Friday, January 8, 2010

Closing Gitmo: The President's Naive Fixation by CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

Investors.com "Imagine that Guantanamo were to disappear tomorrow, swallowed in a giant tsunami. Do you think there'd be any less recruiting for al-Qaida in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, London? Jihadism's list of grievances against the West is not only self-replenishing, but also endlessly creative. Osama bin Laden's 1998 fatwa commanding universal jihad against America cited as its two top grievances our stationing of troops in Saudi Arabia and Iraqi suffering under anti-Saddam sanctions. Today, virtually no U.S. troops are in Saudi Arabia. And the sanctions regime against Iraq was abolished years ago. Has al-Qaida stopped recruiting?"

Training the next generation of terrorists

Ann Kane , AT "The title of a post on Brietbart’s new website Big Journalism is Why Won’t MSM Cover Islam? What Are They Afraid Of? After accidentally viewing the video placed in the center of the article, I know the answer to the question. I didn’t read any disclaimer like, Warning: Graphic Content. So, I jumped right in and viewed the video used by radical Muslims to train their pre-pubescent boys in the art of beheading."

How the Dems Alienate Voters

Clarice Feldman, AT "You don't need to be a political scientist to understand why the voters are turning against the Democrats. Just take a moment to read Howie Carr's brilliant piece in the Boston herald on why people should vote for Republican Senatorial candidate Scott Brown. True, some of his points apply only to the Democratic candidate, Martha Coakly, but others are applicable to her party nationwide, like these:"

Holder’s Haste Makes Waste of Intel

Andrew McCarthy "[Abdulmutallab] was, moreover, almost certainly in a position to pinpoint paramilitary training facilities, to tell us about other al-Qaeda trainees being taught to do what he was trying to do, and to fill many gaps in our knowledge of the terror network’s hierarchy, routines, and governmental connections in Yemen.That was not to be. The Obama administration decided that forging ahead pell-mell with a criminal prosecution was more important than acquiring every morsel of useful information Abdulmutallab has to give. That meant telling him, immediately upon arrest, that he didn’t need to speak to the government at all if he didn’t want to. It meant promising to get him a lawyer. It meant he could only be questioned for a few hours — by agents who happened to be on the scene but probably didn’t know much about al-Qaeda’s Yemeni operation. It meant the assignment of a defense lawyer and required court appearances that instantly shut down all questioning."

Terrorism Works, Even When It Doesn’t

PajamasMedia "But [Abdulmutallatab] also initiated a ripple effect throughout the world as security measures at airports everywhere were instantly beefed up, causing long delays, canceled flights, the installation of embarrassing screening techniques, and the increasing reluctance of travelers to fly in the first place. Scumbags like Reid and Abdulmutallab did not succeed in bringing down an airliner, yet they or their imitators may ultimately succeed in bringing down an airline.

For Obama and the Media, Is the Honeymoon Finally Over?

BigJournalism "Certainly it’s the press secretary’s job to make his boss look good – but it’s a reporter’s job to play devil’s advocate. Why did only two reporters in the room press Gibbs on the transparency issue? George W. Bush was constantly criticized for being too secretive – and yet here we have a direct promise of transparency being broken, and only a couple of reporters dare to ask why. Perhaps they’re worried about being denied access if they ask questions that are too probing, as happened during the campaign."

The name of Obama funder and terrorist sympathizer Jodie Evans turns up twice in recently released White House visitor logs.

BigGovernment "The White House will have a harder time denying that it was Obama funder and terrorist sympathizer Jodie Evans who twice visited the White House in June. Last month, Jodie Evans wrote about her working with Obama’s Office of Public Engagement to coordinate communications undermining public support for Obama’s recently announced Af-Pak war strategy."

As Climategate Becomes Pressgate, Questions for the Media

BigJournalism "The Climategate scandal – where leaked emails and computer programs involve dozens of prominent scientists worldwide – has almost everything one would want in a good scandal: conspiracies, fraud, possible destruction of documents, and lots of heated exchanges. But the media has been reluctant to look into the problems and even when the controversy has been acknowledged it has been quickly dismissed as unimportant."

Government penalizes business for putting people to work

RealClearMarkets "To put it very simply, hiring is a cost born by investors and employers. And the problem with the latter in mind is that continued governmental efforts to drive non-market outcomes are reducing the amount of available capital for hires, all the while raising the cost of luring workers from the sidelines. Somewhat ironically, efforts to prop up the housing market with an eye on jobs are actually making job creation more difficult. To understand why, it has to be remembered that there are no jobs without capital. Simple as that."

Married Couples Pay More Than Unmarried Under Health Bill

WSJ "The disparity comes about in part because subsidies for purchasing health insurance under the plan from congressional Democrats are pegged to federal poverty guidelines. That has the effect of limiting subsidies for married couples with a combined income, compared to if the individuals are single." First the culture discourages marriage, now economics. Soon only those with strong moral convictions will marry.

THE REPORT

Neal Boortz "Actually ... I really think Obama has paid heed to his wakeup call. He's serious about this. Health care is one thing .. but negligently allowing a terrorist attack on our soil would do much more to doom his presidency than would the failure of ObamaCare. He's not yet at the point where he's willing to abandon a lot of the political correctness that goes hand-in-hand with our anti-terrorism efforts (at least not in the open) but hopefully that will come."

Bailed Out Citigroup Won’t Rule Out Giving More Money to ACORN

CNS News "However, both Bank of America and J.P. Morgan Chase stopped funding the ACORN Institute last fall, according to the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a government watchdog group that has monitored what TARP recipients are giving to the ACORN Institute."