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Heavy-Handed Politics

"€œGod willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world
without the United States and Zionism."€ -- Iran President Ahmadi-Nejad

Friday, January 23, 2009

I HOPE HE FAILS

By Rush Limbaugh
I got a request here from a major American print publication. "Dear Rush: For the Obama [Immaculate] Inauguration we are asking a handful of very prominent politicians, statesmen, scholars, businessmen, commentators, and economists to write 400 words on their hope for the Obama presidency. We would love to include you. If you could send us 400 words on your hope for the Obama presidency, we need it by Monday night, that would be ideal."

Now, we're caught in this trap again. The premise is, what is your "hope." My hope, and please understand me when I say this. I disagree fervently with the people on our side of the aisle who have caved and who say, "Well, I hope he succeeds. We've got to give him a chance."

Why? They didn't give Bush a chance in 2000. Before he was inaugurated the search-and-destroy mission had begun. I'm not talking about search-and-destroy, but I've been listening to Barack Obama for a year-and-a-half. I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don't want them to succeed.

If I wanted Obama to succeed, I'd be happy the Republicans have laid down. And I would.....

Read more at To The Point News.

Like in Lebanon, Iran plans to boost presence in post-war Gaza
JERUSALEM — Iran was expected to increase its influence in the Gaza Strip in wake of the Hamas-Israel war, a report said.

The report by the Jerusalem Institute for Public Affairs said Iran would seek to expand its stake in the Gaza Strip through international reconstruction programs.

Israeli claim: Iran elite forces killed in Gaza War
TEL AVIV — Israel's military killed several Iranian military advisers deployed in the Gaza Strip, sources said. [Read on]

Conflict of interest: Why CNBC is promoting the confirmation of a tax cheat
Art Cashin, one of the talking heads on CNBC, said early on Thursday morning that the stock market was going down in part because of a lack of confidence caused by the failure of the Senate to quickly confirm Timothy Geithner as Treasury Secretary. This was the party line of the Wall Street insiders who have a special interest in getting Geithner confirmed. Later on that day, Geithner was.... more

Hey President Obama, what about North Korea?
SEOUL — Korea remains the forgotten war. Just ask United States President Barack Obama. "For us," he declaimed at his inaugural, Americans "fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg, Normandy and Khe Sanh".

Korea? The Chosun Reservoir, from which U.S. Marines retreated in bloody defeat in "the coldest winter" of 1950-1951? The Pusan perimeter, which Americans defended against repeated North Korean assaults in the summer of 1950 before driving the invaders out of the south after the Inchon landing? Heartbreak Ridge and Pork Chop Hill - two of the hardest-fought battlegrounds of the Korean War? Forget it.

Clearly, Obama's policy-making and speech-writing crew made a calculated......

More...

U.S. Navy stopped Iran ship carrying weapons and headed to Gaza
TEL AVIV — U.S. defense sources said the U.S. Navy tracked and intercepted an Iranian ship in the Red Sea that was headed for the Gaza Strip.

The sources said U.S. marines found ammunition, including artillery shells, concealed in crates aboard the cargo ship. [Read more]

Thursday, January 22, 2009

"I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Thomas Cooper, 29 November 1802

A Killing in Vienna and the Chechen Connection

By Fred Burton and Ben West
Global Security and Intelligence Report
Stratfor

As Umar Israilov, a 27-year-old Chechen political refugee living in Vienna, Austria, returned home on foot after grocery shopping Jan. 13, he spotted two men standing outside his apartment building — one of whom had a gun. Upon spotting the men, Israilov dropped his groceries and fled down Leopoldauer Street in the Floridsdorf neighborhood of Vienna, dodging cars and pedestrians. But the gunman managed to wound Israilov, halting his flight. The two men then approached him in a side alley, where the armed man shot Israilov twice in the head, killing him.

One man has been detained in connection with the killing, which a Stratfor source alleges was carried out by organized criminal assets in Vienna at the behest of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov and with Kremlin approval. Israilov was an outspoken critic of Kadyrov and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Because of this, Israilov had frequently expressed concerns for his safety and that of his family.

Before seeking asylum in Austria, Israilov fought during the Second Chechen War against Russian forces, which captured him in 2003. Afterward, he served as one of Kadyrov’s bodyguards, a position that gave him a front-row seat to the activities of Kadyrov, who at that time led the militia of his father, then-Chechen President Akhmed Kadyrov. (Ramzan Kadyrov became Chechen president in 2007, three years after his father’s assassination.) Israilov and the younger Kadyrov had a falling-out in 2004, after which Israilov said his former boss tortured him using electric charges.

Israilov fled to the West shortly thereafter, first seeking asylum in Poland and later obtaining asylum in Austria. Once in Europe, he often spoke out against Ramzan Kadyrov, filing complaints about his alleged torture with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, and talking to reporters from The New York Times about his experiences. While allegations that Kadyrov and his associates committed torture were not new, Israilov’s former position in Kadyrov’s circle set him apart as a dissident — and marked him as a security risk to his former employers due to his firsthand knowledge of how Kadyrov operates. Israilov reportedly told police in Vienna that he felt threatened and asked for extra security.

Austria has long been a popular place for political asylum-seekers who are facing threats due to their political views; providing adequate protection for all of these dissidents is impossible. Israilov further endangered himself by maintaining a relatively high profile due to his court filings and conversations with journalists. (He might have sought publicity in a bid to support himself and his family financially.)

Chechnya, Russia and the Israilov Killing

According to Israilov’s father, in June 2008 a Chechen visited the younger Israilov, showing him a hit list of 300 Chechens who oppose Kadyrov. Ramzan Kadyrov is well-known for not tolerating detractors, allegedly having ordered the deaths of dissenters before. While spokesmen for Kadyrov have distanced the Chechen president from the Israilov killing, saying the latter did not pose a significant threat to Chechnya, Israilov’s killing could well have been intended as an example to other Chechen dissidents who felt safe abroad. While Chechen dissidents routinely die or disappear under murky circumstances in their country, this is the first time a vocal Chechen dissident has been slain abroad. The brazen nature of Israilov’s killing in particular suggests an effort to highlight the vulnerability of exiled Chechen dissidents.

According to Stratfor sources, agents were not sent from Chechnya to carry out this operation. After getting permission from Moscow for the Israilov killing — Russia keeps a tight grip on Chechnya, so Moscow would interpret a unilateral assassination abroad as subversive — Kadyrov allegedly mobilized organized criminals in Austria to carry out the deed. While it is not clear exactly which organized criminal faction carried out the killing, the man detained in connection with the killing was a Chechen who has lived in Austria for several years under the name Otto Kaltenbrunner. While he has not been charged with anything, the getaway car was registered in his name — suggesting the involvement of Chechen organized crime, which has a strong presence in Russia and Europe as well as in the Caucasus.

As major fighting in the Second Chechen War wound down from 2005 to 2007, many of the militants who had fought the Russians disbanded and fled the country. These soldiers, highly trained and accustomed to using violence to get their way, had limited options beyond putting their skills to use with the various Chechen organized criminal factions that thrived in postwar Chechnya. Chechen gangs are prized for their high level of training and brutality, abilities that have proved very valuable to criminal groups in Russia, the Caucasus and Europe.

The high degree of professionalism in the Israilov killing tends to support the existence of a Chechen organized criminal angle. This professionalism includes the audacity of Israilov’s killers, who attacked in broad daylight on a busy street. It also includes their ability to kill Israilov (himself a militant trained under Kadyrov) without any significant struggle or collateral damage. Moreover, at least a low level of surveillance must have been carried out on Israilov’s residence to confirm that he lived there and to establish his schedule so the attackers could wait for him.

The Chechen leadership has a relationship with Chechen organized crime because of the military and security service background of many Chechen criminals, and because Kadyrov led these militias during the Russo-Chechen wars of the 1990s. Such a relationship could be called on in commissioning a killing in Vienna.

Using hired guns from Austria would allow any foreign entity that ordered the killing to distance itself from the crime. Even if Austrian police managed to track down and initiate a prosecution of those who carried out the killing, arranging the extraditions of suspects from Russia would be virtually impossible without Moscow’s cooperation. Russia has not cooperated with British authorities investigating the killing of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006, for example, and the investigation has turned into a political skirmish in an already-tense relationship between the two countries. Attempting to pursue the Israilov case with Russia probably would bring a similar outcome for Austria: inconclusive findings and weakened relations with a Russia that is asserting itself much more than it did in 2006.

Suspicions of Moscow’s involvement in the assassinations of Russian dissidents by various means have become common in the past three years. Russian organized criminal groups, as well as the Russian domestic security and intelligence service, the FSB, are the most likely culprits behind the increase in high-profile assassinations of Russian dissidents over the last few years. Many of the assassinations have been connected to the issue of Chechnya and alleged human rights abuses there.

The Chechen wars are a sensitive issue for both Russians and Chechens. Those who stir up tales of past offenses by either side are seen as undermining the stability in Chechnya that has come about because of the ongoing alliance between Putin and Kadyrov. The suspicious deaths of individuals (followed by their date of death) who fall into this category include:

* Anna Politkovskaya, October 2006. A prominent journalist and critic of the Kremlin, Politkovskaya was in the process of publishing a series condemning the government’s policy in Chechnya. She was shot in the head in her apartment building.

* Alexander Litvinenko, November 2006. Litvinenko was a former KGB agent who had defected to the United Kingdom and published books on the internal workings of Putin’s FSB networks, and he was critical of the new Russian state. He was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210.

* Ivan Safronov, March 2007. Safronov was a journalist who criticized the state of the Russian military and was accused of leaking military affairs to foreign parties. He allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the fifth floor of his apartment building, though some reports say a person behind him forced him out of the building.

* Oleg Zhukovsky, December 2007. Zhukovsky was an executive of the VTB bank, which at the time of his death was being taken over by the state so the Kremlin could handpick its senior officers to oversee many strategic state accounts. Zhukovsky allegedly performed the feat of committing suicide by being tied to a chair and thrown into his swimming pool, where he drowned.

* Arkady Patarkatsishvili, February 2008. A wealthy Georgian-Russian businessman, Patarkatsishvili was extensively involved in Georgian politics. Patarkatsishvili died in the United Kingdom of coronary complications that resembled a heart attack. His family and many in Georgia have accused the FSB of involvement, however, saying the FSB has many untraceable poisons at its disposal.

* Leonid Rozhetskin, March 2008. Rozhetskin was an international financier and lawyer who held stakes in strategic companies, like mobile phone giant MegaFon. He disappeared while in Latvia after losing Kremlin backing by selling his assets to multiple parties, including some government ministers who are former FSB agents.

* Paul Klebnikov, July 2008. The editor of Forbes’ Russian edition, Klebnikov was shot dead in Moscow as he was heading into a subway station. The driver of a stolen car that pulled out of a parking lot and drove toward Klebnikov fired four shots before fleeing the scene.

* Ruslan Yamadayev, September 2008. Yamadayev was a Chechen military leader and former member of the State Duma. He was shot in his Mercedes as it was stopped at a red light near the Kremlin in Moscow.

* Stanislav Markelov, January 2009. A prominent Russian lawyer who had prosecuted an army colonel convicted of murdering a Chechen woman, Markelov was shot dead along with a journalist in broad daylight on a Moscow street near the Kremlin. He was also involved in the case of Anna Politkovskaya.

Vienna, City of International Intrigue

Vienna has long been a key battleground for international disputes between competing countries’ security and intelligence operatives. No stranger to international intrigue and attacks, the Austrian capital has had a reputation for assassination plots, intelligence gathering and foreign operatives conducting missions against dissidents who thought they were safe living in a Western city in an otherwise peaceful country.

In one example of this tradition, Iranian agents linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security shot and killed three members of a Kurdish delegation conducting negotiations with the Iranian leadership in 1989. Similarly, many cases of espionage between the United States and the Soviet Union unfolded in Vienna, including the cases of Marine Sgt. Clayton Lonetree and Felix Block, who passed information to the Soviets when he was second-in-command at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna. The Israilov case is thus probably only the latest in a long tradition of foreign intrigue.

Austria’s central location between the former Warsaw Pact countries of Czechoslovakia and Hungary and NATO countries of Italy and West Germany, along with Vienna’s official neutrality, made Austria a natural Cold War battleground. The Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States all focused intelligence-gathering capabilities there. And as Cold War battle lines are redrawn with Russia’s resurgence, the significance of places like Vienna re-emerges. Considering that these activities only began to slacken less than 20 years ago, old intelligence networks could be put into operation again with relative ease.

The blurring of the line between Russian intelligence agents and organized crime that occurred during the 1990s means that Russia still has a considerable network around the world, though now, elements of this network also are engaged in criminal activities. This network must be considered when looking at cases like that of Israilov.

Significantly, Austria is home to the largest Chechen refugee population in Europe. An estimated 20,000 Chechens — not all of them legal residents — live in the Central European country; many of them fled the bloody Chechen wars with Russia. In general, ethnic organized criminal outfits flourish among immigrants or refugee populations because they can offer illegal immigrants services that they cannot get from the state. They also flourish there because they can use the immigrant community to operate with more secrecy. This is because many immigrant communities live apart from the indigenous population, often in separate neighborhoods, speak a different language and generally stick together in opposition to their host country’s police services. Additionally, family bonds (intensified when around strangers) strengthen ties within immigrant communities, allowing for the kind of secrecy that lets organized crime thrive.

The establishment of a strong Chechen presence in Austria, along with a pre-existing Russian presence, means that Chechnya and Russia have a long reach in the country. Considering the organized crime-FSB nexus, the increase in politically motivated murders of Russian dissidents and how Moscow most likely was pleased with Israilov’s demise, Russian assets in Vienna could well have been involved in the murder. While Russia is broadly suspected of killing dissidents abroad in recent years, Chechnya is not known to have carried out attacks in the European Union before — meaning the Israilov killing will send chills down the spines of exiled Chechen dissidents.

Where You Won't Shop In 2009

Forbes.com
Store closings and bankruptcies will hit a host of well-known stores in the coming year. Read more.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY: HERE COMES SOCIALISM

By Dick Morris
2009-2010 will rank with 1913-14, 1933-36, 1964-65 and 1981-82 as years that will permanently change our government, politics and lives. Just as the stars were aligned for Wilson, Roosevelt, Johnson and Reagan, they are aligned for Obama. Simply put, we enter his administration as free-enterprise, market-dominated, laissez-faire America. We will shortly become like Germany, France, the United Kingdom, or Sweden -- a socialist democracy in which the government dominates the economy, determines private-sector priorities and offers a vastly expanded range of services to many more people at much higher taxes.

Obama will accomplish his agenda of "reform" under the rubric of "recovery." Using the electoral mandate bestowed on a ....  [More]

Mideast: Fatah says Hamas “killed” members during conflict
Gaza, 19 Jan. (AKI) - The largest Palestinian party, Fatah, on Monday claimed that the rival Islamist faction Hamas attacked its members during military conflict in the Gaza Strip in the past three weeks.

Fatah said 16 people died and another 80 were injured in attacks by Hamas which is the ruling party in Gaza.

According to the Palestinian news agency, Maan, Fatah sent a.....

A crisis too great to waste
So Barack Obama proposes massive government spending like we have never seen before as our way back to economic prosperity. Yet wasn't it a mountain of unpayable debt that got us into this financial crisis in the first place? The rivers of red ink he proposes would make FDR and LBJ blush. This approach may have worked politically for FDR and LBJ, but neither time did it work economically for the country. It may work politically for Obama too, but deficit spending will not work economically today either.

Banana republics are known for this kind of governance. It is a recipe for.....

Running and Ruining America for the Benefit of China
On CNN on January 16, Lou Dobbs, perhaps the most honest and outspoken major media commentator, told the truth about the Wall Street bailout. “Treasury Secretary Paulson basically used the money to bail out his buddies on Wall Street, and don’t let anybody kid you,” he said.

Judge Obama on Performance Alone - WSJ.com
By JUAN WILLIAMS

With the noon sun high over the U.S. Capitol, Barack Obama yesterday took the oath of office to become president of the United States. On one level, it was a simple matter of political process -- the symbolic transfer of power. Yet words alone cannot convey its meaning.  [More]

Climate Change:

IBDeditorials.com:
Beyond Belief

 Despite years of media bombardment about the imminent dangers of global warming, the alarmists are losing ground. Fewer Americans are buying into the myth.  [More]

Duty, Honor, Country

IBDeditorials.com:
Justice: We've seen pardons for terrorists and international fugitives. Border Patrol guards Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean didn't get one for defending their country and doing their job, but they should have. [More]

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

"A universal peace, it is to be feared, is in the catalogue of events, which will never exist but in the imaginations of visionary philosophers, or in the breasts of benevolent enthusiasts."

 --James Madison

Jay Leno:
"Hey, did you all see Barack Obama's speech about the economy [Thursday]? Very sobering. He told Washington, "We've arrived at this point due to an era of profound irresponsibility." Of course, there's only one way out of it. Spend more money we don't have."

************

"The chief of staff for embattled Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich spoke to Illinois state workers on issues of ethics in the workplace. How ironic is that? Was Bernard Madoff not available? "

CAREER CHANGE

"Whatever the benefits of peace for the Palestinian population, what are the terrorists going to do in peacetime? Become librarians and furniture salesmen?"

-- Hoover Institution economist Thomas Sowell --

FISCAL INSANITY

"We are in the midst of a crisis caused by so many financial institutions borrowing too much money. Somehow, a critical mass of policy makers now believes that the correct response is for the U.S. government to borrow too much money."

-- Kevin Hassett, Senior Fellow at American Enterprise Institute

"No Man's life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session."

--American lawyer, editor, politician, Judge Gideon Tucker (1826-1899)

"Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently."

--American Industrialist Henry Ford (1863-1947)

"No phrase represents more of a triumph of hope over experience than the phrase 'Middle East peace process.' A close second might be the once-fashionable notion that Israel should 'trade land for peace.' Since everybody seems to be criticizing Israel for its military response to the rockets being fired into their country from the Gaza strip, let me add my criticisms as well. The Israelis traded land for peace, but they have never gotten the peace, so they should take back the land."

-- Thomas Sowell

Thomas Sowell : Lured to Disaster
Behind the housing boom and bust was one of those alluring but undefined phrases that are so popular in politics-- "affordable housing."

It is hard for me to know specifically what politicians are talking about when they use this phrase. But then politics is about evoking emotions, not examining specifics.

In looking back over my own life, I find it hard to think of a time when I didn't live in affordable housing.

When I first left home, back in 1948, I rented a room .....

John Hawkins : Endangering American Democracy to Go After Bush
Modern liberalism shows remarkably little concern for freedom, democracy, and the will of the people if it's not politically expedient, but now some of the most influential members of the Democratic Party are starting to drift towards outright fascism with the suggestion that members of the Bush Administration should be jailed once they leave power.

For example, we have ......

Blood feud building between Hamas, Fatah: 'There will be violence'
RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Authority see the Hamas regime facing an uprising in the Gaza Strip.

Officials said PA intelligence has determined that the thousands of Palestinians whose homes were destroyed or damaged in the Gaza Strip would demand immediate compensation from the Hamas regime. They said unfulfilled demands could quickly turn into a revolt against Hamas.

Hamas undeterred, building back its arsenal, command structure
WASHINGTON — Israel, despite punishing air strikes on the Gaza Strip, failed to deter the Hamas regime, a U.S. report said.

Meanwhile, the Hamas regime has pledged to launch an immediate effort to rearm its military.

Do you want Barack Obama to succeed?"

By Robert Ringer

The World's Silliest Question

As the media and left-wing "slobbering love affair" (as Bernard Goldberg puts it in the title of his new book) reaches orgasmic heights today, maybe those of us who have not yet bought into the idea that Abraham Lincoln has been reincarnated should work hard at keeping our intellectual composure.

Just when you thought that Bill O'Reilly could not possibly outdo his rants about limiting oil company profits (You do remember high oil prices, don't you?), he asks his viewers to answer a question that probably would not have made the cut on Wheel of Fortune: "Are you rooting for Barack Obama to succeed?"

Hmm ... maybe ... just maybe ... the term succeed needs to be defined for us. As it now stands, O'Reilly's profound question exists in a vacuum. Succeed at what?

* At printing up trillions of fiat dollars and continuing to bail out companies that are "too big to fail"?

* At creating millions of synthetic jobs through "public works" programs that put other people out of work?

* At "spreading the wealth" by increasing taxes on those Obama deems to be "rich"

* At silencing conservative talk radio through another version of the "Fairness Doctrine"?

* At overriding the Second Amendment and fulfilling the decades-old left-wing dream of disarming the population by stripping citizens of their natural right to bear arms?

* At growing the size of government through a "new New Deal" in the belief that politicians and bureaucrats can, and should, solve the problems of individuals?

* At reinstituting the draft?

You or I could come up with a much longer list, but I think you get the idea. If the above are examples of what one thinks of as "success," then, no, I don't want Obama to succeed. Nor would I want anyone else to succeed at objectives that violate our God-given rights and limit our liberties.

There are all kinds of successes. Some burglars are successful at their craft. Some who engage in human trafficking are successful at it. Some pedophiles are successful at carrying out their disgusting objectives. And most school bullies are successful at getting away with making life miserable for their most vulnerable classmates.

Hitler succeeded - by some people's standards. Mussolini succeeded - by some people's standards. Stalin succeeded - by some people's standards. Ditto Ho Chi Minh, Mao Zedong, Fidel Castro, and Pol Pot. But none of them were successful by my standards - nor, in all likelihood, by yours. So, when you really think about it, asking if you want Barack Obama to succeed is pretty silly.

I believe that most people want to see African-Americans succeed, at least subconsciously. I call it psychic affirmative action - governmental interference not necessary, thank you. In my opinion, psychic affirmative action is a good thing, so long as it isn't taken to a slobbering extreme that has more to do with white guilt than sincere goodwill.

We all love to see the underdog overcome great obstacles and make it to the top. And for hundreds of years - even after given their freedom - no one was a bigger underdog than African-Americans. From Frederick Douglass to the Tuskegee Airmen to Bill Cosby, black success stories are truly inspiring.

So, in all honesty, I understand the hysteria over the idea of a man who is half black and (let's not forget) half white ascending to the presidency. It's quite natural. But, unfortunately, in this case most people are acting on emotion. And basing one's actions on emotion is generally an unhealthy way to operate one's life.

Electing a president is serious business, yet millions of voters clearly did not take that task seriously in the recent election. Rather, I believe they acted on the emotional excitement of having a "black" president. And today they are caught up in the emotional euphoria of it all.

But discharging the duties of the President of the United States is not about color; it's about protecting people's lives and property. It's about preserving liberty. There are African-Americans who believe in these ideals, and there are African-Americans who do not.

I would love to see Barack Obama succeed at putting an end to handing out trillions of dollars in fiat currency to Wall Street firms, major banks, and other "too-big-to-fail" companies. I would love to see Barack Obama succeed at standing up to Queen Pelosi and implement conservative fiscal and economic policies. I would love to see Barack Obama succeed at canning his FDR copycat plan of creating public works' programs and, instead, allow the free market to sort out the mess the government has created.

If I see him moving in those directions, you can bet that I'll be cheering him on. But I believe he's made it clear that he most decidedly intends to move in the direction of more and more fiat currency, more borrowing, higher taxes, and less liberty for all but those who are part of the Beltway Power Structure.

So, before you decide whether or not you want Barack Obama to succeed, you would be wise to define what, exactly, it is that you want him to succeed at. Don't be intimidated by today's feel-good, "patriotic" mantra: "We all have to come together as Americans."

Keep your head when those around you are losing theirs, and recognize that such Orwellian doublespeak is but a euphemism for: "You hard cases who still believe in capitalism and individual liberty are morally obliged to join us in moving our socialist agenda forward. And if you don't, you're unpatriotic."

Why, none other than Shepherd Smith told me just a short time ago (through my TV screen, of course) that "Today is a great day for democracy." Sorry, Shep, but I'm not buying into that one - even though I'm sure that John "Reach Across the Aisle" McCain must have been smiling and bobbing his head up and down when you said it.

I prefer to fight on for the real thing, and I hope you feel the same way. If we're lucky enough to have free elections in 2012, perhaps another person of color - one who believes in small government and the sanctity of the individual - will win the presidency. Now that would be a man or woman I would want to see succeed.

But to get there, millions of people are going to set aside their emotionally based delusions and to be rational enough and strong enough not to buy into the massive, ongoing brainwashing campaign that is about to begin. Be prepared!

Monday, January 19, 2009

SCIENCE NOW A CULT?

"Every time you exhale, you exhale air that has 4 percent carbon dioxide. To say that that's a pollutant just boggles my mind. What used to be science has turned into a cult.... All the evidence I see is that the current warming of the climate is just like past warmings. In fact, it's not as much as past warmings yet, and it probably has little to do with carbon dioxide, just like past warmings had little to do with carbon dioxide.... Science is one of the great triumphs of humankind, and I hate to see it dragged through the mud in an episode like this."

--William Happer, former chief scientist at the Energy Department and the Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics at Princeton

In Iraq, Al-Sadr's Followers Eye Political Comeback in Jan. 31 Vote

Pakistan Temporarily Closes Vulnerable US-NATO Supply Line

Bush Had Best Pro-Life Record of Any President, Say Pro-Life Groups

(CNSNews.com)
- Outgoing Republican President George W. Bush has had the most pro-life record of any U.S. president in history, representatives of pro-life groups told CNSNews.com on Friday. On Thursday, in one of his last acts as president, Bush declared Jan. 18 “National Sanctity of Human Life Day,” stating that the "the most basic duty of government is to protect the life of the innocent."

An executive order won't do it .......

Obama Cannot Fulfill Vow to Put Homosexuals in Military Unless Congress Changes the Law

(CNSNews.com)
- Although President-elect Barack Obama has vowed to open the U.S. armed forces to homosexuals, he cannot fulfill this promise unless Congress passes new legislation repealing the existing statute that expressly prohibits homosexuals from serving in the military. Legislation to do this will be proposed in the current Congress by Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.).

A Problem For You And For Me; But Not For Thee

Schumer, Durbin and Barney Frank See No Problem with Treasury Nominee's Tax Problems

(CNSNews.com)
- House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told CNSNews.com that Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner is qualified to serve despite his failure to properly pay at least $34,000 in taxes. Other members of Congress, including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) agreed, but some Republicans questioned the nomination. As Treasury Secretary, Geithner would oversee the federal treasury and the IRS.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Nugent for Drug Czar

By Ted Nugent
HUMAN EVENTS


One of the most dangerous places on earth is our own 2,000 mile border with Mexico. Our southern border is a drug war zone, and we are losing the fight. Know it.

So dangerous is our border that Arizona Governor Napolitano has declared a state of emergency along the Arizona/Mexico border due to drug trafficking, shootouts and an increasing illegal immigration invasion.

Our Justice Department stated in April that Mexican drug cartels are the "largest threat to both citizens and law enforcement agencies in this country and now have gang members in nearly 200 U.S. cities." This in the big, bad, brave United States of America! How can this be? DOJ admits it, so now what?

Continued

Debate Over; It's Freezing

David Harsanyi :
The carbon footprint of Barack Obama's inauguration could exceed 575 million pounds of CO2. According to the Institute for Liberty, it would take the average U.S. household nearly 60,000 years of naughty ecological behavior to produce a carbon footprint equal to the largest self-congratulatory event in the history of humankind. [Read more]

A Government Of the Goofs, By the Goofs, For the Goofs -

By Michelle Malkin :
There's an old saying from the bowels of the Beltway bureaucracy: "Screw up, move up." Rewarding failure is an immutable trait of the bipartisan Washington political culture. Just ask Barack Obama's Treasury Secretary nominee Tim Geithner and the Senate Republicans who are blindly standing by him.

The Senate Finance Committee revealed this week that Geithner failed to pay some $43,000 in federal self-employment taxes for four separate years -- and only coughed up the remaining $26,000 of that debt when he was named Obama's Treasury Secretary-designate in November. The brilliant and meticulous Geithner didn't catch the lapses. The Internal Revenue Service and Team Obama's vetters did.

Recall that Joe the Plumber, an average guy with no Ivy

Obama's Trojan Horse - Townhall.com

By Ken Blackwell :
Possible problems with President-elect Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan must be thoroughly vetted. While only a few details are known, one overlooked issue is that it could create a major electoral advantage for Democrats at taxpayer expense. That would be unacceptable for what is being touted as a...
[more]

Bush's Imminent Rehab

By Charles Krauthammer :
WASHINGTON -- Except for Richard Nixon, no president since Harry Truman leaves office more unloved than George W. Bush. Truman's rehabilitation took decades. Bush's will come sooner. Indeed, it has already begun. The chief revisionist? Barack Obama.

Vindication is being expressed not in words but in deeds -- the tacit endorsement conveyed by the Obama continuity-we-can-believe-in transition. It's not just the retention of such key figures as Secretary of Defense Bob Gates or Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy Geithner, who, as president of the New York Fed, has been instrumental in guiding the Bush financial rescue over the last year. It's the continuity of policy.

It is the repeated pledge to conduct a withdrawal from......

ON THE CONSTITUTION

"No man can well doubt the propriety of placing a president of the United States under the most solemn obligations to preserve, protect, and defend the constitution. It is a suitable pledge of his fidelity and responsibility to his country; and creates upon his conscience a deep sense of duty, by an appeal, at once in the presence of God and man, to the most sacred and solemn sanctions, which can operate upon the human mind."

--Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833. Joseph Story was an American lawyer and jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1811 to 1845.



"On the other hand, the duty imposed upon him to take care, that the laws be faithfully executed, follows out the strong injunctions of his oath of office, that he will 'preserve, protect, and defend the constitution.' The great object of the executive department is to accomplish this purpose; and without it, be the form of government whatever it may, it will be utterly worthless for offence, or defence; for the redress of grievances, or the protection of rights; for the happiness, or good order, or safety of the people."

--Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, 1833

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Economic Stimulus Will Bail Out Public Schools to Avoid Local Tax Hikes, Says Senator

Public Schools Need More Federal Funds, Despite Yearly Increases, Union Chief Says

Homeland Security Nominee Vows to Crack Down on Businesses That Hire Illegal Aliens

(CNSNew.com) – Arizona's Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano told senators at her Wednesday confirmation hearing to be the next secretary of the Department of Homeland Security that she will enforce “the rule of law” when it comes to businesses that employ illegal aliens...

What Global Warming?

Climate change this week: The coming Ice Age

"The earth is possibly on the brink of another Ice Age -- and we don't mean the third installment of the animated movie trilogy. According to the Milankovich theory of Ice Age causation, there are three astronomical cycles that affect the climate: the tilt of the earth, which varies over a period of 41,000 years; the shape of the earth's orbit, which changes over 100,000 years; and the Precession of the Equinoxes, sometimes called the earth's "wobble," that over a period of 26,000 years rotates the direction of the earth's axis. The confluence of these events in the not-too-distant future could mean a return to another Ice Age.

Fans of anthropogenic global warming -- man-made warming -- point to rising CO2 levels over the last thousand years with the accompanying warming of the planet to point to humans as the cause and give dire warnings of the future without massive government intervention. The trouble is, CO2 reflects climate change -- it does not predict it. The ice core data collected from Russia's Vostok station in Antarctica reveals that CO2 levels today are approximately what they were at the end of the last interglacial period. At the very least, reports such as this put the lie to the "consensus" argument of global warmists, and, if true, we should be stocking up on warmer clothes."

Source: The Patriot Post

OUR EVER GROWING DEFICIT

From The Patriot Post:

Regarding the federal budget deficit for 2009, the prevailing assumption has been that the U.S. faces a deficit of $1.2 trillion. Scary as that number sounds, it appears to be too low. The Congressional Budget Office is now putting the number at $1.8 trillion, which supposedly accounts for the additional stimulus spending that Congress and Obama's administration have planned. But even that estimate appears optimistic when the numbers are crunched. Some budget experts are projecting a deficit of $2 trillion, which seems more realistic when accounting for the Troubled Asset Relief Program ($750-$850 billion) and the Democrats' next stimulus ($825 billion). The new figure would be more than 15 percent of GDP. The Democrats will want to blame President Bush and the Republicans for this mess, but before the Democrats took control of the purse strings, the federal deficit never exceeded two percent of GDP.

And House Republican leader John Boehner claimed:
"There was no Republican input at all involved in what House Democrats outlined [Thursday]."

Who voted. Who did not.

"From 1992 to 2008, the share of the vote cast by African-Americans jumped from 8 percent to 13 percent. For Hispanics the share soared from 2 percent to 9 percent; for Asians and other minorities combined, from 2 percent to 5 percent. Meanwhile, the percentage of the vote cast by well-educated whites remained unchanged at 35 percent. The big losers were blue-collar whites -- those without college degrees -- whose share plummeted from 53 percent in 1992 to just 39 percent now. That's a threat to the GOP because those culturally conservative, working-class whites are today its most reliable voters.... Demography will indeed be destiny if Republicans can't broaden their reach"

--columnist Ron Brownstein

Who elected Obama?

By Mark Alexander
The Patriot Post

"On 20 January, Barack Hussein Obama will be inaugurated as the next president of our United States, according to our Constitution. However, his largest constituencies tend to view this event as either the coronation of the "royal one" or the ordination of the "holy one."

Before we further define those constituencies, here, for the record, is a recap of the survey data concerning the presidential election.

Some 136.6 million Americans voted -- a 64.1 percent turnout and the highest since 1908. Obama is the first Democrat to win a majority of the popular vote (53 percent) since Jimmy Carter. By sex, BHO's support was 49 percent male and 56 percent female. By ethnic group, his support comprised 41 percent of Whites, 61 percent of Asians, 75 percent of Latinos and 95 percent of Blacks. By age, BHO's largest support demographic was 66 percent of voters under the age of 30. By income, 52 percent of voters with more than $200,000 in annual income voted for Obama. By education, his support came from those without a college degree and those with a post-graduate degree.

So, his victory was largely due to support from non-whites, from those under 30, from those with the lowest income and education, and from a small number of voters at the other end of those spectrums, while those of middle age, income and education tended to support John McCain.

By religion, Obama received support from 46 percent of Protestant voters, 56 percent of Catholic voters and 62 percent of voters of other religions. BHO received 76 percent of atheist and agnostic voters.

The Barna Research Group looked at some other interesting characteristics of Obama voters: 57 percent of those who consider themselves "lonely or isolated," 59 percent of those affected by the economic decline in "a major way," and 61 percent of those who claim they are "stressed out" supported BHO.

So, considering the stats, the Democrats' strategy of fomenting dissent and disunity by promoting themes of disparity was vital to Obama's election. Indeed, the Left's political playbook has only one chapter defining their modus operandi -- "Divide-n-Conquer." No wonder their national leadership calls itself the DnC.

Obama's largest constituent groups fall under the general umbrella of "disenfranchised victims," those who feel they are ethnically or economically handicapped. Other significant constituent groups are those who identify with the disenfranchised; this includes two small but highly ideologically influential groups, the economic and academic elite.

The disenfranchised victim groups and those who identify with them have a number of common characteristics. They have a low civic IQ and virtually no understanding of our Constitutional Republic and its heritage and legacy of liberty. They have fully bought into the "Politics of Disparity" or "class warfare."

However, it is Obama's small economic and academic elite constituencies who pose the greatest danger to that heritage of liberty. They neither know nor care any more about liberty than the disenfranchised legions with which they seek to identify. They are the "king makers," those who have funded and charted Obama's course to the coronation.

Some have made a lot of "easy money," which explains why Obama received far more support from Wall Street than McCain. Others are inheritance-welfare liberals, those who value government welfare dependence because they were, themselves, dependent on inheritance throughout their formative years and never developed the character necessary to succeed on their own initiative.

Whether fast money or inheritance, neither group has direct contact with the unwashed masses other than those who keep their homes, offices and imported autos clean and in good repair. This utter dependence upon the low end of the "service sector" is perhaps the source of the insecurities that drive them to identify with the masses.

Obama's academic elite are just as insecure, but they are driven by ideology. They are Leftists, Western apologists for socialist political and economic agendas. Regular readers of this column will recognize them as "Useful Idiots" for their advocacy of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist collectivism. Like Obama, they reject constitutional authority and subscribe to the errant notion of a "Living Constitution".

Among Obama's Left elite are such Marxist radicals as Frank Marshall Davis and William Ayers and his religious mentor Jeremiah Wright.

There are some characteristics that are common to many BHO supporters among both the disenfranchised and the elite.

Obama's cult-like following among these constituencies is not the result of deception. In fact, it can be attributed to something much more subtle and, potentially, sinister, with far more ominous implications for the future of liberty.

Most of Obama's supporters identify with some part of his brokenness, his dysfunctional childhood and his search for salvation in the authority of the state. The implications of this distorted mass identity are grave, and its pathology is well defined.

Another common characteristic is that liberals tend to be very emotive. Ask them about some manifestation of their worldview -- for example, why they support candidates such as Obama or Hillary Clinton and they will likely predicate their response with, "Because I feel..."

On the other hand, ask conservatives about what they believe or support, and they invariably predicate their response with, "Because I think..."

So, the once great Democrat Party has now devolved into constituencies who view the inaugural as either a coronation or an ordination.

Of course, all the MSM print and tube outlets are fawning over BHO and calling next Tuesday's inaugural "historic." Well, it's not often that I agree with the paper media and 24-hour news cycle talkingheads, but this is truly a historic inauguration -- historic for several reasons.

First, never before has such an ill-prepared president-elect been sworn in as president. Second, never before has a more liberal president-elect been sworn into office. And third, never before has a candidate had so little regard for the constitutional oath he is taking.

Oh, and some suggest this election is historic because half of the president-elect's genetic heritage is African -- and here I thought Bill Clinton was our first "black president."

It is no small irony that the day before Obama's inauguration, the nation will pause to honor Martin Luther King. In 1963, King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and gave his most famous oration, the most well known line from which is, "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

But Obama and his party have divided the nation into constituency groups judged by all manner of ethnicity and special interests rather than the individual character King envisioned.

Perhaps the most famous line from any Democrat presidential inaugural was uttered by John F. Kennedy in 1961. He closed his remarks with these words: "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Barack Obama and his party have turned that clarion call on end, suggesting that their constituents should "ask what your country can do for you."

On Tuesday, Barack Obama will take an oath "to support and defend the Constitution", but he has no history of honoring our Constitution, even pledging that his Supreme Court nominees should comport with Leftist ideology and "break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the founding fathers in the Constitution, at least as it's been interpreted."

Some have suggested that since the election is over and Obama is the victor, we should accord him the honor due his office. But if he does not honor his constitutional oath, why would anyone extend him the honor of its highest constitutional office?"

A closer look at Geithner's 'honest mistakes' and ... the China connection
The Obama Transition Project says that Timothy Geithner, its Chinese-speaking Treasury Secretary nominee, made “honest mistakes” on his tax returns. This line comes from the same group that is telling us that a nearly $1 trillion “stimulus” bill taking us further into debt can be called the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” Polling and focus groups came up with that brilliant deception.

Our media have quickly adopted the new party line. The NBC Nightly News dutifully reported Geithner’s “honest mistakes” in the graphic it showed on Tuesday night in a story about the serious tax problems. Officially, the Obama team calls them “tax concerns.” But it’s nothing we are supposed to be concerned about, even though he is going to be in charge of the federal department with jurisdiction over the IRS.

There were some holes in the brief NBC News story,.....

Hamas hunkers down in command HQ at hospital
TEL AVIV — Israel has learned that the Hamas military and political leaders are operating from a makeshift headquarters in a hospital in the Gaza Strip.

Iraqi defense minister sees South Korea as 'a model to follow'

BAGHDAD — Iraq and South Korea are exploring defense cooperation, including joint production.

Hamas believed holding out until Obama's inauguration
TEL AVIV — Israel's intelligence community is projecting the Hamas regime may try to delay any ceasefire until Barack Obama is in the Oval Office.

Government sources said Hamas's military wing has been urged by Iran and Syria to delay implementation of any ceasefire proposal by Egypt for at least another week. The sources said Hamas's military wing overruled a proposal by Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to accept the Egyptian offer.

"Hamas has been told by Iran that they will get a better deal under Obama," a government source said.

Hizbullah movements in line with possible escalation of war with Israel
LONDON — The Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah has relocated its command and control centers in what could signal preparations for another war with Israel.

Western intelligence sources said Hizbullah has intensified military preparations over the last few weeks during the Hamas war with Israel. The sources said Hizbullah was transferring command and control and logistics centers from Beirut to southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border.

"Hizbullah is reorganizing its military assets in a way that suggests preparations for an escalation along the Israeli border," an intelligence source said.

As Obama era nears, task force fears dawning of the age of nuclear proliferation

By Donald Kirk

WASHINGTON — In the not-so-distant days when stocks were high, the pillars of capitalism seemed impervious to a destructive assault on their existence.

Similarly, the possibility of nuclear war today appears as unlikely as worldwide recession and depression did a year ago.

Harvard professor Graham Allison evoked this disturbing comparison as he warned of the potential for nuclear war breaking out in a world that has come to believe the danger is essentially non-existent.

"We may be seeing the unraveling of that wonderful regime that can constrain this activity," said Allison, author of numerous books and articles on the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction. "If one thing gets unleveraged, and you see an unraveling, pretty soon the whole thing will unravel quickly. The global nuclear order looks no more secure today than was the financial order a year ago."

The Bush Legacy

By Thomas Sowell
Whatever history's verdict on the Bush administration might be, it is likely to be very different from what we hear from the talking heads on television or read from the know-it-alls on editorial pages.

President Bush's number one achievement was also the number one function of government-- to ......

Is a Change in Migration Patterns at Hand?

By Michael Barone

Evidence keeps accumulating that the tide of immigration is ebbing. Tough enforcement laws passed by states like Arizona and Oklahoma and localities like Prince William County, Va., have reportedly spurred Latino immigrants to move elsewhere. Tougher enforcement of federal immigration laws may be having the same effect.

Classrooms in Orange County, Calif., are suddenly.....

Senate Democrats Oppose Energy Independence
By Bob McCarty Writes
Thanks to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), legislation that will further hinder our nation’s ability to become energy independent (i.e., depend less upon foreign sources of oil and natural gas) is one step closer to becoming law.

Will Democrats Reinstate Offshore Drilling Ban?
By Bob McCarty Writes
Oil and natural gas industry officials were cautiously optimistic about their prospects Sept. 23 after House Democrats allowed an offshore drilling ban to expire. After three and a half months of waiting for assurances from members of Congress, it appears those same officials might be on the verge of seeing their worst fears come true.

The 2009 Index of Economic Freedom

The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal came out with their annual Index of Economic Freedom rankings and the United States slipped from fifth to sixth as New Zealand nudged ahead to garner the fifth place spot.