Pelosi Endorses ‘Global’ Tax on Stocks, Bonds, and other Financial Transactions

CNS News "At her weekly press briefing on Thursday, Pelosi said the financial transactions tax (HR4191) currently before Congress would have to be made “global” to keep U.S. investors from taking their business overseas and out of taxable reach." Will this woman never go away?

Local man (Michael Yon) reports on troop morale in Afghanistan

Bay News 9 "Yon says morale among British and U.S. troops had stayed pretty high, and now the troops there are really ready to take the fight to the enemy. "Just in the past couple of days since I have gotten back, I have talked with quite a few," he said. "It's clear they see this troop commitment is very important. And it's clear it's bolstered their morale." Yon says the commitment of additional troops is a signal to Afghan tribes in troubled areas they should fight on the U.S. side."

Obama’s Exit-Strategy Justifications

Max Boot in Commentary "Does anyone doubt that if Obama were still in the Senate and President McCain were announcing a troop surge in Afghanistan, he would be in violent opposition? I don’t. It is, therefore, all the more laudable that he has gone against his natural instincts by ordering the surge. But there is obviously still a part of him that is uncomfortable with the policy. Hence the deadline."

Bam: Man in the muddle

Michael Goodwin "Perhaps it was inevitable. A man who voted "pres ent" 130 times in the Illi nois Legislature couldn't possibly morph into a savvy and decisive leader of the free world in such a short time. Yet even the pessimists among us are alarmed by the cloud of uncertainty and confusion hanging over the White House. Less than a year on the job, President Obama seems to have run out of both charm and ideas."

A Black Pastor Speaks Out on President Obama’s Past

Ron Radosh "First, the President was taught for twenty years by a virulent anti-Semite, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. In the black community it is called “sitting under”. You don’t merely attend a church, you “sit under” a Pastor to be taught and mentored by him. Obama “sat under” Wright for a very long time. He was comfortable enough with Farrakhan and Wright’s friend to attend and help organize his “Million Man March”. I was on C-Span the morning of the march arguing that we must never legitimize a racist and anti-Semite, no matter what “good” he claims to be doing. Yet a future President was in the crowd giving Farrakhan his enthusiastic support. The Pastor continues to argue that he thinks today President Obama holds the “classic left-wing view” that “Israel is the oppressive occupier, and the Palestinians are Israel’s victims.” He continues:"

Our Present Anxieties

Victor Davis Hanson "Barack Obama, nearly a year into his term, is still talking about Bush culpability for everything from unemployment to Afghanistan. At what year will it ever stop? Bush inherited a nuclear Pakistan, a firewall between the CIA and FBI in matters of counter-terrorism, an appeased and ascendant Osama bin Laden, unsustainable no-fly zones over Iraq (the French had already bailed), al-Qaeda with a safe zone in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, and an intifada-prone Mideast—in other words, no more than the regular stuff. But I don’t remember Bush talking of the creepy Clinton pardons—Eric Holder being at their epicenter—after a year in office."

Why Dems Are Obsessed by Health Reform

By JOHN FUND "That fear is backed up by a new poll taken for the Daily Kos, the left-wing Web site: 81% of self-described Republicans say they are certain or likely to vote in 2010 compared to 65% of independent voters and only 56% of Democrats. "Democrats have simply not been given enough of a reason to come out and vote yet," writes liberal blogger David Dayen. "The left is waiting for that long-promised 'change' they can believe in.""

Some recommended actions in the wake of Climategate

Ralph Alter , AT "...Doug Giles is ripping on the complicit fraudsters that comprise the Climata Change lobby. With raucous wit the author/minister/radio-host rips the "Euro-tools,..tree-humpers...and hairy-legged earth girls" who just got "fish-slapped with the truth" by the revelatory emails of Climategate. No idle philosopher, Giles provides a list of the actions he will take to demonstrate his rebellion against the Warmist "academic Ponzi scheme." Here is a partial list:" (Doug Giles is father of Hannah, the "prostitute" in the ACORN sting videos.)

Obama the mortal

Dana Milbank "In other cases, Obama truly has gone back on campaign vows. Even some of his advisers are disappointed that he has moved so slowly to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. Civil libertarians are justifiably disappointed with his decision to continue much of the Bush administration secrecy. Clean-government types are understandably frustrated that Obama vowed that lobbyists "will not get a job in my White House" but now grants waivers so that lobbyists can work in key administration jobs. But at least as much blame for the disillusionment goes to progressives who simply expected too much of him."

Why Copenhagen is All Hot Air

By Jonah Goldberg "Here's another inconvenient truth: The United States will not agree to draconian carbon caps either -- for the simple reason it would be political suicide for all but a handful of politicians. Unless you represent hyper-wealthy liberal enclaves or the ethanol industry, it makes no sense to vote for anything like cap-and-trade. That's why the Kyoto Protocol never made it out of the crib in the United States."

Navy Seals Could Face Year in Prison Over Alleged Punching of Terrorist Suspected of Masterminding Fallujah Murders

CNS "Further, their attorneys said that the possibilty that they would not be able to cross-examine their clients' accuser would be grounds for dismissing the case. The accuser, Ahmed Hashim Abed, is the alleged architect of the murder of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004. The bodies of the four Americans were burned and hanged from a bridge for display."

A Brief History of Energy Regulations

CATO "America’s experience with oil regulations from the 1930s through the 1970s has been much studied, and an academic consensus is that those regulations had large negative effects on both oil producers and consumers.2 Congress has typically responded to petroleum-market problems with inappropriate legislation that has damaged markets and prompted further rounds of legislation and regulatory action."