GOP Worries New Navy Shipbuilding Plan Cuts Fleet While We 'Pivot' To Asia

AOL Defense  "Republicans think the Navy's new 30-year shipbuilding plan marks a fundamental mistake: cutting the size of the fleet from 313 to 300 or so when we are increasing our focus on the Asia-Pacific."
....
"But one of the nation's most respected naval analysts says the new shipbuilding plan, which does see the number of ships dip to 279 in 2014 from the earlier planned fleet of 287, offered a much less glum assessment."....

Obama’s Message to Iran?

Emanuele Ottolenghi  "According to Reuters and other news sources, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan may have carried a message from President Obama to Iran’s leaders during his two-day visit to Iran. Erdogan discussed Iran with Obama at the Seoul nuclear summit, so it is plausible he was asked to deliver a message to Iran.

"What that message could be is, of course, entirely a matter of speculation. But like what Obama said to Russian outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev about giving him space until after the election, one could imagine a similar message to Tehran: “This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.” "

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/03/28/97853

DEBKAfile: Obama’s back-channel to Tehran bypasses allies Erdogan and Netanyahu

Barack Obama and Tayyip Erdogan get together

US President Barack Obama this week gave his two allies, the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Israel’s Binyamin Netanyahu, a lesson in the politics of expediency, when Tuesday, March 20, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced exemptions for 11 nations from new US financial sanctions against countries that don’t reduce the Iranian oil purchases by June 28.
"The countries benefiting from this concession are Britain, Germany Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Spain, Holland, Poland and Japan."....
...."At all events, the Obama administration appears to be rethinking sanctions as a bludgeon for turning Tehran away from its nuclear weapon aspirations.
Those second thoughts were closely reflected in a new assessment coming from London’s International Institute for Strategic Studies Friday, March 23, which asserted that sanctions were having an effect – “but just not the effect they were supposed to have.”
They have made the Iranians more not less committed to pursuing a nuclear weapon, it was said, and “had the knock-on effect of pushing oil prices to levels threatening the global economy.” "

Why we fear ObamaCare

   My own father died nearly destitute, largely because of my hypochondriac mother who required bags-full of prescriptions and a schedule filled with doctor appointments. 
    Another good friend was forced out of his home due to the oppressive expenses of caring for his wife with Alzheimer's; the same happened to another relative whose wife had dementia. I see what long-term illness can do to a family's finances and desperately wish something could be done to help.
    But I also see how the present solution of Pelosi-Obama's vast plan can reach into every corner of our lives; and make no mistake about it, this government or one like it will.

    Liberal solutions unfailingly bring about mediocrity in everything they touch and you can be sure this will happen to medical practice.
    I saw socialized medicine during a three-month stay at the Camp Lejeune hospital where dependents of Marines seeing doctors were given the standing appointment time of 0800. There the room was filled with mothers and children, waiting in folding metal chairs for their turn with a doctor to come. Their number gradually grew smaller through the day while the remaining children grew more and more restless with no place for them to play, only to run around the rows of steel chairs where their mothers continued to wait. By the afternoon, there were only a couple of families left, waiting since 8 am. All this because the hospital was government-run and had no incentive to encourage patients' selection of them as medical provider.

    I desperately wish those mentioned here could have been taken care of, but never by committed socialists whose supporters hang Che posters and communist flags in their offices.  TD

Tony Branco cartoon

Hanson: Faith-Based Energy Policy

Victor Davis Hanson:  

Obama is like a sound-track for the Disney ride "Pirates of the Caribbean," warning danger ahead and yet not animated enough to do anything to help

"New oil development will create thousands of jobs, worry speculators that America will soon release lots of oil on the world market, and provide a window to produce alternative energies without slapdash, Solyndra-like boondoggles. Drilling is a win, win, and win choice — and so known to everyone except the president and his shrinking number of reactionary advisers, who prefer green faith to hard science."

http://netrightdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Cartoon-The-Stick-Up-ALG-600.jpg

Morning Bell: And Now the Supreme Court Must Decide

Heritage: This author feels the law may be struck down, but I'm afraid to get my hopes up for the same reason  I'm concerned that Obama will be re-elected: I'm a pessimist; someone who thinks the glass is only half-full. TD
"In making his final argument in defense of Obamacare, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli alluded to the Constitution’s preamble and its call to “secure the blessings of liberty” in his justification for Congress’ actions. Paul Clement, arguing on behalf of Obamacare’s challengers, eloquently responded to Verrilli’s call to the Constitution:

Let me just finish by saying I certainly appreciate what the solicitor general says, that when you support a policy, you think that the policy spreads the blessings of liberty. But I would respectfully suggest that it’s a very funny conception of liberty that forces somebody to purchase an insurance policy whether they want it or not. And it’s a very strange conception of federalism that says that we can simply give the states an offer that they can’t refuse, and through the spending power which is premised on the notion that Congress can do more because it’s voluntary, we can force the states to do whatever we tell them to. That is a direct threat to our federalism.

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/03/29/97888

Seven of Obamacare’s Biggest Failures from the Last Two Years "The parts of the law already in effect were thought by its proponents to be its most popular, but as detailed in Heritage’s “The Obamacare Two-Year Checkup: More Reasons for Repeal,” the law is already proving ineffective in some cases and harmful in others. Here are some of the biggest failures of Obamacare highlighted by the paper:"...

American society is being torn to shreds with not a bit of concern expressed by President Obama

Roger L Simon: Obama, the Democrats, and The Society for the Preservation of Racism  "The reason is evident. Increasingly, racism – and more generally the division of our country into racial and ethnic interest groups — is all the Democrats have. The rest of liberal/leftist ideology is disintegrating all around them, as fragile and illusory as the welfare state itself.

"Without racism – or more exactly the putative existence of racism – the Democratic Party would be an association of overpaid trade union executives, unemployed Occupy movement sympathizers and trial lawyers. In other words – mighty small."

'Kill Zimmerman' Twitter account launched  "The account probably won't survive the day, but it is illustrative of the extreme level of hatred on the left generated by this tragedy. And, of course, the double standard of "civility" that the left constantly uses when whining about the political discourse in America."  Extreme language.

I think we can be sure these people are Obama voters. Can you imagine what they would do around this country if Obama was, oh, say impeached for something or perhaps lost the next election by a very narrow margin. Imagine the violence if the next election went for the Republican the way the Gore-Bush election did. TD

Neal Boortz: Are you freaking kidding me? Skittles should donate profits?  ...."After all, the ruler of this country has spoken out against the profit motive and has gone to great lengths to cast business profits as an evil plague on mankind.  That’s what Marxists do."... 

From Black Quill and Ink: Insider Warned Us – Obama’s Racial Division Plan Now Underway   "With a major dip in the polls and his health care bill in real jeopardy of being overturned, Obama is becoming desperate to win reelection. His secret weapon…RACE RIOTS AND CIVIL UNREST."

"The race card, the racial thing – whatever it’s gonna be called, it is the number one asset this administration believes it has to win in 2012.  Their own polling data has shown that to be true over and over again.  But how far are they willing to push that?  Race.  The charges of racism?  I believe all the way if they have to.  And they are gonna get people stirred up.  And if Barack Obama doesn’t win re-election, watch them stand back while the riots break out, and watch them mouth the words “Burn baby burn.” "

 Milton Reid , blogging at Black Quill & Ink

Rich Terrell

Al and Jesse hit pay dirt!

AntiAntiUnderground  with a hat tip to iowntheworld.com

Ann Coulter: A Post-Racial Lynch Mob

Ann Coulter  "...the Non-Fox Media (NFM) didn't even pause before conjuring a racist plot in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida last month.

Excerpts from Ms. Coulter's latest column here:

...."Zimmerman told the police, his friends and his lawyer that he walked back to his car after hanging up with the police and was waylaid by Martin. No witnesses have told the press otherwise."

...."Among the reasons to be suspicious of the media as impartial judges of the evidence is that they keep showing us snapshots from Martin's childhood, rather than any recent photos.

"Without doing research, the average person would think Martin was a slight 12-year-old whippersnapper at the time of the shooting, rather than a strapping 6-foot, 160-pound 17-year-old. Indeed, he was 3 inches taller than Zimmerman, according to the police report.

"Why aren't they showing us Zimmerman's baby pictures?"

...."All this may give you an inkling of why we rely on the criminal justice system to determine guilt in criminal cases and not the fervid imaginations of the race-obsessed media."

Before It's News released this about Martin: "The image [left] is a more recent photo of Trayvon Martin... the clean-cut, baby-faced pictures of the slain Florida teen plastered all over the news, are nearly four years old.

The EPA Wrecking Ball

Warning Signs  "The Environmental Protection Agency is using its power to advance the objective of the environmental movement to deny Americans access to the energy that sustains the nation’s economy and is using the greatest hoax ever perpetrated, global warming—now called “climate change”—to achieve that goal."

...."NO! Coal provides the engine of our nation’s electrical power and oil provides the energy that fuels our transportation and is the basis for countless products that enhance and improve our lives every day. 

"We are witnessing the destruction of the nation by the environmental movement and the EPA has just provided you with the most dramatic example of that plan."

http://conservativedailynews.com/2012/02/a-dream-comes-true/

American Institute for Economic Research:  How much do higher oil prices hurt?

"All this means that an increase in the price of oil, even if it translates into rising costs of other energy commodities, will have much less impact on prices and profitability. The increase also will be much less harmful to the ability of the economy to produce goods and services (and generate income) than it has been in the past."

 EPA to kill new coal-fired plants through first-ever greenhouse-gas regulations
"If you thought gas prices will never stop rising, just wait until you see what happens to electricity after the Barack Obama’s EPA gets its way.  The agency will deliver on Obama’s election promise to bankrupt any new coal-fired electrical production in its first-ever regulations on greenhouse-gas emissions, the Washington Post reports.  The new regulatory regime will all but guarantee that new coal-fired plants won’t be built to replace others shutting down:"...

EPA rules may push coal companies to boost exports  "Tougher emission rules at U.S. power stations will likely force coal companies to make up for lost domestic customers by exporting more to countries in Asia where environmental regulations are less stringent, analysts said.

"Railroads, which haul about 70 percent of U.S. coal, could also try to mitigate the damage from lower shipments to utilities by carrying more coal for exports."

So, the earth's atmosphere will continue to be not one bit cleaner. As with oil, other parts of the earth will just have to handle the production that the American economy and workers cannot do. And do not expect a conservative congress to undo the damage that Obama will cause. That would take more political courage to stand up to the demagogy and litigation than I think exists in Washington. TD

Obama: the useful idiot of all who hate this country

His Worst Mistake: Obama Surrenders to Vladimir;  Aiding the rebirth of the USSR.
"But Obama doesn’t care what happens to Russian civil society, nor does he care what happens to Syrian women and children butchered by Russian weapons and diplomatic cover. All Obama cares about is pretending before American voters that he has made Russia into a reliable friend, just long enough to get himself reelected. As Obama told Medvedev: once he is back in office he can do whatever he likes, with nothing more to lose."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/

DEBKAfile: Obama tells Putin and Khamenei: Wait until after my election   “On all these issues, particularly missile defense, this can be solved. It is important for him (Putin) to give me space. This is my last election,” US President Barack Obama was “caught” telling Dmitry Medvedev on an open mike Sunday, March 26. DEBKA-Net-Weekly in its next issue out Friday reveals that almost the same message went out to Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, via Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan.
"Find out what Obama offered Khamenei to smooth his passage to reelection – and much more."
This will cost us money to read it.


(Reprise from Tuesday) Obama's remarks with Medvedev are a diminution of the president's stature in the world, says FPI Director William Kristol
"It's one thing to acknowledge election year imperatives when discussing domestic issues at home. It's quite another to do so when discussing foreign policy with a foreign leader. .... "Obama's comments are therefore not only an acknowledgment of his thorough politicization of American foreign policy. They also represent a self-inflicted diminution of the stature of the American president in the world."


Obama: Just wait for my second term, comrade

Neal Boortz: Obama and his flexibility  "Obama says that he will have flexibility on the issue of missile defense, but what else will he have “flexibility” with after his re-election?  What about labor laws, taxes, healthcare, gun laws, education, immigration, or environmental policy?  Obama’s second term will ensure his “fundamental transformation” of the United States into a country that you and I barely recognize.  It will cement a dependent culture of big government and high taxes.  We are almost there as it is, but Obama’s re-election will nearly make it a sure thing."

(Update) US diplomat has no comment on missile defense deal   ..."Acting Undersecretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, one of President Obama's top nuclear weapons negotiators, told Russian media that she had no comment on suspicions that the president is crafting a "secret deal" on missile defense with the Russian government."

Some late posts on ObamaCare

Sen. Kerry Dares GOP to Make Obamacare Election Issue “This is not complicated,” he continued. “It’s made complicated by politicians who pursue an ideological agenda, which is why I’m glad Mitt Romney, when he was here [as governor of Massachusetts], passed healthcare. I’m sorry today he’s running away from it, but this is going to be a great debate.”


The ObamaCare Arguments – The Second Day  "Justice Kennedy made it clear more than once that the government has a “heavy burden” to show that what it is doing is constitutional since it is compelling people to enter into commerce. Kennedy also stated that the government’s theory would “fundamentally change the relationship between the individual and the state.”  This is a key point because in past cases where he has sometimes upset conservatives (such as Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down a state sodomy law), Kennedy has sided with protecting the individual against the power of the state.  This case falls squarely into that category. "


 Legal Insurrection: Obamacare Oral Argument, Day 3 – Severability

"This morning was argument on severability, meaning what will happen to the remainder of Obamacare if the mandate is held to be unconstitutional.

"Via Lyle Denniston of ScotusBlog, that dilemma may have some of the Justices rethinking their position on the mandate:"...

Justice Kennedy: Obamacare 'changes the relationship of the Federal Government to the individual in the very fundamental way.
'"Obamacare flips the notion that power is derived from the consent of the governed. In that respect, an ambitious and aggressive government, would literally be able to require anything, as long as it was for the "common good."
"I hope Roberts asks Kennedy to write the opinion - hopefully, the majority opinion."

Many more knowledgeable links at Voloch Conspiracy

EPA's first salvo in their war on CO2

Rick Moran "Electricity costs are going to go up - perhaps way up. It depends on the economy and how it manages to make up for the lost power generation. Efficiencies elsewhere may keep the increase manageable. More likely, that process will lag a few years and rates will skyrocket.

"Consumers will blame the power companies for the increases, not realizing it is their own government that wants them to pay sky high prices for electricity and has fashioned policies to see that it happens."

EPA moves to kill the coal industry  Golly, I’m shocked!  Are you shocked?  I’m shocked!  After all,Dear Ruler did tell us in 2008 that his goal was to “bankrupt” the coal industry by imposing cap and trade regulations: “If somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted.”  Neal Boortz