Morning Commentary

Alana Goodman  "It looks like President Obama has finally found some backbone in his diplomatic spat with Hugo Chavez. The Venezuelan president rejected the U.S.’s choice for ambassador to Caracas and dared Obama to cut diplomatic ties with the country. Today Obama responded by kicking the Venezuelan ambassador out of the U.S."

Obama Tricks Voters Like Enron Hoodwinked Public

Amity Shlaes  "I asked the biggest, baddest tax mind I know, former Congressional Budget Office director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, to tell what he thinks the top tax is. Even Holtz-Eakin approximated, texting back a formula that might serve as the theme song for tax year 2011: “39.6 + 2 (phaseout of pep and pease) + 3.8 (Medicare net investment income tax) = 45.4. Add in state-level taxes and 50 is easy to reach.”

"Holtz-Eakin is a genius. If he’s approximating, it’s because he can’t bear to feel the pain of the precise reality."

Freezing Brits steamed over new green boilers

Phil Boehmke "Boiler manufacturers and installers enjoyed a boom as they removed perfectly good boilers and replaced then with the new eco-friendly units. Everything was going smoothly until frustrated consumers discovered that their new boilers didn’t work in really cold weather.
"To make matters worse, the new boilers typically last only 3-6 years and the costs of parts to repair the units are outrageously high. One of the bi-products of the condensation process is the creation of acidic water vapor from the dissolved nitrogen and sulfur oxides which corrode the delicate system components. Gee, the old boilers were very reliable and lasted 20 years on average."
I'm from the guvmint and I'm here to help you... 

Separating Terror from Terrorism

STRATFOR  "If the public will take a cue from groups like AQAP, it too can separate terrorism from terror. Recognizing that terrorist attacks, like car crashes and cancer and natural disasters, are a part of the human condition permits individuals and families to practice situational awareness and take prudent measures to prepare for such contingencies without becoming vicarious victims. This separation will help deny the practitioners of terrorism and terror the ability to magnify their reach and power."
Separating Terror from Terrorism is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

How to Respond to Terrorism Threats and Warnings  "If people live their lives in a constant state of fear, those who seek to terrorize them have won. Terror attacks are a tactic used by a variety of militant groups for a variety of ends. As the name implies, terrorism is intended to produce a psychological impact that far outweighs the actual physical damage caused by the attack itself. Denying would-be terrorists this multiplication effect, as the British largely did after the July 2005 subway bombings, prevents them from accomplishing their greater goals. Terror can be countered when people assume the proper mindset and then take basic security measures and practice relaxed awareness. These elements work together to dispel paranoia and to prevent the fear of terrorism from robbing people of the joy of life.
How to Respond to Terrorism Threats and Warnings is republished with permission of STRATFOR. 

The Joy of Teaching in Iraq

Inside Higher Ed . "So, what’s it like for an American educator to work with Iraqi college students in the classroom? Well, to be honest, they had me at "hello." From the first moments of my first class, I knew there was something different about these students, something special. "....
"Now, what’s so special about these Iraqi students? Let me give you a list:....

Liberals Give 'Til It Hurts (You)

Ann Coulter  "Liberals never tire of discussing their own generosity, particularly when demanding that the government take your money by force to fund shiftless government employees overseeing counterproductive government programs."....
"This week, we'll take a peek at the charitable giving of these champions of the poor."

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

The ACLU's Unholy War on Catholic Hospitals

Michelle Malkin  "On Wednesday, the ACLU sent a letter to federal health officials urging the government to force Catholic hospitals in the U.S. to perform abortions in violation of their core moral commitment to protecting the lives of the unborn. They're counting on sympathetic Obama rationing czar Donald Berwick ...to dictate which religious principles hospital operators can and cannot follow.
The ACLU reiterated its call for a federal probe -- read: fishing expedition -- of Catholic hospitals nationwide that refuse to provide "emergency" contraception and abortions to women."

Catholic Hospitals Fight to Stay Pro-life "According to the Washington Post, the latest letter from the ACLU followed up a complaint in July from the group “asking for a federal investigation of similar problems at Catholic hospitals across the country, including refusals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims or perform abortions on women having miscarriages.”"

GROUND ZERO MOSQUE; THE SECOND WAVE OF THE 911 ATTACKS

Atlas Shrugs  "IF radical Rauf is speaking on his propaganda tour in your town, neighborhood or university, let us know. We'll be there to expose him and tell the truth. "

How Did All That Happen?

Victor Davis Hanson  "There are a number of improbables, anomalies, paradoxes, ironies, absurdities — call them what you wish – on the national scene that simply defy reason. We usually fault an ignorant media as culpable for creating narratives that have no basis in fact and yet are rarely questioned. Here are some of the glaring examples and you decide how the unlikely became the gospel."....
Lurking somewhere behind all these improbables is a rather small Western elite that is enormously influential in the media, government, the arts, universities, and Hollywood. And what it would like to believe, often simply must be believed — and so it usually is.

Not So Fast with the “1962” Allusions

Commentary  "The Iran-Venezuela situation of today is more complex; as it unfolds, its features will increasingly diverge from the profile of the 1962 crisis. Today’s impending crisis involves much more of Latin America. We should address it on its own terms. I don’t wish for a Kennedy-esque approach from President Obama. I’m apprehensive about what he would be prepared to trade away in missile negotiations with Iran."
J. E. Dyer

Is Israel assassinating Iran nuclear scientists?

Haaretz  "The Telegraph also quoted Israeli officials as privately acknowledging the new U.S. administration is unlikely to sanction an air attack on Iran's nuclear installations and that President Barack Obama's offer to extend a hand of peace to Tehran puts any direct military action beyond reach for now.
"As such, the reported goal of Israel's covert campaign is to delay or interrupt the Iranian research program, without engaging in a direct confrontation that could lead to a wider war."

Iran's nuclear arms drive delayed. Iran: Mossad killed Iranian official "DEBKAfile's intelligence sources note that the current Israeli intelligence timeline for a nuclear-armed Iran was previously 2011. Yaalon did not go into the reasons for the delay, but our sources mention two:

1. His estimate represented the first official Israel evaluation of the scale of the destruction and havoc the Stuxnet malworm has wrought to Iran's most secret nuclear weaponization facilities. Up until now, only the nuclear reactor at Bushehr and the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz had been admitted to have been affected by the invasive virus.
2. The second factor seriously slowing progress is the tightening ring of sanctions which are keeping Iran from receiving the materials, replacement parts and new electronic and technical systems needed to bring its clandestine military nuclear program to fruition

What would America do without Israel to protect her?

The Top Three Tea Party Questions

American Thinker  "If you are a part of the Tea Party movement, you might sometimes wonder, "What can I do?" Well, you can memorize, or print out and carry in your pocket, these three questions:

1. Which article of the Constitution gives government the authority to do this?
2. How does this help reduce the deficit and balance the budget?
3. Why does this have to be mandatory and not voluntary?

"It matters not what the topic may be; these three questions are fundamental. Include them in every political conversation you have with your family, friends, neighbors, and especially with your elected representatives. Tea Party activists nationwide can lead the effort to make sure politicians will not step out of their offices without credible answers to these questions, on any issue whatsoever."