Afghanistan Remains a Central Front in the War on Terror

Heritage  "Through a series of attacks and attempted attacks, Islamist extremists have declared war on Europe and the United States, and despite President Obama’s unwillingness to acknowledge it, the West remains at war with terror.

"Al-Qaeda’s relentless pursuit of mass murder atrocities should reinforce to Europe why the war in Afghanistan remains a central front in this war on terrorism. The NATO Alliance must continue to deny al-Qaeda a safe haven in which to operate by winning the war in Afghanistan, and more fairly sharing the burden of that war."

Obama’s Afghan Struggle  by Fouad Ajami :  "[President Obama] can’t build on the Iraq victory because he has never really embraced it. The occasional statement that we can win over the reconcilers and the tribes in Afghanistan the way we did in Iraq’s Anbar Province is lame and unconvincing. The Anbar turned only when the Sunni insurgents had become convinced that the Americans were there to stay and that the alternative to accommodation with the Americans, and with the Baghdad government, was a sure and widespread Sunni defeat. The Taliban is nowhere near this reckoning. If anything, the uncertain mood in Washington counsels patience on its part, with the hope of waiting out the American presence."

Policy infighting over the Afghan war: Who dissed whom? And who cares?  by Max Boot : "But, unlike Mr. Biden, Mr. Obama realizes that he "owned" the war and had "to get Afghanistan and Pakistan right." Thus he came to endorse the McChrystal strategy.
"It is too soon to know whether this decision will be judged wise. That will depend on the outcome of the war itself. And that, in turn, will be determined by a lot of factors, including the views of Afghans, which are absent from Mr. Woodward's hermetically sealed narrative."

DOJ-Black Panther hearings

Explosive New Evidence of DOJ’s Racial Discrimination, Obstruction, and Perjury by Andy McCarthy
"Today, there is eye-popping new evidence to add to the already disturbing indications that the department is engaged in racially discriminatory enforcement of the civil-rights laws, and that high-ranking department officials have both obstructed justice and provided intentionally false testimony in the Civil Rights Commission’s investigation of the New Black Panther Party voter-intimidation case."

Investigate Racism in the Obama Justice Department "Racial animus is not the stuff of policy disagreement, it’s a constitutional travesty." Andy McCarthy

DOJ, the New Black Panther Party, and Integrity (UPDATED)   "...after 11 pm on September 23, the night before Coates was to testify before the Commission, the same individual, Jody Hunt, sent Coates a letter advising him again not to testify. Only 6 hours earlier Rep. Frank Wolf had sent Eric Holder a letter warning him that Coates was protected under federal whistleblower laws."

 From Jennifer Rubin: Obama Justice Department Rocked  "Try as Democrats might to ignore the blockbuster evidence, Coates’s testimony was a game changer. Granted, the testimony contained information already revealed in conservative outlets and by former DOJ attorney J. Christian Adams. But Coates confirmed these facts and added a wealth of new details."

Pajamas Media

Greta vs Gloria

Hot Air "The best part? Well, it’s hard to pick, but for my money it’s at about the six-minute mark when Greta blasts Allred for harping on how wealthy Whitman and her husband are."

Righteous Takedown of the Day: Greta Deep-Fries Gloria Allred  "Isn’t it fun to watch one of the bad guys go down in flames?"   From Big Journalism.com

Krauthammer Takes on Entire 'Inside Washington' Panel -- Again, Over Attacks on Fox News

Newsbusters  "On PBS’s Oct. 2 broadcast of “Inside Washington,” NPR’s Nina Totenberg pointed out the left-wing blogosphere has been critical of Obama, yet she chalked it up as just being “whiny.” “Inside Washington” panelist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer responded, and pointed out the president’s “thin skin,” in the wake of his remarks about his cable channel in a recent Rolling Stone interview.

"“You would think that the presidency is slightly higher than the left blogosphere, but it is not, and that is what the problems,” Krauthammer said. “The president as an unbelievably thin skin, left or right. His obsession with Fox is a good example of that.” "

A Hug Too Far

UK Guardian photo

Larry Kudlow  "So, best I can tell, there aren’t going to be any policy changes. Despite sweeping and almost transformational big-government legislation for Obamacare, spending stimulus, and banking control -- all of which is proving vastly unpopular -- the Rouse appointment suggests that nothing is going to change. No lessons learned. No real reshaping of the top team.
"After all, it’s often said that personnel is policy. Therefore, keep the same team, keep the same policy. That’s more weakness."

“Consumer Safety” Bill Could Boomerang against U.S. Manufacturers

Insider Online "Americans damaged by faulty products, whether made abroad or domestically, should be able to seek compensation through the courts. But the approach advocated by supporters of the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act would not solve the problem. It would create a false hope of collection for damages while bypassing existing procedures that have proven to work in most cases. The approach would potentially violate constitutional protections available to citizens and non-citizens alike as well as existing commercial agreements with other nations. It could potentially disrupt global manufacturing supply chains, putting American production and employment in jeopardy."  Read the five page report.

Schools and Civic Knowlege

Teachers and the Decline of Civic Knowledge  The American  "The significant decline of civics knowledge is important not just in itself, but also as an indicator of the general change that was occurring in American schools. Civics is a school subject. If students do not know civics it is mostly because the schools have not taught it to them, a fact that reflects not just irresponsible complacency about the proper function of schools in a democracy, but also the more general anti-intellectual orientation and complacency of the schools towards merely academic subjects."

High Schools, Civics, and Citizenship: What Social Studies Teachers Think and Do  "From a nation’s history, to its economic structure, politics, and constitutional order, a teacher can inspire appreciation or revulsion, mindless conformism or gratuitous agitation, boredom or wonder. Social studies teachers are uniquely positioned to frame and inform students’ outlook about the nation, to tell the story of who we are. This study revolves around an essential question: what are teachers trying to teach our youth about citizenship and what it means to be an American?"
Read this full report from American Interprise Institute- 61 pages.

D-Day Memorial Still Can’t Admit Stalin Bust Was a Mistake

Heritage Insider  "The National D-Day Memorial is no longer adorned with a bust of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The folks running the show there decided to take it down on Tuesday. That would seem fitting, since Stalin was a murderous thug whose initial alliance with Adolf Hitler helped make the Allied invasion at Normandy necessary.

Big Peace photo



"But, unfortunately, this move does not mean the National D-Day Memorial Foundation has come to its senses about the appropriateness of honoring a brutal dictator at a site that is supposed to honor the sacrifices of thousands of American, British, and Canadian soliders. Nor does it mean the Foundation has heeded the outrage its initial memorial design had generated."

Stalin Honored with Churchill at D-Day Memorial  From November 28, 2009;  "An ominous and hurtful example of the moral blackout that shrouds modern times."

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

Carly Fiorina: Robber Baron, Traitor — and Outsourcer!

Victor Davis Hanson  "On cue, in comes a railing Barbara Boxer — whose policies had a lot to do with punishing taxes, layers of government red tape, and therapeutic education — charging that Hewlett-Packard built some things overseas when it could not make a profit doing so here.
"If that is to be the analysis of and solution for outsourcing, then California and this country will see far worse days ahead."

Ariz. Border Sheriff: Obama’s ‘Got His Hands Wrapped Around Our Throat'

CNS News   “Lift the lawsuit, Mr. President, and drop that thing. Let Arizona take its leadership role like it’s willing to do. We’ll help. We’ll do more good with that than anything else that’s going on right now. Other states are getting on board. And then give us the resources we need to get this thing done.”

John Bolton: A ‘Goldwater Conservative’

National Review   "In an interview this morning in his Washington office, Bolton, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and longtime diplomat, opened up about a potential campaign, discussing his views on foreign policy and domestic affairs. “I just don’t think that a Republican can convincingly oppose the president using talking-point platitudes,” Bolton tells us. As he looks at his options, Bolton says that he wants to “shape the debate, and hopefully make an impact on the national-security issues.” "

RE: Some Polls You Can Ignore  "Even if he doesn’t win, he’s going to force other Republicans to focus on national security. For those who are planning on “using talking-point platitudes,” that could be a problem. You see, a presidential primary is not simply about who can win over the base; it is about who can convince the base that the other guys and gals aren’t up to speed."