Thursday, March 17, 2011

How Many Trillions Must We Waste on the War on Poverty?

Heritage  "Which American politician said the following? “The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit.” Had to be a mean-spirited Tea Party conservative, right? Wrong. President Franklin Roosevelt included these words in his 1935 State of the Union Address."

Chris Matthews Rips GOP 2012 Candidates on Leno, Then Claims: 'I Want to Be Somewhat Nonpartisan'

Media Research Center "Matthews bashed Mitt Romney as someone who "gives a bad name to empty suits." He claimed Mike Huckabee was being "racist" by mistakenly saying President Obama spent part of his childhood in Kenya instead of Indonesia. When Leno asked about Minnesota Congressman Michele Bachmann, Matthews ranted about a gaffe she made about Lexington and Concord being in New Hampshire: "You ought to at least know high school history....you got to know something to run for president, don't you?""



Pakistan Frees American After 'Blood Money' Paid

GlobalSecurity.org  "Families of the two slain Pakistanis were taken into the court and signed documents formally forgiving him in exchange for receiving an undisclosed sum of money.
"Payment of "diyya," or blood money, is permitted under Islamic Shari'a law. Such compensation is often used to resolve such cases in Pakistan." 
McClatchy reported $1.4 million in "blood money" was paid to the families of the two men he was accused of killing. Kidnapping Americans could be a win-win for the bad guys.

How Does Blood Money Work?  "In practice, diyya works like an out-of-court settlement in a Western tort case, and its payment is often more prosaic than the term blood money implies. Foreigners who plan to drive a car in Islamic countries are often encouraged to purchase coverage for potential blood-money claims as part of their regular auto insurance."

Lawyer: 'Blood money' bought CIA contractor's freedom  ""ISI and CIA are working on ensuring that their relationship remains on track and there are no future undeclared CIA operations in Pakistan that result in jeopardizing bilateral relations," said a senior Pakistani official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
"The outcome seemed to be face-saving for all sides, with the Pakistani government able to say that the courts had let Davis off, while Washington didn't concede its stance on diplomatic immunity. The families have ended up wealthy by Pakistani standards."

Taming Chaos with a Personal Plan

STRATFOR   "When a crisis erupts, having an established personal contingency plan provides people with a head start and a set of tools that can help them avoid, or at least mitigate, the effects of the chaos and panic that accompany crisis events."

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

A Glowing Report on Radiation

Ann Coulter  "With the terrible earthquake and resulting tsunami that have devastated Japan, the only good news is that anyone exposed to excess radiation from the nuclear power plants is now probably much less likely to get cancer.
"This only seems counterintuitive because of media hysteria for the past 20 years trying to convince Americans that radiation at any dose is bad. There is, however, burgeoning evidence that excess radiation operates as a sort of cancer vaccine."



Obama and the government unions






















Teachers Union Leader Calls Wisconsin a Revolution Against “Evil” Republicans, Wants Everyone to Learn From Socialists… "Bonus: The teachers union can’t even spell their own name correctly, “American Federation of Teeachers.”"

TEACHERS UNION MOMENT OF THE DAY  "Union teachers in Wisconsin taking their pupils to the Capitol so that they can line up in the rotunda and chant "Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Scott Walker's got to go!" The teachers then led the kids ... looking like they were about eight or ten years old ... in chanting several pro-union slogans. Don't you just love that?"

Sen. Schumer: House GOP Acting Like "Scott Walker Republicans"  ""Walker didn't take yes for an answer, he went further and insisted on ending collective bargaining entirely. The budget fight going on here is not really about budget cuts either. The conservative Republicans in the House are showing themselves to be Scott Walker Republicans," Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on a conference call today." Plus video.

What Intervention Looks Like

Robert E. Hunter of the Council on Foreign Relations  "With the Libyan rebels now facing a last stand against forces loyal to Muammar al-Qaddafi, now is the time for the West to intervene. What can Washington and its allies accomplish before it's too late?"
ROBERT E. HUNTER is a Senior Adviser at the RAND Corporation. He was U.S. Ambassador to NATO and a Director of Middle East and North African Affairs on the National Security Council. So there.

Obama Dithers While American Credibility Burns  "The purpose of American diplomacy never changes: It is to secure the national interests of the United States. … Irresponsible diplomacy comes in many forms. Diplomacy without strength does not even merit the name of diplomacy. Treaties that fail to respect President Ronald Reagan’s dictum of ‘trust, but verify’ are reckless. Treaties that are negotiated merely to encourage foreigners to think better of the United States are unwise."
Will America ever recover from the damage done by this unqualified amateur and his Democrat enablers?

Obama Urged to Seize Reins as Crises Pile Up/ Everybody's Asking 'Is Obama Mentally Present?'

Fox News, not NBC   "... gender inequality?
"The topic of President Obama's weekend radio address has raised some eyebrows, as Obama has met mounting crises with the same restraint and cool that characterized his slow-and-steady campaign for president. To some critics, the tone set by the White House in light of recent upheaval may hurt the president's public image."
Don't worry, Mr. President; none of this will affect my opinion of you in the least.
Gary Varvel, Townhall

Everybody's Asking 'Is Obama Mentally Present?' "By now, those paying attention know the Chicago trained community organizer did not come to lead but to act as a mouthpiece for those who desire to change the founding fathers' vision of America."

Naturally, the Delaware Liberal would differ: "That describes exactly what I voted for. We knew, even back in the early primaries, that Obama had a different style than most politicians. He was cool-headed, even-tempered and played the long game. He never seemed to get caught up in the day-to-day horserace."  I did enjoy reading some of the comments to this post. Some.

Obama accepts prospect of nuclear-armed Iran "During the four days between Thursday March 4 and Monday March 7, the Obama administration switched its Iran policy. As rocketing oil prices triggered by the Arab Revolt wiped out the damage caused the Iranian economy by sanctions, Washington confirmed the worst Saudi and Israeli suspicions that America had no intention of acting to stop the Islamic Republic attaining nuclear weapons, although it held Israel back from doing so when it was more feasible."  DEBKAfile

Obama the invisible   "The moment demands that he rise to the challenge of showing America and the world that he is taking the reins. How leaders act in times of unanticipated crisis, in which they do not have a formulated game plan and must instead navigate in treacherous waters, defines them.
"Obama is defining himself in a way that will destroy him."

Obama sits on the sidelines while Saudis move into Bahrain  This episode exemplifies the danger of American timidity. As May put it, “Strong horses survive; weak ones go to the glue factory.” Middle East regimes that want to survive likely will rely on and follow U.S. advice less and less. Wars and territorial incursions may multiply. Meanwhile, Iran’s influence grows and those centrifuges keep spinning."

Obama White House: Sitting on the Fence [and] Dithering While Libyan Rebels Are Slaughtered Is Good Leadership  "Q But wouldn’t it be fair to say — accurate to say the United States is still sitting on the fence on this? Isn’t it time to make a decision, yes or no?
"MR. CARNEY: Well, Chip, you tell me if as an American citizen would you want your President not to consider all the implications and ramifications of taking military action.
"Q Doesn’t there come a point to make a — where you have to make a decision?"


Wanda Sykes Asks Leno 'Has Obama Had One Relaxing Day Since He's Been In Office?'  "As ABC's Tahman Bradley reported Saturday:
For the second week in a row, the most powerful man in the world stepped away from the White House to hit the golf course.
Even as his administration and the U.S. military help Japan recover from a devastating earthquake, and as the world worries about Fukushima's nuclear reactor, the president could not resist taking advantage of the 48-degree weather in the Washington, D.C., area. [...]
Last fall, Obama went golfing darn near every weekend.
You hear that, Wanda?

Japanese 'Radiation' text message is fake

BBC  "A fake text message warning people that radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant has leaked beyond Japan has been panicking people across Asia."

G8 Refuses To Back No-Fly Zone As Libyan Forces Advance Against Rebels

GlobalSecurity.org  ""We are seeing and witnessing a Qaddafi that is the Lockerbie Qaddafi," Cannon added, referring to the bombing of a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 270 people in 1988.
""This is the same individual who the world had condemned, and quite clearly one of the things I will be pushing for tomorrow is to be able to make sure that the sanctions that were there at the time, we should all invest again in putting those sanctions in place," he said.
"Arab League chief Amr Musa has asked the UN to impose the flight ban, saying its only purpose would be to protect Libyan civilians from air strikes by Qaddafi's military. But the Arab League says there should not be foreign troops deployed to Libya."

Lack of Leadership: France Takes Lead in Libya While Obama Fiddles  from Canada Free Press
"You know that an American administration has proven useless and ineffective for supporting liberty and freedom in oppressed countries when even France… France… takes the lead in recognizing a struggling, independent liberty movement. Such is the case in Libya where French President Nicolas Sarkozy has recognized and supported the Libyan rebels struggling to over throw Libyan dictator Gaddhafi."  How do you say "surrender monkeys" in French? 

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Bullying waivers

Protesters Destroy Recall Petitions Against Wisconsin Democrat

Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion  "Thanks to a reader in Wisconsin for sending me this link to a press release from the Recall Jim Holperin Committee and video posted at the website of conservative talk show host Charlie Sykes, regarding intimidation efforts directed against Republicans seeking signatures on recall petitions against one of Wisconsin Democratic State Senators who fled to Illinois:"

THUGS DESTROY RECALL PETITIONS  "Upon arrival, members of the recall committee were encircled by union protesters carrying signs and a leader with a mega phone who began chanting and ranting loudly. They packed in tightly around the petition collection table so as to prevent those attempting to sign from doing so. At one point, a pro union protester, pretending to be interested in signing the petition, wrote profanity across a partially collected petition form, than began ripping up the completed petitions that were in close proximity."
http://www.worldmag.com/editorialcartoons/