I appeared on Silvio Canto's radio show this week, broadcast from Dallas.  Should you be interested in hearing our discussion, it's at Silvio's website, here.

SUNDAY,  JANUARY 24,  2010

FOR BIN LADEN, WHAT COMES NEXT? – AT 9:12 A.M. ET:  There is informed speculation on the meaning of today's comments by Osama bin Laden, assuming it was really him on the tape:

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Osama bin Laden's word choice in the latest audio message attributed to him is seen as a "possible indicator" of an upcoming attack by his Al-Qaeda network, a US monitoring group warned Sunday.

IntelCenter, a US group that monitors Islamist websites, also said that manner of the release and the content of the message showed it was "credible" that it was a new release from the Saudi extremist.

"The Osama bin Laden audio message released to Al-Jazeera on 24 January 2010 contains specific language used by bin Laden in his statements in advance of attacks," IntelCenter said in a statement.

The group said it considered the language "a possible indicator of an upcoming attack" in the next 12 months.

"This phrase, 'Peace be upon those who follow guidance,' appears at the beginning and end of messages released in advance of attacks that are designed to provide warning to Al-Qaeda's enemies that they need to change their ways or they will be attacked," the group said.

In a statement carried by Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden praised the Nigerian man who allegedly tried to blow up a US airliner approaching Detroit on Christmas Day.

COMMENT:   Britain has now raised its terror alert.  A third of all the attempts to attack American targets, in the time after 9-11, have occurred on Barack Obama's watch.  Bin Laden and his like-minded jihadists have responded to Obama's outreach and talk of peace with more attacks and more threats.  That is what weakness always gets you.

January 24, 2010    Permalink

SOME COMMON SENSE COMING? – AT 5:55 P.M. ET:  Maybe, just maybe, the Obamans will finally realize that trying the mastermind of 9-11 in a civilian New York courtroom is an awful, terrible, ignorant, and clownish idea.  And it's unpopular, too.  Michael Isikoff of Newsweek has some news that gives us a bit of optimism:

Top administration officials are getting nervous that they may not be able to proceed with one of their most controversial national-security moves: trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other accused 9/11 conspirators in federal court in New York City.

I'm glad for their nervousness.  It's long in coming.

...because of shifting political winds in Congress, the trial is now "potentially in jeopardy," a senior official, who did not want to be named talking about a sensitive situation, tells NEWSWEEK. The chief concern: that Republicans will renew attempts to strip funding for the trial and, in the aftermath of the bombing attempt aboard Northwest Flight 253, pick up enough support from moderate Democrats to prevail.

Unless of course the moderate Dems wimp out in the end, which is their glorious tradition, told in story and song.

"I'm afraid it's probably going to pass," says Democratic Rep. Jim Moran, who has strongly backed the administration on the issue.

One of the scummier members of Congress, Moran is sympathetic to Arab and Muslim causes, and maybe thinks KSM can do some advertising for the righteous during his trial.

Another big factor? The price tag. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently sent a letter to the White House budget office seeking more than $216 million to provide security for the trial this year—and more than $200 million for each year after that. The figures have prompted some critics to say that, given the years a complex conspiracy case could take, the final cost could approach $1 billion.

I'd rather see that money go for veterans' hospitals to take care of the troops who fight the terror forces and their allies.

The Justice Department has yet to indict the suspects, nor has it given Congress the required 45-day notice that it plans to bring them to New York. But spokesman Matthew Miller says the attorney general remains "committed to bringing to justice those allegedly responsible for the murder of nearly 3,000 people"—and "we can do it in trials that are safe, secure, and respected around the world."

Oh, right.  They'll be "respected around the world" until the defense raises one objection.  Then the headlines in Europe will read NEW YORK TRIAL, FAIRNESS OR A SHAM?  You can just see it coming.

If Holder's plans are thwarted, though, one top administration official, who also didn't want to be named talking about delicate issues, notes there is a Plan B—reviving the case against the alleged 9/11 conspirators before a military tribunal, just as the Bush administration tried to do.

Three cheers for Plan B.  Good then, good now.

January 24, 2010    Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 5:45 P.M. ET:  From Wes Pruden of The Washington Times:

Scott Brown has given the Republicans an opportunity, not a cure - either for his party or the country. He's showing the Republicans how to get up to fight again. He stopped the rush to destroy American health care (with all its manifold shortcomings still the best place in the world to get sick) and remake America into a European nanny state. Mr. Brown succeeded because he didn't adopt his party's usual war cry: "I'm a Republican but I'm not as bad as you think."

If the Democrats can't learn the lesson of Massachusetts, there will be other Scott Browns on the way. In many quarters, disappointment and disbelief have yet to turn to determination to get up off the floor.

COMMENT:  True.  The most important point, though, is Pruden's line that Brown has given the GOP an opportunity, not a cure.  Republicans are still unpopular.  There is no coherent platform.  As we noted earlier today, there are serious signs of regional splits, with egomaniacal forces barging in and demanding ideological purity, a death knell for any party in this pragmatic country. 

The GOP should not use the Brown election as a vote of confidence, but as a vote of what is possible – with discipline, attractive candidates and a good dose of sanity.

January 24, 2010    Permalink

HAPPY BIRTHDAY – AT 5:41 P.M. ET:  Thought you'd like to know, from AP:

SADDLE BROOK, N.J. — People have walked to the altar dressed in it, protected their garden plants with it, even put it on display at highbrow art museums.

Mostly, they like the sound it makes when they pop it, which largely explains the appeal of Bubble Wrap, the stress reducer disguised as package cushioning that maintains an inexplicable hold on pop culture.

The product once envisioned as a new type of wallpaper turns 50 this month.

COMMENT:  I don't know what kind of a gift you give to Bubble Wrap.  Maybe something it could wrap and protect.

In my house we're taking a yard of the stuff and popping each bubble.  It's a ritual.

January 24, 2010    Permalink

INCREDIBLE – AT 12:05 P.M. ET:  Twice in a 24-hour period The Times of London has broken a story revealing another scandal in the murky world of "global-warming science": 

THE United Nations climate science panel faces new controversy for wrongly linking global warming to an increase in the number and severity of natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods.

It based the claims on an unpublished report that had not been subjected to routine scientific scrutiny — and ignored warnings from scientific advisers that the evidence supporting the link was too weak. The report's own authors later withdrew the claim because they felt the evidence was not strong enough.

The claim by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that global warming is already affecting the severity and frequency of global disasters, has since become embedded in political and public debate. It was central to discussions at last month's Copenhagen climate summit, including a demand by developing countries for compensation of $100 billion (£62 billion) from the rich nations blamed for creating the most emissions.

Ed Miliband, the energy and climate change minister, has suggested British and overseas floods — such as those in Bangladesh in 2007 — could be linked to global warming. Barack Obama, the US president, said last autumn: "More powerful storms and floods threaten every continent."

COMMENT:  As we've said here before, we're dealing, not with real science, but with political science.  Yet, American media has been lethargic in exposing the cracks in the wall that the global-warming industry has erected to protect itself. 

The Times of London has become one of the major "go to" places for the latest on the collapsing theories.  Fox News plays a bit of that role here, but only a bit.  We need major press attention, and we need some major investigations to be launched in Washington.  There are too many scandals breaking.  We can't even keep up.

Reader David B. Havanich, Sr. refers us to still more juicy information on the global-warming industry and its followers, here.

January 24, 2010    Permalink

SO ARE WE – AT 10:53 A.M. ET:  David Axelrod, Obama's senior political guy, says the president is "feeling feisty" after the worst week of his presidency, and has no intention of mending his ways.  From The Politico:

President Obama is moving swiftly to try to recover from his worst week in the White House, speeding up his schedule for engaging in the 2010 political races and planning to use his State of the Union address on Wednesday to show the public a feisty side, White House senior adviser David Axelrod said in a telephone interview with POLITICO.

Feisty?  What means this?

He vowed, however, that there will be “no reinventing” of the president, even though “Washington loves a shakeup or human sacrifice.”

“There’s no need to,” Axelrod said. “We’re governing through difficult times. There’s a sense of impatience and frustration about the state of the economy, but also about the nature of how Washington works. That was true in 2008, and it’s true now. The president is as determined to deal with those things now as he was then.”

Trouble is, he's had a year and nothing has worked.  You can only blame BUSH (!!) for so long.

Stunned by the rejection of the Democrat in the Massachusetts Senate race last week, Obama asked David Plouffe, his 2008 campaign manager, to increase his work as an outside White House adviser.

“Everybody would acknowledge that we kind of took Massachusetts for granted and we shouldn’t have,” Axelrod said. “It just reminded us that we’ve got to be at the top of our game.”

Plouffe’s mission is to bring the winning formula he brought to the 2008 campaign to this fall’s Democratic campaigns, at a time when economic and historical headwinds threaten the party with a rout.

“The same forces that we saw at play in Massachusetts were the ones that propelled [Obama] to office,” Axelrod said. “There’s no reinventing any message here. It’s a reaffirmation of a message. And that is our goal to advocate fiercely for the middle class and for people all across this country who’ve been struggling in this economy and long before the recession.”

Plouffe is a first-class political operative.  No matter how strongly we might feel about the mess in the White House, don't underestimate him.  Remember, virtually every poll shows that, while Americans are rejecting the administration, they aren't embracing the Republican Party, which has a remarkable skill at blowing opportunities and ruining a message. 

Also, there are some growing indications of major splits in some regional Republican organizations, splits between pragmatists and ideologues.  We could easily see a situation, as we did in the presidential race of 1992, when a third-party candidate splits the conservative vote.  (Ross Perot took votes from George H.W. Bush in 1992.) 

There are no guarantees for Republicans, only opportunities.

January 24, 2010    Permalink

HEY, I WANT MY NAME OVER THE TITLE – AT 10:36 A.M. ET:  Like a fading Hollywood producer, Usama bin Laden takes credit for the Christmas day bombing attempt.  From Fox:

CAIRO — Usama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the attempt to bomb a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas in a new audio message released Sunday threatening more attacks on the United States.

A senior U.S. intelligence official in Washington said there is "no evidence whatsoever" that bin Laden had any involvement on the Christmas Day attack — or even knew about it beforehand. The message suggests the Al Qaeda leader wants to appear in direct command of the terrorist group's many affiliates around the world at a time when some analysts have suggested he is mostly a figurehead.

In the minute-long recording carried by Al-Jazeera Arabic news channel, bin Laden addressed President Obama saying the Christmas attack was meant to send a message similar to that of the Sept. 11 attacks.

COMMENT:  The sad fact is that there will be some people who'll take this message seriously and demand that we change our foreign policy to accommodate bin Laden, the classic appeasement approach.  It was true back in 1940 that a number of Americans, including members of the establishment, wanted us to cut off aid to Britain so as not to anger Adolf Hitler.  The problem, of course, is that this approach essentially surrenders American independence and allows others to manipulate our foreign policy.  And appeasement usually whets the appetitute of the aggressor.  Rarely does it satisfy it.

January 24, 2010    Permalink

AND NOW VENEZUELA – AT 10:16 A.M. ET:  Thousands have demonstrated against Hugo Chavez in the streets of Caracas.  From Fox News:

CARACAS, Venezuela — Tens of thousands of Venezuelans opposed to President Hugo Chavez took to the streets Saturday, blaming him for rolling blackouts, water rationing, widespread crime and other problems they say are making daily life increasingly difficult.

Chavez backers flooded the capital's avenues with an equally impressive demonstration as the socialist leader confronts mounting criticism and an emboldened opposition ahead of upcoming congressional elections.

Waving Venezuelan flags, protesters accused Chavez of dragging the politically divided South American country into a severe crisis as he accelerates his drive to transform it into a socialist state.

"Chavez is leading the country to ruin," said 79-year-old Olga Damjanovich at the opposition protest. "He's controlled all the country's institutions for more than a decade, so how could it be possible that he's not responsible for the problems weighing down on us?"

Many wore T-shirts that read: "3 Strikes: Blackouts, Water Rationing and Crime. Chavez, You've Struck Out!"

COMMENT:  As usual, the White House has not yet commented.  When Iranians demonstrated for democracy, it took Obama three or four days finally to trot out to a microphone and give a lukewarm expression of support.  I wonder whether he'll even notice the Venezuelans. 

January 24,  2010    Permalink

SATURDAY,  JANUARY 23,  2010

AN OLD GIMMICK, EXPOSED AGAIN – AT 8:05 P.M. ET:  Apparently there is this individual named Ellie Light.  She likes President Obama.  And she lives everywhere.  From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

In recent weeks, Light has published virtually identical “Letters to the Editor” in support of President Barack Obama in more than a dozen newspapers.  Every letter claimed a different residence for Light that happened to be in the newspaper’s circulation area.

“It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work, and that a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything,” said a letter from alleged Philadelphian Ellie Light, that was published in the Jan. 19 edition of The Philadelphia Daily News.

A letter from Light in the Jan. 20 edition of the San Francisco Examiner concluded with an identical sentence, but with an address for Light all the way across the country in Daly City, California...

...Her publications list includes other papers in Ohio, West Virginia, Maine, Michigan, Iowa, Pennsylvania and California, all claiming separate addresses.

Isn't travel great, and broadening?

And what is "Ellie Light's" explanation?

“I do not write as a representative of any organization,” she said in an e-mail. “The letter I wrote was motivated by surprise and wonderment at the absence of any media support for our President, who won a record-breaking election by a landslide less than 18 months ago, and now, seems to be abandoned by all, supposedly for the infantile reason that he couldn’t make all of Bush’s errors disappear in one day.”

Absence of media support?  What media is she looking at?

Generally, newspapers have asked letter writers for address verification.  That practice may be fading, however, under financial pressure.  If Ellie Light continues her antics, the money might have to be spent again.

Maybe the president can give Ellie an ambassadorship.

January 23, 2010   Permalink

ANOTHER GIFT FROM YEMEN – AT 5:12 P.M. ET:  Once again we are blessed with another expression of multicultural respect.  From ABC News:

American law enforcement officials have been told to be on the lookout for female suicide bombers who may attempt to enter the United States, law enforcement authorities tell ABC News.

But remember, if you see a Yemeni woman at the airport, with a bulging burka, and you hear something ticking, first check your own prejudices and preconceptions.  Then, after the blast, treat her exactly as you would treat any other passenger.

The president says those are our values.

One official said at least two of them are believed to be connected to al Qaeda in Yemen, and may have a non-Arab appearance and be traveling on Western passports.

Okay.  Modify the above instruction.  She may be wearing a ski outfit and be ticking.  Same caution.

The threat was described as "current" but not imminent, said the official.

I wonder how they determine that.  Do they get a peek at the bomber school's grading book? 

Let's see: "Liela:  Almost ready, but needs extra work in wiring."

"They have trained women," said former White House counterterrorism official Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant.

Separately, Britain raised its terrorism threat level to "severe," its second-highest level, days before London hosts major international meetings on how to deal with militancy in Afghanistan and Yemen. Britain's threat level had been labeled "severe" for several years before being lowered last summer to "substantial."

COMMENT:  Whatever label is used, the danger is real and great, and, as the saying goes, they only have to be lucky once.

January 23, 2010   Permalink

OBAMA AT REDUCED GALLUP – AT 4:51 P.M. ET:  The Gallup presidential approval poll just released confirms the bad news for Obama.

Gallup shows approval and disapproval tied at 47%, the first time in the Gallup poll that disapproval of Obama has tied approval.  This is not as bad a result as Rasmussen is reporting, but Gallup polls among adults, whereas Rasmussen surveys likely voters.  Polls among likely voters tend to show a slightly better number for Republicans.

The president is in trouble, and there's nothing in political sight that will get him out of his problems, unless he makes some course corrections.

January 23, 2010   Permalink

THIS IS COMING FROM SOMEWHERE – AT 11:24 A.M. ET:  We've been pretty focused on domestic politics, but the Iran clock is ticking.  Each day brings its rogue regime closer to a nuclear weapon, a device that can be sailed into an American harbor in the hold of a ship, dooming an American city to destruction. 

President Barack "deadlines are flexible" Obama set a deadline of December 31, 2009, for Iran to show progress in scaling back its nuclear program, under international supervision.  That deadline has passed, and Mr. Obama shows his usual lack of urgency.

But French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been saying some intriguing things, and he wouldn't be saying them unless he's getting information from somewhere.  Consider:

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that Israel will not sit idly by while Iran continues work on its nuclear program, Israel Radio reported Saturday quoting London-based newspaper Al-Hayat.

According to the report, Sarkozy, who recently met with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, reportedly told him that France has proof Iran is working to develop an atomic bomb.

That is unconfirmed.  But if the French president said that he has proof, he is the first major leader to say so.  Good reporters will get on this story and try to determine whether the West really has such proof, and how solid it is.  Our own intelligence organizations are revising the notorious 2007 National Intelligence Estimate declaring that Iran had stopped work on a weapons program in 2003.  But intelligence agencies are political bodies.  Reportedly, the new NIE will still hedge.

"Israel might take action to prevent the Iranian regime, which wants to wipe it off the map, from obtaining a nuclear bomb," Sarkozy reportedly said.

I can't believe he'd say that without advance word from Israel. 

France has been tougher on Iran than Obama has been.  Is he now taking the lead in forming Western policy?  With Obama politically weakened, and increasingly ridiculed abroad, I wouldn't be surprised.  The French love to rub our noses in it, and this is one time when we may deserve it.

January 23, 2010    Permalink

RECOVERY?  WHAT RECOVERY? – AT 10:58 A.M. ET: 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Unemployment rates rose in 43 states last month, the government said Friday, painting a bleak picture of the job market that illustrated nationwide data released two weeks ago.

The rise in joblessness was a sharp change from November, when 36 states said their unemployment rates fell. Four states -- South Carolina, Delaware, Florida and North Carolina -- reported record-high jobless rates in December.

New Jersey's rate, meanwhile, rose to a 33-year high of 10.1 percent while New York's reached a 26-year high of 9 percent.

Analysts said the report showed the economy is recovering at too weak a pace to generate consistent job creation.

"A lot of states that had started to add jobs (in November) gave up those gains in December," said Sophia Koropeckyj, managing director at Moody's Economy.com.

COMMENT:  There's an old saying – you've all heard it – that a nation can talk its way into a recession, or even a depression.  Morale is a critical factor in a country's economy.  People buy when they feel good about things and about their prospects.  They hold back when they don't.  Right now morale is sinking again.  More and more economists are talking about a "double dip" recession.  And our government continues to borrow money at a frightening pace.

If a foreign enemy ever did to America what America is doing to itself right now, it would have a moral right to declare victory.

And what will the president say about it?  We'll hear from him this week in his State of the Union.  Why am I already applauding with only one hand?

January 23, 2010    Permalink

YEAH, IT'S SETTLED SCIENCE - LAUGH NOW - AT 10:45 A.M. ET:  Every day that goes by we seem to learn, from the British press if not from the American, that the house of cards known as "the settled science of climate change" is collapsing a bit more.   From The Times of London:

The Indian head of the UN climate change panel defended his position yesterday even as further errors were identified in the panel's assessment of Himalayan glaciers.

Dr Rajendra Pachauri dismissed calls for him to resign over the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change’s retraction of a prediction that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035.

But he admitted that there may have been other errors in the same section of the report, and said that he was considering whether to take action against those responsible.

“I know a lot of climate sceptics are after my blood, but I’m in no mood to oblige them,” he told The Times in an interview. “It was a collective failure by a number of people,” he said. “I need to consider what action to take, but that will take several weeks. It’s best to think with a cool head, rather than shoot from the hip.”

COMMENT:  Yeah, let's keep a cool head here.  (I'm surprised he still thinks, in an age of "warming," that heads can remain cool.)  Let's not look too closely. 

The UN, already one of the most corrupt organizations on Earth, is confronted with still more problems in its "definitive" work on climate change. 

And in the United States, the Obama administration, clinging to the Al Gorist party line, refuses to reconsider its policy that there's nothing to see here, nothing to see.  All settled.

The Republican Party, as part of its 2010 platform, should call for a massive evaluation, under the direction of respected and neutral scientists, of the "science" involved in the global-warming issue.  is it real science, or is a lot of it political science?  Is it based on solid, proved research, or is at least some of it based on the need to conform, the better to get government grants and admission tickets to prestigious academies?

Our side can make quite an issue of this, as the public has become increasingly skeptical of the repeated claims that the sky is falling and the ocean is rising.

January 23, 2010   Permalink

MORE GRIM POLLING NEWS FOR OBAMA – AT 10:24 A.M. ET:  The president's poll numbers, which had been rising slightly in the Rasmussen survey, have slipped back to their depressed, endangered species, levels.  This deterioration has followed Tuesday's Massachusetts massacre:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 24% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19 (see trends).

These figures come from nightly telephone surveys and are reported on a three-day rolling average basis. Today’s update is the first based entirely upon interviews following Tuesday’s election in Massachusetts and the Approval Index has fallen eight points since Tuesday morning.

And...

Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That’s down four points since Tuesday morning and matches the lowest level of overall approval yet recorded for this President. Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters now disapprove.

Will Mr. Obama, and the Chicago troopers around him, realize the reasons for his slide, or will he, as he did yesterday, do a Jimmah Carter and dig in to promote and defend failing policies? 

Ah.  To see or not to see – that is the question. 

January 23,  2010    Permalink