Is Obama's Tax Deal a Political Masterstroke?

Newsbusters  "Charles Krauthammer certainly seems to think so. He posits that the deal the president struck with Republicans was simply Stimulus II - with a large dose of class warfare rhetoric thrown in, he might have added."

Krauthammer: Swindle of the year:  "...says the current buzz, the left will instead challenge Obama for the Democratic nomination. Really now? For decades, African Americans have been this party's most loyal constituency. They vote 9 to 1 Democratic through hell and high water, through impeachment and recession, through everything. After four centuries of enduring much, African Americans finally see one of their own achieve the presidency. And their own party is going to deny him a shot at his own reelection?

http://townhall.com/cartoons/cartoonist/GaryVarvel

"Not even Democrats are that stupid. The remaining question is whether they are just stupid enough to not understand - and therefore vote down - the swindle of the year just pulled off by their own president. "

http://townhall.com/cartoons/cartoonist/ChipBok
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Los Angeles bans new fast-food restaurants in South LA

Hot Air  "“This is not an attempt to control what food people put in their mouths,” LA city council member Jan Perry insists, but of course the new ban on new fast-food restaurants in South LA is exactly that."....
"Nor will this help the already-high unemployment in these low-income neighborhoods, as the ban will prevent a steady source of part-time work for students:"
21st century liberals at work.

Louisiana Senator Blocks NOAA Nominee Over De Facto Drilling Ban

Heritage  "These concerns stem from the recent Gulf offshore drilling moratorium and the ongoing lag in permit issuance since the ban was lifted in October. In a letter sent to President Obama today, Vitter characterizes it “as a continuing de facto moratorium.”"

Julian Assange’s EgoLeaks

Victor Davis Hanson "In truth, Assange is a sorry product of the postmodern West. He reminds us of the morality of Western shock artists who freely caricature Christianity on the hallowed principle of free speech, but, in a nano-second, censor themselves when Islam might provide an even larger target for their cynical secular disdain. WikiLeaks is the journalistic equivalent of a Piss Christ exhibition of the contemporary art world — a repellent reminder of the cowardly selectivity of the shock-jock huckster."
The yellow font is to make sure nobody misses this. Remember: never, never call a leftist activist "courageous". This fatwa will remain in force until I see an example of  courage come from a liberal, leftist, "progressive" activist. So far I've waited all through Vietnam and up to today. However, having said all that...

The Real WikiLeaks Villian Is Not Julian Assange  " Say what you want about Berkeley, but they got it right this time, in their own sick way: If you’re going to praise the America-hating traitor responsible for this incident, your award should go to Manning, who actually leaked the secret government files, rather than Assange, who merely put them on his Web site."

Obama and the Democratic Revolt

Karl Rove; Wall Street Journal  "In a man-bites-dog moment in September, 31 Democrats signed a letter telling Ms. Pelosi that now was not the time to raise any American's taxes. It was smart politics. As a new poll from American Crossroads (a group with which I'm associated) has found, Americans believe—by a 4-to-1 margin—that raising taxes in a recession will hurt growth, and that tax rates should stay where they are so employers start hiring again."

http://jewishworldreview.com/strips/mallard/2000/mallard1.asp

Sloppy ABC Misleads on Estate Tax Being 'Slashed'; It Will Actually Increase 35 Percent

Newsbusters  "In reality, the so-called death tax is currently at zero. Under the deal, it will increase to 35 percent. Karl mangled, "Even Democratic leaders are fuming, especially unhappy with the provision that slashes the tax on inheritances."
"On the CBS Early Show, news anchor Jeff Glor spun, "One of [the Democrats'] major objections, that proposal to lower estate taxes." Again, an increase from zero to 35 percent is not "lowering." (If no action had been taken the rate would have returned to 55 percent for individuals worth more than $1 million.) This may be slowing the rate of increase and increasing the exemption rate, but it's hardly "slashing.""



http://newsbusters.org/cartoons



Missing W.; When the President Was an Adult

Bruce S. Thornton  "But like his classy refusal since leaving office to criticize his successor, the qualities of character on display in his interviews — self-deprecating, amiable, sincere, unpretentious, and principled — are, by contrast with Obama, as damning an indictment of our current president as was the recent electoral rebuke.

"Most impressive is Bush’s disregard for the estimation of the liberal media and punditocracy, and his indifference to the brutal invective and insult they heaped upon him while in office. No more disturbing to Bush are Obama’s attempts to use him as a scapegoat for all the problems Obama has failed to solve or in some cases has worsened."

Hugo Chávez's ex-wife gives Washington insights into strongman's psyche: WikiLeaks

American Thinker  "*Chávez as a poor youngster was influenced by a teacher who admired Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Ambitions from an early age, Chávez imagined himself running the country as a 20 year-old."
Isn't that Obama's life story?

Arson attacks spread from North to Jerusalem. Air fleet battles Carmel fire

DEBKAfile  "Black stumps and soot-laden soil are all that remains of 10,000 acres of nature reserve, parks and woodland of the northern Carmel range, one of the most popular and scenic getaway spots in the country. Four million trees, some of them rare species, were lost, despite the efforts of the Nature and Parks Authority and Jewish National Fund personnel. The Hay Bar open zoo is threatened, although the animals are still safe."

Fire services report shows Israel unready for war, again  ""The situation is insufferable," he writes. The discrepancies are severe and the fire services are a bottleneck that could injure the rescue forces as a whole."

Canada: Woman dies waiting in ER

The Star  "Lee feels her daughter was not seen fast enough by medical staff.
"“They didn’t touch her,” said the grieving Lee. “She was crying out, ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe’. . . Nobody attended to my daughter.”
"On Monday, Auditor General Jim McCarter released his annual report which found that despite putting an extra $200 million into shortening emergency room wait times over the last two years, “significant province-wide progress has not yet been made.”"
Tax dollars at work through a compassionate progressive government.

And yet another accused bomb plotter named…wait for it…

Michelle Malkin "This morning, the feds arrested Muhammed Hussain, a Muslim convert formerly known as Antonio Martinez, in the Baltimore area on charges related to a bombing plot against military recruitment centers."
The name Muhammed is no surprise; the disturbing part is his original name.

Why Conservative Support For The Deal May Unravel: The Pledge To America and Primary Opponent Rhetoric

Hewitt Blog  "The real problems for conservatives are two.
"First, any conservative who votes for the deal is voting to resurrect the death tax. The death tax is at zero right now, driven there by a decade of step downs and a moral argument, widely and deeply held, that this vampire tax is wrong on many levels. Any Republican who votes for the deal is voting to undo that demise. Any future primary opponent will be sure to campaign on the fact that the incumbent voted to resurrect the death tax --a powerful club with which to beat a senator facing a Tea Party challenge, and some of the redistricted old bulls of the House as well."...Emphasis added.