Israel and Chuck Hagel

Obviously Obama seems to enjoy picking fights with conservatives. He relishes the chances it gives him to demagogue as he stands in front of beaming supporters posed tightly behind him. In other words, Hagel is a symptom of the unchecked arrogance of the president as he enters his second term.

President Obama to nominate Chuck Hagel as his next defense secretary, senior administration official says  ".... he's ready for a contentious confirmation fight likely dominated by questions about Hagel's stands on Israel and Iran." Lucianne

Would Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge Survive Hagel?  "The logic was simple: Israel would be outnumbered in both men in uniform and hardware by its neighbors: The Arab League contains more than 400 million people; Israel tops out at less than 8 million."
...."When it comes to Israel’s [qualitative military edge] , perhaps one of the first questions the Senate should ask their former colleague is whether he believes that maintaining Israel’s QME continues to have a place in America’s national security, how recent events should mandate that QME be calculated, what cost is acceptable to maintain the QME, and what changes, if any, he would like to see made to it."

Iran Gets the Message on Hagel  "...we’ll probably hear how Hagel’s views have “evolved” and “don’t matter anyway,” because Obama sets the policies. That’s nonsense. .... There is only one reason, one possible advantage, of choosing a fight over Hagel. And that’s to send a message to Israel and Iran."  The author quotes this from Iranian PressTV

Obama to name anti-Israeli Hagel as Defense Secretary: Reports   "All signs indicate that US President Barack Obama is poised to nominate anti-Israel ex-Senator Chuck Hagel as the next defense secretary soon, informed sources say."

This is a signal from Obama to Iran and Israel; if Congress approves Hagel they will be endorsing this same position. Think of the import of this. TD

Caroline Glick wrote back in December: Hagel, Obama and the Israeli elections  "... there is no chance that Obama will appoint a supporter of a strong Israel to any senior foreign policy post because he wouldn't appoint someone who doesn't share his basic animosity towards Israel. But in Hagel, he chose someone even more outspoken in his animus towards the Jewish state than Obama."

Jewish World Review posted this: GOPers to defend Israel from one of their own; "Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., predicted that Hagel would be "the most antagonistic secretary of defense toward the state of Israel in our nation's history," and called it an "in-your-face nomination." "

Israel Matsav gives this quote from the column "Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler"
"Recently, a campaign to support the flagging nomination of Sen. Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense began. Part of that campaign were two op-eds in the New York Times casting opponents of Hagel as extremists".

Winners and losers in the fiscal cliff deal

http://terrellaftermath.com/

WaPo; Winners and losers in the fiscal cliff deal  "Obama’s handling of the fiscal cliff talks felt pitch perfect up until his Monday event with “middle class” citizens. The rally felt too much like a campaign rally — Obama was repeatedly cheered — and the president himself was in a joking mood that didn’t seem to fit the moment.  Will it be overshadow the fact that he got a deal? No. But it was an off-key note from the country’s top communicator."

Regulatory Calendar: Administration Releases 2013 Regulatory Plan

Time to get this?

Possible Costs: $123.2 billion

Possible Paperwork Burden: 13.6 million hours

American Action Forum  "On the Friday afternoon before Christmas, the administration released its delayed 2012 “Unified Agenda” of federal regulations.  Rather than publish a spring and fall agenda, the custom every year since 1996, the White House opted for a late afternoon drop during the holidays."The timing is perhaps less important than the contents of the new report.  According to initial projections, the agenda contains $123.2 billion in possible regulatory costs for 2013 and at least 13 million paperwork burden hours.
"What’s more, some entries lacked data typically included in the regulatory plan, and outlined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act.  For example, new import security filings state $0 in capital and annual costs in the 2012 agenda.  However, the 2011 agenda clearly stated costs could reach $7 billion annually.  It’s not clear how widespread these omissions are in the 2012 agenda.
"Listed below are 40 notable regulations (out of 2,387 active actions) on the horizon for 2013, organized by agency, and then chronologically by scheduled release date." "
Read them here

Video; Top government regulations Santa will break

Obama supporters shocked, angry at new tax increases

     Washington Times

Sometimes, watching a Democrat learn something is wonderful, like seeing the family dog finally sit and stay at your command

"Shocker. Democrats who supported the president’s re-election just had NO idea that his steadfast pledge to raise taxes meant that he was really going to raise taxes. They thought he planned to just hit those filthy “1 percenters,” you know, the ones who earned fortunes through their inventiveness and hard work. They thought the free ride would continue forever.

"So this week, as taxes went up for millions of Americans — which Republicans predicted throughout the campaign would happen — it was fun to watch the agoggery of the left."

Democrat Underground Blames Bush for Obama Payroll Tax Hike
"And somebody went to Democrat Underground, somebody got the idea to go there and just troll and look around, and one of the first posts in Democrat Underground last night was this: "What happened that my Social Security withholding's in my paycheck just went up? My paycheck just went down by an amount that I don't feel comfortable with. I guarantee this decrease is gonna hurt me more than the increase in income taxes will hurt those making over 400 grand. What happened?" "