Reid, Democrats trigger ‘nuclear’ option. See and hear Democrats condemn this act back in 2005.

The Washington Post   "The partisan battles that have paralyzed Washington in recent years took a historic turn Thursday, as Senate Democrats eliminated filibusters for most presidential nominations, severely curtailing the political leverage of the Republican minority in the Senate and assuring an escalation of partisan warfare.
 ...."The change does not apply to Supreme Court nominations. But the vote, mostly along party lines, reverses nearly 225 years of precedent and dramatically alters the landscape for both Democratic and Republican presidents, especially if their own political party holds a majority of, but fewer than 60, Senate seats."   Emphasis mine, TD

Nuclear Option Watch (Update – BOOM!) Democrats can gloat again after giving us Obamacare; why are so few Americans educated to understand what Democrats have done to this nation?

What is the nuclear option?
The “nuclear option” refers to a move by the majority party in Senate — in this case the Democrats — to change the Senate rules to allow most executive branch and judicial nominations to be approved with a simple majority – 51 votes — rather than the 60 votes now required. Under the current rules, the minority party can block a nomination with just 41 votes, commonly called a filibuster.

When Democrats Hated and FEARED The Filibuster  "Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell traded barbs today over changes to the filibuster rule, but in 2005 Democrats attacked the so called “nuclear option,” a change to prohibit the filibustering of judicial nominees, charging that it would decimate Senate traditions."
Listen to Obama and other Democrats oppose this nuclear option back in 2005.  "Notice they call it a power grab".

That was then, this is now: Obama supports Senate's nuclear option, rule change

March 6, 2005 New York Times condemns the "nuclear option"  "If Republicans fulfill their threat to overturn the historic role of the filibuster in order to ram the Bush administration's nominees through, they will be inviting all-out warfare and perhaps an effective shutdown of Congress."

Harry Reid’s Nuclear Hypocrisy  "The hypocrisy here should not go unnoticed. Although the filibuster for legislation has a long history, prior to 2003 it was seldom used to block executive-branch nominations — and appellate-court nominees in particular. In fact, Democrats themselves began using it this way in the 108th Congress, after they lost the Senate in the 2002 midterm elections. Here’s the backstory...."

NRO:  “ 'In my view this is the most important and most dangerous restructuring of Senate rules since Thomas Jefferson wrote them at the beginning of our country,” Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee says."

Hypocritical Dems Think They’ll Always Rule   Well, considering the third-world electorate which chose for a president a man who had never administered a government of any size and had questionable leftist  mentors, it can happen.
"... Reid finally has amassed enough votes to ram through changes in the upper body’s time-honored rules and allow President Obama to pack the Court of Appeals with as many liberals as he likes. He claims they are acting in the name of civility and the need to keep the government working, but there should be no doubt that what is going on here is a hypocritical grab for power that should be stopped."  This cartoonist supports Reid:

Three - count 'em -three Democrats opposed Reid on this 
There were three Democratic defectors — Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) — on the rules change, which came to the floor over the block of three judges intended for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

 Levin said he was being consistent with his previous opposition when a Republican majority flirted with the nuclear option in 2005.

....Levin said ... “The nuclear option abandons America’s sense of fair play. It’s the one thing this country stands for. Not tilting the playing field on the side of those who control and own the field.”

 

March 2012 Op-Ed: Senator Mike Lee: Senate has ‘confirmed more than 80 percent of President Obama’s judicial nominees’   "Claims of Republican obstruction are not only demonstrably false, they are highly hypocritical. The very Democrats now seeking to manufacture confirmation controversy personally devised and carried out a systematic effort to block President Bush’s judicial nominees through an unprecedented use of the Senate filibuster."

Forbes has the opposite take:  GOP Gambles Big On Harry Reid's Nuclear Option: Why Not Just explode The Filibuster For Good?
"Interestingly, while suggestions along these lines have traditionally led to outrage and consternation by the minority party in the Senate, this time it appears to be a different story. Indeed, the Republicans seem oddly and calmly resigned to letting it all happen.

Move up http://i.forbesimg.com t Move down

"What’s up with that?"

What of the other events at the 1863 Gettysburg dedication?

We hope you will find this of some scholastic value and helpful in any research you may wish to do. TD

Edward Everett, the scheduled main speaker: ..." In his two-hour formal oration he compared the Battle of Gettysburg to battles of antiquity such as Marathon, and spoke about how opposing sides in previous civil wars (such as the War of the Roses and the Thirty Years' War) were able to reconcile their differences afterward. Everett's oration was followed by the now far more famous Gettysburg Address of President Lincoln. For his part, Everett was deeply impressed by the concise speech and wrote to Lincoln noting "I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion, in two hours, as you did in two minutes"...
The program organized for that day by Wills and his committee included:

• Music, by Birgfeld's Band  ("Homage d'uns Heros" by Adolph Birgfeld)
• Prayer, by Reverend T.H. Stockton, D.D.
• Music, by the Marine Band ("Old Hundred"), directed by Francis Scala
• Oration, by Hon. Edward Everett ("The Battles of Gettysburg")
• Music, Hymn ('Consecration Chant') by B.B. French, Esq., music by Wilson G Horner, sung by Baltimore Glee Club
• Dedicatory Remarks, by the President of the United States  
• Dirge ("Oh! It is Great for Our Country to Die", words by James G. Percival, music by Alfred Delaney), sung by Choir selected for the occasion
• Benediction, by Reverend H.L. Baugher, D.D.^[9]
"While it is Lincoln's short speech that has gone down in history as one of the finest examples of English public oratory, it was Everett's two-hour oration that was slated to be the "Gettysburg address" that day. His now seldom-read 13,607-word oration began:...

 Everett, “Gettysburg Address,” Speech Text "1] STANDING beneath this serene sky, overlooking these broad fields now reposing from the labors of the waning year, the mighty Alleghenies dimly towering before us, the graves of our brethren beneath our feet, it is with hesitation that I raise my poor voice to break the eloquent silence of God and Nature. But the duty to which you have called me must be performed;–grant me, I pray you, your indulgence and your sympathy."....
From Voices of Democracy Oratory Report

Two hours later, when Everett's well-received speech was finished and two more musical events of the ceremony had been completed, President Abraham Lincoln rose to make his "few appropriate remarks."

More detail on the ceremonies. The Confusing Gettysburg Address Memorial


More photos and a video discussing the true location of the ceremonies

US Jewish leaders feel misled by White House over Iran deal

 

Times of Israel   "Geneva terms were ‘precooked’ in secret US-Iran talks, Times of Israel told, but the administration didn’t come clean to Israel or to American Jewish groups."

"In fact, the Jewish leaders believe, the administration knew exactly where the negotiations would be heading, since they had secretly negotiated the terms.

"Two sources told The Times of Israel they were convinced there was a secret channel of negotiations and were dismayed that the White House had not come clean about it.

"Israel was also kept in the dark about the secret channel, and only learned about it from other sources, The Times of Israel was told by the sources, who asked to remain anonymous."

The Gettysburg Address 150th Anniversary commemoration

http://www.nationalreview.com/slideshows/364286?slide=7

Silvio Canto, Jr.: Why my late, great uncle loved the Gettysburg Address   ..."My guess is that he'd really enjoy the upcoming Ken Burns' documentary on the speech.

"He would also have a hard time understanding President Obama's absence for the 150th anniversary.  

"My great uncle would ask:   "What else is more important"?"

President Woodrow Wilson (third from right) attends a 50th anniversary

  commencement ceremony in 1913.

 

Wall Street Journal: From 'Four Score' to 'Yes We Can!'  "Barack Obama is not scheduled to be present at Gettysburg on Tuesday to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the address. Maybe he figured that the world would little note, nor long remember, what he said there. Maybe he thought the comparisons with the original were bound to be invidious, and rightly so.

 

"If that's the case, it would be the beginning of wisdom for this presidency. Better late than never."

President Obama’s Historic Gettysburg Slight  "To compound the mystery is the way the snub was delivered. Rather than make the announcement of his decision not to attend the festivities from the White House, he left that distasteful task to the National Park Service, the federal agency that administers the Gettysburg National Military Park.

....

"The president is scheduled to speak that day at the annual meeting of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council in Washington, D.C., so it’s not like he’s indisposed otherwise. The fact that he would prefer to speak to a bunch of rich white guys rather than appear at an historic setting with the hoi polloi only adds to the unfathomable nature of the snub."  The President's schedule today

Don't you find it a bit vicious that the President is represented by someone from the NPS, which spent millions barricading all national monuments, ensuring the shutdown inflicted as much pain as possible?

Obama Leaves ‘Under God’ Out of Gettysburg Address  "President Obama has elected to skip today’s commemoration of the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. But he participated in video readings of the address for a Ken Burns project. Along with 61 other lawmaker and celebrity participants, Obama read the address on camera from a teleprompter. But unlike the other participants, all of whom recited the entire address, Chris Plante noticed that Barack Obama left out two words: “Under God.' ”

"Obama leaves out “under God” at about the 1:35 mark, in the line “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.' ”

Carney Can’t Explain Why Obama Is Skipping Gettysburg Address Memorial, Locals “Stunned” By Decision Not To Attend…  "You can pretty much guarantee if this was prior to the 2012 election he would attend."

Via Fox News:
Salena Zito of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said on “The Kelly File” that she has spoken with Gettysburg residents of all political affiliations who are “incredibly disappointed” over Obama’s decision to send Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to represent his administration instead of attending himself.
“They are just stunned by his decision not to attend the Gettysburg Address, it’s the 150th anniversary, it’s one of the most pivotal speeches in our nation’s history…” she said.

Pfeiffer: Obama Too Busy for Gettysburg Anniversary Because of 'Whole Website Thing'  "Barack Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer says the president won't be attending the Gettysburg address anniversary today because the "whole website thing." He appears to be talking about the ongoing problems with the Obamacare website, Healthcare.gov."

      @pfeiffer44 @jmartNYT @jfsolnet Serious question: What is on his schedule that is more important than Gettysburg anniversary?

 

@ron_fournier @jmartNYT @jfsolnet Oh, I don't know, there's this whole website thing that someone suggested might destroy the Dem Party

 Why Obama Is Blowing Off Gettysburg Address ..."Obama used to love comparing himself to Lincoln so much that he explicitly denied doing it."
....
 "No failure is as astounding as America’s inability to see through the fog of media promotion to what Obama is and has always been. But people are starting to catch on at last. Obama is well-advised to avoid standing in the shadows of his betters."

Post-American President: "The end of American world leadership"

http://legalinsurrection.com/tag/a-f-branco/

Amazing what changes can affect a nation run by a man with no governing experience, whose world view has been shaped by -among others- the anti-American Bill Ayres and the demagogue Rev. Wright.

Atlas Shrugs   "Just as I predicted in my book The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America ......  Caroline Glick explains what happened in Geneva last week and what it means. It was one of those infamous historic turning points from which there is no turning back. The world, whether we acknowledge it or not, is in free fall.

"Obama has destroyed America's credibility and relinquished American hegemony, and in doing so has destroyed whatever semblance of peace and tranquility there was in the world before he came into office."

Half the world are vying to try to take advantage of regional opportunities if the United States is not there to stop mold, and to stop rust, which is the natural organic order of the world. They take advantage of it and our friends are there waiting to see which side to join.  (Victor Davis Hanson in 2008 here)

Ms. Geller cites this article by Caroline Glick, Israeli columnist:

The demise of Pax Americana This piece is only a portion of Ms. Glick's article:

Global leadership is based on two things – power and credibility. The United States remains the most powerful actor in the world. But last week, American credibility was shattered. Secretary of State John Kerry spent the first part of last week lying to Israeli and Gulf Arab leaders and threatening the Israeli people. He lied to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the Saudis about the content of the deal US and European negotiators had achieved with the Iranians.

Kerry told them that in exchange for Iran temporarily freezing its nuclear weapons development program, the US and its allies would free up no more than $5 billion in Iranian funds seized and frozen in foreign banks.

 

mikereport

"Kerry threatened the Israeli people with terrorism and murder – and so invited both – if Israel fails to accept his demands for territorial surrender to PLO terrorists that reject Israel’s right to exist.

"Kerry’s threats were laced with bigoted innuendo"....

Jay Leno Savages Obama & The Democrats Over The Government Shutdown

The Gateway Pundit from October.
"Signs that this shutdown isn’t hurting the GOP are everywhere, including this Jay Leno monologue."

Although Jay Leno has admitted that he leans Democrat, one wouldn’t have guessed it from his monologue Friday night, when he launched a brutal attack against Obama and other top Democrats for their behavior during the shutdown. Aside from a few jabs at Boehner’s orange tan and general government failings, this one was personal – and the audience ate it up.
You can hear all his zingers on the video, but here are just a few highlights:

 

Alan Caruba: The Free Pass Has Expired

Warning Signs

"A news report about Oprah Winfrey said she “is going around the world telling everyone that Americans are racist while she promotes her new film.”

"She “has been a prominent supporter of Barack Obama. She thinks that both he and the office of President have been treated with contempt because of the color of his skin quoting her saying “There’s a level of disrespect for the office that occurs. And that occurs in some cases and maybe even many cases because he’s African American. There’s no question about that and it’s the kind of thing nobody ever says but everybody’s thinking.' ”

Sixty-nine years ago: the battle of Betio Island on Tarawa Atoll in November, 1943

This account has a special significance to the Tunnel Dweller because 17 years later I was privileged to serve with the Second Marine Division for two years in Alpha 1/2. Always we wondered if we would have been as courageous as those Marines on Tarawa in 1943, often fearing we might not be.  TD

Battle of Tarawa Overview and history of the War in the Pacific

Battle account: Across the Reef: The Marine Assault of Tarawa
"The Tarawa operation became a tactical watershed: the first, large-scale test of American amphibious doctrine against a strongly fortified beachhead. The Marine assault on Betio was particularly bloody. Ten days after the assault, Time magazine published the first of many post-battle analyses:

Last week some 2,000 or 3,000 United States Marines, most of them now dead or wounded, gave the nation a name to stand beside those of Concord Bridge, the Bon Homme Richard, the Alamo, Little Big Horn and Belleau Wood. The name was "Tarawa."

Combat Photographer Recalls Bloodiest Battle

(Below) The 8th Marines makes its final assault on the large Japanese bombproof shelter near the Burns-Philip pier. These scenes were vividly recorded on 35mm motion picture film by Marine SSgt Norman Hatch, whose subsequent eyewitness documentary of the Tarawa fighting won a Motion Picture Academy Award in 1944.

1st Lieutenant Alexander Bonnyman (pictured, right) leads the assault on the command bunker "... 1st Lt. Bonnyman had inspired his men to heroic effort, enabling them to beat off the counterattack and break the back of hostile resistance in that sector for an immediate gain of 400 yards with no further casualties to our forces in this zone. He gallantly gave his life for his country."
Bonnyman's body was never found and the assumption is that he was buried in a mass grave near the bunker.

Below, the fight for the bunker. Filmed by Norm Hatch.

 .

How would the NY Times cover Tarawa today?  ..."Shortly after the battle, a New York Times editorial dealt with the numerous American mistakes at Tarawa by noting that "a cunning enemy like the Japanese will always present us with problems that can never be quite solved in advance." The editorial went on to say that the approach adopted by the enemy "makes the war against Japan a war of extermination in which there is virtually no quarter."

 

"Incredible! A paper that now worries about depriving captured terrorists of their sleep was writing in 1943 about a war in which enemy garrisons "will have to be killed off to the last man."

"One can only wonder how today's New York Times would have dealt with Tarawa and what the impact might have been on American public opinion."
Col. Theodore L. Gatchel (USMC, ret.), a monthly contributor, is a military historian and a professor of operations at the Naval War College. The views here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Naval War College, the U.S. Navy or the Department of Defense.

Morale boosting narrative of the battle here.


USMC Casualties after The Battle of Tarawa. WARNING: Contains Graphic Material!


With the Marines at Tarawa (1944) - Academy Award Winning Documentary

Video; Tarawa - Then and Now   "Scenes from the 1943 invasion and Military Historical Tours 2008 "Return to Guadalcanal and Tarawa" visit on the 65th Anniversary of the Tarawa Invasion."
At the 3:36 mark you begin to see relics from the battle as they are now.

The battle plan in 1943:

Betio today from Google Earth; solid streets and houses:

 

Battle of Tarawa - November 20-23, 1943  Excellent private post on Tarawa.

 

Aerial film of the battle in progress

 

Leatherneck Magazine has these photos 

ObamaCare on Schedule to Ruin Thanksgiving

American Thinker  "With Thanksgiving approaching, Americans reflect on what they can be thankful for.  Looking at the ObamaCare fiasco, it's evident that Americans can be thankful that one senator in particular, Mike Lee (R-Utah), has continued to propose plans to stop this train wreck.  ObamaCare was supposed to insure everyone in this country but instead has caused five million Americans to lose their insurance so far.  American Thinker interviewed Senator Lee and other Americans who have little to be thankful for since receiving a drastic wake-up call regarding their health insurance."....

In spite of all this, the left demagogues those who fear Obamacare with this propaganda:

cagle.com, Their cartoons may be commented on here.

 

Hat tip to Christy Waters in Conservative Bloggers on Facebook

The American People Rose Up to Repeal a Health Care Law Once Before. They Can Do It Again.

http://terrellaftermath.com/

 

Heritage  "The law that promised health coverage for all has so far stripped 3.5 million Americans of their insurance. Meanwhile, fewer than 27,000 people merely “selected” plans—without necessarily purchasing them—on HealthCare.gov.

"To date, then, Obamacare keeps creating more coverage losers for every Obamacare “winner.” And many of those “winners” have been dismayed to discover that their trophy coverage is far more expensive than their former plans, or denies them access to the doctors and hospitals they’ve come to rely on—or both."

Reprise: The Top Ten Obamacare Disasters to come

Jeff the Chef's recipe for gourmet toast

Jeff’s Toast Of The Town
Ingredients:
·         Bread
·         Butter
·         Toaster
·         Jam, Jelly or peanut butter

Instructions:

·         Reach hand into bread bag far enough to extract two bread slices that are nowhere near either heel.

·     Remove bread slices and drop them into the toaster- only one slice per toaster slot please.

 

·     Press down bread to engage toasting process. Toast to desired toastyness- ensuring bread is cooked long enough to be considered toast. Eating undercooked toast can cause illness.

 

·     After toasting is complete, remove bread from toaster and lay flat on the counter. Toast is much easier to butter in the horizontal position (the toast, not you).

 

·     Spread butter across the toast in a left to right manner ensuring even butterness. Using margarine or “buttery spread” is forbidden. While using a knife is OK, a spreader is recommended because it will be more gentle with the toast. Avoid using Disney’s so-called “Pooh Spreaders” because that just sounds gross.

 

·     Once you have achieved buttery perfection choose your favorite final coat. This can be peanut butter, jam, jelly or honey. If you are making toast for your kid brother you may also use hair gel, barbeque sauce or furniture wax.

 

·     Spread final coat in the same manner as the butter layer. Eat and enjoy! Especially you, Little Brother.

Jeff Hayden, Plano, TX

Getting rid of old regulations is much too hard

Marginal Revolution posted this column from the New York Times business section with the comment:  TYLER COWEN: Getting Rid Of Old Regulations Is Much Too Hard. Yes, it is….

 More Freedom on the Airplane, if Nowhere Else   "Conservatives typically complain about too much regulation, but liberals should be concerned, too, because pruning away rules we don’t need should help usher in an economy with more job creation and stronger economic growth.

"The total number of federal regulatory restrictions is now more than one million. And they’re not all necessarily good ideas. For instance, the Food and Drug Administration has banned some useful asthma treatments because they have a slight negative impact on the ozone layer. The nation has medical-device regulations that take longer to satisfy than those of the European Union."....

 TYLER COWEN is a professor of economics at George Mason University.