Saturday, November 6, 2010

Europeans React to Pummeling of Dems in Midterm Elections

By Soeren Kern "In general, left-leaning publications across the continent have expressed varying degrees of anger and contempt over the setback the Tea Party has dealt to Obama’s efforts to Europeanize the United States. Many left-wing commentators have openly ridiculed the U.S. electorate for not being sufficiently sophisticated to comprehend why Obama’s social policies are in America’s best interests.
"By contrast, many (but certainly not all) right-leaning publications have taken the position that Obama has only himself to blame for failing to dedicate sufficient time and energy to turning around the ailing U.S. economy. A number of conservative commentators have also admitted, astonishingly, that a movement similar to the Tea Party would be good for Europe."

Friday, November 5, 2010

Take It From Me: Iran Will Bomb Israel

Reza Kahlili  in Big Peace  " Despite Ahmadinejad’s fierce anti-Semitism and personal desire to eradicate Israel, the average Iranian does not hate Jews. Before the Revolution, we had many Iranians who were Jews, and there were many marriages between Muslims and Jews. The Iranians do not look at Israelis the same way as the Iranian government. The Iranian people would welcome anybody – they would welcome Israel – to help them get rid of this regime."

Reza Kahlili is the pseudonym of a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard member who worked undercover as a CIA agent for several years in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Is George Bush a Better Leader Than Barack Obama? (Updated)

Big Government  "Now compare Bush’s taking responsibility to that to President Obama’s avoidance of responsibility at his press conference yesterday. Instead of taking the blame for his party’s poor election day showing, Obama attempted to shift responsibility to the American people’s misunderstanding of his message, the fact that he “has a strange name and has lived in lots of places,” and of course my personal favorite “If right now we had 5 percent unemployment instead of 9.6 percent unemployment, then people would have more confidence in those [my] policy choices.”"












  Mr. Obama is no Bill Clinton   "...After all, how does a man who -- as recently as two weeks ago -- told Republicans that "they can come for the ride, but they gotta sit in back," and that they shouldn't "do a lot of talking," reach out a hand of bipartisanship when the tables turn as dramatically as they have?
"How does he expect to maintain any shred of credibility when he proclaims that a Republican victory means the people want the two parties to "work together," given that two years ago he declared that a Democrat victory gave him license to lock Republicans out of policy-making and call all the shots? "

Obama Doesn’t Get It

Victor Davis Hanson  "President Obama came close, but he still just cannot admit that his radical policies and their effects on the economy are the cause of his devastating political rebuke. For most of his press conference, an oddly depressed Obama voted present, as he all but said that the problems are mostly ours, not his — or at least not his agenda but perhaps an occasional inadequate communication."

A return to the norm

Charles Krauthammer  "Opposition to the policies was compounded by the breathtaking arrogance with which they were imposed."

A recoil against liberalism  by George Will,   "This election was a nationwide recoil against Barack Obama's idea of unlimited government.
"The more he denounced Republicans as the party of "no," the better Republicans did. His denunciations enabled people to support Republicans without embracing them as anything other than impediments to him. "

All of Your Money Belongs to the State

CATO  "The 9th Circuit’s reasoning arrogates to the state all property, dissolving the distinction between public and private funds as well as public and private choices. It is a disturbing, dangerous decision.
"They assert that tax cuts are the equivalent of government funds, a conclusion possible only if one assumes that all personal income belongs by default to the state rather than to the individual who earned the money."

Bill Ayers Wife: U.S. Gov‘t is ’Real Terrorist‘ While Right is ’Racist,‘ ’Armed,‘ and ’Hostile’

Bully Pulpit  "Bernadine Dohrn, wife of Bill Ayers and co-founder of the radical left group Weather Underground, reportedly spoke with NewsClick India recently about her thoughts on America and called the right “racist,“ ”armed,“ ”hostile,“ and ”unspeakable.“ The clip ends with her saying that the American government is the ”real terrorist”:"...

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Toonist's Takes on Tuesday's Tornado

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From the left, the embittered, cynical Pat Oliphant

Eric Cantor lays out 22-page game plan (Updated)

Politico "The document is entitled “Delivering on Our Commitment” and promises a broad range of sweeping initiatives ranging from spending cuts to to bringing each item of the Pledge to America to the floor for a vote. It’s a bold plan that shows Cantor wants to be taken as a serious House reformer and policy leader as he ascends to the no. 2 slot in the new GOP hierarchy.
"Cantor is not expected to face serious challenge from fellow Republicans for majority leader. "

What Spending Should the GOP Cut? "Newcomers to Congress can find a wealth of budget-cutting ideas in recent plans by various D.C. think tanks:"
•At the Heritage Foundation, Brian Riedl has come up with $343 billion in proposed annual cuts.
•At the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Bill Galston and Maya MacGuineas have proposed $400 billion in annual cuts.
•Esquire magazine assembled four former senators who came up with $476 billion in annual cuts.
•The National Taxpayers Union teamed up with the U.S. Public Interest Research Group to propose $600 billion of cuts over five years.
•Michael Ettlinger and Michael Linden of the Center for American Progress offer one plan that would cut annual spending by $255 billion."
Links to all these reports contained in this article. Hat tip to Neal Boortz

Eric Cantor’s letter to incoming Congressional Republicans   
"The next majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Republican congressman Eric Cantor (VA-07), sent this letter to the House GOP Members of the 112th Congress on Wednesday; outlining some of the initial thoughts on how Congress should be run."

Scariest speed camera of all... It checks your insurance, tax and even whether you are tailgating or not wearing a seatbelt

UK Daily Mail  " The latest weapon in speed camera technology can capture footage from 150ft away.
"It is the first to detect multiple offences at the same time and is connected to police computers via satellite, so that prosecutions can be started within seconds of any offence.
"Development of the system, known as Asset – Advanced Safety and Driver Support for Essential Road Transport – is being funded with around £7million of European money.

Charles Krauthammer: Obama Is "In Denial"

 Bully Pulpit   "He's just had a refutation of two years of his agenda and his ideology, and he pretends as if nothing has happened. And he says one of the messages he gets -- and it's all about what does he get -- is that people want him to work with Republicans on things like natural gas and electric cars. Is that why he lost 19 state houses? Because he hadn't had enough discussions on electric cars and natural gas with Mitch McConnell? I think not."