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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2010

YOU GO TO BED WITH DOGS, YOU WAKE UP WITH... – AT 8:19 P.M. ET:  One of the dumber things the Obamans have done, and the list is long, was having America join the vastly corrupt UN Human Rights Council, a kind of group therapy session for dictators, where nations like Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela sit in judgment on "human rights violations" of various democracies.

Apparently, President Obama wanted to be a good sport and show that we can ignore moral corruption at the UN just as well as anyone else can.   It's good to be up there with the big boys.

But when you get involved with thugs, you get mugged:

The disclosure that former President Bush personally approved the “waterboarding” of al-Qaeda terrorist Khalid Sheik Mohammed is expected to bring calls for torture prosecutions – both in the U.S. and at the United Nations.

Americans can expect to hear more about the U.N. Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (CAT), a U.S.-ratified treaty that calls for criminal prosecutions for “complicity or participation in torture.”

And...

Reports on Bush’s comments appeared just ahead of the first U.N. Human Rights Council review of the human rights record of the United States. The subject of torture was on the agenda for some of the countries that lined up to criticize and make recommendations to the U.S. at the meeting in Geneva Friday.

Imagine.  We are being judged by totalitarian regimes.  And we volunteered for it.

Addressing the panel of senior State Department officials present, Iran’s delegate said the U.S. should invite the U.N. human rights experts to investigate Guantanamo and then “put on trial its gross violators of human rights and its war criminals.”

“Put on trial the perpetrators of torture, extrajudicial executions and other serious violations of human rights committed in Guantanamo [and elsewhere],” the Cuban envoy advised the American delegation.

Read the rest of the story.  Take seasickness pills first.  All this was unnecessary.  To have anything to do with these people is an insult to Americans. 

By the way, the man in charge of these things in our State Department, Harold Koh, is the former dean of the Yale Law School, from which Secretary of State Clinton graduated.  He's a theoretician who's very high on the idea that the U.S. should be subject to international rules and laws.  He's a hard leftist.

It is still possible for former President Bush and former Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, among others, to be prosecuted for their actions in "abusing" prisoners while in office, although such prosecutions would tear the country apart. 

And we thought "Alice in Wonderland" was a fantasy.

November 9, 2010      Permalink

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED TO OBAMA ON THE WAY TO DEIFICATION – AT 7:52 P.M. ET:  We kind of knew that Obama's godlike image would fade, and that George W. Bush would be resurrected.  We just didn't think it would happen this soon.  Bush is back with a book, and Americans seem to like him:

Good thing President Obama fled overseas after the disastrous Democratic outcomes in the midterm election.

He wouldn't want to see Tuesday's new poll numbers.

Gallup just announced that Americans' favorable opinions of George W. Bush are rising as the Obama presidency ages and now their favorable views of the Republican nearly match their falling feelings about the Democrat.

Gallup now finds that 44% of Americans have a favorable view of the 43rd president, up about 10%, or four points since the end of his second term in January 2009. Obviously, the former chief executive no longer has a job approval rating.

According to the authoritative RealClearPolitics average of polls, 45.4% of Americans now approve of Obama's job performance, while 49.6% disapprove, compared with 53% Bush disapproval. Obama's approval is down from the 70% range at his inauguration.

COMMENT:  Oh, I can just see the day when Obama secretly calls Bush for advice.  Now, I don't think that will happen because Obama's ego wouldn't allow it.  But maybe Michelle will call Laura.

Bush took a tremendous pounding in the press, and Obama has been treated like royalty in the press.  And look at the numbers.  What does that tell you?  It tells you that the American people eventually find the truth, despite the efforts of The New York Times and Christiane Amanpour.  Smart, those Americans.

November 9, 2010      Permalink

YOUR DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE IN ACTION – AT 9:07 A.M. ET:  If President Obama wants to save himself, he might consider finding a private-sector job for Attorney General Eric Holder.  Under Holder, the Justice Department is becoming a bad joke.

The department is already at work disparaging possible 2012 Republican presidential candidates.  If you think this report is just coincidence, you're on another planet:

Tough-talking, budget-busting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has a new nickname: "Attorney C."

The fiscally conservative governor and former U.S. attorney faced accusations during his 2009 campaign that he often stayed in expensive hotels that exceeded the government's approved reimbursement rates.

In a report released Monday, Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine confirmed that five unnamed former U.S. attorneys, including Christie, routinely exceeded government lodging rates "by large amounts, with insufficient, inaccurate, or no justification."

Government lodging rates vary depending on location and dates of travel. In 2009, the government rate in New York City ranged from $360 during the busy holiday season and $259 during summer months. The government rate for Peoria, Ill. in 2009 was $70 per night for the entire year.

Though the report does not use names, three of the former U.S. attorneys were men, two were women, and the description of hotel bills submitted by "Attorney C" match news reports about Christie's hotel bills published in the final weeks of the 2009 campaign. Christie was one of two former U.S. attorneys who declined to be interviewed by Fine's office.

COMMENT:  Chris Christie is a great governor, and a possible presidential candidate.  The Dems fear him.

Look, if Christie did anything wrong, he should reimburse the government.  But this issue was dealt with in his campaign, and his explanations for exceeding government guidelines seemed reasonable and practical.  Sometimes, rooms at government rates just weren't available, and he was on official business.

The report is an attempt to discredit Christie, just as the 2012 president sweepstakes begin.  I'd imagine other Republican candidates will suddenly find themselves under scrutiny by government agencies, or by the ever-vigilant (hah) media.  It's the same media that never quite developed the interest to ask questions about one John Edwards.  Or, for that matter, about one Barack Obama.

If I were Marco Rubio, I'd watch my back.

November 9, 2010      Permalink

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO – AT 8:43 A.M. ET:  It's only a brief report, but it may spell trouble.  From The Politico:

Vice President Biden will have breakfast on Tuesday with former Sen. Chuck Hagel, the White House says.

Hagel, a co-chairman of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, was scheduled to meet with Biden at the Naval Observatory at 8 a.m. The White House didn’t say what they would talk about.

COMMENT:  Now we must all emulate Stonewall Jackson, and stand there like a stone wall, blocking this man Hagel from any further government appointment.

The man is a certified creep.  As Johnny Carson might have asked, "How creepy is he?"

And he would have answered, "He's so creepy that he declined to run for reelection to the Senate from Nebraska in 2008 because he own party wouldn't nominate him."

Hagel came to the Senate as a Republican, and then proceeded to oppose almost every military step George W. Bush took.  He claimed to be a military expert, based on some brief service in Vietnam.  A real Kerry clone.

In 2008, he turned his back on fellow Republican and fellow Vietnam vet John McCain.  While Hagel himself didn't endorse Obama, his wife did, which sent the necessary signal.

So Obama rewarded him with a government job.  But now there's buzz that Hagel might be appointed to succeed Bob Gates as secretary of defense, when Gates presumably leaves next year. 

No, no, no.  Rewarding a political turncoat is not what we need at Defense.  Hagel has never demonstrated good judgment, and seems more comfortable among liberal Dems than among Republicans. 

So, I hope the breakfast with Biden wasn't a job interview.  There are far better applicants.

November 9, 2010      Permalink

YES, WE ARE EXCEPTIONAL – AT 8:30 A.M. ET:  Jonah Goldberg, in a must-read column in the L.A. Times, takes dead aim at the growing chorus of "sophisticates," empowered by the age of Obama, who trash American exceptionalism:

Forget that every Fourth of July we celebrate the fact that we fought a Revolutionary War to become an exceptional nation. From their dismissive condescension, you'd think these three educated men didn't know that American exceptionalism has been a well-established notion among scholars for more than a century.

"The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional," wrote Alexis de Tocqueville in "Democracy in America," "and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one." Ever since, historians have argued that America's lack of a feudal past, its Puritan roots, the realism of its revolutionary ambitions and many other ingredients contributed to America's status as the "first new nation," to borrow a phrase from Seymour Martin Lipset, who spent his life writing about American exceptionalism.

E.L. Godkin, the Irish-born editor of the Nation, observed in 1867 that the lack of a class-based system, the existence of an open frontier and an optimism that comes with political and economic liberty marked the U.S. as a very different land than Britain, never mind the European continent. In 1906, German sociologist Werner Sombart released his book, "Why is There No Socialism in America?," in which he pointed to similar factors.

Ever since, left-leaning intellectuals have been taking dead aim at American exceptionalism. The notion that America has its own way of doing things separate and distinct from Europe has been one of the greatest impediments to Europeanizing America's political and economic institutions.

The so-called "elites" of America worship the European left.  They think of Europe as enlightened and cultured, as opposed to the ragged Americans, those people who, as Obama put it, "cling to their religion and their guns."

Of course, there are tens of thousands of American military graves on European soil.  If those soldiers could talk, I wonder what they would tell us about European "enlightenment."

Goldberg concludes:

America is the greatest country in the world. That doesn't mean it's perfect. But it is, and remains, the last best hope of Earth.

But, by all means, Democrats, listen to the sophisticates who chortle at the idea that there's anything especially good about America. That will solve Obama's "communication problem."

Yup.

November 9, 2010      Permalink

HUH? – AT 8:17 A.M. ET:  Once again, President Obama seems to relish in the subject of American decline.  From The Times of India:

MUMBAI: Implicitly acknowledging the decline of American dominance, Barack Obama on Sunday said the US was no longer in a position to "meet the rest of the world economically on our terms"...

...Obama's remarks at the town hall meeting exposed his tremendous anxiety over the failure of his policies to spur the US economy fast enough and create jobs for Americans facing nearly 10% unemployment rate.

Obama, who just lost control of the House of Representatives to the Republicans, unbashedly said the objective of his visit was to find jobs for his voters. "I want to make sure we are here because this will create jobs in the US," he said, but stressed he was for a kind of relationship which will create jobs in India as well. As he put it: "A win-win proposition."

COMMENT:  Oh, dear, oh dear.  Barack Hussein Obama Jr. doesn't understand what George Bush understood instinctively:  The United States must not only be respected, it must be feared.  That's one way you keep the peace.

To go hat in hand and acknowledge American decline is unprecedented for an American president.  The laughter you hear is coming from the foreign ministries of the world.

Some of what Mr. Obama said made much sense.  But it's the way he says it that grates.  Nations must not only understand that America has a way of roaring back, but they must also understand that we can be depended upon, that we aren't going to fold in a fit of weakness.

Would you depend on Obama?  For anything?

November 9, 2010       Permalink

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2010

I GUESS YOU'D CALL THIS THE VICTIMS' IMPACT STATEMENT – AT 9:10 P.M. ET:  Nancy Pelosi's bull-headed attempt to remain leader of the Democrats in the House has brought a particularly cold reply from those Democrats who won't be returning to said body, in part because of the agenda of...Nancy Pelosi.  From National Review Online:

Fox News has a draft copy of a letter from defeated House Democrats reportedly being circulated around Capitol Hill. The letter urges Speaker Nancy Pelosi to step aside as her party’s leader, else potential Democratic candidates for 2012 be frightened away. “Republicans have taken away your ability to lead” it says, adding that “Recovery of our majority in the House necessitates new leadership at the top of our party.”

Part of the letter reads:

"Many of us want the chance to run again and reclaim the seats that we lost on Tuesday. With you as the leader of House Democrats, the hangover of 2010 stands no chance of subsiding. Many of us have run our last race but remain committed to our party; we want to help recruit successful candidates to run in our stead. Unfortunately, we fear that Republicans will further demonize you, and in so doing they will scare potential candidates out. The prospect of having to run against their own party leadership in addition to their Republican opponent is simply too daunting."

There's some traditional boot-licking here.  That's to be expected.  But the letter is extraordinary in making clear the writers' belief that Nancy Pelosi is a God-awful image for the Democratic Party.  To paraphrase a famous line from "Casablanca," the writers seem to be saying to Nan, "Of all the parliaments in all the countries of the world, you had to walk into this one."

And yet, there is no sign that Pelosi is budging.  Far from being contrite, she's bragging about her record and is completely deaf to the complaints of the American people.  We wonder whether, when the new Congress is sworn, anyone will actually stand up and oppose Pelosi for the post of minority leader. 

Several pundits have pointed out that, with Harry Reid returning as majoriy leader in the Senate, and Nancy a good bet to be minority leader in the House, the Dems will have elected to their congressional leadership exactly the same team that sank them in the first place.  The designers of the Titanic would have loved it. 

November 8, 2010      Permalink

TO THE SHRINK, TO THE SHRINK! – AT 8:45 P.M. ET:  Mike, we hardly knew ye.  It's Mike Bloomberg I'm referring to, three-time mayor of New York, and a man who is losing his marbles, one by one.

The mayor's ego is out of control.  He should immediately call the ego police to push it back.  No one would care, but there are strong rumors that billionaire Mike will make an independent run for the presidency in 2012.  After some of his quotes come out, he'll be lucky to make an independent run at assistant dog catcher in an upstate community.

Recently, Mayor Mike said that anyone who opposed the mosque at Ground Zero should be ashamed of himself.  Apparently, that included relevant relatives of 9-11 victims.  Also, recently, Mayor Mike called President Obama the most arrogant man he'd ever met.  Now, that may be true.  But when you're mayor of a city dependent on federal aid, you don't say that kind of thing within earshot of someone who has reporters' numbers on speed dial.

Now the mayor has outdone himself, as Fox reports:

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, traveling in Hong Kong over the weekend, warned that the new crop of politicians elected to Congress last week could spark a trade war with China because their criticism of the Asian superpower is bred in ignorance.

The billionaire mayor reportedly said Americans who voted for these politicians may do a disservice to U.S.-Chinese relations because the incoming freshmen aren't worldly enough to grasp diplomacy or the economic upside of China's emerging economy.

"If you look at the U.S., you look at who we're electing to Congress, to the Senate -- they can't read," The Wall Street Journal quoted Bloomberg as saying.

Yeah, this guy Rob Portman from Ohio, a key budget officer in the Bush 43 administration, has trouble with words.  This guy Toomey from Pennsylvania, vastly schooled in economics, same thing.  We hear his mother reads to him.  And Marco Rubio.  Everyone knows he's an illiterate.  I mean, that is what Mayor Mike is saying, isn't it?

"I’ll bet you a bunch of these people don't have passports. We're about to start a trade war with China if we're not careful here only because nobody knows where China is. Nobody knows what China is," he reportedly said.

COMMENT:  The mayor might occasionally avail himself of the opportunity to shut up.  He was an effective mayor during his first two terms, but something has gone seriously wrong.  He might seek medical help, or even visit a pharmacy.  Over-the-counter stuff is available.

And forget about 2012.  We'll need a psychiatric bill of health first.

November 8, 2010       Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 9:33 A.M.

As many as 14 armed Orange County deputies, including narcotics agents, stormed Strictly Skillz barbershop during business hours on a Saturday in August, handcuffing barbers in front of customers during a busy back-to-school weekend.  It was just one of a series of unprecedented raid-style inspections the Orange County Sheriff's Office recently conducted with a state regulating agency, targeting several predominantly black- and Hispanic-owned barbershops in the Pine Hills area.

Apparently, the compelling issue is unlicensed barbering.  Don't you love it when government agencies develop a sharp set of priorities?  I hope they make sure the shaving cream is fresh. 

November 8, 2010       Permalink

NICE, HUH? – AT 9:10 A.M. ET:  The White House has missed something, something terribly important, as American Thinker notes this morning:

On the first anniversary of the Fort Hood massacre, Barack Hussein Obama and an entourage of 3,000 left Washington D.C. for India. As Mr. Obama and his fellow travelers were racking up $200 million a day in expenses, a solemn ceremony honoring the victims of Major Nidal Hasan was keeping the faith at the Central Texas army base.

Not willing to believe that the president or the White House staff could be so callous and disrespectful as to simply blow-off the soldiers, civilian staff, police and families whose lives were forever changed on November 5, 2009, I searched the whitehouse.gov website for some proof that the commander in chief really does care. Among the ‘Statements and Releases’ was the ‘Weekly Address: President Obama Calls for Compromise and Explains his Priorities on Taxes,’ the ‘Statement by the President on Diwali’ and a ‘Readout of the President’s Call with the SanFrancisco Giants.’ Not a word anywhere about Fort Hood.

A search of ‘Presidential Actions’ revealed ‘Presidential Proclamation-Veteran’s Day’ and ‘Presidential Proclamation-Military Family Month,’ wrapped around proclamations for a free trade agreement for Bahrain and National Adoption Month. No mention of the first anniversary of the Fort Hood massacre, not a word.

COMMENT:  An inexcusable lapse by the White House, but typical of an administration that panics at the prospect of calling attention to terror committed by a Muslim extremist.  (Or is it still "man-made disasters"?)  This is the kind of thing that has made many Americans uncomfortable with Obama, the notion that he is president of us, but is not of us, not a man who feels the way other Americans do.

Course correction required.

November 8, 2010      Permalink

GOOD SENSE – AT 8:36 A.M. ET:  Mark Tapscott of the conservative Washington Examiner warns about reckless divisions inside the Republican Party, and the party prepares to take over the House:

Molly Hooper of The Hill has a long piece today on Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann's challenge of Texas Rep. Jeb Hensarling to succeed Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana for House Republican Conference Chairman.

As Hooper notes, Bachmann is portraying the contest as the Establishment GOP versus the Tea Party. Such a narrative probably makes sense to liberal journalists, but it misrepresents a key aspect of the struggle in recent years between faithful House GOP conservatives like Hensarling and those such as Jerry Lewis and Hal Rogers who went whole-hog for the old politics of earmarks and pork barrel.

Tea Party advocates are absolutely right to take down the Lewis and Rogers brand of Me-Too Republicanism, but what about those like Hensarling among the House GOP caucus who have been fighting the congressional GOP's drift leftward for many years?

Since his election to the House in 2002, Hensarling has been among the most consistent conservative voices in the Republican caucus. Besides being THE House GOP critic of TARP, he's fought the spending issues with such force that National Review has dubbed him "Rep. Budget Reform." He isn't called a "conservative workhorse" for nothing.

House Republicans like Lewis and Rogers and Ted Stevens and Trent Lott in the Senate are why the GOP lost its congressional majority, but what about the Tom Coburns, Jim DeMints and Jeb Hensarlings who have been fighting the good fight during the good years and the bad?

COMMENT:  That is very solid thinking.  We all learned as kids that you don't throw out the baby with the bath water.  The tea partiers are feeling their oats right now, but oats don't win elections.  To go after a man like Hensarling, who's walked the walk, just to advance a tea partier, is bad government and bad politics.  How do you encourage disciplined, good behavior if you then punish it?

Michelle Bachmann should withdraw, and temper her ambitions.  By throwing her support to Hensarling, she enhances herself for the future.  Also, she has a history of gaffes, and I don't think she's quite ready for prime time.  A few more years, Michelle, a few more years.  The wait is worth it for the reward.

November 8, 2010      Permalink

BULLETIN:  OBAMA GETS IT RIGHT – AT 8:26 A.M. ET:  There are rumors that President Obama had secret lessons from a finishing school before embarking on his current foreign trip.  True are not, he got the greetings right this time.  From Andrew Malcolm at the L.A. Times:

Two days into his visit to India, President Obama received an almost royal official welcome Monday in New Delhi.

As horses led his limo down a clay path at the presidential palace, Obama received a 21-gun salute, then reviewed troops and greeted India's diminutive president, Pratibha Patil, (above) with a double handshake.

None of the low bows that the American leader proffered to other foreign dignitaries during previous Asian trips and meetings. See the photo below and this story: How low will he go? Obama gives Japan's Emperor a wow bow. Those bows prompted criticism back home that as the United States' new leader eager to make friends, Obama was too obsessed with obsequiousness.

Not this time.

COMMENT:  Obama conceded yesterday that the midterm elections dictated that he make course corrections.  This may well be one of them:  No bows to foreign leaders.  It may even turn into a New Year's resolution.

Mr. Obama is scheduled to fly on to Indonesia, a Muslim country, however.  We hope the bowing temptation, a recognized malady in the manual of the American Psychiatric Association, doesn't overwhelm him.  Treatment is costly, and Obamacare may not cover.

November 8, 2010      Permalink

BULLETIN:  HUMAN TRAGEDY ENDED – AT 8:15 A.M. ET:  After apparently receiving warnings from human rights groups about the suffering involved, NBC News has lifted the suspension of Keith Olbermann, who was suspended two days ago by the high-minded news organization for making contributions to Democrats, a violation of NBC's sacred rules.

Keith Olbermann will be allowed to resume his nightly program on MSNBC on Tuesday, the channel’s president said Sunday night, after he was suspended for donating money to three Democratic candidates.

The policy at MSNBC’s parent, NBC News, says journalists cannot make political contributions without permission from the head of the news division. “After several days of deliberation and discussion, I have determined that suspending Keith through and including Monday night’s program is an appropriate punishment for his violation of our policy,” the MSNBC president, Phil Griffin, said in a statement. “We look forward to having him back on the air Tuesday night.”

In other words, we're in desperate financial trouble, and we're paying him a lot.

Mr. Olbermann’s program, “Countdown,” is a megaphone for Democrats and the most popular program on MSNBC.

The donations would have drawn attention at any time, but they were especially notable given that he had anchored MSNBC’s election night newscasts.

When I worked in television, also at NBC, I was deeply impressed by the high ethical standards and absolute intolerance of any violations whatsoever.  (I am also choking on these words and trying to contain my laughter.)

Another example for the children of America. 

Mr. Olbermann reports receiving massive amounts of support and sympathy.  Why not?  These are people who think terrorists are treated too harshly.

November 8, 2010     Permalink