Feds open criminal probe of oil spill

Washington Times "Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. revealed the criminal and civil probes into the BP oil-rig disaster just hours after President Obama vowed that government investigators would conduct a "full and vigorous accounting" of the still-uncapped spill. The president also ordered the oil giant to compensate those whose livelihoods have been harmed."

New Iran sanctions more likely, or less, after nuclear bomb report?

Christian Science Monitor  " “I think this new report should have the effect of strengthening the determination of the council to proceed to tougher sanctions,” says James Phillips, a Mideast expert at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. “But now it seems that with this incident with the not-so-peaceful flotilla, the vote may be pushed back – and we could even see some sanctions in [the resolution] stripped out.”"

News Analysis: Four Days That Shook DADT

Mertro Weekly "In the 96 hours between Monday morning, May 24, and Thursday evening, May 27, America may have seen the most deft legislative accomplishment of the Obama administration thus far.
It began Monday morning, when the White House first got the senior leaders of the Pentagon and the advocacy organizations seeking to end the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to make significant compromises about the end of the policy. Second, the White House helped move congressional leaders in both chambers to consent to compromise language and introduce the resulting legislation." H/t to Volokh Conspiracy.

In Israeli Army, Gays Are 'No Big Deal'  Just trying to make sense of all this.

Obama doesn’t have a clue

Dick Morris "Meanwhile, the nation watches nervously as the same policies Obama has brought to our nation are failing badly and publicly in Europe. When Moody’s announces that it is considering downgrading bonds issued by the government of the United States of America, we find ourselves, suddenly, in deep trouble. We have had deficits before. But never have they so freaked investors that a ratings agency considered lowering its opinion of our solvency. Not since Alexander Hamilton assumed the states’ Revolutionary War debt has America’s willingness and ability to meet its financial obligations been as seriously questioned."

The Problem with Playing Defense

Noah Pollak "Quite a performance! Wouldn't it be remarkable if the Israelis had gotten ahead of the story by making their own accusations and demands? Here are a few ideas of the kind of concrete action the Israelis could take -- if they had the stones to really take a stand."...Noah Pollak is assistant editor of the Middle East Quarterly.

Toomey Stands with Israel  "It is time to stand up for Israel and to examine the records of candidates as to how they’ve addressed Israeli security needs and the condemnation of the “international community” when Israel must defend itself."

Post-American Obama, Watch the Video of the Jewish Soldiers Being Savagely Beaten by Turk Jihadists

Atlas Shrugs "I asked John Bolton for his take on it. He said, "How Obama reacts in the UN Security Council and more generally will say a lot about his views on Israel." You gotta love how post-American Obama was so quick to call policeman James Crowley "stupid," motivated by racism in the Gates affair, but when Jewish soldiers are getting beaten to a pulp, the Obama administration morally equivocated and "condemned those acts which resulted in the loss of life." What the hell does that even mean? "

'20 people threw me from deck'

YNET News   " "We knew they were peace activists," he said. "Though they wanted to break the Gaza blockade, we thought we'd encounter passive resistance, perhaps verbal resistance – we didn't expect this. Everyone wanted to kill us. We encountered terrorists who wanted to kill us and we did everything we could to prevent unnecessary injury." R said that some 75% of the people in the vessel resisted violently, "each one with a knife in his hand." "  "In the first interview since he was wounded in Monday's raid on the flotilla, Captain R, who commanded the troops who boarded the Marmara via helicopter, spoke of the battle that took place on vessel."

Time to Change Course in the Middle East "...But when the United States distances itself from Israel, as the Obama administration has done, it makes confrontation and conflict in the region more likely, not less. When enemies see Israel as alone and isolated, they become more, not less, aggressive. When Israel feels alone and isolated, it feels compelled to be more aggressive - to act in its own defense."

ABC Bashes Bush on Memorial Day

Rick Richman in American Thinker  "But ABC provided a ready excuse [for Obama], subtitling its report "Obama Not First to Skip Arlington on Memorial Day" and asserting that George W. Bush "did not attend in 2001 or 2002."  ABC was flat-out wrong about 2001, and highly misleading about 2002."....

"In neither year was Bush on vacation for Memorial Day. And it is nice that we are able to recall Bush's eloquence, given the unfortunate circumstances that prevented us from hearing from President Obama this year."

'Owning' the oil spill, White House tries to run away

Rick Moran  "This is pathetic. Seeking to deflect attention from their own inadequacy, the Obama administration wants a dog and pony show of a potential prosecution of BP Oil to distract the press and voting public and distance themselves from responsibility for anything relating to the disaster."


Cartoon by Gary Varvel

24 HOURS ON: WHERE IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?

Rightwing Nuthouse "It’s too bad America’s best ally in the Middle East has to deal with this empty suit in the White House. With the entire rest of the world in full throated outrage over the terrorist ambush - and it has been for more than 24 hours - we have yet to hear from the man who is ostensibly the Commander in Chief and has been constitutionally delegated to make our foreign policy."

Israel in eye of storm over deadly Gaza ship raid

Breitbart.com "Israel's allies froze military ties and summoned its ambassadors Monday over the storming of an aid flotilla bound for Gaza, as Muslim leaders slammed the deadly raid as "criminal" and "inhuman"."
Yup, Looks Like a “Peaceful” Convoy/Flotilla To Me, Too "Watch this video of how the pro-HAMAS “peace activists” beat Israeli soldiers to a pulp with iron pipes."  Debbie Schlussel
Useful Idiots at Sea  "It will be up to the U.S. and Europe whether the waters off the Gaza coast, short miles from the Suez Canal, become a source of maritime instability due to incitement by Hamas. The EU leadership, tacitly accepting the Hamas narrative cloaked in Europe’s trademark parlor activism, is behaving with a fecklessness for which it deserves strong rebuke. It is not to the advantage of any respectable nation to carry Hamas’s water."
Flotillas and the Wars of Public Opinion  "The next steps will involve calls for sanctions against Israel. The Israeli threats against Iran will be seen in a different context, and Israeli portrayal of Iran will hold less sway over the world."
'We're the only ones who believe them'  “After wandering around for 15 months, vacillating between pandering to the Israelis and trying [t]o punish them, [Obama administration] have decided they have to work out some kind of relationship with Netanyahu that allows them to do something serious,” said Aaron David Miller, a former American peace negotiator. “They need to weather this crisis with the relationship with the Israelis north of where it is now.”
Flotillas and Falsehoods  "Don’t members of the press ever resent being so used?"  Mona Charen.
 About those “peace activists"  "But despite the blockade it is important to note that Israel allows trucks with essential supplies like food and medicine to enter Gaza every day."
 Israel, the Truth and the Asymmetric Warfare Of Embedded Journalism  "What is remarkable about the footage is that the only attack it depicted was of the passengers upon the Israeli commandos, using bars and knives. The footage did not show the soldiers shooting. Yet the images were described as an Israeli attack".
Obama pals back violent Gaza flotilla  "Activists from president's circle of friends top supporters of anti-Israel protest ships." Gotta watch out for those guy in your neighborhood.
Israel Can Win Every Battle but Still Lose the War  Max Boot. " Although the Israelis were perfectly justified in trying to stop Hamas from receiving outside aid, the way they went about it resulted in a public-relations catastrophe. A friend asks me in essence, So what? Is growing international approval really a problem for Israel? I believe it is."

Sestak Job Offer Violated Federal Law?

Human Events  "However, what is illegal and not normal practice in Washington is to promise a federal job or appointment to an individual in exchange for future political activity. 18 U.S.C. § 600 prohibits the use of government-funded jobs or programs to advance partisan political interests. The statute makes it unlawful for anyone to “promise any employment, position, compensation, contract, appointment, or other benefit” to any person as a “consideration, favor, or reward for any political activity or for the support of or opposition to any candidate or any political party…in connection with any primary election.” "