Thursday, December 9, 2010

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.

Cyber group says WikiLeaks attacks to grow

Reuters "Credit card giants MasterCard and Visa came under intense cyber attack on Wednesday as supporters of WikiLeaks retaliated for moves against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after the release of U.S. diplomatic cables that angered and embarrassed the Obama administration."

House Passes DREAM Act Immigration Measures

Fox News  "The Senate plans a vote Thursday to try to summon the DREAM Act to the Senate floor. It is expected to fail.
"Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), one of the main backers of the DREAM Act, believes this is the last chance he has to pull this legislation across the finish line.
""Once the Congress of the United States changes hands and the House of Representatives is in the hands of the Republican Party, I don't see any movement on comprehensive immigration reform," Gutierrez said."

SignsOnSanDiego

Highway safety sign becomes running story on immigration  "Perhaps nowhere else could such a road sign have been born.
"A ghostly silhouette of a mother, father and little girl running, their bodies leaning forward as if into the wind. The child's pigtails fly behind her as the family dashes across a stark yellow background, accompanied by one word: CAUTION."

Dem Congressman: Illegal Aliens are ‘De Facto Citizens’ "During debate over the DREAM Act Wednesday, Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., blames a “broken” immigration system for allowing illegal immigrants to live in the United States, calling them “de facto citizens.”" Video and sound.
Democrats do not see "brave immigrants"; they see votes. The left cares not what this nation becomes as long as they get to stay in power.

Pelosi's latest embarrassment: compares illegals to Founders   "Is there no limit to this woman's chutzpah? In praise of the DREAM Act, allowing those who violated our immigration laws to attain citizenship, the San Francisco leftist invokes the Founders."

Rich Terrell Cartoon

http://terrellaftermath.com/  

  Rich Terrell, cartoonist: "Now retired from teaching high school economics and math (thus “AfterMath”) I turned my hand to Photoshop cartooning. My cartoons are unabashedly conservative. This conservatism comes from experience as much as from studying conservative philosophers and economists like Hayek, Smith, Sowell, Milton Friedman. Living in Berkeley , California for seventeen years cured me of any lingering illusions about liberalism. People’s Park alone stands as squalid witness to liberalism’s failure. I do, however, borrow from the radical Saul Alinsky one useful concept -- the importance of mocking the opposition."  http://terrellaftermath.com/about_us/index.html 

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Call Our Troops Homophobes (Updated)

Ann Coulter "Only a small portion of what is known as "the military" actually does the fighting. The rest is a vast bureaucracy along the lines of the DMV.
"Today's military features "victim advocates" and sensitivity training facilitators, the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services personnel and a million other goo-goo positions. How did we ever take the shores of Normandy without a phalanx of "sensitivity training" counselors?"....
" Military combat is a very specialized field comparable to nothing in civilian life. There has to be a special bond among warriors -- and only one kind of bond. The soldierly bond gets confused if some guys think their comrades are hot or if they suspect their superior is having a relationship with a fellow soldier.
"It's the same confusion that results from putting girls in the military. When an officer makes a decision, nothing should enter into it except his views on the best military strategy."

Don't sacrifice unit cohesion for a social experiment. "American soldiers in battle don’t fight for what some president says on TV, they don’t fight for mom, apple pie or the American flag, they fight for one another."
—Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore, U.S. Army, We Were Soldiers Once, and Young

Monty Python's take on the subject.