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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28,  2010

THE LEAKS ARE OUT – AT 11:22 P.M. ET:  WikiLeaks has struck.  The leak of this treasure trove of diplomatic cables will seriously affect America's ability to do business.  Foreign nations will wonder why we can't keep our secrets.  Most of them do.  Consider this, published joyously by The New York Times, whose role in covering for these leaks has been disgraceful:

There was little surprising in Mr. Barak’s implicit threat that Israel might attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. As a pressure tactic, Israeli officials have been setting such deadlines, and extending them, for years. But six months later it was an Arab leader, the king of Bahrain, who provides the base for the American Fifth Fleet, telling the Americans that the Iranian nuclear program “must be stopped,” according to another cable. “The danger of letting it go on is greater than the danger of stopping it,” he said.

His plea was shared by many of America’s Arab allies, including the powerful King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who according to another cable repeatedly implored Washington to “cut off the head of the snake” while there was still time.

These warnings are part of a trove of diplomatic cables reaching back to the genesis of the Iranian nuclear standoff in which leaders from around the world offer their unvarnished opinions about how to negotiate with, threaten and perhaps force Iran’s leaders to renounce their atomic ambitions.

COMMENT:  No matter what you may think of these leaders, they deal with the U.S. on a confidential basis.  What has happened here is disgraceful.

Excellent talk show host Mike Scully sends us a quote from the conservative columnist, Max Boot, that sums up how many of us feel about what has become of our profession:

"There was a time when editors and reporters thought of themselves as citizens first and journalists second. There were damaging leaks even during World War II, but when they occurred they were generally denounced by the rest of the press. We now seem to have reached a moment when the West’s major news organizations, working hand in glove with a sleazy website, feel free to throw spitballs at those who make policy and those who execute it. This is journalism as pure vandalism. If I were responsible, I would feel shame and embarrassment. But apparently, those healthy emotions are in short supply these days."

Indeed.  Indeed.

November 28, 2010       Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 12:09 P.M. ET:

Computer programmer William Tunstall-Pedoe has calculated April 11, 1954, to be the most objectively dull day since 1900.   On that day a general election was held in Belgium, a Turkish academic was born and an Oldham Athletic footballer called Jack Shufflebotham died. Apart from that nothing much happened.

He is wrong.  The most objectively dull day was the day Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid held their first joint press conference.  Even the microphone fell asleep.

November 28, 2010       Permalink

FROM A PATRIOT – AT 11:33 A.M. ET:  John McCain, who is said to have had a sometimes awkward relationship with Sarah Palin, gives her a firm thumbs up today.  From The Politico:

CNN's Candy Crowley asked John McCain on Sunday what he thought of his former running mate Sarah Palin's book/reality show/political/self- promotion tour.

"She's keeping her options open, and i think she should," the Republican senator from Arizona said on "State of the Union. "She's an incredible force in the American political arena."

When Crowley interrupted to ask if Palin was "divisive," the senator chuckled.

"A guy named Ronald Reagan used to be viewed as divisive," said McCain, whose staff regarded Palin as a primping, under-prepared political novice at times during the 2008 campaign.

"She's doing a great job. I think she's motivated our base," he added. "She had a positive impact on the last election, and I'm proud of her."

COMMENT:  That's not a presidential endorsement, of course, but McCain is right.  Ronald Reagan was not only regarded by some pundits and party professionals as divisive, but as wild and unprepared. 

Palin isn't Reagan.  She doesn't have Reagan's background as a two-term governor of our largest state.  And she cannot, as of now, articulate the issues the way Reagan could.  But she is a tremendous motivator, one of the greatest political cheerleaders I've ever seen.  Whether she should make a presidential run is a different story, to be examined over time.  But I'm glad that McCain, after so many rumors of a split, gave her his okay.

November 28, 2010      Permalink

THESE PEOPLE ARE NUTS, AND NEED PROFESSIONAL CARE – AT 10:55 A.M. ET:   As readers know by now, there was a close terror call in Portland, Oregon.  Fortunately, the FBI prevented a Somali jihadist from blowing up a crowd of people at a Christmas celebration. 

But get this:  Portland is one of those chic, "progressive" cities that has officially refused to cooperate with the Joint Terrorism Task Force.  This is just unbelievable:

Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Police Chief Mike Reese have discussed for months whether Portland should rejoin the Joint Terrorism Task Force, a multi-agency group that investigated Friday's failed plot to set off a bomb downtown.

Five years ago, Portland became the first city in the nation to withdraw from the FBI-led task force....

...In April 2005, the City Council, led by then-Mayor Tom Potter, voted 4-1 to withdraw its two police officers from the federal task force. Potter cited the potential for trespasses against civil liberties and an inability to oversee Portland officers who would be deputized as federal agents. Commissioner Dan Saltzman cast the lone vote against withdrawal...

...Andrea Meyer, legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon, said her agency would oppose any move to put Portland police back on the task force. The ACLU argues the bureau would lose the ability to ensure its city officers are adhering to state law, which is unique in that it prohibits police from collecting and maintaining information on someone's religious beliefs.

COMMENT:  What can one say?  What can one say?  These people are adolescents.  They cannot accept the real world.  Now, they say, they're reexamining their position.  But you can be sure the usual suspects will come out of the woodwork – that's the woodwork you see on the left – and argue for Portland to maintain its "values."  Leftists are very big on maintaining their "values," no matter how many people are put at risk.

Barry Goldwater once suggested that we saw off the East Coast and send it out to sea.  May I suggest an additional piece of real estate, in the West, that could qualify.

November 28, 2010       Permalink

MAJOR VULGARITY ALERT – AT 10:39 A.M. ET:  Brace yourself.  According to reliable sources, WikiLeaks, that "service" that acquires classified U.S. documents, is about to release thousands of highly sensitive diplomatic messages sent between American embassies and the State Department.

State is already cautioning foreign nations, especially Britain and Israel, that the documents will prove highly embarrassing and can damage relations.  Translated:  These cables contain frank assessments by American diplomats of foreign leaders and their policies.

This is a potential disaster.  If diplomats cannot be assured of privacy in official communications, the assessments and advice that Washington needs cannot be delivered.  In addition, if candid comments are made public, the embarrassment can cause serious breaches in relationships.

How the hell did this happen?  How did so many documents get loose?  Clearly, we have a security problem, but the American media seems indifferent.  Indeed, it's now been reported that The New York Times has been given advance access to the highly sensitive material by WikiLeaks.  This is disgraceful, but typical of the "new" Times. 

Classified information is the property of the American people, and handled by our elected officials in Washington, and their appointees.  If legally classified, it is an outrage that any newspaper would print it.  The U.S. Government is already warning that people can be killed as a result of this anticipated document dump. 

We await the release.  It is imperative that we plug these leaks and take whatever action we can take internationally to make sure this doesn't happen again.

November 28, 2010     Permalink

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27,  2010

CRISIS IN KOREA – AT 9:44 P.M. ET:  To its credit, the administration is going ahead with military exercises with South Korea, despite North Korean threats.  But a spark could ignite this tense situation. 

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea (AP) — The United States and South Korea prepared for war games Sunday as South Koreans demanded vengeance over a deadly North Korean artillery bombardment that has raised fears of more clashes between the bitter rivals.

The North, meanwhile, worked to justify one of the worst attacks on South Korean territory since the 1950-53 Korean War. Four South Koreans, including two civilians, died after the North rained artillery on the small Yellow Sea island of Yeonpyeong, which is home to both fishing communities and military bases.

North Korea said civilians were used as a "human shield" around artillery positions and lashed out at what it called a "propaganda campaign" against Pyongyang.

It claimed the United States orchestrated last Tuesday's clash so that it could stage joint naval exercises in the Yellow Sea with the South that include a U.S. nuclear powered supercarrier — enraging the North and making neighboring China uneasy.

COMMENT:  The North Koreans are, in their mentality, stuck in Stalinist days.  They are also a major proliferator of nuclear technology.  For years, with the help of such brilliant international visionaries as Jimmah Carter, they've gotten away with murder by engaging in deceptive, prolonged negotiations.  They have violated any agreements that have come out of these talks. 

Firmness on our part now may not only deter the North, but might influence other nations, like Iran, who have also been pushing and pushing.  Laxness on our part now is the surest road to war. 

November 27, 2010    Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 11:57 A.M. ET:

(AFP) - After billions of years the Sun finally has an owner -- a woman from Spain's soggy region of Galicia said Friday she had registered the star at a local notary public as being her property.   Angeles Duran, 49, told the online edition of daily El Mundo she took the step in September after reading about an American man who had registered himself as the owner of the moon and most planets in our solar system.

Just wait 'til Spain's socialist government sends her the property tax bill.

November 27, 2010       Permalink

ARE YOU BELIEVING THIS?  OUR WONDERFUL FRIENDS IN ACTION – AT 11:21 A.M. ET:  When will we understand?  From AFP:

PAKISTANI Muslims have threatened anarchy if the Government pardons a Christian mother sentenced to death for blasphemy, calling hundreds of protesters onto the streets.

Hundreds of Muslims marched in the eastern city of Lahore after the most influential Sunni Muslim alliance in Pakistan urged the Government not to grant mother-of-five Aasia Bibi clemency.

A crowd of several hundred called for "Jihad" and pledged to sacrifice their lives to protect the honour of Muhammad.

The rally was organised by a subsidiary of banned charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which the United Nations has blacklisted as a terrorist organisation.

"We will hold nationwide protests if the government pardons the Christian woman," the subsidiary's chief coordinator, Qari Yaqub, told participants.

COMMENT:  What year is this?  I think it's 2010.  I didn't think it was the Middle Ages.

Now, where are the feminists?  Haven't heard a word.

Where are the so-called "multiculturalists"?  Nothing from them either.  Are we required to "respect" the above "cultural narrative"?  I don't think so.  I really don't.

Oh, and, finally, what "policies" of the United States led these people to think the way they do?  None.

We await editorial comment from the mainstream media.  Don't hold your breath.

November 27, 2010      Permalink

OUT OF TOUCH – AT 11:05 A.M. ET:  It is stunning to see how out of touch President Obama is.  Moreover, he doesn't seem to understand, or care about, the workings of a democracy.  From The Politico:

President Barack Obama, in a wide-ranging, reflective interview with Barbara Walters, staunchly defended his controversial policies — including sweeping health care reforms and the massive economic stimulus package — as bold but necessary steps to help transform an economy that was at the brink of collapse to one that is "growing."

"The notion that somehow you can only do one thing at once is simply not true," Obama told Walters in the interview, which aired on ABC Friday evening. "The fact is, that we stabilized the financial system ... we turned an economy that was contracting to one that was growing. We have added a million jobs over the last year to the economy."

And despite the intense criticism and political costs, the president said the health care overhaul will be "a lasting legacy that I am extraordinarily proud of."

COMMENT:  It's as if the opinions of the American people count for nothing.  Mr. Obama may be "extraordinarily proud" of the new health law, but Americans don't like it, and have said so repeatedly, most recently in this month's congressional elections.  They never wanted an overhaul.  They wanted specific reforms.  They should have been listened to, and respected.

But never mind.  Who are those peasants out there?  Why, they didn't even go to the right colleges.  Who are they to tell the Obama Palace what to do?

The president talks of adding a million jobs, but the unemployment rate is still over 10 percent, and even his own administration's employment predictions are discouraging.

And spending is out of control, another factor that American voters responded to on election day.  Our citizens can do the math.  We cannot sustain this spending and this debt. 

Mr. Obama seems to think he was given an unlimited mandate in 2008.  He was not.  And any illusion in that regard should have been dispelled by his party's loss of 63 seats in the House just weeks ago.

We expected a White House political operation as good as the one we saw in the 2008 campaign.  Instead, the White House is isolated and drifting.  There is only one man who can fix that, and so far he doesn't seem to realize that he has a problem.

November 27, 2010       Permalink

BULLETIN:  ANOTHER TERROR ATTEMPT HERE – AT 10:30 A.M. ET:  From Fox, with a hat tip to reader Joseph J. Gallick:

PORTLAND, Ore. – Federal agents in a sting operation arrested a Somali-born teenager just as he tried blowing up a van he believed was loaded with explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, authorities said.

The bomb was an elaborate fake supplied by the agents and the public was never in danger, authorities said.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Friday just after he dialed a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents and police swooping down on him.

Yelling "Allahu Akbar!" -- Arabic for "God is great!" -- Mohamud tried to kick agents and police after he was taken into custody, according to prosecutors.

COMMENT:  A great success by our security forces.  But another close call.  The guy actually pulled the trigger.  And had he not been intercepted earlier, hundreds might have been killed.

We have been so lucky so far.  And we have been blessed by the kind of effective security disparaged and ridiculed by the far left.  But there is a law of averages.  The enemy – and it is an enemy – only has to be lucky once. 

Maybe this incident will wake up some people on our flakey West Coast, where voters went to the polls on election day and elected the same liberal crowd that has trouble seeing the reality of what we face.

November 27, 2010    Permalink