Sunday, January 24, 2010

When Tolerance Trumps Principle

American Thinker  "Until both parties put aside agendas and assent to truth, legislative and political process based on tolerance of each other's beliefs is futile and laughable...or at least it would be, were the consequences not so serious. The result is a wasteland of abandoned principles. Tolerance is the pry bar by which the modern liberal moves boundaries."  (Emphasis added.)

For 2010 Election Strategy Dems Decide To Blame Bush For Their Failed Economic Policies

Gateway Pundit  "But, things changed in 2007. Democrats took over Congress, gas prices started to rise, and at the end of the year and into 2008 several financial institutions started to crumble as the housing bubble began to burst. Of course, it should be noted that President Bush publicly called for the reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 17 times in 2008 alone before Congress acted. Democrats, on the other hand, blocked reform numerous times. It was later reported after the 2008 election that Bush had nothing to do with the financial crisis. ... Scott S. Powell wrote ...that the present crisis began in the 1970s, during the Carter administration, with passage of the Community Reinvestment Act to stem bank redlining and liberalize lending in order to extend home ownership in lower-income communities. This risk was acknowledged in the Bush administration’s first fiscal-year budget, released in April 2001. Sadly these warnings were ignored by Congress."

PJM Book Club: Blogging Rules for Radicals

Pajamas Media  "My optimism didn’t last long. The moment Obama announced Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff, every radical and former radical in the country knew where we were headed — though few could imagine how quickly we could get there. Then again, if you know your Alinsky and are beginning to fathom the extremism of Obama’s czarist empire, it should seem no surprise at all."

A YEAR AGO IT WAS ALL “HOPE AND CHANGE,” but now it’s Leviathan stirs again.

Instapundit  "Mr Obama’s appeal for pragmatism has some value: conservative attempts to roll back government regulations have led to disaster in the finance industry. But left-wing attempts to defend entitlements and public-sector privileges willy-nilly will condemn the state to collapse under its own weight."

Did the Obama administration blow an opportunity in the Flight 253 case?

WaPo  "...The Obama administration had three options: It could charge him in federal court. It could detain him as an enemy belligerent. Or it could hold him for prolonged questioning and later indict him, ensuring that nothing Mr. Abdulmutallab said during questioning was used against him in court. It is now clear that the administration did not give serious thought to anything but Door No. 1. This was myopic, irresponsible and potentially dangerous."  A mistake that can be rectified, part 4  "...But the decision to try Mr. Abdulmutallab turns out to have resulted not from a deliberative process but as a knee-jerk default to a crime-and-punishment model."

Would the White House Fall for This?

Jennifer Rubin   "Everything is fine, perfectly fine. According to Rich, the real issue is that Obama was not angry enough or wasn’t everywhere enough. Or Left-leaning enough. You can almost sense Republican candidates and operatives holding their collective breath, smilingly nervously and whispering to each other, “They couldn’t be that obtuse, could they?” "

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Congressman Lamar Smith: Media Fairness Caucus Helps Americans Get Facts to Counteract MSM Bias

Big Journalism "Voters see the media as biased, liberal and too powerful, according to a Rasmussen poll. Just two in ten Americans say reporters try to offer unbiased coverage of political campaigns. A majority of voters believe, “The average reporter is more liberal than they are.” And two-thirds think the media have too much power and influence over government decisions."

Shhh… US Marines Wrap Up Mission in Iraq– Victorious

Gateway Pundit  "If we had a responsible media in this country this would be front page news. Sadly, we don’t. Thank you US Marines. Thank you US military. Thank you Republicans for standing strong. Thank you George W. Bush."

Leftwing Professor Writes Hilarious Essay About 'Conan Obama'

Newsbusters "...a new development has set in recently: leftwing disgust with The One especially since it now appears that ObamaCare is DOA. And perhaps the absolute funniest of the leftwing critiques of Obama comes from the pen of David Michael Green, a professor of political science at Hofstra University in New York."

Obama can’t get 50 votes for Bernanke?

Hot Air "Bernanke didn’t tell Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy up all those loans and create securities from bad mortgages that wound up as crypto-junk bonds with the patina of federal guarantees. That blame falls squarely on Congresses from 1998 until 2007."

Still Time to Get It Right; But only if Obama reverses course on Abdulmutallab.

Andrew McCarthy, NRO "The big decision is the one made at the beginning of the Obama administration, by the president and nobody else: It is the default position of the administration that law enforcement is the preferred approach for dealing with international terrorism. The standing rule is that, if a person is apprehended in the United States — even if he is an al-Qaeda operative unleashed here to kill massively — he is to be regarded as a criminal defendant, not as a prisoner of war. " And here: Lawmakers to Holder: Who decided to give Miranda rights to accused Detroit bomber? "More importantly, a thorough and unrushed interrogation might have revealed information to detect and disrupt the next terrorist attack. However, because Mr. Abdulmutallab was given Miranda rights and ceased cooperating, that information is now lost." "

Step Aside, Mr. Foxman: Your Remarks About Rush Are Out of Bounds

Pam Geller in Big Journalism "As a passionate, proud Jew, I too stand with Rush Limbaugh and would take up against Foxman in a heartbeat. Thank G-d for righteous Gentiles like Rush. He is beyond delicious. He has such a yiddische heart, I’d marry him under a chupa! Here’s what Rush said today on his radio program:"