Political Digest May 28, 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. It also doesn’t mean that I don’t agree with them. I have to say all this to give some of my critics the benefit of the doubt, assuming they are thick, rather than deliberately taking things the wrong way.

Republicans continue to press White House on Sestak job offer
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/senate/republicans-continue-to-press.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
For the better part of the last week, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) has been under sustained attack from national Republicans about whether or not he was offered a job in the Obama Administration in exchange for ending his ultimately successful primary challenge to Sen. Arlen Specter.” I think it's looking increasingly like there's something that they're trying to hide," said former Rep. Pat Toomey (R), who is running against Sestak for the Senate seat this fall, in an interview with Fox News Channel's Sean Hannity Tuesday night. "If Joe is going to be the man of principle that he says he's going to be in this campaign, I think he would be more forthcoming." Regardless of his motivations, Toomey's comments are the latest in a barrage of rhetoric coming out of the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee that seeks to raise questions about a largely ignored comment -- at the time -- made by Sestak to a local television show in late February regarding White House involvement in trying to drive him from the race.

Dem from border district says security must precede immigration reform
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/100057-dem-from-border-district-border-security-must-precede-immigration-reform
The people closest to the problem are scared and angry—and the problem is spreading to our cities. Excerpt: A Democratic lawmaker from a district bordering Mexico concurred with Republicans Wednesday in saying border security must precede comprehensive immigration reform. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D), who represents Arizona's 8th congressional district, which borders Mexico, said border security must be the first priority for lawmakers and President Barack Obama and his administration. "First and foremost, we have to secure the border," Giffords said during an appearance on CBS's "Washington Unplugged" webcast. "I really don't believe at this point, in the national dialog, we're going to have a comprehensive bill until we really, finally secure the border." Giffords, a second-term lawmaker, had goaded Obama into agreeing to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the border in the state, mirroring a GOP proposal but still well short of the 3,000 troops Arizona Republican Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl had requested.

In Somalia's war, a new challenger is pushing back radical al-Shabab militia
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/26/AR2010052605279.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Excerpt: From behind green sandbags, Abdul Gader fired his rusting AK-47 down a narrow road. A Koran, its pages open, rested on the earth near his sweat-soaked body. So did a pile of bullets. Before him was territory controlled by radical al-Shabab fighters. Behind him was territory Gader and his comrades had taken away from them. They are the enemy of my religion and my culture," Gader, a strapping 17-year-old with a boyish face, declared after pumping another burst of bullets at his targets lurking among crumbling houses. Four days earlier, Gader's moderate Islamist militia had accomplished what the Somali government, backed by tens of millions of dollars in U.S. assistance, could not do for two years: It pushed al-Shabab out of Sigale, a forlorn Mogadishu enclave. The militia, a Sufi group known as Ahlu Sunna Wal Jamaa, is posing the strongest challenge yet to al-Shabab, an al-Qaeda-linked organization. The Sufis potentially offer an alternative strategy for the United States and its allies in the struggle to stem the rising tide of Islamist radicalism in this failed state on Africa's east coast. "There's a gap to be filled, and Ahlu Sunna is filling it," said Ahmed Haji Hassan, 22, a fighter who swaggered with confidence near the sandbagged front line of Somalia's brutal civil conflict. The rise of Somalia's moderate Muslims often draws comparisons to the Sunni tribes in Iraq's Anbar province that rose up to fight al-Qaeda extremism in their country. Like them, the Sufis have wider political ambitions and could bring a measure of stability and relief from the brutal thuggery of al-Shabab. But many skeptical Somalis, jaded by nearly two decades of war, fear that the Sufis are just the latest jumble of self-interested holy warriors competing for turf and power.

Jamaican police have tenuous hold on Kingston violence; death toll more than 44
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/26/AR2010052604791.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
More victims of American drug users. Excerpt: Jamaican security forces claimed a tenuous hold over the slum stronghold of an alleged drug kingpin and gang leader sought by the United States, but only after clashes that killed at least 44 civilians, the country's official ombudsman said Wednesday.

Death of the Postmodernist Dream
http://article.nationalreview.com/434943/death-of-the-postmodernist-dream/victor-davis-hanson
Excerpt: As crises mount abroad and voters’ anger grows at home, Obama’s dream of a new world order has died a quiet death. In just a few months the brave new dream world as we knew it has died — but with a whimper, not a bang. There will be no more lectures on soft power and a Baltic-to-Mediterranean postmodern culture. Suddenly European Union expansion is dead in its tracks. The question of Turkish membership, after a decade-long controversy, has been settled without so much as a demonstration. The Europeans don’t want another Greece in their midst; the Turks don’t want German bankers running their sagging finances. A soaring Euro was supposed to reflect the sobriety of socialism; instead, it hid its profligacy, but only for a while. So the welfare state is discredited. In the past, we used to be warned that static population growth, vast public-sector employment, early and generous retirement benefits, and high taxes were not sustainable. In recent years, those lectures were caricatured as partisan or hypothetical. No longer. The Greek meltdown — with Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain on the brink — has shown that European socialism does not work. Bankruptcy, not politics, is the final arbiter: Individuals, firms, and nations either buy particular bonds or they don’t. And a nation like Greece, in turn, either pays what it has borrowed or it doesn’t. All the op-eds in the New York Times cannot change that fact. Al Gore will continue to channel from his Montecito hilltop the latest green consensus of the international academic community. But fairly or not, neither he nor it will be listened to all that much: He has made one too many millions off his hysteria, and professors have fudged one too many publicly funded studies. The result is that almost at once both have lost the people’s trust. A volcano, not hot weather, shut down European air travel. The Sierra Nevada is still buried under snow in late May. At least this year, a wet, cold state of California is not going to blow away, as Energy Secretary Chu warned not long ago.

Marines brave sniper fire in Marjah
http://marinepatriot.blogspot.com/2010/05/marines-brave-sniper-fire-in-marjah.html
Excerpt: Have you noticed that the main stream media seldom reports on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Monday is Memorial Day, and President Obama will not attend the traditional ceremony at Arlington. Instead, he is going to Chicago and then back that evening for a Paul McCartney event. Four Marines have died this week in Afghanistan, and it doesn't seem to matter to Obama or the media. The counterinsurgency operation is not going well as stated by General McChrystal. This Administration does not have the will to win the war in Afghanistan, so I'm going on line to say it is time to bring our troops home. There is no reason for our troops to sacrifice their lives for an ungrateful President, media and many Americans who just don't give a damn. National prestige is already lost. (The author of this blog is a retired Marine Major General, who doesn’t post as often as I’d like, but is worth reading when he does. He’s working on a book. On dogs. My guess is after a full life of dealing with both, he admires the dogs’ virtues of loyalty and integrity over humans.)

DOJ Lawyers Draft Challenge to AZ Law
http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/05/25/doj-lawyers-draft-challenge-to-az-law/
Don’t they have to be using the federal law to have it impeded? A team of Justice Department attorneys reviewing the new immigration law in Arizona has recommended that the U.S. government challenge the state law in federal court, but the recommendation faces an uncertain future and tough scrutiny from others in the Justice Department, sources with knowledge of the process tell Fox News. Staff attorneys within the Justice Department recently sent higher-ups the recommendation. At the same time, the Justice Department's Civil Division, which oversees the majority of immigration enforcement issues for the department, has drafted a "civil complaint" that would be filed in federal court in Arizona, sources said. The draft complaint challenges the Arizona law as unconstitutional, saying it is illegal because it impedes federal law, according to the sources, who would not offer any more details about the draft complaint or the arguments made in it.

ObamaCare vs. Small Business
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704113504575264802756326086.html
Excerpt: This law is death by a thousand cuts for small business owners. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the overhaul will cost about $115 billion more than first projected, bringing the total to more than $1 trillion. Small businesses will also now have to deal with an onslaught of new taxes and burdensome paperwork.

A Massive Incumbent Protection Program
http://www.chamberpost.com/2010/05/a-massive-incumbent-protection-program.html
Excerpt: At least two influential unions will spend close to $100 million on the 2010 election, with most of those funds going to protect incumbents. Union officials told The Hill they plan to help endangered members — particularly freshmen — who made politically difficult votes in a year during which an anti-incumbent mood has filled the country. And the number will be even higher since the AFL-CIO declined to give its figures. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) plans to spend in excess of $50 million during the 2010 campaign, part of which will fund “a massive incumbent protection program,” according to Gerry McEntee, president of the union. AFSCME spent roughly $67 million on its political activities in 2008. But the $50 million slated for the 2010 elections is the largest expenditure the union will make in a midterm election, according to union officials. The money will go to help defend the union’s top tier of eight Senate seats and 34 House members.

Physician-Owned Hospitals Face New Regulations, Limits on Growth
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/05/06/side-effects-physician-owned-hospitals-face-new-regulations-limits-on-growth/
Victory for the people, or the high-priced lobbyists at the American Hospital Association? Excerpt: Obamacare was going to expand access to higher-quality health care for all Americans, right? Well, though the legislation can purport to extend health insurance for millions of currently uninsured Americans, when it comes to access to high-quality care, Obamacare is more likely to have the opposite effect. One way the President’s health plan will kill quality care is by putting a chokehold on physician-owned hospitals. Tight regulations include a ban on expansion, restrictions on new investments, requirements to submit annual reports to the feds, and fines for failure to comply with new transparency rules. As Heritage’s Rob Bluey highlights in the Washington Examiner, Obamacare will cause development of 24 new physician-owned hospitals to cease. An additional 47 will struggle to meet the deadline to complete construction and receive their Medicare certification. Physician-owned hospitals provide competition, which forces physician-owned and community hospitals alike to perform better. Opponents of physician-owned hospitals claim that they cherry-pick their patients, but according to Bluey, “More than 90 percent of the patients at [physician-owned] Westfield Hospital aren’t affiliated with the hospital’s partners. [The] hospital takes pride in a lower nurse-to-patient ratio than the community hospital and an efficient emergency room with a 15-minute wait.” At a time when access to care will be in growing demand due to a greater number of insured Americans, Congress and the President should have been doing everything in their power to expand access, especially to higher-quality care. So why put the kibosh on physician-owned hospitals? Bluey points to the combined $22 million the American Hospital Association and the Federation of American Hospitals spent on lobbying in 2009, effectively buying their way out of competition.

Renewable Energy: Free as the Wind
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/05/06/renewable-energy-free-as-the-wind/
Excerpt: The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources met this morning and, among other things, discussed a national renewable electricity standard (RES). The RES, which mandates that a certain percentage of our nation’s electricity production come from wind, solar, biomass and other renewable energies, already passed out of committee but is likely to be a part of any energy agenda this year. A new Heritage Foundation study analyzing the costs of an RES finds that a national mandate for pricier, less reliable electricity would be harmful to American families, American businesses and the American economy. The Heritage analysis models the effects of an RES that starts at 3 percent for 2012 and rises by 1.5 percent per year. This profile mandates a minimum of 15 percent renewable electricity by 2020, a minimum of 22.5 percent by 2025, and a minimum of 37.5 percent by 2035. It looks solely at onshore wind, which is currently the cheapest renewable energy source that can be scaled in significant fashion. While some studies have attempted to model the economic effects of an RES and found only marginal price increases, they fail to take into account the true cost of renewable sources. Wind is not dependable, it cannot be stored and it must be built in geographically disadvantageous locations that require significant new build for transmission lines. A detailed analysis of this can be found in the study. The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis projects that an RES would: Raise electricity prices by 36 percent for households and 60 percent for industry; Cut national income (GDP) by $5.2 trillion between 2012 and 2035; Cut national income by $2,400 per year for a family of four; Reduce employment by more than 1,000,000 jobs; and Add more than $10,000 to a family of four’s share of the national debt by 2035.

North Korea scraps South Korea military safeguard pact
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10170019.stm
Having taken Obama’s measure, the bullies are strutting worldwide. Excerpt: An international probe found the Cheonan was sunk by a Northern torpedo. North Korea has denied the allegation. In a statement on the North Korean official news agency on Thursday, the North Korean military said the country would "completely nullify the bilateral agreement that was concluded to prevent a contingent clash in the West Sea of Korea [Yellow Sea]. "In connection with this, [we] will completely stop using international maritime ultra-short wave walkie-talkies and will immediately cut off the communication line that was opened to handle an emergency situation."

This Congress Has No Shame
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/05/27/morning-bell-this-congress-has-no-shame/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
Like most people with jobs, I don’t have time to go to Tea Parties. But here’s my sign if I go: Enforce PayGo or YouGo! Excerpt: On February 4, 2010, pushing for passage of her pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) legislation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said on the House floor: “When I became Speaker of the House, the very first day we passed legislation that made PAYGO the rule of the House. Today we will make it the law of the land. … So the time is long overdue for this to be taken for granted. The federal government will pay as it goes.” That was the promise. But here is the reality: in the three years that Speaker Pelosi has enforced her PAYGO rule, the House has violated it by nearly $1 trillion And now with the U.S. Debt Clock officially passing the $13 trillion milestone Wednesday, the House is set to violate their own PAYGO law yet again, this time to the tune of around $150 billion. The legislation clocks-in at almost one-fifth the size of President Barack Obama’s original $862 billion failed economic stimulus, and the leftist majority in Congress has titled it “The American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act.” And it is a tax-hiking, spending-exploding, job-killing, deficit-hiking wonder.

Seven questions for President Obama
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37857.html
Good questions—hope the media has the stones to ask them. Excerpt: By waiting 10 months to hold a solo, East Room press conference, President Barack Obama has raised expectations. By pegging it to the BP oil spill, Obama has upped the ante even further. He’s putting an issue that appears increasingly out of his control up for discussion in what has not always been his most successful forum. (At his last one-man East Room session, he said Cambridge cops “acted stupidly” in arresting a Harvard professor, and the “beer summit” was born.)

NASA accused of 'Climategate' stalling
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/26/nasa-accused-of-climategate-stalling/
Excerpt: The man battling NASA for access to potential "Climategate" e-mails says the agency is still withholding documents and that NASA may be trying to stall long enough to avoid hurting an upcoming Senate debate on global warming. Nearly three years after his first Freedom of Information Act request, Christopher C. Horner, senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said he will file a lawsuit Thursday to force NASA to turn over documents the agency has promised but has never delivered. Mr. Horner said he expects the documents, primarily e-mails from scientists involved with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), will be yet another blow to the science behind global warming, which has come under fire in recent months after e-mails from a leading British research unit indicated scientists had manipulated some data.

Positive and Negative Government
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/positive_and_negative_governme.html
Excerpt: Early on in life, kids are taught the concepts of positive and negative in science. They learn about positive and negative poles on magnets and positive and negative terminals on batteries. By junior high school, kids are introduced to positive and negative numbers in mathematics. Unfortunately, few schools teach the concepts of positive and negative as they pertain to civics and government. Understanding positive and negative law and government is the most life-impacting positive/negative polarity of all. It is the fundamental difference between oppression and freedom. Negative law tells us what we may not do; positive law tells us what we must do. Breaking a law incurs penalties. Under negative law, government penalizes someone for doing something that he isn't supposed to do. Under positive law, government penalizes someone for not doing something he is supposed to do. The distinction is profound and crucial.

Running, not Shrugging
http://iprism/auth-bin/nph-xauth?URL=aHR0cDovL3d3dy50b3duaGFsbG1haWwuY29tL2Rtcmt0Ym5ya2tkZnRya3JmcnRobmZsbW1qZm1tcmpuc3NoYnd0ZGhnc3Rqam1fdGptbGpsendtbXAuaHRtbA%3d%3d
Excerpt: Before what he calls "the jaw-dropping" events of the last 19 months -- TARP, the stimulus, Government Motors, the mistreatment of Chrysler's creditors, Obamacare, etc. -- the idea of running for office never crossed Ron Johnson's mind. He was, however, dry tinder -- he calls Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" his "foundational book" -- and now is ablaze, in an understated, upper-Midwestern way. This 55-year-old manufacturer of plastic products from Oshkosh is what the tea party looks like. He is trim, gray-haired and suddenly gray-suited. For years he has worn jeans and running shoes to his office, but now, under spousal duress, he is trying to look senatorial -- "My wife upgraded me to brown shoes." He has been endorsed by the state party and will almost certainly win the September primary for the Republican nomination to run against Russ Feingold, who is seeking a fourth term in a year in which incumbency is considered a character flaw. Former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson led Feingold in polls and froze the race on the Republican side before deciding not to run. But in this season of simmering resentment of the political class, a neophyte such as Johnson might be a stronger candidate than a recycled executive. Johnson can fund himself. Asked how much of his wealth he will spend, if necessary, his answer is as simple as it is swift: "All of it."

From Failed Bombings to Armed Jihadist Assaults
http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100526_failed_bombings_armed_jihadist_assaults?utm_source=SWeekly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=100527&utm_content=readmore&elq=58c3a4ee1e4a47a6a8dc2b305a0513eb
Widely acknowledged Islamic scholar didn’t get the “Islam is a religion of peace” memo. Excerpt: In the May 23 al-Malahim interview (his first with AQAP), al-Awlaki not only said he was proud of the actions of Hasan and Abdulmutallab, whom he referred to as his students, but also encouraged other Muslims to follow the examples they set by their actions. When asked about the religious permissibility of an operation like Abdulmutallab’s, which could have killed innocent civilians, al-Awlaki told the interviewer that the term “civilian” was not really applicable to Islamic jurisprudence and that he preferred to use the terms combatants and non-combatants. He then continued by noting that “non-combatants are people who do not take part in the war” but that, in his opinion, “the American people in its entirety takes part in the war, because they elected this administration, and they finance this war.” In his final assessment, al-Awlaki said, “If the heroic mujahid brother Umar Farouk could have targeted hundreds of soldiers, that would have been wonderful. But we are talking about the realities of war,” meaning that in his final analysis, attacks against civilians were permissible under Islamic law. Indeed, he later noted, “Our unsettled account with America, in women and children alone, has exceeded one million. Those who would have been killed in the plane are a drop in the ocean.” While this line of logic is nearly identical to that historically put forth by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the very significant difference is that al-Awlaki is a widely acknowledged Islamic scholar. He speaks with a religious authority that bin Laden and al-Zawahiri simply do not possess…. None of this is to say that the threats posed by suicide bombers against mass transit and aircraft will abruptly end. The jihadists have proven repeatedly that they have a fixation on both of these target sets and they will undoubtedly continue their attempts to attack them. Large bombings and airline attacks also carry with them a sense of drama that a shooting does not — especially in a country that has become somewhat accustomed to shooting incidents conducted by non-terrorist actors for other reasons. However, we believe we’re seeing a significant shift in the mindset of jihadist ideologues and that this shift will translate into a growing trend toward armed assaults.

White House: Sestak is delusional and deserves your vote for senator
http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2010/05/26/white-house-sestak-is-delusional-and-deserves-your-vote-for-senator/
Excerpt: This is all rather counterintuitive to me as I don’t follow Democrat politics. Maybe the Administration is dragging this story out in an effort to give Sestak anti-Administration cred as he goes into an election. Maybe they’re just inept. Whatever the reason, the Obama Administration is now in the interesting position of potentially supporting a candidate they have branded as either a liar or delusional.

AP sources: Minerals Management Service head fired
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/27/AR2010052702054.html?hpid=topnews
Everything’s good, the scapegoat has been found. Excerpt: Democratic sources say the Obama administration has fired the head of the U.S. Minerals Management Service in response to blistering criticism over lax oversight of offshore drilling. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity before the official announcement, tell The Associated Press that President Barack Obama will announce the decision Thursday. Elizabeth "Liz" Birnbaum had run the service in the Interior Department since July 2009.

Boehner Asks Oberstar to Drop All GOP Earmarks From WRDA Bill
http://www.rollcall.com/news/46765-1.html?type=printer_friendly
A needed step. Republicans cannot have it both ways and expect to be given the right to govern. Excerpt: House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is asking Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) to disregard all Republican requests for projects in the Water Resources Development Act reauthorization he is drafting — even if the original sponsors have not yet withdrawn their projects.

Pakistan restoring access to YouTube, but will block videos offensive to Muslims -- beheadings? Nope -- cartoons
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/05/pakistan-restoring-access-to-youtube-but-will-block-videos-offensive-to-muslims----beheadings-nope--.html
Excerpt: Pakistan blocked Facebook and YouTube last week to save sensitive Pakistani eyes from seeing the cartoons of their prophet generated on "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day." Now they're easing some of the blockage, but material offensive to Muslims will still be blocked. I expect that means websites like this one, not, say, the video of the beheading of Daniel Pearl.

Aceh's religious police crack down on tight jeans
http://www.smh.com.au/world/acehs-religious-police-crack-down-on-tight-jeans-20100526-weap.html
See, rape is women’s fault for tempting men by wearing provocative clothing. Men cannot be expected to control themselves—at least not Muslim men. Excerpt: Starting today, he will begin distributing 20,000 long skirts, a campaign to stop women wearing trousers. While almost all women in Aceh wear the jilbab, or headscarf, many follow the Indonesian fashion for tight jeans, even if they are worn modestly under a tunic. ''Obviously, there is a problem with sexy dressing,'' Mr Ramli explains. ''We see that rapes take place in big cities where free access is allowed between different sexes. Here the economy is small and we don't want it to be like that.'' Even before the policy is introduced, West Aceh's Wilayatul Hisbah, or religious police, have been setting up roadblocks outside the district's capital of Meulaboh, inspecting every car and stopping motorcycles if there is a female rider on board wearing trousers. In a 60-minute operation in the hamlet of Arongan, more than 25 women were yesterday taken aside for a lecture on Islamic morals and asked to sign a document, vowing not to repeat their mistake and pledging to ''immediately report'' to the religious police if they notice someone else violating Islamic law.

Islamic scholars against trans working in women’s beauty salons
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Islamic-scholars-against-trans-working-in-women%E2%80%99s-beauty-salons-18508.html
Don’t ask, don’t tell, or get stoned? Excerpt: A group of Islamic experts from the al Bahtul Masa’il have issued a fatwa against transsexuals and transvestites. The scholars, who represent 125 pesantren in the provinces of Java and Madura Island, have decreed that transgendered people must be viewed as male and for this reason “cannot cut or prepare women’s hair” in beauty salons “to whom they are not linked by blood or marital ties.” Leaders from the Indonesian Muslim Clerical Council (MUI) chose instead not to comment the issue.

Hezbollah vows to bomb ships in event of new war with Israel
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hKZ-zQ6xN6HP8pzoM8IcMKKEMTyA
Excerpt: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Tuesday that his militants would bomb military, civilian and commercial ships heading to Israel in the event of a new war with the Jewish state.

L.A. County auditors find widespread fraud
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-county-fraud-audit-20100526,0,2553704.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+latimes/news/local+(L.A.+Times+-+California+%7C+Local+News)&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
Excerpt: Los Angeles County auditors substantiated 101 instances of fraud during the last six months of 2009, uncovering cases large and small in which taxpayers were cheated, according to a report released Wednesday. The county's fraud hotline typically receives about 500 tips every six months. The latest report was unusual because it found misconduct that touched the highest levels of the Fire Department and the office of the county's chief executive, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraud. Fraud hotline auditors said that since July 2009, they found more than 360 tips either to be unsubstantiated or otherwise resolved. As of the end of 2009, more than 630 cases remained open.

The Problem With Having an Olympian God for a President
http://townhall.com/columnists/BenShapiro/2010/05/26/the_problem_with_having_an_olympian_god_for_a_president
Excerpt: "Plug the damn hole." So spake The Great Obama from high atop Mount Olympus, looking down upon the mere mortals struggling below. Those pitiful human beings were covered in oil, their bodies slick with it; they were weeping as they looked over the vast panoramic sea, which shone grimily in great rainbow smears, dead animals floating on the surface. The executives of British Petroleum sat on the beaches, heads in their hands, gazing gloomily at the hazy horizon. And then, they heard the Great Obama's words from on high. "Why didn't I think of that?" asked BP CEO Tony Hayward. "What a magnificent idea!" shouted Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer. And together, they built an enormous cork and placed it in the hole in the ocean floor (along with Jack Shephard from "LOST"), and thus was ended the saga of the BP oil spill.

Troops Sent to Border Won't Be Used to Stop Illegals
http://www.thefoxnation.com/arizona-immigration-law/2010/05/26/troops-sent-border-wont-be-used-stop-illegals
“Turn in your guns and drugs here and get your driver’s license and healthcare card. Thank you and enjoy America. “Excerpt: US National Guard troops being sent to the Mexican border will be used to stem the flow of guns and drugs across the frontier and not to enforce US immigration laws, the State Department said Wednesday. The clarification came after the Mexican government urged Washington not to use the additional troops to go after illegal immigrants. President Barack Obama on Tuesday authorized the deployment of up to 1,200 additional troops to border areas but State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters, "It's not about immigration." He said the move was "fully consistent with our efforts to do our part to stem, you know, violence, to interdict the flow of dangerous people and dangerous goods -- drugs, guns, people."

Daily Presidential Tracking Poll
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll
Excerpt: The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 26% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -16.

47% Now Hold Unfavorable View of Kagan
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/may_2010/47_now_hold_unfavorable_view_of_kagan
Excerpt: Voters have an increasingly unfavorable opinion of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan but are more convinced than ever that she will be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 41% of U.S. voters now hold a favorable opinion of Kagan but 47% view her unfavorably, up from 43% a week ago and 39% just after President Obama announced her nomination. These findings include 15% with a Very Favorable opinion and 23% who regard her Very Unfavorably. This, too, marks a shift from the first survey when Kagan’s Very Favorables were 18% and Very Unfavorables were 17%.

63% Favor Repeal of National Health Care Plan
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/healthcare/march_2010/health_care_law
Excerpt: A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of U.S. voters now favor repeal of the plan passed by congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Obama in March.

Wisconsin Senate: Feingold 46%, Johnson 44%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/wisconsin/election_2010_wisconsin_senate
Businessman Ron Johnson, endorsed at last weekend’s state Republican Convention, is now running virtually even against incumbent Democrat Russ Feingold in Wisconsin’s race for the U.S. Senate. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Wisconsin shows Feingold with 46% support to Johnson’s 44%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) remain undecided. As he has in surveys since the beginning of the year, Feingold continues to fall just short of 50% regardless of which Republican he’s matched against. Incumbents who earn less than 50% of the vote at this stage of a campaign are considered potentially vulnerable. Feingold was reelected to a third term in 2004 with 56% of the vote.

Eyes on Vietnamese Catfish farming
http://www.lyhuong.net/viet/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2576:2576&catid=37:bandoc&Itemid=56
Excerpt: Despite long-time complaints, Vietnam continues to export catfish tainted by pollution and antibiotics. Morgan says video shot in 2003 shows the same fish-farming conditions captured on film just a few weeks ago. “Nothing has changed — and isn’t going to change.” Only 2 percent of imported seafood is inspected annually. Seeking to remedy that, the 2008 farm bill requires the USDA to begin inspecting imported seafood, a job that had been held by the Food and Drug Administration. However, for fear of igniting a trade dispute, U.S. trade representatives have prevented such inspections from taking place. A ruling on the inspections is expected soon.

Phoenix police ID suspect in officer's shooting death
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/05/26/20100526phoenix-police-shooting-suspect-details.html#ixzz0p5fmQYlB
Excerpt: A Phoenix police officer was shot and killed while searching for a man near Indian School Road and 19th Avenue early Wednesday morning. Officer Travis P. Murphy, 29, was shot about 1:30 a.m. He had a wife and children ages 2 years old and 2 weeks old. The line-of-duty death marks the first in Phoenix since an officer was fatally wounded by a drunken driver in 2008. Police said the suspected shooter, Danny L. Martinez, was booked into jail on suspicion of first-degree murder. He is being held without bond……Danny Ledesma Martinez, 30, served almost three years in prison for felony charges of misconduct involving weapons from the Tucson area, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections.

80-year-old shoots and kills burglar
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-il-burglarkilled,0,7198801.story
Given that in Chicago, only police, politicians and gang-bangers are allowed to be armed, he’s probably in trouble. Saw a TV interview with a neighbor, a young black woman. She said the old people never bothered anyone, that it could have been her home invaded and in her opinion it was one less crook! Excerpt: Chicago police have declined to comment on whether charges may be filed against an 80-year-old homeowner who fatally shot a burglar who had broken into his West Side home. Police questioned the homeowner for several hours after the early Wednesday morning shooting, but released him without comment. Family members and neighbors said the man was a Korean War veteran and his 83-year-old wife is a retired nurse. They said the couple have been married about 60 years and have lived in the same house for 40 years. The man, his wife, and their 12-year-old great-grandson were all unharmed. Relatives said the man bought a gun after his home was burglarized last November

Slaves to the government dole
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Slaves-to-the-government-dole-94877134.html
Excerpt: Throughout our history, politicians and pundits have often said "America is at a crossroads." Sometimes it was true, as in the final convulsive years leading up to the Civil War when we decided to end slavery. New data on personal income, taxes and dependency makes clear that the country is again at a historic crossroad and another form of slavery is the central issue. There are no iron chains involved this time, but dependence on government for economic sustenance is no less an enslavement. Based on Bureau of Economic Analysis data, USA Today reported Tuesday that the portion of personal income received from private sector paychecks declined to 41.9 percent, its lowest point ever, during the first quarter of 2010. The figure was 44.6 percent in December 2007 at the outset of the current recession and 47.6 percent in the first quarter of 2000. By contrast, the personal income received from government programs climbed to 17.9 percent. Add another 9.8 percent for government employee compensation and 27.7 percent of all personal income is derived from government sources. (The remaining 30.1 percent of personal income results from small-business proprietor profits, farm profits, privately funded pensions, investment sales and dividends, and insurance annuities.)

At stake: Control of Congress through 2022
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/At-stake_-Control-of-Congress-through-2020-94867954.html
Excerpt: In the run-up to November, everybody is wondering whether Republicans can retake the House of Representatives this year. They should really be wondering whether the GOP can take back the Indiana House of Representatives and the New York state Senate. U.S. House races will determine who controls Congress until 2012, but state-level races for legislature and governor this fall could determine who controls Congress through 2022. Next year, states will redraw their legislative and congressional district lines based on the results of the U.S. census. And in most states, the party in power gets to draw the map to its own advantage. The last time this happened, in the 2000 election, Republicans fared poorly. After George W. Bush lost the national popular vote for president, the party was left with complete control of the redistricting process in states that accounted for only 98 House seats. Democrats had total control over creating 120 new districts. Of the remaining 217 districts, seven are in states with just one House seat; 173 were drawn under split-party power; and 37 were drawn by nonpartisan commissions under state law. This year, it's generally agreed that Republicans will make gains. If they win a few key, competitive races, their control over redistricting could increase dramatically. And if Democrats lose a few key races, their control could diminish just as dramatically.

Some devastating polls for Democrats
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Some-devastating-polls-for-Democrats-94950999.html
Excerpt: Back in 1994, I wrote a column for U.S. News arguing that Republicans had a serious chance to capture a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. The article appeared on the newsstands on July 11, and was the first article I’m aware of that suggested that Democrats might lose the majority they had held for 40 years. My argument was based on a number of polls showing Democratic incumbents trailing Republican challengers. Usually House incumbents don’t trail challengers in polls at any point in the campaign, because they almost always start off better known. For an incumbent to trail in a poll is a sign of serious danger. Such signs abound for Democrats these days. For example, Republican Jim Renacci leads incumbent Democrat John Boccieri 47%-36% in Ohio 16. Boccieri won this district, which had been held by Republicans since 1950, by a 55%-44% margin in 2008. He switched from no to yes on the health care bill in March 2010. That doesn’t seem to have helped. Another late switcher on health care, Steve Driehaus of Ohio 1, is also trailing. From my colleague David Freddoso comes the news of a poll by the Republican firm Public Opinion Strategies showing Republican former Congressman Steve Chabot leading Democratic incumbent Steve Driehaus 53%-39%. Driehaus was one of the “Stupak five” who said they wouldn’t support a health care bill that funded abortion but who turned around and provided the key votes that passed the bill March 21. The result is very similar to a poll conducted in January for the liberal blog Fire Dog Lake showing Chabot leading Driehaus 56%-39%. Meanwhile, Scott Rasmussen reports that Republican Rick Berg leads 18-year incumbent Democrat Earl Pomeroy 52%-43%. This is the fourth straight Rasmussen poll in which Berg has led Pomeroy.

'Dead' Manassas man returns to life -- and to jail
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/26/AR2010052605388.html?wpisrc=nl_pmheadline
Chicago Voter Profiled in VA? Excerpt: Rodney Newsome's life as a dead man lasted about seven months, until he got arrested again. He might have been better off "dead." On Wednesday, he got tossed back in the Fairfax County jail. After a guilty plea for attempted fraud in 2007, Newsome's attorney submitted documents to the Fairfax court saying his client was in a coma after unsuccessful brain surgery. He was "in a vegetative state," a Manassas doctor allegedly wrote, "while being assisted by ventilation means." On May 23, 2009, at 19:23 hours, Rodney T. Newsome Sr. died at age 37, leaving behind a wife and two children, according to a report allegedly prepared by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. That prompted Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Bruce D. White to dismiss the charges. Newsome, of Manassas, had been looking at jail time because of nine prior convictions in state and federal court for various fraud and drug charges dating back to 1995. After his apparent death, Fairfax police allege, Newsome somehow returned to illegal activity, including taking a stolen check from a Culpeper County check-cashing store, opening a bank account in Oakton and trying to withdraw funds from the account. That was Dec. 17, almost seven months after his alleged death. Newsome was arrested in February, and again charged with attempted fraud. Newsome was released on bond, made several court appearances on the new charge and was scheduled to plead guilty Wednesday. His tragic demise and resurrection had escaped the notice of police and prosecutors. But a sharp-eyed Circuit Court clerk named Mary McGaffic spotted Newsome's case last week in the stack of monthly indictments. As White's clerk, she remembered Newsome's death and the repeated sentencing postponements that preceded it.

Two New Ads Hit Virginia Democrats Hard on Standing Up for Calderon, or the 2nd Amendment – Videos
http://weaselzippers.us/2010/05/26/two-new-ads-hit-virginia-democrats-hard-on-standing-up-for-calderon-or-the-2nd-amendment-videos/
Excerpt: Here are two ads put out by the Republican Party of Virginia. The ads focus on the behavior of Virginia Democrats Tom Perriello and Rick Boucher when Mexican President Felipe Calderon spoke to a Joint Session of Congress and advocated for reinstating the Assault Weapons Ban. He did so under the false statement that most of the assault weapons in Mexico are coming from the United States. The ads point out that Congressional Democrats “couldn’t get to their feet fast enough” to applaud Calderon when he made his statement. The ads urge people to call Perriello or attend a Boucher Town Hall Meeting and ask them in they stood up for Calderon, or if they stand up for the Second Amendment.

Goodbye to 'Law & Order:' 20 Years of Attacking Businesses, Conservative Ideals
http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2010/20100526154201.aspx
Profiling businessmen. Excerpt: Not every store owner, executive, banker or broker you meet in life is a criminal, yet on “Law & Order,” nearly every businessperson introduced is guilty of something unethical, immoral or criminal. Primetime television has been painting this negative view of corporate employees for years. From white collar crimes to murders, businessmen were often found guilty on TV dramas including NBC’s “Law & Order” franchises. The Business & Media Institute examined the portrayal of businessmen in TV dramas in 2005 and found that a person was 21 times more likely to be kidnapped or murdered at the hands of a businessman than the mob. Businessmen also committed crimes five times more often than terrorists and four times more often than gangs. That analysis included all three popular “Law & Order” shows (original, “Special Victims Unit” and “Criminal Intent”). On those programs, almost 50 percent of felonies (13 out of 27) – mostly murders – were committed by businessmen.

What a Free Society is like
http://www.grunt.com/scuttlebutt/newsarchives/2010/may_27_ac.asp#move
Excerpt from the Sgt Grit newsletter: I was working for a major air carrier at SFO and there were two "roach coach" catering trucks that came by. One was operated by a Vietnamese family. I began talking with the boss one day, mentioning that I'd flown as a helicopter crew chief in Quang Tri. He told me he'd walked thru Quang Tri on his way south in 1971-72. He was an NVA army Lt. We chatted off and on, and over time his story came out. He was disillusioned by the Party line after "we defeated" the Americans, and questioned orders to round up selected South Viet politicians, teachers, doctors, etc. He said he was eventually sent back north to a "re-education camp" for what amounted to an attitude adjustment. As soon as he got out he began planning his escape with his family to anywhere out of Nam. He eventually got to Laos and found was sponsored by a church group in the US. He feels very lucky to be allowed to become an American citizen, and that his children would be growing up and educated in the US. He said the news in the North was so controlled by the state that nobody knew anything but what the government wanted them to know, and until he came to the US and saw all the different points of view on just about anything and everything he had no idea what a free society was really like.

Memorial Day Material
Greed, self-interest, entitlement, love of ease and indifference are losing the country they fought for. ~Bob

Quote
"With hearts fortified with these animating reflections, we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live as slaves." --Declaration of the Cause and Necessity of Taking up Arms, July 6, 1775. The Patriot Post www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/

Last Iwo Jima Chaplain Dies
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96005
Excerpt: In the bloodiest days of Iwo Jima, he spoke the last words over fallen Marines and Navy corpsmen as they were buried in the island’s black sand. On 20 May 2010, Marines, sailors and soldiers returned the favor to the late Rev. E. Gage Hotaling of Agawam MA, sending the old Navy chaplain on to join his comrades with military honors. Hotaling was the last surviving chaplain who served ashore with the Marines at Iwo. He joined the Chaplain Corps at age 28 in 1944 because he didn't feel he could preach to the WW II generation unless he knew what they had endured, so he found himself with the 4th Marine Division on Iwo Jima. Some of his experiences on Iwo Jima are included in the book, “Flags of Our Fathers,” which tells the stories of the men who raised the American flag during the battle of February 1945. Rev. Hotaling's first sermon was delivered at a Manton, Rhode Island church on November 19, 1933. At that time the country was in the depths of the Great Depression. Rev. Hotaling was 17 years old and had promised his father, who was dying of cancer, that he would carry on the work of ministry. Hotaling, 94, died Sunday 16 May 2010 in a Springfield hospital, 65 years after the iconic battle for the Pacific island. In a 2007 documentary, he talked about the grim task he faced as Marines fell in bitter combat against the dug-in Japanese enemy. Of the 6,821 Americans killed, Hotaling believed he buried about 1,800. “We would have four Marines with a flag over each grave. And while they were kneeling with the flag, I would stand up and I would give the committal words for each one,” he told the filmmakers. He said he took up smoking to overcome the stench of decay. “I did it not as a Protestant, Catholic or a Jew, but as a Marine,” the Baptist minister said. “Every man was buried as a Marine. And so I gave the same committal to each one.”

For Memorial Day: Ashes Found in Trash Led to Proper Burial
http://www.military.com/news/article/ashes-found-in-trash-led-to-proper-burial.html
Excerpt: The two teenagers got to the cemetery first. He wore his dark green dress uniform from the National Guard. She wore a long black dress. They stood on the edge of the road, across from rows of matching military headstones, waiting for the funeral of the man they had never met. Mike Colt, 19, and his girlfriend, Carol Sturgell, 18, had driven more than an hour from their Tampa homes last month to be at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell. They weren't really sure why they had come. They just knew they had to be here. "It's kind of sad, huh?" asked Sturgell, scanning the sea of white gravestones. Colt nodded. "Yeah, but it feels kind of important."

Thank you, soldiers
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=5pfBUUZNbFM
Kids singing. Maybe there is hope?

Political Digest May 27, 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. It also doesn’t mean that I don’t agree with them. I have to say all this to give some of my critics the benefit of the doubt, assuming they are thick, rather than deliberately taking things the wrong way.

14 U.S. soldiers awarded German Gold Cross medal
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=69672
Guess the Krauts don’t give the Iron Cross anymore. Too bad. Excerpt: The rescue was harrowing, but his son was calm in recounting it, Jack McDonough recalled Thursday. Capt. Robert McDonough, a pilot, called him in the States from northern Afghanistan. His son described how he had to maneuver his helicopter, which was evacuating wounded German soldiers, to avoid heavy fire from insurgents who had pinned down a German platoon. The bullets were so close, he could hear the rounds pinging off the Black Hawk’s rotors, his son said. He wanted to let his father know he was OK before he saw the incident on the news. "A German doctor told him that if they hadn’t gotten three of the other [German] soldiers back so quickly, they would have died," said Jack McDonough, of Williamsport, Pa.

Drug Cartels Take Over Local Politics
http://www.fulldisclosure.net/Programs/478.php
Frightening video. Why he left CA for AZ. Excerpt: According to 33 year veteran gang specialist and retired L.A. Sheriff's Sergeant Richard Valdemar, Mexican drug cartels have infiltrated city councils and political campaigns in many small cities in Los Angeles County. Valdemar cited the following cities as having been infiltrated by the Mexican drug cartels: Lynwood, Bell Gardens, Hawaiian Gardens, South Gate, Huntington Park., Vernon, Cudahy. Drug cartels set up phony businesses to launder drug money, usually used car lots, used tire shops that serve as a "front" for their operations. Valdemar says it all starts when a small business, like a restaurant, is purchased by someone with drug money from Mexico, who sets up shop and starts inviting the city fathers to come for complimentary or discounted meals. Then invitations are extended to local police and other government officials, until the business operator is well established, with powerful friends. Drug money is used to send out smear campaign literature to destroy reputations of incumbent city council members and to finance the campaigns of challengers whose goal is to get a majority voting block on the city council. Once the drug cartel controls the city council, they fire the city attorney, city manager and start giving out contracts, like the trash collection contract, to their cronies.

Obama gets an earful in clash with GOP senators
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_REPUBLICANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-05-25-17-41-35
Excerpt: If President Barack Obama thought having a private lunch with Republican senators would ease partisan tensions in Congress, he grabbed the wrong recipe. The president walked into a remarkably contentious 80-minute session Tuesday in which GOP senators accused him of duplicity, audacity and unbending partisanship. Lawmakers said the testy exchange left legislative logjams intact, and one GOP leader said nothing is likely to change before the November elections. Obama's sharpest accuser was Bob Corker of Tennessee, a first-term senator who feels the administration undermined his efforts to craft a bipartisan financial regulation bill. "I told him I thought there was a degree of audacity in him even showing up today after what happened with financial regulation," Corker told reporters, with perhaps a dig at Obama's book "The Audacity of Hope."

Kilo Company Squads Engage Insurgents After Ambush
http://militarytimes.com/blogs/battle-rattle/2010/05/25/kilo-company-squads-engage-insurgents-after-ambush/
Check out the video. Excerpt: COMBAT OUTPOST REILLY, Afghanistan – Last night, I went on my last foot patrol of this embed assignment. It was eventful, to say the least. Military Times photographer Tom Brown and I pushed north from this outpost east of Marjah with Marines from Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. Two groups – 3rd Platoon’s 2nd and 3rd Squads – left on routine security patrols within a half-hour of each other. Tom and I joined 3/3, the second group – 13 Marines, a Navy corpsman and four Afghan National Army soldiers – as they stepped off at about 4:30. It was a strenuous walk. The first squad had swept ahead of us to establish security so we could safely cross open terrain, but the land was crisscrossed with canals that needed to be hurdled and boot-sucking fields that had been flooded by farmers earlier in the day. The air temperature had cooled off considerably from its 100-degree peak earlier in the day, but it was still hot enough that our shirts clung to our backs.

U.S., Europe fall out of step on global financial reform
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/25/AR2010052505316.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
How can this happen when Europe loves BO, who was going to reset our relationship with other countries? And it may “send American jobs overseas.” Excerpt: The global campaign to harmonize rules for financial firms is swerving off course, threatening efforts to curb the risky bets that rocked the world economy two years ago. As U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner lands in Europe on Wednesday, differences are growing among world leaders over how to keep the promise they made at the height of the financial crisis: that they would work together to reshape how finance is governed. Their aim was to avoid another upheaval by making financial rules consistent across borders and closing loopholes. But the United States and Europe are increasingly pursuing their own -- sometimes clashing -- paths to reform, potentially undermining the regulatory overhauls taking shape on both sides of the Atlantic. If this continues, a resulting patchwork of reforms could allow companies to continue exploiting national differences by moving operations to countries where conditions are most favorable and thwart the efforts of regulators to spot financial threats early on. The outcome, for instance, could be very different ways of banking in New York and the financial capitals of Europe, prompting leading American firms to shift their riskiest activities overseas beyond the purview of U.S. regulators.

President Obama sends 1,200 troops to fortify Mexican border
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/99893-1200-troops-to-border
Let’s see. The border is just under 2,000 miles long. So you could have two soldiers, standing watch 8 hours on, 8 hours off, 24/7, about every three miles.

Obama’s border plan looks similar to Bush’s
http://dailycaller.com/2010/05/26/obamas-border-plan-looks-similar-to-bushs/#ixzz0p39iZRiA
Excerpt: President Barack Obama’s plan to send as many as 1,200 National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border appears to be a scaled-down version of the border security approach championed by his predecessor.... Some law enforcement officials along the border said they worry that Obama will repeat Bush’s mistake by limiting the troops to support roles, such as conducting surveillance and installing lighting, rather than letting them make arrests and confront smugglers. They also believe the scale of the force — one-fifth of the size of the one sent by Bush — is too small to make a difference along the length of the 2,000-mile border.... Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat who has prosecuted rings of drug and immigrant smugglers, said the planned deployment was a good first step, but believes that the president’s plan should evolve to include more troops and more authority for the soldiers. “I’ll take what we can get,” Goddard said. “Again, I don’t think this is the final response.” The Mexican government issued a statement saying it hoped the troops would be used to fight drug cartels and not enforce immigration laws. Mexico has traditionally objected to the use of the military to control illegal immigration.

Calderon's shot at American guns
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/may/24/calderons-shot-at-american-guns/
Well, blaming Bush worked for BO, why not for FC? Excerpt: Mr. Calderon claimed that guns covered by the federal ban were particularly "powerful weapons." While the term "assault weapons" may conjure up visions of military hardware, the inside guts of these feared guns are essentially the same as deer hunting rifles. The firing mechanisms in semiautomatics and machine guns are completely different. The entire firing mechanism of a semi-automatic gun has to be removed and replaced to turn it into a military weapon like an AK-47. Mr. Calderon's propaganda aside, Mexican drug gangs are getting real military weapons from within Mexico, countries south of his border and other places around the world. Reports indicate that grenades and rocket launchers in use in Mexico aren't even available for sale in the United States and come from places like South Korea, Israel and Spain. Between 2007 and 2009, 2,239 grenades were seized by the Mexican government, and those weren't from here. Markings similarly show that machine guns in Mexico largely originate from China, Israel and South Africa. "If you look carefully, you will notice that the violence in Mexico started to grow a couple of years before I took office in 2006," Mr. Calderon said. "This coincides, at least, with the lifting of the [U.S.] assault weapons ban in 2004." He also patronized Americans by warning that our own gun ownership endangers the United States. The problem with these talking points is that murder rates dropped in America and Mexico between the 2004 expiration of the ban and 2008, when the latest data is available. Likewise, Mr. Calderon's claim that 80 percent of guns used in Mexican crimes come from the United States is completely false. Most weapons seized in Mexico have traceable serial numbers that show they come from countries other than the United States. The 80 percent number reflects how many guns sent to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for tracing end up being from America. Most weapons seized in Mexico aren't transferred to U.S. authorities, so that figure is meaningless for calculating overall totals.

Big Brother picks your pocket
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0510/garvin.php3
Excerpt: Yes, boys and girls, a Nixon boogeyman has returned to haunt us, and the Obama administration summoned it back from the grave. For the past several weeks, White House henchmen such as Pelosi, Paul Volcker, John Podesta and Democratic Senate budget committee chair Kent Conrad have been talking up the value-added tax (VAT) as a way to resolve the debt crisis that they helped create. The president has done nothing to discourage the talk. Asked directly about the possibility of a VAT during an interview with CNBC, Obama blandly replied: "That is something that has worked for some countries." When Obama and other spend-first, ask-questions-later politicians say the VAT "works," what they mean is it permits them to enact voracious tax increases in nearly invisible ink. Unlike income tax, which shows up as a specific deduction on your pay stub, or sales tax, clearly marked on your receipt, the VAT is a stealth bomber that swoops in without showing up on the radar. With a VAT, goods are taxed not just when a consumer buys them but at every single step of production. That pair of jeans you pick up at The Gap would have been taxed when the fabric was milled, when it was dyed, when it was cut, when it was sewed and when it was purchased wholesale by the store. Now that pair of jeans you would have bought for $50 will cost $60. But because each tax payment was built into the price paid by the next business along the production chain, you won't really know that it's the government that jacked up your cost.

Private pay shrinks to historic lows as gov't payouts rise
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/income/2010-05-24-income-shifts-from-private-sector_N.htm
Think Greece can’t happen here? Greece thought that ten years ago. Excerpt: Paychecks from private business shrank to their smallest share of personal income in U.S. history during the first quarter of this year, a USA TODAY analysis of government data finds. At the same time, government-provided benefits — from Social Security, unemployment insurance, food stamps and other programs — rose to a record high during the first three months of 2010. Those records reflect a long-term trend accelerated by the recession and the federal stimulus program to counteract the downturn. The result is a major shift in the source of personal income from private wages to government programs. The trend is not sustainable, says University of Michigan economist Donald Grimes. Reason: The federal government depends on private wages to generate income taxes to pay for its ever-more-expensive programs. Government-generated income is taxed at lower rates or not at all, he says. "This is really important," Grimes says.

Michigan Film Subsidies: Two Years, $117 Million and No Film Job Growth
http://www.mackinac.org/12495
But the statists still say, “More government is the solution.”

EPA battle heats up in Senate
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37775.html#ixzz0p3FcFT4R
Excerpt: A bipartisan group of senators will move after the Memorial Day recess on a resolution to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulation of greenhouse gases. It is uncertain whether the group will have the votes by the time the resolution comes to the Senate floor June 10, but it has stirred concern among environmentalists and the EPA. The disapproval resolution, introduced by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), has 41 co-sponsors, including Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. Other co-sponsors include Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.). The resolution, which is part of the Congressional Review Act, cannot be filibustered or amended. It also would need approval in the House and a presidential signature to go into effect. To pass the Senate, it needs only 51 votes.

Hit job: What Media Matters and the SEIU got wrong about Fortune’s Nina Easton
http://dailycaller.com/2010/05/26/hit-job-what-media-matters-and-the-seiu-got-wrong-about-fortunes-nina-easton/#ixzz0p3CdFteG
Purple People Beaters strike again. Excerpt: Last week, Nina Easton, the Washington editor of
Fortune, wrote a column about the SEIU and National People’s Action. The two progressive groups had sent roughly 500 protesters to Easton’s Chevy Chase neighborhood on May 16th to picket the front yard of Bank of America’s Greg Baer. Easton had just put her 2-year-old son down for a nap, and stepped outside to ask the protesters to quiet down. They didn’t. Easton wrote a column. And now she’s become the target of the SEIU and Media Matters for America. Why? Because Easton, by “refusing” to disclose her husband’s relationship with Bank of America, was misleading her audience at Fortune, and the viewers of FOX News, where she commented on the protest. The only problem? There is no relationship between Easton’s husband and Bank of America.

Mass. health meltdown is your future
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/mass_health_meltdown_is_your_future_qA65Dx77kppzP5lHJN23pN#ixzz0p3JeuaEF
Excerpt: The future of US medicine under ObamaCare is already on display in Massachusetts. The top four health insurers there just posted first-quarter losses of more than $150 million. Most of them blamed the state's decision to keep premiums at last year's levels for individual and small-business policies, when they'd proposed double-digit hikes to match the soaring costs they've seen under the state's universal-coverage law. The companies have gone to court to challenge the state's action -- it apparently had no basis for its ruling beyond the political needs of Gov. Deval Patrick. If they win, Bay State health premiums will continue their rapid rise; if they lose, they'll eventually have to stop doing business in Massachusetts -- and the state will be that much closer to a "single payer" system of socialized medicine.

Clinton: World must act on S Korean ship sinking
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100526/ap_on_re_as/as_clinton_south_korea?om_rid=Mqh-D0&om_mid=_BL-RKIB8KE3zjj&
Excerpt: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday the world must respond to the sinking of a South Korean warship that has been blamed on North Korea. "This was an unacceptable provocation by North Korea, and the international community has a responsibility and a duty to respond," Clinton told reporters after talks with South Korean leaders. The ship sinking "requires a strong but measured response," she said at a joint news conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, though she did not elaborate. Clinton said the United States would be consulting with South Korea and members of the U.N. Security Council on what the appropriate action would be, but she declined to offer a timeline. "We're very confident in the South Korean leadership, and their decision about how and when to move forward is one that we respect and will support," she said. Tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen sharply since a team of international investigators last week concluded that a torpedo from a North Korean submarine tore apart the corvette Cheonan on March 26. It killed 46 South Korean sailors and was one of the South's worst military disasters since the 1950-53 Korean War.

Nuclear forum to ignore Iran, urge Israel to sign NPT
www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/report-nuclear-forum-to-ignore-iran-urge-israel-to-sign-npt-1.292226
Excerpt: Nuclear disarmament official says Iran threatened to slam U.S., western powers with 'serious nuclear noncompliance' if mentioned in final NPT conference resolution. Iran may escape censure at a meeting of the 189 signatories of a global anti-nuclear arms pact despite growing concerns that Tehran might be developing atomic weapons, according to a draft declaration. The United States and other countries say Iran is in breach of its obligations under the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a landmark arms-control pact that has been the focus of a month-long conference and review wrapping up this week. A draft declaration prepared by conference president Libran Cabactulan of the Philippines fails to mention Iran or its nuclear program, though it names India, Pakistan and Israel as NPT holdouts. Diplomats said Iran had threatened to veto any final declaration if it was named.

Climategate And The Scientific Elite
http://thegwpf.org/climategate/1012-climategate-and-the-scientific-elite.html
Excerpt: The news that Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who popularized the idea of a link between the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine and autism, has been struck off the register of general practitioners in the United Kingdom testifies to the fact that, in many scientific fields, objectivity still reigns. Britain’s General Medical Council found that Wakefield had used unethical and dishonest research methods and that when his conclusions became common knowledge, the result was that far more children were exposed to the risk of those diseases than would have been the case otherwise. Unfortunately, in other areas, some scientists have been getting away with blatant disregard for the scientific method. The most prominent example, “Climategate,” highlights how dangerous the politicization of science can be. The public reaction to Climategate should motivate politicians to curb such abuses in the future. Yet it was politicians who facilitated this politicization of science in the first place.... Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present — and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite. What Ike warned about has now come to pass. The scientific elite, with the help of its allies in Congress, increasingly dictates public policy and thereby secures the continued flow of research funding.

Just another act of deadly treason
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/just_another_act_of_deadly_treason_wuz3iFD6YbSQilIzOHHDUM
Excerpt: Yesterday, The New York Times published another front-page article based on a leaked classified document. This time, it was an order signed by Gen. David Petraeus authorizing black operations against adversaries and such dubious friends as Iran, Syria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Gee, thanks. We really needed to know that. The world's a better place now. Yet the Times' sin was the lesser one. The paper has long since given up any pretense of patriotism. (Ugh! Yuck!) Its editors are just publishing and perishing as citizens of the world. It's whoever leaked the document that bears the burn-in-hell blame. We must be able to keep secrets in wartime. But we can't. Because domestic political agendas trump national security in every administration nowadays.

Black teen murdered in LA City. Why no interest from the usual PR hounds?
http://www.lamomsblog.com/2010/03/jamiel-andre-shaw-ii-12221990-322008-rtp-time-sensitive.html
Excerpt: Three doors from his house, Jamiel Andre Shaw II was murdered. Shot twice, although there were three entry wounds. The first bullet went through his hand and then entered his stomach. The second bullet hit Jamiel’s head. Jamiel’s alleged murderer, Pedro Espinoza, an illegal alien gang member from Mexico, belongs to the 18th Street Gang. Espinoza had been released from jail on a firearms charge the day before he murdered Jamiel. The Shaw Family has been continually thwarted in its demands to know how this was allowed to happen. Jamiel’s mom, Army Sgt. Anita Shaw was serving in Iraq at the time of her son’s murder. This aspect has been the most painful for me in preparing this piece. I cannot even put myself in her boots. Fighting for freedom in Iraq and receiving the news that her son was killed on his way home from the mall. Jas also left a little brother, Thomas, now ten. You’d think that a young, promising black teenager, killed by an illegal alien gang member would get all kinds of attention from leaders of the black community. The Shaw Family couldn’t even get a return call from Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton. How about the elected officials representing the Shaw’s district? Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Council member Herb Wesson, and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas have done nothing but throw up roadblocks. Their Congresswoman, Diane Watson has also ignored them. Clearly, there’s a mighty, mighty big elephant in the living room. Where can we place the blame for the circumstances that led to Jamiel’s murder? One prime culprit is Special Order 40. A law put in place by the Los Angeles City Council in 1979 that prevents Los Angeles Police from obtaining immigration status from detained suspects. This law was upheld in 2006 when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa promised to make Los Angeles a “Sanctuary City for Illegal Aliens”. Let’s take a look at Pedro Espinoza and his 18th Street Gang. According to a 2005 report by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), “an estimated 80 percent of [the 18th Street] gang's members [in California] are illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America."

Global Warming Brought to Book
http://thegwpf.org/opinion-pros-a-cons/1010-global-warming-brought-to-book.html
Excerpt: I have just checked on Amazon UK: out of the top five most popular books about ‘global warming’, no fewer than four are by sceptical authors. And, it is surely about to get even more interesting as four new, highly-critical works hit the virtual and bookshop ‘shelves’ this May(.)... I believe the intellectual pendulum is at last starting to swing. It is time that some of our more right-on media and UK politicians [witness the fatuous ‘exclusive’ on The Times front page today - why did The Times waste its front page on this non-story?] woke up to the fact that ‘global warming’ is increasingly an intellectually-discredited, postmodernist trope, but worse, a dangerous economic irrelevancy. Indeed, irrational political belief in ‘global warming’ may be yet another threat to the survival of the UK and the EU as significant economic world powers.

'Recon for attack a warning to Iran'
www.jpost.com/IranianThreat/News/Article.aspx?id=176483
Doubtful in my view. Excerpt: Reports that the Pentagon has okayed reconnaissance missions over Iran were seen in Jerusalem on Tuesday as the first public signs of practical preparations for a possible US military operation against Iran. The New York Times reported on Monday that Gen. David Petraeus, the top American commander in the Middle East, ordered an expansion of clandestine military activity in the region. According to the report, “officials said the order also permits reconnaissance that could pave the way for possible military strikes in Iran if tensions over its nuclear ambitions escalate.”

Al-Awlaki Says He Was Tipped Off by Washington Post
http://www.newsrealblog.com/2010/05/25/al-awlaki-says-he-was-tipped-off-by-washington-post/
The people who want to slaughter Americans can depend on the media for help. Say, did you know the Post has a gallery in the basement of cartoons of the Prophet having sex with pigs, where the reporters and editors go everyday to have a beer and laugh at Muslims? Someone should do something about that. Excerpt: The reason I am saying this is because of Anwar al-Awlaki’s recent statement that The Washington Post is an unwitting co-conspirator in his crimes. “They shut down my website following Nidal Hasan’s operation. I had posted an article of mine in support of what Nidal Hasan did, and so, they shut down my website. Then I read in the Washington Post that they were monitoring my communications. So I was forced to stop these communications. I left that region, and then the American air strikes took place.”

Who In the MSM Will Stand Up For Michael Yon?
http://bigjournalism.com/rfutrell/2010/05/25/who-in-the-msm-will-stand-up-for-michael-yon/
This really sucks. I’ve linked to a lot of Yon’s stuff and contributed to support him. Excerpt: The best war journalist of our time has been kicked out of Afghanistan and the media could not care less. Let the administration boot Helen Thomas out of her seat in the front of a White House press conference and there would be outrage. Remove Jonathan Karl from the Capitol and media would revolt. Kick Andrea Kremer off Sunday Night Football and there would be pandemonium. And yet nobody in the media seems to have much of a problem with Michael Yon being removed from the front lines by Obama/General McChrystal. Yon has openly stated the problems in Afghanistan right now and how we could lose this war, unless changes are made. He has been critical of the current rules of engagement that have put our troops in danger and could actually make this war like the Vietnam that the leftist media claimed it was early and often when Bush was president (it’s strange you don’t hear those comparisons from them anymore).Yon’s reward? He’s lost his embed status, banished to Bangkok. Yon could return but his access might be limited and you can’t just pop in and out of that theater like it’s the neighborhood movie palace. Mess with Yon enough and his resources wear thin, but his patience will not. You will not stop this soldier. He is the ultimate warrior for those who fight and die for this country. His reports are honest, chilling, gripping and are as reflective of the battles they represent as anything I have ever read. But this administration is making it as difficult for him to do his job. You can’t believe this is by accident. The most critical battle in Afghanistan is about to take place, the battle for Kandahar, and the voice of the American soldier is not allowed in.

Global Warming as Religion and not Science
http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/religion.htm
Excerpt: Huxley was one of a long tradition of British sceptical philosophers. From the Bacons, through the likes of Locke, Hume and Russell, to the magnificent climax of Popper’s statement of the principle of falsifiability, the scientific method was painfully established, only to be abandoned in a few short decades. It is one of the great ironies of modern history that the nation that was the cradle of the scientific method came to lead the process of its abandonment. The great difference, then, is that religion demands belief, while science requires disbelief. There is a great variety of faiths. Atheism is just as much a faith as theism. There is no evidence either way. There is no fundamental clash between faith and science – they do not intersect. The difficulties arise, however, when one pretends to be the other. The Royal Society, as a major part of the flowering of the tradition, was founded on the basis of scepticism. Its motto “On the word of no one” was a stout affirmation. Now suddenly, following their successful coup, the Greens have changed this motto of centuries to one that manages to be both banal and sinister – “Respect the facts.” When people start talking about “the facts” it is time to start looking for the fictions. Real science does not talk about facts; it talks about observations, which might turn out to be inaccurate or even irrelevant. The global warmers like to use the name of science, but they do not like its methods. They promote slogans such a “The science is settled” when real scientists know that science is never settled. They were not, however, always so wise. In 1900, for example, the great Lord Kelvin famously stated, "There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement." Within a few years classical physics was shattered by Einstein and his contemporaries. Since then, in science, the debate is never closed. The world might (or might not) have warmed by a fraction of a degree. This might (or might not) be all (or in part) due to the activities of mankind. It all depends on the quality of observations and the validity of various hypotheses. Science is at ease with this situation. It accepts various theories, such as gravitation or evolution, as the least bad available and of the most practical use, but it does not believe. Religion is different.

Down in the polls, Dems at war with themselves
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Down-in-the-polls_-Dems-at-war-with-themselves-94872014.html
Excerpt: But the real civil war this year is going on in the Democratic Party -- and it is going largely unreported. One reason is that it is not a clear-cut battle between two easily identifiable forces, like Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and Grant's Army of the Potomac. Rather, it resembles the guerrilla conflicts of the Civil War in Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma, with local self-starters scurrying about in all directions. So in this month's primaries we saw a skirmish between Arkansas Senate incumbent Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who suggested but did not quite promise he'd support the card check bill that would effectively abolish the secret ballot in unionization elections -- and whose campaign received something like $1 million from unions. That race will be decided in the June 8 runoff. Another incumbent challenged on the left was Utah Rep. Jim Matheson, who got only 55 percent in the Democrats' state convention and could lose the June 22 primary to a supporter of the health care bill. Pennsylvania Democrats rejected party-switching Sen. Arlen Specter, supported by the Obama White House, in favor of Rep. Joseph Sestak, who has a longer record of supporting Obama policies -- but who after the primary declined to identify himself as an "Obama Democrat." The Democrats' one big victory, in the Pennsylvania 12 special election, was won by a pro-gun, anti-abortion, anti-health care bill, anti-cap-and-trade candidate. That platform sounds more Republican than Democratic.

A Step-By-Step Guide To Chuck Schumer's Hedge Fund Lobbyist Racket
http://www.businessinsider.com/a-step-by-step-guide-to-chuck-schumers-hedge-fund-lobbyist-racket-2010-5
Excerpt: Basically it works like this: Schumer invites hedge funds to dinner and says "Hey guys, if you want to do well in Washington, you really gotta get better at lobbying. Then a Schumer staffer leaves and becomes a lobbyist for hedge funds (raising money for Schumer at the same time). Then Schumer ratchets up the populist rhetoric in order to squeeze more cash from the hedge funds. Finally he pushes through key regulations that help the big guys: SEC registration that imposes higher costs on small funds, and a spinoff of trading operations for the major banks. It all works great. Big hedge funds get what they paid for. Schumer gets cash to run for re-election.

Schoolboy throws plastic bottle at France's Sarkozy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100525/wl_afp/francepoliticseducation_20100525120945
Excerpt: A schoolboy threw a plastic bottle at France's President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday during a visit to discuss violence in French schools, but failed to hit his target.

Living in Obama's Loony Parallel Universe
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/living_in_obamas_loony_paralle.html
Excerpt: According to my psychoanalyst, I have issues. She believes our nation's dichotomous political climate and divisive political dialogue is affecting my mental state and I'm beginning to show a "disconnect." It's disconcerting to confess that you're coming unhinged -- to admit you're losing touch with reality and are living in some loony parallel universe. Just this month, famed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking expressed his belief that humans are capable of time travel. No kidding. Welcome to my world. My therapist says my anger issues are revealing, but it's not a personality disorder that's got me. It's not an addictive disorder because I'm still meeting society's expectations and functioning effectively. And it wasn't what I originally feared -- schizophrenia -- because I show no signs of a psychotic disorder. It's much worse than that, she said -- she suspects I'm turning into a liberal.

Illegals and the Election
http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/05/illegals_and_the_election_1.html
As the cost of illegal immigration grows in dollars and violence, the majority opposing it will grow. It will include Americans of Hispanic ancestry who do not want to see their life styles and finances destroyed by this invasion. Excerpt: A similar process is at work involving the illegals crisis. The attempt to bulldoze opposition through demos and marches has failed. Instead, the left, along with the captive legacy media, will hard-pedal questions vaguely related to the topic while by no means central to it. We will hear endless talk about "rights" (always the rights of illegals, never the rights of citizens), racism, and the government as an oppressive force unleashed against third-world victims. All contrary arguments, on the other hand, will be abstracted out of comprehension or flushed down the memory hole, in the same way that rancher Rob Krentz, murdered by an illegal on his own land, and Deputy Louie Puroll, shot by cross-border drug smugglers, have become nonpersons to the eastern media and liberal politicians. They may not be able to win the debate, but they can fix it so they don't lose either, at the expense of the country as a whole.... So what are the proper tactics for debating the illegals question? (...) We should give them their wish. The illegals can become the anvil upon which the hammer of generalized voter anger descends. Responsibility runs up and down the political staircase: Obama invited Calderón here and commiserated with him (I notice he didn't bow, though). Napolitano cut off funding to complete the "virtual fence" while doing nothing to arrange for a replacement. Reid is insisting on an amnesty bill within weeks to in hopes of saving his Senate seat. There's a price to be paid for this kind of thing. We need to see that all involved pay it.

Iran: From Hostage Crisis to the Bomb?
http://planet-iran.com/index.php/news/17281
Excerpt: We measure their rhetoric, we monitor their actions both within their borders and abroad, and we wonder: “Once they get it, would they use it?” But perhaps we are asking the wrong question when it comes to Iran’s race to get the bomb. That question may have been answered 31 years ago in the very first days of the Iranian Revolution. The regime was barely born when it manifested personality traits that clearly told us this was no ordinary group of rulers. The Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran and established the Islamic Republic on April 1, 1979. Seven months later, on Nov. 4, 1979, the Iranians threw out centuries of international diplomatic rules that every other country on earth observes, stormed the American Embassy, and held everyone inside hostage for over a year. What does tossing out diplomatic immunity really mean? Is immunity some quaint old custom or is there a greater message in this act? Here’s a clue: In the middle of the bloodiest global conflict in human history—World War II—even Adolf Hitler understood and respected the importance of diplomatic immunity. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. rounded up the Germans and Japanese in their embassies in Washington and put them in hotels under guard (including the luxurious Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia). Germany and Japan did the same with our embassy staffs in Berlin and Tokyo (although their hotels were not as deluxe).

Quote
"It is incredible how as soon as a people become subject, it promptly falls into such complete forgetfulness of its freedom that it can hardly be roused to the point of regaining it, obeying so easily and willingly that one is led to say that this people has not so much lost its liberty as won its enslavement." --French judge, writer, philosopher Estienne de la Boétie (1530-1563) The Patriot Post www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/