Thursday, September 23, 2010

Six Months Closer to Repeal

Heritage  "When Obamacare first passed six months ago today, Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner promised: “Obamacare is today’s Intolerable Act. And just as the colonists banded together to enact change after those acts were passed, so should America respond to Obamacare. This law must be repealed.” In Heritage’s “Solutions for America,” we note that, “The easiest way to address all these grievances: repeal Obamacare.” That is why it is so encouraging to see conservatives in the House embrace the repeal cause in their new document: Pledge to America. And our sister organization, Heritage Action for America has announced bipartisan support for Discharge Petition #11 which would force a vote on repealing Obamacare. The Road to Repeal is well on its way, thankfully."
Gary McCoy, Townhall

Peter Wehner on our commander-in-chief

Bookworm Room  "I wonder if our troops ever resent the ordinary Americans who marched to the polls to elect a president who would march them to meaningless (in the President’s own mind) deaths?"
But, but...Bruce Springsteen said to vote for Obama!

Tom Brokaw Dissed 'Contract With America' Then, Disses 'Pledge To America' Now

Newsbusters "So on the very day that Republican House members were set to announce their Pledge to America, who did NBC's Today show bring on to discuss it? House Minority Leader John Boehner? Rising Republican star Paul Ryan? No, on Thursday's Today, Meredith Vieira invited on Brokaw to, once again, rain on the GOP's parade as he claimed the Pledge doesn't "address, in many ways, some of the toughest issues that are still before us, Medicare, Social Security."

GOP’s Pledge to America  "The pledge also commits House Republicans to a full repeal of Obamacare."

A Pledge to America  The document itself.

Remembering the Blunder Years

About.com
 American Thinker "As long as any of us who lived through Carter's four years of misery index are alive, there will be witnesses to cry out against his insufferable moral preening, his pharisaical self congratulation. Is there any way to impeach an ex-President?"

The Carter-Obama Comparisons Grow   "Pat Caddell, who was Mr. Carter's pollster while he was in the White House, thinks some comparisons between the two men are overblown. But he notes that any White House that is sinking in the polls takes on a "bunker mentality" that leads the president to become isolated and consult with fewer and fewer people from the outside. Mr. Caddell told me that his Democratic friends think that's happening to Mr. Obama—and that the president's ability to pull himself out of a political tailspin is hampered by his resistance to seek out fresh thinking."  John Fund.

“Obama‘s Wars“, by Bob Woodward (Updated)

Is Obama Complacent about Terrorism?  "Read in context, Wittes notes, the President’s comment “does not reflect complacency, but a hard-headed realism about certain facts.”  There are reasonable bases upon which to criticize the Administration’s approach to national security, but claiming this quote shows complacency about the terrorist threat is not one of them."  Volokh Conspiracy

United States is 'Woefully Unprepared' for Nuclear Terrorism " “Sharif al-Masri, an Egyptian who was captured in late August near Pakistan's border with Iran and Afghanistan, has told his interrogators of "al-Qaeda's interest in moving nuclear materials from Europe to either the U.S. or Mexico," according to a report circulating among U.S. government officials. Masri also said al-Qaeda has considered plans to "smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, then operatives would carry material into the U.S."" We may wish we had more border states like Arizona with Sheriff Joe. I'm just sayin'.

Sustaining American Leadership with Military Power "This same equation of military-diplomatic power proved effective in easing tensions during the Taiwan Strait crisis in 1995–1996, when President Bill Clinton
sent two aircraft carriers to demonstrate America’s firm commitment to the Taiwanese democracy. Similarly,
the display of America’s military strength against a defiant Saddam Hussein in 2003 convinced Libyan President Moammar Qadhafi to abandon his weapons of mass destruction program." Pacifists will cause the death of multitudes.

Obama's Wars by Bob Woodward: the cast  "Bob Woodward's new book exposes deep divisions between a cast of senior White House figures. Here's a run-down of the key revelations about each of the main players. " UK Telegraph.

Max Boot: Obama’s War  "Ever since President Obama came to office, conservatives have been expressing concern about his level of commitment to the war in Afghanistan. The deadline he announced last fall to begin a troop drawdown in the summer of 2011 only added to doubts about his staying power. But at every decision point, he has consistently opted to double down in Afghanistan rather than pull out, as many of his supporters urge."

This from a Military Blogger:  "Dynamite in the hands of a child is not more dangerous than a strong policy weakly carried out.By Greyhawk in Mudville Gazette

From Roger Simon:  All the President’s Creeps "But does all this ring true? More or less in the way most of Mr. Woodward’s “insta-histories” do. We know the drill by now. All the Beltway riff-raff — panicked their side of the story won’t come out — rush to leak to him before their competitors do, filling up reams of notebook paper for Bob. And what he doesn’t get, he can always make up. Who’s to debate it really? At least he’s more reliable than Oliver Stone.
"Back to the Times’ article, however. It doesn’t speak well for Obama as an executive, chief or even lowly. The atmosphere he has created is, well, downright creepy:"...

Too Few Good Men   "...But from 2001 until now, both the United States and its allies have taken an economy of force approach. There were enough troops to topple the Taliban and then just enough to keep Afghanistan from reverting to Taliban control. There have never been enough forces, however, to defeat them and to stabilize the country. With the addition of 30,000 American troops, there will undoubtedly be progress. But it would be a strategic roll of the dice to expect to win this war by hoping we have "just enough" forces to carry out the campaign successfully." Gary J. Schmitt is a resident scholar and the director of advanced strategic studies at AEI.

Too Few Good Men, Cont. "...But, if the book is even half accurate, and Washington Post and New York Times accounts of the book's content are on the mark, then the president is a far more feckless chief executive than any of his most ardent critics could ever have imagined."

Academic Freedom: Obama Edition

Cal Thomas  "During a previous political uprising in the 1980s, academic institutions managed to fend off conservative attacks on some of the subjects taught on their campuses -- from "peace studies" to kinky sexual practices, to bad history -- with cries of "academic freedom." Where are those cries now that the federal government is on the verge of regulating the content of subject matter on college campuses and changing the way these institutions are accredited?"

Undying opposition to Obama "Rest in peace, sir. We will do everything we can."

A Nation of Peasants?

Victor Davis Hanson  "Traditional peasant societies believe in only a limited good. The more your neighbor earns, the less someone else gets. Profits are seen as a sort of theft. They must be either hidden or redistributed. Envy rather than admiration of success reigns.
"In contrast, Western civilization began with a very different ancient Greek idea of an autonomous citizen, not an indentured serf or subsistence peasant. The small, independent landowner -- if left to his own talents and if his success was protected by, and from, government -- would create new sources of wealth for everyone. The resulting greater bounty for the poor soon trumped their old jealousy of the better off."
Lisa Benson, Townhall.

Does Barack Obama dream of becoming UN Secretary General?

UK Telegraph  "Since taking office, the only occasions when Barack Obama has appeared really enthusiastic when delivering speeches has been when he’s addressed foreign audiences, and especially when he’s apologised for his own country or undercut the idea of American greatness. His speeches to the Muslim world in Cairo, and his address to the French and Germans in Strasbourg spring to mind."...."President Obama seems increasingly uncomfortable in domestic US settings, but highly energised when speaking abroad, especially to audiences that are traditionally anti-American."

Defeating the Obama Machine    "...It includes various quotes from our favorite politicians and political players including George Soros, Nancy Pelosi, John Conyers, Maxine Waters, Andy Stern, and of course, Barack Obama."...
"We're trying to use the power of persuasion and if that doesn't work, we're going to use the persuasion of power." - Andy Stern as a member of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
"Workers of the world unite. It's not just a slogan anymore." - Andy Stern


"What good is reading the bill if its 1000 pages..." - John Conyers


"We kind of agree with Mao that political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun." - Ron Bloom, Chief Advisor to the Treasury Department on the Auto Industry
"Under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily sky rocket." - Obama





How Many Times Did Goldwater Run for President Again?

Ann Coulter  "The establishment's complaints are confusing. They say O'Donnell has a problem because she's never held a job in the private sector (like our president), didn't pay her taxes (like our treasury secretary), and had her house foreclosed on (like half of the electorate)." Christine O'Donnell. Photograph: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images 

Christine O’Donnell: Burn the witch  "You can tell a true witch by the witch’s holly circle — their symbol — they hang on the door. It always turns to the left. Opposite of the way of progress. If they don’t have a wreath hanging, they are hiding it, and that tells you something right there. You can just ask them to draw a circle. If they draw to the left, they are witches. Or just throw them in the river to see if they don’t float. That works."

Burn the Witch!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Decline Is in the Mind

Victor Davis Hanson  "We, in turn, can easily outdistance any country should we remain the most free, law-abiding, and economically open society as in our past. A race-gender-ethnic-blind meritocracy, equal application of the law, low taxes, small government, and a transparent political and legal system are at the heart of that renewal. America could within a decade become a creditor nation again, with a trade balance and budget surplus, drawing in the world’s talent and capital in a way not possible in the more inflexible or less meritocratic China, Japan, or Germany. Again that is our choice, not a superimposed destiny from someone else."

Why Bob Woodward’s New Book Should Scare the Hell Out of All Americans

Big Government "The revelations about Obama’s naive views on terrorism and his lack of a firm commitment to the Afghan War  was nothing really new, they simply confirmed many of the worst fears about our President and the War on Terror. But Obama’s priorities, hes desire to place politics before victory was both surprising and upsetting."

Obama battles with advisers over Afghan exit plan detailed in Woodward book   "Woodward quotes Petraeus as saying: "You have to recognize also that I don't think you win this war. I think you keep fighting. It's a little bit like Iraq, actually. . . . Yes, there has been enormous progress in Iraq. But there are still horrific attacks in Iraq, and you have to stay vigilant. You have to stay after it. This is the kind of fight we're in for the rest of our lives and probably our kids' lives." "

White House Reacts to (NYT Report About) Woodward Book "Pakistan was overwhelmed with concern that the United States would pull out of Afghanistan and the region as it had done before.  Much later, Obama said, the report warned that Pakistan dreaded having a large Afghan army on its border that might be in an alliance with India. One of the U.S. objectives is to build that army,  How do you explain the contradiction? Obama asked.  What exactly was Pakistan worried about – too much or too little? ‘What am I to believe?’” "

Matthews-Mitchell Admit: Military Doesn't Trust Obama's Political Advisers

Newsbusters  "Of all the revelations in Bob Woodwards's new book, this could be the most devastating . On this evening's Hardball, Chris Matthews and Andrea Mitchell admited that the military people in the Obama administration don't trust Pres. Obama's political advisers. That raises grave concerns for America's security. In purely political terms, consider the implications given that among Americans, by far the most trusted institution is . . . the military."