066e_story.html

Excerpt: North Korea said Saturday that a detained American allegedly tried to “topple” its government and will soon be put on trial, a potential complication as Washington tries to ramp down tensions stemming from Pyongyang’s recent weapons tests and threats of nuclear attack. (I was hoping it was Dennis Rodman. ~Bob.)

FBI: Miss. man arrested in investigation of poisoned letters sent to Obama, others

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fbi-miss-man-arrested-in-investigation-into-poisoned-letters-sent-to-president-others/2013/04/27/64a7324a-af4d-11e2-b59e-adb43da03a8a_story.html

Excerpt: The FBI says a Mississippi man whose home and business were searched as part of an investigation into poisoned letters sent to the president and others has been arrested in the case. FBI spokeswoman Deborah Madden says 41-year-old Everett Dutschke was arrested Saturday at his Tupelo home in connection with the letters, which allegedly contained ricin.

6 Reasons Why States Should Continue to Oppose Obamacare: States can block many of the law's worst provisions and most troubling consequences. By Peter Suderman

http://reason.com/archives/2013/04/17/6-reasons-states-should-continue-to-oppo

Excerpt: Over the past year, 34 states have decided against implementing some, or any, parts of Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges—and with good reason. As Cato Institute Health Policy Director Michael Cannon argues in his recent paper“50 Vetoes: How States Can Stop the Obama Health Care Law,” states have the power to block many of Obamacare’s most troublesome provisions and consequences simply by refusing to participate in the implementation process. Cannon’s paper provides an array of reasons why state legislators should resist the law. Here are six:

Greed Is Green: How the Profit Motive Helps the Environment. By Pierre Desrochers

http://www.american.com/archive/2013/april/greed-as-green-how-the-profit-motive-helps-the-environment

Excerpt: Yet, as documented in several studies, our environment has paradoxically gotten cleaner and greener as we have become wealthier. These counterintuitive results are typically conveyed through inverted U-shaped “environmental Kuznets curves” (EKCs) that document how emissions and/or concentrations associated with several pollutants first rise with economic development, but then fall as income exceeds a threshold level (Figure 1). (How have non-Capitalist societies done with the environment? ~Bob .)

Can Wind ‘Compete’ without Subsidy?

http://www.globalwarming.org/2013/04/18/can-wind-compete-without-subsidy/

Excerpt: The first witness, Frank Rusco, director of energy and natural resources for the Government Accountability Office, summarized his March 2013 GAO report on federal financial support for wind energy. Rusco testified that nine agencies administer 82 programs providing $4 billion in financial support to the wind industry in 2011 in the form of grants, loans, loan guarantees, and tax expenditures (targeted tax breaks). Some wind projects received support from seven initiatives, Rusco found. (No, but it competes well for Obama's Green Crony Capitalism handout. ~Bob.)

Feds spend at least $890,000 on fees for empty accounts. By David A. Fahrenthold

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/feds-spend-at-least-890000-on-fees-for-empty-accounts/2013/04/24/35700728-ac3b-11e2-8559-85e32b44d524_story.html

Excerpt: If you are a federal worker on furlough this week — or an airline passenger delayed by federal furloughs — you might want to save your blood pressure and go read another story. This one is about all the money the U.S. government spends on . . . nothing.

CIA sought to have Boston bombing suspect put on terrorist watch list

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/biden-lashes-out-at-twisted-perverted-terrorists-in-eulogy-for-slain-office/2013/04/24/652b987a-acf8-11e2-a8b9-2a63d75b5459_story.html

Excerpt: The CIA asked the main U.S. counterterrorism agency to add the name of one of the suspected Boston Marathon bombers to a watch list more than a year before the attack, according to U.S. officials. The agency took the step after Russian authorities contacted officials there in the fall of 2011 and raised concerns that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was seen as an increasingly radical Islamist and could be planning to travel overseas. (Boy, the media will rake the Bush administration for incompetence. Oh, wait, never mind. Nothing to see here. ~Bob.)

NYPD: Part of 9/11 plane’s landing gear discovered
http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/26/nypd-part-of-911-planes-landing-gear-discovered/#ixzz2RgQbJVUE

Excerpt: A rusted 5-foot-tall piece of landing gear believed to be from one of the hijacked planes destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks has been discovered near the World Trade Center wedged between a luxury apartment building and a mosque site that once prompted virulent national debate about Islam and free speech. The twisted metal part, jammed in an 18-inch-wide sliver of open space between the buildings, has cables and levers on it and is about 17 inches wide and 4 feet long, New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Friday. “It’s a manifestation of a horrific terrorist act a block and a half away from where we stand,” he said. (When those working on the Islamic mosque found the debris, they called—ready?—911. --Barb.)

Concealed Carry Permit Holder Uses Gun to Stop Stabbings
http://godfatherpolitics.com/10566/concealed-carry-permit-holder-uses-gun-to-stop-stabbings/#ixzz2RglHTFg9

Excerpt: One person was stabbed in the stomach and another was stabbed in the head and arms as they tried to defend themselves. As Ly looked for a third victim, a 47 year old man with a conceal carry permit saw what was happening. He pulled out his gun and told LY to drop the weapon or he would shoot him. Ly complied and dropped the knife and was subdued by Smith employees. (Couldn't they have just declare it a "knife free zone"? ~Bob.)

Critics see conflict of interest as Obama admin advises doctors on prescriptions
http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/27/critics-see-conflict-of-interest-as-obama-admin-advises-doctors-on-prescriptions/#ixzz2RgOp9C8e

Excerpt: Critics view the academic detailing project as a conflict-of-interest because it allows the federal government — which has an incentive under Obamacare to keep health care costs low — to guide doctors toward choosing cheaper generic drugs for their patients. Pfizer CEO Ian Read strongly agreed with remarks calling the program a conflict of interest during the question-and-answer session at the annual Pfizer shareholder meeting in Short Hills, New Jersey Thursday.

Obama becomes first sitting president to address Planned Parenthood
http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/26/obama-first-sitting-president-to-address-planned-parenthood/#ixzz2RgNqOlZd

Excerpt: Planned Parenthood received $542 million in federal funding in 2012. “[N]o matter how great the challenge of opposition,” Obama told the crowd, “Planned Parenthood is not going anywhere.” “It’s not going anywhere today, it’s not going anywhere tomorrow.” (It's going to continue its mission to prevent more of the unfit [minorities] from being born. ~Bob.)

7 Things Every Moderate Muslim Should Believe. By John Hawkins 

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2013/04/27/7-things-every-moderate-muslim-should-believe-n1580279?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

Excerpt: So, let's shoulder past both political correctness and "Islamophobia" and have a real discussion about "moderate Muslims." We do hear the phrase "moderate Muslim" tossed around a lot; so isn't it about time that someone actually takes a crack at defining what it means? As a non-Muslim, I consider someone to be a "moderate Muslim" if he....

Guns, Bombs and Government. By John C. Goodman 

http://townhall.com/columnists/johncgoodman/2013/04/27/guns-bombs-and-government-n1580052?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl

Excerpt: In fact, none of the bills being considered in Congress would have prevented a single mass shooting in recent years, had they been law at the time of these incidents. Meanwhile, residents of Watertown, Massachusetts — sequestered in their homes while one of the Boston Marathon bombers roamed their neighborhood — can be thankful Congress is slow to act. Under some proposals, it would have been illegal for a Watertown homeowner to lend a gun to his neighbor, or even to a member of his own household, for self-protection!

Jailed jihad terrorists to be set free in weeks

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/10020341/Jailed-jihad-terrorists-to-be-set-free-in-weeks.html

Excerpt: The ringleader of a Birmingham terror cell who plotted a suicide bombing campaign in the UK may never be released, a judge warned on Friday. (Now this is how you fight terror. Show jihadis love and understanding. Don't let them ever have a motive to call you an islamophobe. Be a dhimmi. Feed the alligator and be eaten last. --Don Hank)

Russia detains 140 in Moscow on suspicion of Islamic extremism

http://www.bing.com/news/search?q=Russia+detains+140&form=msnhpm

Excerpt: Russian police and security agents detained 140 people at a mosque in Moscow on Friday on suspicion of involvement with Islamic extremism. (Whoa, there! I know what you're thinking, but these people didn't know each other. They were 140 lone wolves. They just happened to feel lonely and decided to find each other. Any violence they may have plotted was work place violence. That's it: 140 Russians going postal. Put that in the official report. Don Hank)

Exclusive: FBI Informant Claims Taliban Members Are Living In America

http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/04/25/exclusive-fbi-informant-claims-taliban-members-are-living-in-america/

Excerpt: “I am an informant and all I can tell you is that Talibans are walking freely right here in the soil of America right now, right now.” That’s the haunting worry of South Floridian David Mahmood Siddiqui.

Exclusive: Government doc shows how closely Boston Marathon bombers followed al Qaeda plans

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/26/17932143-exclusive-government-doc-shows-how-closely-boston-marathon-bombers-followed-al-qaeda-plans#.UXrQMjDH0BI.twitter

Excerpt: A detailed analysis of the bombs used at the Boston Marathon and during a firefight between the suspects and law enforcement shows how closely the bombmakers followed instructions from the digital al Qaeda magazine “Inspire,” according to a government document obtained by NBC News. (Can't be true. The knee pad media assured us pressure cooker bombs were the signature of right wing extremists. ~Bob.)

Obama's scrub of all mention of Islam from counterterror training materials under fire after Boston jihad bombings

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/04/obamas-scrub-of-all-mention-of-islam-from-counterterror-training-materials-under-fire-after-boston-j.html

Excerpt: CAIR deserves some credit for this -- they mounted a huge campaign in 2010 to have me dropped as a trainer of FBI agents. Others responsible for the politically correct scrubbing of counterterror training materials of any mention of Islam or jihad include hard-Left pseudo-journalist Spencer Ackerman, who published a series of "exposes" of "Islamophobic" counterterror training; Fatima Khera, who wrote a letter to John Brennan demanding that this material be removed; Brennan, who readily acquiesced to this demand; and Salam al-Marayati, who piled on in the mainstream media. They got what they wanted: the scrubbing of counter-terror training materials of the truth about Islam and jihad. Now in Boston, we have begun reaping the fruit of this.

Feds Further Investigating Role of Bomber's Wife: Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva notified husband that the FBI had released his picture.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/feds-further-investigating-role-bombers-wife_719130.html

Excerpt: According to those officials, Dzokhar Tsarnaev told interrogators that the information that set in motion the series of events leading to Tamerlan’s death and Dzokhar’s apprehension came in a phone call from Katherine Russell Tsarnaeva to her husband. (Note also that when his picture and his brother's was released, no one from the Islamic Society of Boston contacted authorities and told them the bombers' identities.--Robert Spencer, JihadWatch.org.)

"Terrorist" axe, knife and arson attack kills 21 in China's Xinjiang

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/24/us-china-xinjiang-idUSBRE93N0HF20130424

Excerpt: A confrontation involving axes, knives, at least one gun and ending with the burning down of a house left 21 people dead in China's troubled far-west region of Xinjiang, a government spokeswoman said on Wednesday, calling it a "terrorist attack". .... Hou did not name any group, but China has blamed previous attacks in energy-rich Xinjiang - strategically located on the borders of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Central Asia - on Islamic separatists who want to establish an independent East Turkestan.

Krauthammer on 'Red Line': 'What’s At Stake Here Is Whether Anything This President Now Says Is Believable"
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/04/25/krauthammer-syria-what-s-stake-here-whether-anything-president-now-sa#ixzz2RWMLcN8N

Excerpt: With the revelation that Syrian President Bashir al-Assad has used chemical weapons on his people, folks on both sides of the aisle are wondering if Barack Obama will keep his word that this is the red line that if crossed would require American action. On Fox News's Special Report, syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said Thursday, "What’s at stake here is whether anything that this president now says is believable around the world. (Never was, doc. ~Bob.)

NYTimes Confirms: Massive Fraud At USDA In Pigford; Breitbart Vindicated. By Joel B. Pollak

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/04/26/NYTimes-Confirms-Massive-Fraud-at-USDA-in-Pigford-Settlements-Breitbart-Vindicated?utm_source=e_breitbart_com&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Breitbart+News+Roundup%2C+April+26%2C+2013&utm_campaign=20130426_m115883095_Breitbart+News+Roundup%2C+April+26%2C+2013&utm_term=More

Excerpt: The New York Times reported Friday that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has likely enabled massive fraud in the Pigford series of legal settlements, in which black, Hispanic, female and Native American farmers have claimed to be victims of past discrimination. The cost of the settlements, which could exceed $4.4 billion, is the result of a process that "became a runaway train, driven by racial politics, pressure from influential members of Congress and law firms that stand to gain more than $130 million in fees," the Times notes.

USDA/Mexico Spanish-language flyer: Get kids on food stamps without showing documents
http://dailycaller.com/2013/04/25/usdamexico-spanish-language-flyer-get-kids-on-food-stamps-without-showing-documents/#ixzz2RhMCO2Mp

Excerpt: The Department of Agriculture, via the Mexican government, assures potentially ineligible immigrants that they can still apply for food stamps on behalf of their eligible children without giving information about their immigration status, according to documents released Thursday by Judicial Watch.

Clashes kill 41 in northern Iraq city of Mosul

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/clashes-kill-41-in-northern-iraq-city-of-mosul/2013/04/25/b403e7d4-adcc-11e2-98ef-d1072ed3cc27_story.html

Excerpt: More than 40 people were reported killed in fighting in a key city in northern Iraq and gunmen took over a town elsewhere in the country Thursday, raising concerns that unrest roiling Sunni areas is spreading. Iraq’s prime minister appealed for calm following three days of violence that has left more than 150 dead.

Death toll in Nigeria shootout with Islamist militants reaches 25

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/26/us-nigeria-violence-idUSBRE93P0EK20130426

Excerpt: Twenty-five people were killed in a clash between Nigerian security forces and suspected Islamist Boko Haram militants who robbed a bank and attacked a police station in northeastern Yobe state, police said on Friday.

It’s Time To Do Something About Knives. By Daniel Greenfield 

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/its-time-to-do-something-about-knives/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=51af2426a8-Mailchimp_FrontPageMag

Excerpt: Most people don’t think about knives at all. They don’t think about knife culture. They don’t think about what’s wrong with a society that allows anyone to buy a set of Japanese ceramic knives that claim to be able to cut through bone faster than any other knife on earth for only $29.95 plus shipping and handling. They don’t think about the knives until the knives come after them.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev vowed to die for Islam; judge may have prematurely stopped brother's interrogation, sources say
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/25/tamerlan-tsarnaev-vowed-to-die-for-islam-judge-prematurely-stopped-brother/#ixzz2RhRLAY3l

Excerpt: The mother of Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev knew as early as 2011 that her son had been radicalized and sent text messages to family in Russia suggesting he was willing to die for Islam, the FBI told lawmakers this week according to two officials with knowledge of the Capitol Hill briefing.

Domestic terrorist who hoped to "kill as many as possible" says he targeted group because SPLC listed it as a "hate group"

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/04/domestic-terrorist-who-hoped-to-kill-as-many-as-possible-says-he-targeted-group-because-splc-listed-.html

Excerpt: The SPLC, the well-heeled propaganda machine that smears conservatives for cash, is an integral part of the ongoing Leftist effort to demonize and destroy legitimate conservative voices -- like our American Freedom Defense Initiative, which they also classify as a "hate group" -- by lumping them in with the likes of the KKK. The SPLC turns a blind eye to the real hate that comes from the Left and Islamic supremacists, and offers with its hate group listings not only an incitement to violence, but a handy tool that lazy Leftist mainstream media journalists use to try to intimidate people away from supporting our message of human rights. 

California bill would let illegal immigrants serve on juries
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/26/california-bill-would-let-illegal-immigrants-serve-on-juries/?test=latestnews#ixzz2RYPioYzK

The California Assembly passed a bill on Thursday that would make the state the first in the nation to allow non-citizens who are in the country legally to serve on jury duty. Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, said his bill, AB1401, would help California widen the pool of prospective jurors and help integrate immigrants into the community. It does not change other criteria for being eligible to serve on a jury, such as being at least 18, living in the county that is making the summons, and being proficient in English. (Let’s get this, sorry, straight. Illegals cannot be put in jail or sent back over the border to their home country but they can come here, vote, get SNAPS, free phones and put US in jail. What is wrong with this picture? --Babr)

Sequester cuts to force closure of crucial flood-warning gauges
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/26/spending-cuts-may-deep-six-crucial-flood-gauges/#ixzz2RYOm3ux8

Excerpt: More than 100 crucial gauges that warn of imminent flooding or lack of needed water will be shut down starting next month as part of the federal government's automatic budget cuts. Some are in the nine states threatened with spring flooding, U.S. Geological Survey officials said in interviews with The Associated Press. In rivers where flooding is imminent, such as near Fargo, N.D., officials are scrambling to keep needed monitors working and make the cuts elsewhere. (Well, you wouldn't want to cut something important, like White House celebrity concerts, fighter jets for the MB or cash for terrorists in Gaza? ~Bob.)

New Comment on "I'm Tired

The thing that made me happiest about all this comments is the majority of all you Republican rightwing freaks are all old and hopefully very close to death. The problem with this country is all of your selfish asshole selves. So go on with your moronic ramblings and know when you all die America will be a better place. (I know I'm excited and I'm only 17). :) 

Go Navy! US sailor thwarts Dubai bus driver rapist after putting him in strangehold with her thighs and then beating him into submission
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2314631/US-sailor-thwarts-Dubai-bus-driver-rapist-putting-strangehold-thighs-beating-submission.html

Excerpt: An off-duty US navy sailor wrestled a bus driver to the ground and beat him into submission after he attempted to rape her at knife point, a court heard yesterday.

Not All Moslems Are Jihadists - But, Too Many Are. By Rabbi Aryeh Spero

http://cnsnews.com/node/665211

Excerpt: After the shootings at Sandy Hook in Newtown, Connecticut, liberals insisted that guns be banned since guns are used to kill. While it is a question whether guns kill or actually the people who pull the trigger, there can be no question that Islamic terrorists do kill, and want to kill. Accordingly, liberals should be the first to demand that we ban from our midst all Islamic terrorists. Right? Well, not exactly.

Five Arrested in Plot to Blow up US Bridge

http://videos.huffingtonpost.com/five-arrested-in-alleged-cleveland-area-bomb-plot-517354028

Excerpt: Five home grown terrorist spawned by the Occupy Wall Street movement arrested in alleged bomb plot in Cleveland area. --MM

George W. Bush is smarter than you. By Keith Hennessey 

http://keithhennessey.com/2013/04/24/smarter/

Excerpt: One of my students asked “How involved was President Bush with what was going on?” I smiled and responded, “What you really mean is, ‘Was President Bush smart enough to understand what was going on,’ right?” The class went dead silent. Everyone knew that this was the true meaning of the question. Kudos to that student for asking the hard question and for framing it so politely. I had stripped away that decorum and exposed the raw nerve. I looked hard at the 60 MBA students and said “President Bush is smarter than almost every one of you.”

Reps challenge DHS ammo buys, say agency using 1,000 more rounds per person than Army
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/25/reps-challenge-dhs-ammo-buys-say-agency-using-1000-more-rounds-per-person-than/?test=latestnews#ixzz2RV7rkOxV

Excerpt: Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Thursday that the Department of Homeland Security is using roughly 1,000 rounds of ammunition more per person than the U.S. Army, as he and other lawmakers sharply questioned DHS officials on their "massive" bullet buys. (Internet wheel squeaked enough that Congress noted. --Barb)

Big Sis: Obama Admin Can Pick Which Laws to Enforce

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/04/24/Big-Sis-declares-Obama-has-power-to-pick-which-laws-to-enforce-as-immigration-bill-would-grant-admin-more-authority

Excerpt: During her testimony on the “Gang of Eight” immigration bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared that she, President Barack Obama and other political officials at the top of this administration have the authority to decide which laws to enforce, and which ones to ignore. (The idea that executives can pick and choose which laws to enforce utterly flies in the face of the whole concept of a nation of laws. This is intolerable arrogance, plain and simple, from someone who is not remotely embarrassed to make such a claim. Democrat, Republican, Independent, makes no difference. This is an attack on the basis of our society. --Del)

Napolitano: Yes, we knew that Tamerlan Tsarnaev left for Russia last year

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/04/23/napolitano-yes-we-knew-that-tamerlan-tsarnaev-left-for-russia-last-year/comment-page-1/

Excerpt: First, Jake Tapper’s intelligence sources told him it’s “rare” for the Russians to reach out to the FBI and ask them to investigate someone. If that’s true, why didn’t the feds take more of an interest in Tamerlan? Second, notwithstanding America’s “frosty” relations with Russia, since when is U.S. intelligence kinda sorta disinterested in tracking jihadis just because they’re probably more likely to strike elsewhere than here?

Janet Napolitano’s Major Admission: Saudi Student Was Put On Watchlist

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/23/janet-napolitanos-major-admission-saudi-student-was-put-on-watch-list/

Excerpt: Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano admitted Tuesday that a Saudi national once identified as a “person of interest” in the Boston Marathon bombings was put on a terror watchlist after the attack….Napolitano firmly responded: “He was not on a watchlist. What happened is — this student was, really when you back it out, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

The D-Word. By Victor Davis Hanson

http://townhall.com/columnists/victordavishanson/2013/04/25/the-dword-n1577247/page/full/

Excerpt: Deportation has become a near-taboo word. Yet the recent Boston bombings inevitably rekindle old questions about the way the U.S. admits, or at times deports, foreign nationals. Despite the Obama administration's politically driven and cyclical claims of deporting either a lot more or a lot fewer non-citizens, no one knows how many are really being sent home -- for a variety of reasons.

France: Muslim screaming "Allahu akbar" slashes rabbi's throat; authorities searching for motive

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/04/france-muslim-screaming-allahu-akbar-slashes-rabbis-throat-authorities-searching-for-motive.html

Excerpt: Here's your motive, geniuses: Muhammad said that “the last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him” (Sahih Muslim 6985).

Charts: How Much Danger Do We Face From Homegrown Jihadist Terrorists? | Mother Jones

http://m.motherjones.com/politics/2013/04/charts-domestic-terrorism-jihadist-boston-tsarnaev
Tries to make the case that home grown right wing extremists are responsible for more terror plots than jihadists, and then go on to say that the largest number was left wing extremists in the 70s. Please explain. --George

Political Digest January 29, 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.

Obama will ask in State of Union for end to 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/01/obama-will-ask-in-state-of-uni.html?wpisrc=newsletter
Excerpt: President Obama will call for a repeal of the law that forbids openly gay and lesbian people from serving in the military during Wednesday night's State of the Union address, according to a prepared text of the speech released by the White House. "This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are," Obama will say.

My take on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” issue
This will hurt Obama with those who believe folks wake up and decide, “Hey, I’m sick of dating members of the opposite sex, I think I’ll become Gay.” It will help Obama with gays and his liberal base. My take is that if the right pounds too hard on it, it will help Obama. Polls show that the younger folks are increasingly tolerant of Gays, and indifferent to issues of Gay marriage. This is exactly the group that is turning against Obama as he tries to force them to buy health insurance they don’t want and saddles them with un-payable burden of national debt, that will kill their economic future. We don’t need to pound on issues that drive them back to his camp. Attitudes have changed in the middle of the electorate since Bill Clinton pushed this issue. And it is independents in the middle who will decide if Obama, Pelosi and Reid control the agenda in 2013, or if conservatives do. Remember, Obama said the same thing in 2008, and it didn’t hurt him in that campaign.

But I have a strong libertarian streak in my conservatism. I don’t want the government telling people they can’t own guns, adult movies or marry who they please. That said, I’ve always believed that being homosexual is something that happens to some people, like having blue eyes, and is not a choice. I don’t know any true heterosexual who ever gave a second’s thought to switching sides, no matter how angry or upset they were with their significant other or women/men in general. Therefore, I’ve always opposed discrimination against Gays. It’s not a choice or mental disturbance, like being a sociopath, Nazi or liberal.

And if the right pounds on it, they will bring out people like the Marine in the story below, hurting our side with the independents we need to win in 2010 and 2012.

Wounded ex-Marine now fighting a two-front war
http://www.mysanantonio.com/military/Wounded_ex-Marine_leads_battle_for_gays_to_serve_in_military.html
Excerpt: Eric Alva lived and breathed the Marine Corps for 13 years. Then he earned a dubious slice of American history by becoming the first GI injured in the Iraq invasion in 2003. He stepped on a mine three hours after rolling into Iraq, breaking both legs, suffering a badly mangled right arm and being filled with shrapnel from torso to his legs. The picture-perfect Marine, who later lost part of his right leg and still carries 27 pieces of shrapnel, has evolved from a war hero photographed with President George W. Bush to one of the nation's prominent gay activists after coming out on ABC's “Good Morning America” on Feb. 27, 2007.

Obama's first State of the Union: Jobs must be our No. 1 focus
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/78437-obama-jobs-must-be-our-no-1-focus-in-2010
Well, there are proven ways to create jobs. Reduce Capital gains taxes as JFK did, to give business more money to invest in job creation. Reduce taxes on small businesses, the number one creators of private sector jobs. Reduce the cost of healthcare insurance on business and individuals by passing comprehensive national tort reform, and allowing insurance companies to sell insurance nationwide without the costly state by state mandates. But when he says jobs are the first priority, he means first after protecting trial lawyers, public unions and other special interests who contribute to Democrats. The unemployed are first—after all those good folks. So he’ll try another big government, big deficit stimulus plan ,the first one having created so many jobs in places that don’t even exist, as reported on Democrat websites.

Barbour: GOP chances better than in '94, but don't get complacent
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/78299-barbour-gops-chances-better-than-in-94-but-dont-get-complacent
Excerpt: Republicans shouldn’t take their upset victory in Massachusetts for granted, a senior party strategist told the Senate GOP conference Wednesday. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a former chairman of the national party, warned the group it can’t afford complacency or overconfidence, even with the wind seemingly at its back. Nothing is automatic in politics. Things change. Everybody needs to just run hard, hard, and take nothing for granted,” Barbour told The Hill shortly after he spoke to the conference during its half-day-long meeting at the Library of Congress. “But the environment today is better for Republicans in January of 2010 than it was in January of 1994,” he added. “The important thing I told them was that while today the environment is better than it was in ’94, the elections aren’t for 10 months. Lots can change, and they need to be thinking that nothing is carved in stone.”

RNC chief Steele opposes purity test for Republican candidates
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/27/AR2010012702787.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
This news will make Reid and Pelosi unhappy. A purity test would help defeat moderate Republicans in Blue States, thus helping liberals control the Congress after 2012. Excerpt: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele said Wednesday that he opposes a controversial "purity" resolution that would keep party money from candidates deemed to be too moderate, all but ensuring the defeat of a proposal that divided GOP leaders as they opened their four-day winter meeting here Wednesday. The proposal, introduced by some of the RNC's more conservative members, would require that candidates publicly state their agreement with at least eight of 10 listed conservative positions -- ranging from taxes and immigration to same-sex marriage and gun control -- or lose party funding and support. Although Steele has not seen the final text of the resolution, named after the late president Ronald Reagan, he is siding with some two dozen state party chairmen who voted unanimously Wednesday to oppose it.

After Obama rips lobbyists, K St. insiders get private briefings
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/78509-after-obama-rips-k-street-administration-invites-lobbyists-to-private-briefings
The old game—you get votes from the people promising to protect them from the “special interests,” and campaign money from the special interests like tral lawyers helping them screw the people who voted for you. Except: A day after bashing lobbyists, President Barack Obama’s administration has invited K Street insiders to join private briefings on a range of topics addressed in Wednesday’s State of the Union. The Treasury Department on Thursday morning invited selected individuals to “a series of conference calls with senior Obama administration officials to discuss key aspects of the State of the Union address.” The invitation, which went to a variety of stakeholders, was sent by Fred Baldassaro, a senior adviser at the Treasury Department’s Office of Business Affairs and Public Liaison. The invitation stated, “The White House is encouraging you to participate in these calls and will have a question and answer session at the end of each call. As a reminder, these calls are not intended for press purposes.” The calls are scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, with the first topic being job creation and economic growth. The last call, at 1 p.m., is on government reform and transparency. Republicans have criticized the Obama White House for not being more transparent in its discussions with Congress on healthcare reform. Obama recently acknowledged that the legislative process has not been as open as he promised on the campaign trail.

The Spending 'Freeze' That Isn't
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704094304575028930349664448.html
But spending buys votes from favored groups. Excerpt: In last night's State of the Union address President Obama proposed a three-year "spending freeze" on what amounts to one-sixth of the federal budget. Our biggest entitlement programs, Social Security and Medicare, would be excluded. These changes are optical rather than substantive. Given the spending agenda that is already in place, we can expect to see large increases in the proportion of GDP that is spent by our government for years to come. Since 2008, the ratio of federal spending-to-GDP has risen by about 14%. From 2008 to 2009 we saw the greatest annual increase in spending in the last 30 years. In the name of stimulating job growth, the share of federal spending is now 24% of the economy, up from 21% in the last year of the Bush administration. My analysis of data from 1950 to the present shows that periods with high tax-to-GDP ratios exhibit much slower economic growth than lower tax ratio periods. The GDP growth in high tax years (defined as years during which the ratio of tax-to-GDP was above 18%, the 60-year average) was about 1.5 percentage points lower than the growth rate in low-tax years. High taxes are clearly bad for the U.S. economy. For example, were we to tax above the 18% tax-to-GDP ratio over the next 25 years, GDP per capita in 2035 would be about 50% less than if we were to tax below the 18% ratio. A 50% per capita GDP differential is about as large as the difference between the U.S. and Greece today.

A Dose of Reality, a Bid to Restore Magic
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/28/us/politics/28assess.html
Excerpt: By now, President Obama can hardly be under any illusions about the depth of the partisan divide as he seeks to reboot his presidency. Yet he still seemed surprised on Wednesday night when he could not get Republicans to applaud tax cuts.Skip to next paragraph
As he boasted in his first State of the Union address that his economic program had cut taxes for 95 percent of working families, Democrats jumped to their feet to cheer. Republicans sat quietly. Mr. Obama paused as he glanced over to their side of the House chamber. “I thought I’d get some applause on that one,” he said. If Mr. Obama thought he could take the rostrum in the House chamber and restore his image as the change agent who came to Washington to end the politics of division, he received another reminder just how hard that will be. Mr. Obama tried to recapture the magic of his yes-we-can campaign after a season of no-we-can’t governing, but conceded little if any ground to critics on either the right or the left. It was a confident performance, more defiant than contrite, more conversational than soaring. He appealed to and scolded both parties, threatened vetoes, blamed his predecessor and poked fun at lawmakers.

A Speech Only Washington Could Love
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/28/morning-bell-a-speech-only-washington-could-love/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBellExcerpt: The more things change, the more things stay the same. A little over a year ago, President Barack Obama came to office expecting to pass a “big bang” of policy changes all in the first year: health care, cap-and-trade, and banking regulation. With the big-bang strategy officially a failure, President Obama’s State of the Union address last night desperately tried to keep all of these legislative efforts alive while also acknowledging that the country has firmly rejected his policy agenda. The result was an incoherent mess of promised tax cuts for small businesses coupled with the threat of tax hikes from his health care and energy proposals; more federal money to encourage banks to lend to businesses, coupled with new taxes on banks and individuals; the continued waste of his $862 billion stimulus plan and $2 trillion in new health care spending, coupled with a delayed and temporary spending freeze.

State of the Union: Barack Obama gets an F for world leadership (Britian)
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/nilegardiner/100024086/state-of-the-union-obama-gets-an-f-for-world-leadership/
The view from Britain. Excerpt: As expected, Barack Obama’s 70 minute State of the Union address focused heavily on the economy and the domestic political agenda. This was hardly surprising in the aftermath of last week’s catastrophic defeat for his party in the Massachusetts special Senate election, where the Republicans scored an historic victory. American voters are turning strongly against the president’s health care reform package as well as his big government vision for the economy, which has contributed to spiraling public debt and mounting unemployment, now standing at over 10 percent. But the scant attention paid in the State of the Union speech to US leadership was pitiful and frankly rather pathetic. The war in Afghanistan, which will soon involve a hundred thousand American troops, merited barely a paragraph. There was no mention of victory over the enemy, just a reiteration of the president’s pledge to begin a withdrawal in July 2011. Needless to say there was nothing in the speech about the importance of international alliances, and no recognition whatsoever of the sacrifices made by Great Britain and other NATO allies alongside the United States on the battlefields of Afghanistan. For Barack Obama the Special Relationship means nothing, and tonight’s address further confirmed this.

I Told You So – Yes I Did (Canada)
http://www.galganov.com/editorials.asp?ID=1147
Excerpt: When Obama won the Presidency with the help of the LEFTIST Media, Hollywood and Entertainment Liberals, Ethnic Socialists (ACORN), Stupid Non-Business Professionals and Bush Haters, I wrote: It won’t take 6 months until the people figure this guy out and realize how horrible a mistake they’ve made. And when they come to that realization, the damage to the United States of America will be so great, that it will take a generation or more to repair - IF EVER. The IDIOTS who not only voted for the Messiah, but also worked their sorry asses-off to promote his Lordship, are now left holding the bag. Here are two things they will NEVER do: 1 – They will NEVER admit to making a blunder out of all proportion by electing a snake-oil salesman with no positive social history or management experience of any kind. 2 – They will NEVER take responsibility for the curse they’ve imposed upon the immediate and long-term future of their country.

State of the Union Address: Justice Alito’s ‘You lie’ moment?
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=9840
Excerpt: POLITICO’s Kasie Hunt, who’s in the House chamber, reports that Justice Samuel Alito mouthed the words “not true” when President Barack Obama criticized the Supreme Court’s campaign finance decision. “Last week, the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections,” Obama said. “Well I don’t think American elections should be bankrolled by America’s most powerful interests, or worse, by foreign entities. They should be decided by the American people, and that’s why I’m urging Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps to right this wrong.” The shot of the black-robed Supreme Court justices, stone-faced, was priceless.

AP Fact Checks Obama’s SOTU Speech
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/fact-check-obama-and-285321.html
Excerpt: President Barack Obama told Americans the bipartisan deficit commission he will appoint won't just be "one of those Washington gimmicks." Left unspoken in that assurance was the fact that the commission won't have any teeth.

Cato responds to Obama’s SOTU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r5MfEG9xmE

Commissioner Peraica accused of using racial slur for saying 'those folks'
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/2012661,peraica-sims-those-folks-county-board-012610.article
“Those folks” is apparently a terrible new racist term the politically-correct must avoid. Excerpt: The controversy began Tuesday at a Cook County Board meeting when Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica delivered another of his windy speeches. Peraica, who is white and represents the western suburbs, was talking about how cutting the county's share of the sales tax could help the unemployed -- mentioning specifically how the African American community has been hit especially hard by joblessness and how "those folks" could benefit from slashing the tax.

Chris Matthews: I forgot Obama was black for an hour
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/01/chris-matthews-i-forgot-obama.html?wprss=44
“Those folks” can fool you that way.

CNN Poll: 3 of 4 Americans say much of stimulus money wasted
http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/25/poll.stimulus.money/index.html
You rubes are so dumb, you just don’t deserve Barack Obama! You’re going to get another stimulus regardless of your wishes. Excerpt: Nearly three out of four Americans think that at least half of the money spent in the federal stimulus plan has been wasted, according to a new national poll. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday morning also indicates that 63 percent of the public thinks that projects in the plan were included for purely political reasons and will have no economic benefit, with 36 percent saying those projects will benefit the economy. Twenty-one percent of people questioned in the poll say nearly all the money in the stimulus has been wasted, with 24 percent feeling that most money has been wasted and an additional 29 percent saying that about half has been wasted. Twenty-one percent say only a little has been wasted and 4 percent think that no stimulus dollars have been wasted.

Disaster poll: Nearly 70 percent say dump Dems' health care bill
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Disaster-poll-Nearly-70-percent-say-dump-the-Dems-health-care-bill-82823872.html#ixzz0duKfIqD2
Just when it appeared that the numbers for the Democratic health care proposals passed by the House and Senate couldn't get any worse -- they have. A new poll by CNN and Opinion Research, taken from January 22 to January 24, shows that 69 percent of respondents say Congress should dump the current Democratic health care proposals and either write an entirely new health bill or stop working on the subject altogether.

Gov't Unions 2, Oregon Taxpayers 0
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=519312
Excerpt: In voting to raise taxes to fund health benefits of public-sector union members, Oregonians have taken some of the shine off Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts and set a potentially dangerous precedent.

Obama, the God that Failed
http://stupidfrogs.org/articles/obama_the_god_that_failed.htm
Excerpt: President Obama said Monday that he would "rather be a really good one-term president than a mediocre two-term president." He will be lucky if he's not an abject failure.

Thrill is gone for Obamagirl
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Thrill-is-gone-for-Obamagirl-82806392.html
Excerpt: Remember Amber Lee Ettinger, the "Obamagirl" who had 15 minutes of fame during the 2008 presidential campaign with her video paen to Barack Obama?
The New York Post reports this morning that Obamagirl wishes her man had spent the past year doing something about the economy instead of obsessing about health care reform. "I know he's getting a lot of flak for things that he's not doing. In my opinion, I feel like he should be focusing a lot more on jobs and the economy," Ettinger told the Post.

Standing for more than ‘No’
http://www.hanfordsentinel.com/articles/2010/01/27/opinion/doc4b608f5be5e49367761024.txt
Excerpt: Amid the celebrating over Scott Brown's Senate victory Tuesday, some Republicans were smartly looking ahead, arguing that the party can't rest on the laurels of one election, however momentous. Kevin Madden, press secretary for Mitt Romney in 2008, wrote in the Wall Street Journal: "The party can prove to a disaffected public that we stand for more than just winning elections but instead are dedicated to reforming a broken system and governing a nation with public support." In other words, don't let the Brown win go your heads. It's a big deal -- huge, considering that Republicans and conservatives were thought extinct just a year ago. But don't think this is a Sally Field moment. Voters don't suddenly really, really like the GOP. Instead, consider the things they really, really dislike: (Good article. But we also need to point out that the Democrats are also the “Party of No.” No to tort reform. No to insurance company competition. No to capital gains tax cuts to create jobs. No to winning the War of terror. No to treating terrorists as the illegal enemy combatants they are under international law. No to developing energy at home through oil and nuclear power. No to fiscal restraint. No to cleaning up corrupt Democrats like Rangel and Murtha. And so on.)

Barack Obama LIED!
http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/01/27/barack-obama-lied/
Excerpt: Tonight, Barack Obama said, “To close that credibility gap we must take action on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to end the outsized influence of lobbyists; to do our work openly; and to give our people the government they deserve.
“That’s what I came to Washington to do. That’s why – for the first time in history – my Administration posts our White House visitors online. And that’s why we’ve excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs or seats on federal boards and commissions.” Maybe this explains why his national security policies are so weak. He put William Lynn in the Pentagon as Deputy Defense Secretary. Mr. Lynn was a lobbyist for Defense Contractor Ratheon. I guess the Deputy Defense Secretary is not a policy-making job. But it is not just Lynn. Eric Holder, attorney general nominee, was registered to lobby until 2004 on behalf of clients including Global Crossing, a bankrupt telecommunications firm [now confirmed]. Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year on behalf of the National Education Association. William Lynn, deputy defense secretary nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for defense contractor Raytheon, where he was a top executive. William Corr, deputy health and human services secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until last year for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a non-profit that pushes to limit tobacco use. David Hayes, deputy interior secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until 2006 for clients, including the regional utility San Diego Gas & Electric. Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for financial giant Goldman Sachs. Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, was registered to lobby until 2005 for clients, including the Coalition for Asbestos Resolution, U.S. Airways, Airborne Express and drug-maker ImClone. Mona Sutphen, deputy White House chief of staff, was registered to lobby for clients, including Angliss International in 2003. Melody Barnes, domestic policy council director, lobbied in 2003 and 2004 for liberal advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the American Constitution Society and the Center for Reproductive Rights. Cecilia Munoz, White House director of intergovernmental affairs, was a lobbyist as recently as last year for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group. Patrick Gaspard, White House political affairs director, was a lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union. Michael Strautmanis, chief of staff to the president’s assistant for intergovernmental relations, lobbied for the American Association of Justice from 2001 until 2005. (From Red State Morning Briefings. You may want to subscribe. Erick.Erickson@redstate.com)

Obama sends a message to Congressional Dems: Stand and fight
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/white-house/obama-send-a-message-to-congre.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
Excerpt: In a state of the Union speech notable for its conciliatory tone and generally centrist policy focus, President Barack Obama saved his harshest words for the members of his own party. "After last week, it is clear that campaign fever has come even earlier than usual," said Obama. "But we still need to govern. To Democrats, I would remind you that we still have the largest majority in decades, and the people expect us to solve some problems, not run for the hills." Those three sentences encapsulate the view of Obama and his White House about the best -- and perhaps only -- mindset that Democrats must adopt heading into the November midterm elections. Put simply: You can run, but you can't hide. Obama as well as his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, himself a former member of the House leadership, have argued for months that Democrats' fate is tied to the president whether they like it or not due to the near-certainty that 2010 will be a nationalized election.

Obama’s First State Of The Union Address – The Way It Sounded To Me
http://thedaleygator.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/obamas-first-state-of-the-union-address-the-way-it-sounded-to-me/
Pretty funny, but accurate tanslation. Excerpt: This isn’t a very good time for our country. I know this because angry poor people keep writing me letters every day. Plus my poll numbers are in the tank, which means that even the poor people who voted for me are PO’ed. But hey, it’s not my fault, and besides, things aren’t as bad today as they were during the Civil War and the Great Depression. Still, I signed up for this gig, so I’d better at least pretend to take some responsibility for the way things are going, even though Bush is really to blame. The American people are upset because Republicans and Democrats can’t get along, and while that too isn’t my fault, I did kinda promise to end all the bickering in Washington and actually hold the government accountable for its screw-ups. I also promised transparency, and although what I meant by that was exposing the flaws of everyone who disagrees with me and then publicly mocking them, some folks may have thought I was talking about making my own administration more open and responsive to the will of the electorate. So here’s what I intend to do… basically the same unpopular stuff I’ve been doing since day one. You know, things like bailing out the very people who caused all our economic problems in the first place with massive amounts of taxpayer dollars, and then demonizing them for taking the money. I also intend to keep preaching to the choir about how much better poor folks will feel once we start punishing the people they envy most with crippling taxes, even while declaring what a big tax cutter I am.

US Terror Blacklist Whitewashes Hamas, Enables Funding
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/135659
Excerpt: The United States Treasury has taken all but one member of Hamas off the international list of terrorists, thus enabling funds from the European Union to enter Hamas-controlled Gaza. It is an open secret that large sums of money from the EU flow into Gaza in the guise of humanitarian aid and salaries for officials, but are actually funneled into the coffers of Hamas, which controls Gaza with an iron grip. This method of transferring funds into terrorists' hands could have been blocked by an international lawsuit, but according to journalist Avi Tarango, the United States Treasury has made this impossible by removing all but one Hamas man – Deputy Chairman of the Political Bureau, Musa Abu Marzouk – from the list of international terrorists.

57 Percent of Independent Voters Give Napolitano a ‘D’ or ‘F’ for Keeping America Safe
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/60446
Excerpt: A new Zogby Poll finds that nearly half (46 percent) of American voters surveyed – and 57 percent of Independents -- give Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano a below average or failing grade for keeping America secure. Also, when it comes to air travel, more Americans said they felt safer under President Bush than under President Obama.

God’s own lunatics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_gJTsRSd38
Tribute to Vietnam Chopper Crews

Political Digest January 16, 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.

Polls show race for 'Kennedy seat' about even
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR2010011404607.html?hpid=topnews
Excerpt: The drama that could see the Senate seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy slip to Republican control began to sprout during what is traditionally the quietest week on the political calendar. "Things began to change the week between Christmas and New Year's," said Eric Fehrnstrom, a strategist for insurgent Republican Scott Brown. "That's the week we put our JFK ad up." The commercial, which aired for only five days, depicted John F. Kennedy, the Democratic congressman who 58 years ago ran an insurgent campaign to capture the Republican-held "Cabot seat," morphing into Brown, the obscure state senator who surveys suggest might do the same with what's become known as the "Kennedy seat" when grumpy Massachusetts voters go to the polls on Tuesday. But although the audacious spot was ripe for challenge -- the tax breaks JFK trumpeted were the calibrated adjustments of a committed Keynesian, hardly a philosophy embraced by Brown -- not a peep was heard from the campaign of Martha Coakley. Having won the Democratic primary by remaining the aloof front-runner, the state attorney general was not about to engage with a Republican whom the latest poll showed trailing her by 30 points. "Not a bad strategy, by the way," Fehrnstrom acknowledged. "But when the shift in voter mood and opinion takes place, and you fail to catch it, then it becomes a disaster. And I think that's what happened with her. I think she did not sense the movement in what they should have known was a very volatile electorate." Coakley knows it now. With polls showing the race a dead heat -- a Suffolk University survey released Thursday night had Brown up by 4 points, at the edge of the margin of error -- national Democratic organizations are scrambling to hold on to the 60th Senate vote crucial to the health-care overhaul being negotiated in Washington and to every other initiative of President Obama. The airwaves of the commonwealth fairly hum with ads attacking the upstart, and Coakley has begun to campaign with the zest of a front-runner knocked from her perch.

The Fix: New poll shows Brown ahead in Mass. Senate special election
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/011410-massachusetts-special-election-poll.html?wprss=thefix
Excerpt: A new Suffolk University poll shows state Sen. Scott Brown (R) has surged to a 50 percent to 46 percent lead over state Attorney General Martha Coakley with four days left in the Massachusetts Senate special election. The poll, which was released late Thursday night, reveals fascinating data, most of which paints a tough portrait for Coakley. An example: Just one in four voters think she will be an independent voice while 64 percent said she would "toe the party line." The poll suggests that Coakley's best (last?) chance to salvage the race might be to bring President Obama to the state; Obama is still viewed positively in the state with 55 percent having a favorable opinion of him and 35 percent regarding him unfavorably. The White House has been mum about a last-minute Obama visit although a trip by the president to the state even as the disaster in Haiti continues to play out on television screens across the country would be a clear risk. The new Suffolk numbers come just as the television airwaves have reached their saturation point -- one Republican tells the Fix that there is almost no television time left to buy. What that likely means is that the paid media for both sides will likely cancel itself out and the final few days will be a battle for so-called earned media -- a.k.a. press coverage by the state's newspapers, television channels and radio stations. That means that what Coakley and Brown do -- or don't do -- tactically over the next few days on the stump can make all the difference. Still, Coakley is hoping to break through the ad clamor with her closing ad, an endorsement spot from Vicki Kennedy, the widow of the late Senator, that hits airwaves this morning. "It's not the Kennedy seat, it's the peoples' seat," she says in the ad. "The mother struggling to make ends meet, the father trying to find a job. My husband fought for them and so does Martha Coakley." We asked one smart strategist from each party to break down what their side needs to do to win on Tuesday. From the Democratic side: "It is about the message -- can Brown really be an effective ambassador for you to Washington? The answer is no, but we aren't there yet. If they make it about that message, we will win. If they make it about Democratic big-wigs, we will lose." From the Republican side: "Brown needs to keep doing what he's been doing, partly riding a national wave that might engulf Massachusetts, and partly being a nice guy Republican who's a reasonable alternative to the chilly Coakley. Brown has been skillfully riding these two waves and that's got him in likely a dead heat in a 3-1 Democratic state." (My take: If Obama tries to ride to the rescue, and Brown wins anyway, his standing with endangered Democrats will drop through the cellar. If he doesn’t, he’ll be accused by Democrats of throwing her under the bus.)

Obama to Massachusetts on Sunday
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/76421-obama-to-massachusetts-on-sunday
Going all in. Excerpt: President Obama will travel to Massachusetts on Sunday to campaign for Martha Coakley, according to sources. The trip represents an unprecedented role for Obama in a special election. He didn't appear during the runoff in Georgia's Senate race in December 2008 or in an early 2009 New York special House election. He did hold a fundraiser for now-Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) in another special House election in New York late last year, though it was outside the district, in New York City, and included no public events.

The 10 Percent Rules
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/opinion/14collins.html
Excerpt: If Massachusetts was the Department of Homeland Security, the special election to fill Ted Kennedy’s senate seat would have the Democrats about four-fifths of the way up the terror alert code. Green: Everything is fine, and who cares if we spelled “Massachusetts” wrong in one of the ads. Blue: Don’t forget to vote. It’s next Tuesday. You’ll remember to vote, right? Yellow: Bill Clinton is coming for a rally. John Kerry has got to show up, too. I don’t care if he just had hip-replacement surgery. Orange: You know, it really doesn’t matter whether you win by a million votes or one vote, just so long as you win. The campaign has not hit red yet, although, for the Democrats, the whole world has begun to look orange with dark tints. Like a decaying pumpkin. It cannot be a good sign when the Massachusetts secretary of state has to deny rumors that he plans to stall certification of the election results until after the health care bill is passed.

Healthcare talks in race with Massachusetts’s special election
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/76399-healthcare-talks-in-race-with-massachusetts-special-election-
Excerpt: Democrats are rushing to finalize healthcare legislation as their hold on the 60th vote in the Senate appears to be slipping. A deal on healthcare reform is “very close,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Friday. “I would certainly hope that within the next 24, 48, 72 hours, we have a general agreement between the Senate and the House.” Hoyer’s prediction comes as Democrats face increasingly difficult odds in holding the late Sen. Edward Kennedy’s (D-Mass.) seat. Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) has said she will vote for healthcare reform while state Sen. Scott Brown (R) said he will vote against it. This week two of Washington’s biggest prognosticators, the Cook Political Report and the Rothenberg Political Report, changed their rating of the race to a "toss up."

(Satire—you have to say that for the humor-impaired)
Reid: Martha Coakley 'more than just my 60th Yes-Man
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Reid_-Martha-Coakley-_more-than-just-my-60th-Yes-Man-8763217-81531132.html
Excerpt: With just hours to go before Tuesday's special Senate election in Massachusetts to fill the unexpired term of the late Edward M. Kennedy, Sen. Harry Reid said that Democratic candidate Martha Coakley would be "much more than just my 60th yes-man." "Sure, she'd be a rookie senator, who's never functioned in a legislature, with no power, eager to please, inheriting the onus of the longest liberal dynasty in history," said Reid, "but that doesn't mean she'd be just a rubber stamp, or some kind of inert mass of protoplasm that responds predictably to the stimuli of her partisan overlords ... no, not at all." Coakley, the attorney general of the commonwealth, immediately released a statement endorsing Reid's remarks, and noting: "I will not be just a rubber stamp, or some kind of inert mass of protoplasm that responds predictably to the stimuli of my partisan overlords ... no, not at all." She continued to emphasize her independent-minded agreement with Reid's position on health care reform, and constitutional rights for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab as well as other accused terrorists. Wearing a bracelet sporting the letters 'W.W.H.D.', Coakley said she would be willing to stand up against her own party leaders on matters of principle, "if they ever do anything in the future with which I disagree ... like in 1962, when JFK proposed that awful income tax cut."

Not Satire. Hard to tell nowadays.
Candidate Coakley and the ‘Pedophile Priest’
http://bigjournalism.com/ghewson/2010/01/14/marthas-greatest-hits-the-things-the-democrats-would-like-you-to-forget-about-candidate-coakley-2/
Excerpt: The “Pedophile Priest” Case, 1995-2002: Coakley cut secret deal in 1995 that allowed Father Geoghan to molest again. Martha Coakley is running for the U.S. Senate in part on her track record of keeping children safe from predators. The actual facts, however, are somewhat at odds with her campaign biography. One of the most notorious cases of homosexual child abuse in the “pedophile priests” scandal that rocked the American Catholic Church in general and the Archdiocese of Boston in particular over the past twenty years involved Father John Geoghan, who came to symbolize the cancer in the church.

More bad news for Coakley
http://commonamericanjournal.com/?p=9272
Excerpt: Gerald Amirault was on WEEI radio’s ‘Dennis and Callaghan’ show today, discussing the shameful role of Martha Coakley in the prosecution of a false child molestation case. The hosts talked about how the entire Fells Acres trail was a truly shameful episode in local history. Amirault himself recounted all the years he spent in “protective custody” i.e. solitary confinement, because of concerns that as a convicted child molester he would not be safe in the general population. When he finally did go into the general population, the reaction of the other inmates was be cool man, we know you aren’t guilty. Amirault also talked about Martha Coakley being unable to admit her office had wrongfully convicted him despite the fact they changed all the procedures on collecting and presenting evidence in molestation investigations long before his commutation hearing in 2001. He comes across as a really nice guy with no real bitterness or anger. That makes the interview an even more devastating indictment of the miscarriage of justice that happened in Coakley’s office and her moves to prevent the commutation of his sentence.

Massachusetts: 'Bottom has fallen out' of Coakley's polls; Dems prepare to explain defeat, protect Obama
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Massachusetts-Bottom-has-fallen-out-of-Coakleys-poll-numbers-Dems-prepare-to-explain-defeat-protect-Obama-81681862.html
Excerpt: Here in Massachusetts, as well as in Washington, a growing sense of gloom is setting in among Democrats about the fortunes of Democratic Senate candidate Martha Coakley. "I have heard that in the last two days the bottom has fallen out of her poll numbers," says one well-connected Democratic strategist. In her own polling, Coakley is said to be around five points behind Republican Scott Brown. "If she's not six or eight ahead going into the election, all the intensity is on the other side in terms of turnout," the Democrat says. "So right now, she is destined to lose."

Did Democrats outsmart themselves in Massachusetts?
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/01/15/did-democrats-outsmart-themselves-in-massachusetts/ Excerpt: When Ted Kennedy died on August 25, 2009, Massachusetts law required the state to hold a special election to fill the opening he left in the US Senate. That law was put in place by the state legislature in 2004 when John Kerry ran for President, and it was championed by Ted Kennedy himself. Why? The governor at the time, Mitt Romney, was a Republican — and Kennedy didn’t want Romney appointing an interim replacement that wasn’t a Democrat. Fast forward five years, to when Kennedy was days away from death. The Kennedy family released a letter written by the Senator demanding that the law he pushed in 2004 get repealed in 2009 in order to allow Governor Deval Patrick to appoint his successor. Why? Patrick is a Democrat and a reliable liberal who would select someone in Kennedy’s mold. The state legislature responded by acceding to Kennedy’s dying wish and Patrick appointed Paul Kirk to fill Kennedy’s seat temporarily, until the special election could be held. This all seemed to go by plan for the Democrats. They had ensured ideological continuity of the seat, and more importantly gave Harry Reid back his 60th vote for cloture, which allowed Reid and Obama to press forward with their plans to overhaul the American health-care system. All they would need is to keep Kirk in place until Massachusetts sent another Kennedy protege to the Senate. But did they outsmart themselves? The special election date was the earliest possible date, as I recall, but the continued focus on ObamaCare came directly from the Democrats’ insistence on changing the Massachusetts law so that Patrick could appoint Kirk to the seat. Without that, the seat would have remained vacant — and Reid and Obama would have been forced to put ObamaCare aside and start working on the economy, especially in November, after the House finally passed its version. It would have given Reid and Obama an excuse to suspend the effort, and make the special election a referendum on health-care reform as a concept, rather than the specifics of the proposal that came out of the Senate.

One year out: President Obama's fall
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR2010011403558.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
Excerpt: What went wrong? A year ago, he was king of the world. Now President Obama's approval rating, according to CBS, has dropped to 46 percent -- and his disapproval rating is the highest ever recorded by Gallup at the beginning of an (elected) president's second year. A year ago, he was leader of a liberal ascendancy that would last 40 years (James Carville). A year ago, conservatism was dead (Sam Tanenhaus). Now the race to fill Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in bluest of blue Massachusetts is surprisingly close, with a virtually unknown state senator bursting on the scene by turning the election into a mini-referendum on Obama and his agenda, most particularly health-care reform.
A year ago, Obama was the most charismatic politician on Earth. Today the thrill is gone, the doubts growing -- even among erstwhile believers.

Obama tells Dems that economy, healthcare will help in midterms
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/76209-obama-tells-dems-that-economy-healthcare-will-help-in-midterms
Oh, yeah, healthcare is really helping Coakley in the bluest state. Excerpt: President Barack Obama rallied House Democrats Thursday around the healthcare bill and an economy he said will improve as they head into a midterm election campaign. Obama said that the legislation Congress passed since he became president is moving the economy forward and that Republican opposition to the healthcare bill will buoy Democrats in November.

Democrats see healthcare finish line in sight after negotiations
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/76275-democrats-see-healthcare-finish-line-in-sight
Pass something, anything, we can call healthcare reform. From my experience as a state senator, it is better politically to be on the losing side of controversial issues. The winners aren’t too angry with you, because they are happy they won. The losers are really angry, because they lost, but not with you. And there are going to be a lot of losers in this bill, many of whom don’t know it yet. Some won’t know it until it goes into effect after the 2012 presidential election—there’s a reason for the timing. I think this will be devastating for Democrats. But it will also create new interest groups among the winners who will defend it. It will definitely devastate the best healthcare system in the world. The world will suffer too, as innovation originates mostly in America and that will slow. Excerpt: President Barack Obama and House Democrats claimed significant progress Thursday as momentum appeared to increase for swift final action on healthcare reform.

What healthcare “reform” really means
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-health-care-refom-really-means.html
If you missed it, this was my take on what these bills mean.

Why not tax free speech or going to church?
Interesting point from my friend Tom. If healthcare is a right, like freedom of speech or religion, how can you tax a “right”? Could you tax freedom of speech?

Ben Nelson tries to repair damage at home
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31488.html
Warning to Democrats—this will happen to you! Excerpt: Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and his wife were leaving dinner at a new pizza joint near their home in Omaha one night last week when a patron began complaining about Nelson’s decisive vote in favor of the Senate’s health care bill. Other customers started booing. A woman yelled, “Get him the hell out of here!” And the Nelsons and their dining companions beat a hasty retreat. “It was definitely a scene in there,” said Tom Lewis, a 41-year-old dentist and registered Republican who witnessed the incident. A second witness confirmed the incident to POLITICO. It’s a new experience for Nelson. He used to be a popular figure back home, a Democrat who served eight years in the governor’s office and was elected twice to the Senate by a state that’s as red as the “N” on the University of Nebraska's football helmets. But Nelson has seen his approval ratings tumble in the wake of his wavering over the historic health care bill, his deal-cutting with other Senate Democrats and, ultimately, his support to break a GOP filibuster and send the bill to a House-Senate conference committee.

Hope and delusion in health care
Democrats imagine political victory in popular disgust
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/14/hope-and-delusion-in-health-care/
Excerpt: Like a parched man crawling on hands and knees through the sandy desert, Democ- rats are beginning to hallu- cinate - not about an oasis, but about throngs of supporters who will enthusiastically turn out to vote in the 2010 elections if only they pass health care reform.

AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka: Chalking up a win for class warfare.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=518190
Excerpt: Big Labor carved out a tax exemption for union members' health plans on Thursday, paving the way for passage of health care reform. Call it what it is: a bribe to cronies in an increasingly corrupt overhaul. With Nebraska winning "free" coverage of its Medicare costs in the Senate version of the bill, and Louisiana getting a tax exemption of its own, what's one more bone to a favored political group on a bill Democrats are determined to pass no matter what? That's what made it easy for labor leaders, following a sit-down with the White House, to carve out a special set-aside for union members' gold-plated health benefits acquired under collective bargaining agreements. Nobody gets more special treatment from Democrats than Big Labor.

The Latest, Greatest Tools for Health Care Reform: Soap, and Fewer Drugs
http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/01/the-latest-greatest-tools-for-health-care-reform-soap-and-fewer-drugs/
Excerpt: In recent history, hospitals have become increasingly successful at making people sick—or worse. Studies show that each year, 100,000 Americans die from medical mistakes, and that healthcare-associated infections account for an estimated 1.7 million infections and 99,000 associated deaths each year. But, as NPR’s health blog recently reported, two recent reports show that following some pretty basic practices can prevent infections and save lives. These low-tech answers include bathing patients before surgery and swabbing their noses with antibiotic ointment. One of the studies found that “when doctors clean the area on the patient’s body where surgery will be performed with chlorexidine, an antiseptic, their patients get 40 percent fewer infections than those cleaned with iodine, another antiseptic.”

Meet Mikey, 8: U.S. Has Him on Watch List
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/nyregion/14watchlist.html
Don’t you feel safer? Bet you can’t wait until these people are running our healthcare! Excerpt: The Transportation Security Administration, under scrutiny after last month’s bombing attempt, has on its Web site a “mythbuster” that tries to reassure the public. Myth: The No-Fly list includes an 8-year-old boy. Buster: No 8-year-old is on a T.S.A. watch list. “Meet Mikey Hicks,” said Najlah Feanny Hicks, introducing her 8-year-old son, a New Jersey Cub Scout and frequent traveler who has seldom boarded a plane without a hassle because he shares the name of a suspicious person. “It’s not a myth.” Michael Winston Hicks’s mother initially sensed trouble when he was a baby and she could not get a seat for him on their flight to Florida at an airport kiosk; airline officials explained that his name “was on the list,” she recalled. The first time he was patted down, at Newark Liberty International Airport, Mikey was 2. He cried.

U.S. said to eye D.C. for Guantanamo detainee trial
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/15/AR2010011500756.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Obama creates a dilemma for terrorists. Should they attack during the KSM trial in NY, or this one. Decisions, decisions. Let us all pray I’m wrong, and that BO is not creating a setting for tragedy. Excerpt: The Obama administration is considering a criminal trial in Washington for the Guantanamo Bay detainee suspected of masterminding the bombing of a Bali nightclub that killed 202 people, a plan that would bring one of the world's most notorious terrorism suspects just steps from the U.S. Capitol, The Associated Press has learned.

Good news for al Qaeda
"Most of the domestic groups that we pay attention to here are white supremacist groups. They're anti-government, in most cases anti-abortion, they are usually survivalist type in nature, identity oriented. ... Those groups are groups that claim to be extremely anti-government and Christian identity oriented." --TSA nominee Erroll Southers. "The Patriot Post www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/

First, the Good News ...
http://townhall.com/columnists/OliverNorth/2010/01/15/first,_the_good_news_
Excerpt: Last week on Fox News Channel, I described how the Haqqani network -- perhaps the most dangerous terror group operating against NATO forces and the Karzai government in Kabul -- was tripped up by the malfeasance of its leaders. A grotesque series of pornographic videos, apparently made by senior members of the Haqqani organization, shows them committing serial rape. The perpetrators and victims -- young ethnic Pashtun girls and boys -- are clearly visible in videos being distributed on Islamic Web sites, DVDs and VHS tapes sold at "porn bazaars" in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Outraged Muslim clerics have accused those involved of "crimes against Islam." The "founder" of the terror network, Maulavi Jalaluddin Haqqani, was once the Taliban minister of borders and tribal affairs. His eldest son -- Sirajuddin, aka Siraj -- now runs the day-to-day operations of the organization and maintains close ties with Taliban leaders and al-Qaida. The network operates from tribal havens along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and is believed to be connected to a wave of suicide bombings -- including the Dec. 30 attack at Camp Chapman in Khost province, which killed seven CIA personnel and wounded six others. Widespread dissemination of the "Haqqani porn videos" by clerics calling for "righteous Muslims to rise up against those who perform such acts" may seriously damage the network's base of support -- and disenchant supposedly devout Wahhabi financiers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Emirates. If that were to happen, it would be very good news indeed.

Gates: Ft. Hood shows military must focus on internal threats
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/76327-gates-fort-hood-report-shows-military-must-refine-understand-of-threats
Gee, ya think? Excerpt: The Defense Department failed to anticipate the shootings in Fort Hood, Texas, because the agency is not focused on internal threats, officials said Friday. The Pentagon is "not properly focused on ... workplace violence and self-radicalization," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. He added this explains in part why Army officers failed to anticipate the threat Maj. Nidal Hasan posed to his colleagues at Fort Hood last year.

Senate GOP presses Napolitano on delayed visa security measures
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/76281-senate-gop-presses-napolitano-on-delayed-security-measures
Excerpt: Secretary of Homeland Security Janet 9the System Worked) Napolitano is under fire from Senate Republicans over delays to a program that would tighten the security of U.S. visas.Visa security has taken on new political significance since the attempted bombing of a jetliner arriving in Detroit on Christmas Day. The bombing suspect, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, held a multiple-entry visa despite being placed on a terrorism watch-list.

How to Guard Against Stimulus Fraud
Based on past experience, thieves may rip off the taxpayers for $100 billion.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703948504574648331267709784.html
Peanuts. Wait until they get their hands on healthcare. Medicare is already beset with billions in fraud. Excerpt: The Obama administration—and state and local governments—should brace themselves for fraud on an Olympic scale as hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars continue to pour into job creation efforts. Where there are government handouts, fraud, waste and abuse are rarely far behind. The sheer scale of the first and expected second stimulus packages combined with the multitiered distribution channel—from Washington to the states to community agencies to contractors and finally to workers—are simply irresistible catnip to con men and thieves.There are already warning signs. The Department of Energy's inspector general said in a report in December that staffing shortages and other internal weaknesses all but guarantee that at least some of the agency's $37 billion economic-stimulus funds will be misused. A tenfold increase in funding for an obscure federal program that installs insulation in homes has state attorneys general quietly admitting there is little hope of keeping track of the money.

Haiti: Where will all the money go?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100115/ap_on_bi_ge/us_haiti_following_the_money
I contributed—who wouldn’t in the face of this tragedy. But as with many thrird world countries, too much of the aid goes to the pockets of corrupt statists, and far too little to the people we are trying to help. Excerpt: Haiti has received billions of dollars in taxpayer and private aid from the United States and others, yet is so poor that few homes had safe drinking water, sewage disposal or electricity even before the earthquake. With sympathetic donors around the world sending money, making sure that aid is spent properly will be a challenge. Corruption, theft and other crime and Haiti's sheer shortage of fundamentals — reliable roads, telephone and power lines and a sound financial system — add to the difficulty as foreign governments and charities try not only to help Haiti recover from the disaster but pull itself out of abject poverty. It is one of the poorest places on Earth. Most basic public services are lacking, people typically live on less than $2 a day, nearly half the population is illiterate and the government has a history of instability. The public has little opportunity to be sure that aid to the government is used honestly and well. Nor is following the money easy for donors, including the United States, 700 miles away and one of the country's biggest helpers.

Now we know
http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/01/14/motherjones-com-shamefully-blaims-bush-cheney-for-haiti-disaster/
When the disaster first hit Haiti, I sarcastically said the media hadn’t told us if Global warming or Bush was responsible. Now we know: It was Bush.

Ascendant Chile Joins OECD: A Triumph of Liberty
http://blog.american.com/?p=9244
Free Markets and free trade win again—and the statists never learn! Excerpt: Given the high drama of the ongoing healthcare debate and new fears about al Qaeda, it would be easy to have missed a triumph for liberty and prosperity this week south of the equator. On January 11, Chile became the first South American country to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). At first glance, I know it may not sound all that exciting that a Paris-based multilateral institution has welcomed Chile to its ranks, given everything else going on in the world. But with its accession to the OECD, which is effectively the club of the world’s 30 developed nations, Chile has laid down an important milestone for anyone who cares about growth and freedom. Why? First, Chile was experimental like no other country when it comes to economic liberalization, and it has benefited as a result. The legendary “Chicago boys,” a group of 30 Chileans who studied under Milton Friedman at the University of Chicago, spent more than a decade in the 1970s and ’80s liberalizing trade, deregulating markets, de-politicizing the economy, and implementing a host of other free-market reforms. Given that these reforms occurred under General Augusto Pinochet, they have received some understandable criticism. Pinochet’s oppression and violence are well-known, and history has now judged him. Any attempt to implement sensible market reforms under a corrupt dictator is going to be messy and subject to grave abuse. However, given these obvious limitations, it is nevertheless hard not to argue that when Pinochet effectively handed over the economy to the Chicago boys, the seeds of Chile’s economic revival were sown. Chile’s resulting positive economic trajectory over the past several decades is a big part of why the OECD has admitted the nation. How ironic that while the OECD was busy admitting Chile to its ranks, Hugo Chavez devalued Venezuela’s currency by half.

Bank Tax Misses the Real Bailout Deadbeats in Detroit and DC
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/01/15/morning-bell-bank-tax-misses-the-real-bailout-deadbeats-in-detroit-and-dc/
Facing rising populist anger over his administration’s billion-dollar bailouts, President Barack Obama proposed a $117 billion tax over the next 12 years on financial companies with assets of more than $50 billion. “We want our money back, and we’re going to get it,” the President said. The President is half right. Taxpayers are going to get their money back from the banks that received bailout money … but don’t expect to see any of the money the Obama administration poured into General Motors and Chrysler at the behest of their union allies. That is where the real losses are coming from. The TARP program has so far distributed $247 billion to more than 700 banks. Of that, $162 billion in principal and $11 billion in interest and dividends have already been repaid. Except for AIG, almost all banks that received taxpayer money are expected to pay back the American taxpayers in full. As The New York Times reports: “The losses from the bailout fund are expected from money paid to rescue Chrysler and General Motors and the insurance giant American International Group, and from a program to help homeowners avert foreclosures.” So the real deadbeats that are not giving us “our money back” are not the banks, but the union-backed car companies and failed government mortgage modification programs. But guess what? The White House has chosen not to include the car companies among the institutions that will pay this so called “Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee.” Also exempted are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored entities that helped create the crisis.

Special protection for Black Panthers
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jan/15/special-protection-for-black-panthers/?source=newsletter_opinion_photo_feature
Excerpt: Racial cowardice, thy name is Eric Holder. For those who don't remember, Attorney General H. Holder Jr. had the gall last February to claim that Americans form "a nation of cowards" with regard to racial issues. Saying that this nation must examine its "racial soul" and that "we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race," Mr. Holder explicitly vowed to "have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us." In that same context, he also vowed repeatedly last year to "restore" the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to a supposedly renewed focus on protecting minority rights. Yet Mr. Holder was far from explicit about exactly what he meant. Judging from the Civil Rights Division's actions - and now from a highly revealing speech by a newly exiled member of the division - it appears that the civil rights of blacks and Latinos will be protected but those of whites and Asians are treated as irrelevant. Far from having a "frank conversation" about that highly problematic change in policy, Mr. Holder's Justice Department instead is hiding the change behind bureaucratic smokescreens, spurious claims of legal "privileges" and outright gag orders.

Obama Gives Speeches, Interviews but Few Press Conferences
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-barack-obama-helda-press-conference-months/story?id=9549859
Excerpt: There's a tug of war in every administration between the White House and the media that cover it. Reporters want more access and more quality time to question the president, while staffers want to control how the message plays. The two goals are quite often at odds. In the era of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blogs, the Obama Administration has been savvy about how it communicates its message and seems to agree with the previous administration on at least one point: Go around the media filter and engage directly with the U.S. public.