Senate poised to ratify new U.S.-Russia nuclear weapons treaty; vote would be major foreign-policy victory for Obama

Washington Post  "In six days of debate on New START, Republican critics have expressed concern about several substantive issues. One is missile defense: Although the pact does not legally bar the U.S. government from proceeding with its plans for a missile shield, Republicans worried that a few brief mentions of missile defense in the pact could provide Russia with a political pretext to pressure Washington. The administration said it will not be constrained. "

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER from November 26, 2010:  "The problem is never the weapon; it is the nature of the regime controlling the weapon. That's why no one stays up nights worrying about British nukes, while everyone worries about Iranian nukes."  More here:

The Illusory Linkage Between Nuclear Modernization and New START  "Current White House policies bar steps that would lead to the development and procurement of “new nuclear warheads” or “capabilities” to meet new missions in the 21st century. There would be no modernization of warheads or delivery systems. To call this “modernization” is like saying that taking your car to Jiffy-Lube is “modernizing” the transportation network."

General Petraeus's Surge Map

Wall Street Journal "CIA drone strikes on safe havens in western Pakistan are reaching their height this winter. Even better would be U.S. raids into Pakistan's tribal region so the leaders could be captured and interrogated. Militants are less useful dead. That's what special forces leaders are calling for. But the State Department, fearing backlash from Pakistan, so far has won the argument that the military should hold back.
"The U.S. surge also changed attitudes in Pakistan. Islamabad has now deployed some 150,000 troops—up from 30,000 a year and a half ago—into the tribal regions used by the Islamist insurgents. American forces run joint missions with them. Pakistan isn't a reliable partner, but count this as progress."

Will Mrs. Obama Downsize Your Kid?

Mona Charen "The amount of all of this food that winds up uneaten in the trash can only be guessed at (though anecdotal evidence abounds). Wouldn’t it make more sense, economically, nutritionally, and (importantly) socially to eliminate school lunches altogether? Parents can pack a highly nutritious turkey, tuna, or peanut-butter sandwich with an apple or an orange. Poor parents can afford to do this with help from the food stamp program. The older kids can pack their own lunches. (A child who repeatedly showed up at school without lunch would receive attention from child protective services.)
"

Christian's Death Verdict Spurs Holy Row In Pakistan

NPR   "Still, the life of Asia Bibi, a mother of two and stepmother of three, is at stake. A cleric has offered 500,000 rupees — roughly $5,800 — to anyone who kills the jailed woman, who is being held in the district jail in the city of Sheikhupura. The Taliban also have threatened retribution should she be spared, yet another sign the case has become a rallying point for extremists."
Via Warren Throckmorton  and The Freedomist.

Barack Obama is the anti-Reagan of US global leadership: the president lacks true grit in the face of America’s enemies

UK Telegraph " Last week The Times of London summed up the fears of many US allies in an editorial on the passing of veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke, when it lamented America’s lack of leadership in the face of its competitors:

America today is arguably less convinced in its moral mission than at any time in the past century. This unease spreads to its natural allies worldwide. As global power shifts, and other growing economic powers learn to flex their might, the West appears increasingly uncertain in its occasional role as the world’s policeman.

"The Times makes a strong point. With Ronald Reagan you knew clearly where America stood, and it what it stood for, with the key goal of building up America’s military might, and defeating the Soviet Empire."

The left wanted the US to be disarmed and now it is.

The sinister forces behind Net Neutrality

Thomas Lifson  "Net Neutrality clearly is aimed at choking off the free flow of ideas that characterizes the internet, because that is an obstacle to a complete takeover of the media by leftists.
"Courts have already ruled that the FCC has no power to regulate the internet, but in a lawless fashion, the FCC ignores the decision.
"The GOP controlled House next year must hold hearings exposing these views and cut off all funding of the FCC until it revokes this decision. "

The campaign to regulate the Internet was funded by a who's who of left-liberal foundations..   "...Mr. McChesney's agenda? "At the moment, the battle over network neutrality is not to completely eliminate the telephone and cable companies," he told the website SocialistProject in 2009. "But the ultimate goal is to get rid of the media capitalists in the phone and cable companies and to divest them from control."

"A year earlier, Mr. McChesney wrote in the Marxist journal Monthly Review that "any serious effort to reform the media system would have to necessarily be part of a revolutionary program to overthrow the capitalist system itself." "

Abolish the FCC  "It's hard to keep up with the outrages perpetrated by the Obama administration, the lame duck Congress, and the Obamaite federal agencies. Our freedom is under assault on many fronts, but this one deserves special attention."

Ramirez on the lame-duck congress

http://townhall.com/cartoons/MichaelRamirez/

In Praise of Mitch McConnell  "But the defeat of the Omnibus bill was an enormous victory which will give the incoming Republican House a chance to kill Obamacare in its infancy, and to impose fiscal discipline. Again, McConnell managed to keep Republicans sufficiently together to kill the bill and force Harry Reid into his one humiliating defeat in the lame duck session.

Most of the damage in the lame duck session came, once again, from a handful of Republicans -- some of whom are leaving office -- not holding to their pledge to stall votes on any legislation until taxes and the budget resolution were passed. And as National Journal found, Lisa Murkowski was Obama's best friend in the lame duck session; I'm not sure what McConnell could do about that."
 Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

DeMint vows to reverse FCC's 'Internet takeover'

Washington Examiner  "Sen. Jim DeMint, R-SC, says Federal Communications Commission should be renamed the "Fabricating a Crisis Commission," following a vote by the panel's three Democrats to approve proposed rules that amount to a hostile takeover of the Internet by a government agency acting illegally.

Biden’s Talk of Withdrawal in Afghanistan Makes Troops’ Task Harder

Max Boot  "In this week’s Weekly Standard, I have an editorial praising President Obama for the toughness and resolution he has shown in Afghanistan by refusing to waver from the surge. The latest sign of his willingness to hang tough was the AfPak review released last week, which suggested that the Petraeus counterinsurgency strategy is on track. But then on Sunday, Joe Biden — a never-ending source of ill-advised comments — muddied the waters with his appearance on Meet the Press."

Related:  Putz:  Yiddish - a dialect of High German including some Hebrew and other words; spoken in Europe as a vernacular by many Jews; written in the Hebrew script;
fool, muggins, saphead, tomfool, sap - a person who lacks good judgment

Video: The Jib-Jab 2010 review

Hot Air 
"We’re a few days late on this one, but it’s definitely good for a few laughs. JibJab has Barack Obama and Joe Biden dancing through its review of 2010, and manages to squeeze in as many political and pop-culture references it can get into just over 2 minutes. Some of my favorite moments: the seal falling off of the podium and the momentary highlighting of Charlie Rangel, as well as the last joke involving a basketball and stitches. As Joe Biden would say, “It’s a big effin’ production.” "

On Ewald Stadler/ Another European Who Gets Islam

Atlas Tours photo

Bruce S. Thornton  "Nowhere is this selective history more obvious and dangerous for our interests than in the role Jerusalem has taken on as the emblem of Western oppression of Islam through its neo-colonial proxy Israel. The holy city of Judaism, attested as such in history and archeology for three millennia, was seized by conquest in 638 A.D. by Muslims and occupied by them until 1967, when the Israelis liberated Jerusalem in a defensive war. Yet as good Westerners respectful of religious freedom, the Israelis left untouched the Islamic mosques constructed on the site of the Temple, and they allow Muslims to control and manage the most holy site in Judaism, free to worship in the mosque while they allow their children to throw stones on the Jews who come to worship at the few scraps of the temple wall, all that is left to them of their holiest site."

Mike Ramirez Cartoon

http://townhall.com/cartoons/MichaelRamirez/