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APRIL 20,  2011

GLOBAL WARMING ALERT – AT 11:05 P.M. ET:  Darlings, you just know that global warming is involved here, even though we can't get these conservative no-nothings to understand what we understand.  What are we going to do with them?  I weep:

CHICAGO (CBS) – Not only has Chicago dealt with chilly rain, hail and even snow this week, but temperatures Tuesday were at their lowest for this late spring date since the 1940s.

You see, the fools don't understand that this is global warming.  And if it's hot, it's also global warming.  And if nothing unusual occurs, that too is global warming. 

CBS 2 Meteorologist Megan Glaros says the high Wednesday is expected only to reach 46 degrees with a peek or two of sunshine, but the chilly conditions will make it feel like winter never ended. As of 6:45 a.m., the temperature in Chicago was just 34 degrees. 

And...

In the early evening hours, just walking a few blocks along the streets of Chicago felt like going out to sea in an open boat during a rainstorm in northern Canada. Anyone walking against the wind was blasted continuously in the face with cold droplets of rain, and given the strength of the winds, an umbrella was as good as useless.

You look at those capitalist smokestacks belching smoke into the atmosphere, and sending it to our Third World brothers and sisters.  They're the cause of this.

Is Barack the only one who knows?

April 20, 2011       Permalink

JUSTICE FOR COLE VICTIMS? – AT 4:41 P.M. ET:  The attack on the USS Cole in a harbor in Yemen occurred more than 10 years ago.  Some 17 American sailors were killed, and 40 wounded.  Now there may be justice for the families of the victims: 

The Defense Department announced Wednesday that it is seeking the death penalty against a Guantanamo Bay detainee in connection with the USS Cole bombing in Yemen more than a decade ago.

Military prosecutors have re-filed terrorism and murder charges against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, of Saudi Arabia, the first case to move forward since President Obama ordered military trials to resume at Guantanamo Bay. The charges allege that Al-Nashiri led the planning and preparation for the USS Cole attack that blew a hole in the ship, killing 17 sailors and wounding another 40.

Al-Nashiri was first charged in 2008, but those charges were later withdrawn after President Obama took office, as his administration undertook a sweeping review of the Guantanamo Bay detention program. Al-Nashiri had been waterboarded during the Bush administration.

The Defense Department said Wednesday that the suspect will now be charged with a number of severe counts, including murder in violation of the law of war, terrorism and attempted murder.
The charges are referred to the Convening Authority for Military Commissions, which presides over the war crimes tribunals at the U.S. base in Cuba.

The USS Cole case had already been designated for a military trial by Attorney General Eric Holder in November 2009. But because the process stalled for political reasons, it took more than 17 months for the case to move forward.

COMMENT:  It's about time.  After the Cole attack there was a spate of stories about how the American ambassador to Yemen was blocking a full probe in order to avoid hurting our relations with Yemen.  Now, maybe, there'll be some justice.

We're fortunate that this bird will be tried before a military tribunal, whose members will understand the brutality of the attack on the Cole, which almost sank the ship.

April 20, 2011      Permalink

QUAGMIRE IN LIBYA? – AT 10:25 A.M. ET:  John Bolton, whose mind is sharper on a bad day than Obama's is on his best day, warns about an American quagmire in Libya, with disastrous consequences.  Again, as in Vietnam, the issue is our national will, not our ability.  From the New York Post:

Opponents of the Vietnam War -- that seemingly endless, inconclusive, increasingly unpopular and ever-more-deadly and costly conflict -- called it a "quagmire." They said it was unwinnable and should never have been fought -- and that America must avoid similar future wars. Today, our real risk of "quagmire" is Libya.

Our Nobel Peace Prize-winning president has gotten things badly wrong. By demanding Moammar Khadafy's ouster while restricting US military force to the more limited objective of protecting innocent civilians, President Obama has set himself up for massive strategic failure.

And...

Of course, Vietnam became a "quagmire" because of US unwillingness to persevere to reach our legitimate objectives. Obama entirely ignored the critical point that Gen. Creighton Abrams' strategy had placed us on the path to victory in Vietnam, and that it was a failure of American will, not battlefield defeat, that humbled us there.

Bolton feels that two things are needed to prevent Libya from becoming Obama's Vietnam:

First, we must reverse course immediately and declare regime change to be our military objective, followed by substantial airstrikes against Khadafy's military forces, whether or not they are imminently threatening civilians...

...Second, because Libya's opposition leadership is still inchoate at best, we must identify anti-Khadafy figures who are pro-Western and find ways, overt or covert, to strengthen their hands. This will help both in opposing Khadafy today, and in any post-Khadafy government. Without confidence in the soundness of the opposition leaders, there is no justification for NATO supplying even light weapons, whose ultimate destination we can only guess. Failing to identify reliable leaders now will make any post-Khadafy regime, already problematic, potentially even more dangerous.

And...

Our president's most muscular recent action was to co-author an opinion article with Britain's David Cameron and France's Nicholas Sarkozy. This plainly reflects Obama's view that writings and speeches are all that a president is really required to do. Sadly, of course, articles and speeches are simply the articulation of policy, not policy in action. Nor do op-eds constitute leadership.

Finally, and most devastating:

Woodrow Wilson once wrote about himself: "I am a vague, conjectural personality, more made up of opinions and academic prepossessions than of human traits and red corpuscles." Dreamer that he was, Wilson could have been describing his ideological descendant, Barack Obama. What we need right now is exactly the opposite of Wilson's presidential persona, or we shall surely see a true quagmire in Libya.

COMMENT:  Remember that last paragraph.  Obama is a mix of Woodrow Wilson and Jimmy Carter, a mix that's a recipe for one disaster after another.  Increasingly, Obama is not taken seriously in other countries.  At least Bush led, at least he was decisive. 

And yet Obama may well be reelected.  With no political constraints on him in a second term, you can only imagine what his foreign policy will be.

April 20, 2011       Permalink

THE DECIDING ISSUE? – AT 9:12 A.M. ET:  We've said here that gas prices at the pump could be the deciding issue in the 2012 campaign.  They severely hurt Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s.  Now the president who is most like Carter is plagued with them.  How bad is it? 

UPI reports that, in Washington, D.C., where the president sometimes visits, gasoline prices charged by at least one station have hit the five-dollar mark.  There is no end in sight.  Planning in millions of families has been completely disrupted.  Consider what is happening in Western and rural areas, where people have to drive many miles a day just to get to work.  And consider the ultimate impact on food prices.  Those huge vans you see parked outside your local supermarket run, of course, on gasoline.

The president is blaming speculators:

(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday blamed speculators for driving gasoline prices higher and straining American consumers, saying there was enough oil in world markets to meet demand.

Speaking at a community college in suburban Virginia, Obama said increasing production of U.S. oil and creating a market for fuel-efficient cars would help meet the country's energy challenges.

Increasing production?  Did he say "increasing production"?  Where have you been, Mr. President?

"I know that if you've got a limited budget and you just watch that hard-earned money going away to oil companies that will once again probably make record profits this quarter, it's pretty frustrating," he said.

Rising fuel prices are a persistent concern for the White House, which is worried about their impact on the economy and on voters' wallets as Obama runs for re-election.

COMMENT:  Of course, the president has a point.  There is plenty of speculation going on, and it should be exposed by a vibrant press.  And yes, there may have to be regulations to rein it in.  Just as the Constitution isn't a suicide pact, neither is the free-enterprise system.  Something is wrong somewhere.

Indeed, Saudi Arabia is actually cutting production, claiming there is probably too much of a supply of petroleum right now.  Whether that's true or not is another story entirely.

What we do know is that we're dependent on foreign oil, and yet we have plenty of untapped petroleum in the United States.  Environmental ideologists have blocked attempts to get at it.  We are certainly in favor of the environment, but there have to be practical decisions made, that take into account the economic needs of the American people.

If gasoline goes to five dollars across the country, the disruptions will be enormous.  So will the political implications...unless the Republicans self-destruct, which is not out of the realm of possibility.

April 20, 2011      Permalink

ON THE USE OF A WORD – AT 8:52 A.M. ET:  There's an old saying that he who controls the vocabulary controls the country.  We've not done enough at Urgent Agenda to alert readers to what we see as the misuse of words to create an effect.  So let us begin today.

The first word on our list is "entitlement."  Notice how it's always used in relation to Social Security and Medicare, the better to make us think that this is something the government is doing for us, a favor, a gift to which we are entitled.

The problem is, neither Social Security nor Medicare are entitlement programs, and I wish conservatives would stop going along with the term.  They are insurance programs.  We pay into them.  We are required to.  Hey, guys, that's our money you're using.  Hasn't anyone in Washington noticed the fact that we pay a Social Security tax?  Hasn't anyone noticed that we pay Medicare premiums?

It's clear, of course, that the taxes and premiums are not covering the cost of the programs.  That has to be fixed, and a number of proposals are floating around.

But please, these are not entitlements.  No one is giving us any gifts.  We are policyholders, even though the insurance policies we hold are getting wobbly.

April 20, 2011       Permalink 

ROYAL WEDDING WORRIES – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  And you thought we had security worries.  The royal wedding will be held in London next week, and Con Coughlin, resident terror expert at the Telegraph, is worried:

I hate to sound a sour note on what otherwise promises to be a truly joyful occasion, but for those responsible for ensuring the Royal Wedding goes off without incident the event is proving to be something of a security nightmare.

The Government’s decision to ban a protest planned by Muslims Against Crusades has highlighted the fact that not everyone in this fair isle wishes the happy couple well...

...I’m told that in Yemen the al-Qaeda cell run by Anwar al-Awlaki is working day and night to launch a terror attack against the UK (this is the group behind the ink cartridge bombs discovered at East Midlands Airport at the end of last year). So it is logical that the group would want to take advantage of the mass crowds gathering in London to launch an attack.

COMMENT:  The wedding is an obvious terror target, and remember to include the IRA as a group Coughlin is worried about.  Britain has become a center for Islamist extremism, and will be a target again as London hosts the 2012 summer Olympics. 

Not everyone wishes the royal couple well.  Security is very tight in London and growing tighter. 

...we should give our security forces all the help and support they need to make sure that is the case. That means we must all be vigilant, and report any suspicious activity immediately to the appropriate authorities.

Yes indeed.

April 20, 2011      Permalink

APRIL 19,  2011

DEFENSE CUTS – POSSIBLY DANGEROUS ONES – ARE COMING – AT 11:04 P.M. ET:  One of the things that, naturally, is not being emphasized by the mainstream media is the reality of sizable defense cuts that Barack Obama wants make inevitable.

Now, there may well be things that can be cut, and surely the Pentagon can do a better job on procurement.  However, after years of deployments and active post-9/11 operations, the defense budget doesn't have all that much fat.  There are enormous international challenges ahead, and American influence will depend, as always, on America's perceived strength.  Obama is increasingly seen as a weak, leftist president, but America still has a powerful military.  The dream of the left is to weaken that, too.  From The Hill:

Defense insiders on and off Capitol Hill increasingly acknowledge more cuts are ahead for the Pentagon as lawmakers and the administration intensify their efforts to reduce the nation’s deficit.

They say the political battle will focus on the size and nature of spending reductions and that major weapons programs could be spared from the cuts.

President Obama has set a marker of reducing defense spending by $400 billion through 2023.

This promises new cuts to his 2012 budget request, made just a few months ago, of $553 billion for the Pentagon.

While the president demagogues any cuts in social programs, and has no problem with the federal government subsidizing National Public Radio, he is proposing severe cuts to our national defense.  He represents a branch of hjis party that has historically been hostile to defense. 

Our Navy has already been cut severely, and many of our ships are worn out.  We have pilots flying planes that are older than they are. 

I'd like to point out that this president has already shattered many of NASA's dreams. 

As each day goes by, it becomes clear that Obama is what we feared he is – a man who will weaken this country, yet pursue social programs that produce dubious results.  The mainstream media will be indifferent.  Will the American people catch on in time?

April 19, 2011      Permalink

CHILDREN'S PLAY NEWS – AT 10:41 P.M. ET:  New York State is protecting its citizens again.  We are inspired:

Syracuse, N.Y. -- State health officials today yanked proposed rules that defined childhood games like tag, Whiffleball and Red Rover as posing a significant risk for injury – a definition that would have forced some summer day camps to follow more costly and stringent state regulations.

The proposed regulations were part of a new law, which took effect April 1, meant to ensure safer policies at camps that now fall outside of health officials’ scrutiny.

But by attaching certain activities – like Dodgeball, Capture the Flag, and Steal the Bacon – to a list that also included scuba diving, archery and shooting rifles, health officials admitted they had gone too far.

“We believe that it would be appropriate for us to withdraw it and redraft it,” said Claudia Hutton, a spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Health.

In recent days, health department officials were slow to respond to questions about the policy, issuing brief written statements and advising those with concerns to make public comments on the proposed rules.

COMMENT:  I'd love to be there at some of those meetings where they draw up those rules, wouldn't you?  "Now we come to Whiffleball, a serious threat to our youth."  And can you imagine the discussion about "Capture the Flag"?  Not only can someone get a knee scrape, but the sheer nationalistic fervor that can be generated!  I mean, these kids in camp can start a war.  Or a Fourth Reich!  Don't tell me that "Capture the Flag" is just a game.

Only in places like New York and California, folks.  I know this crowd well.

But remember, it's for the children.

April 19, 2011       Permalink

FAILURE IN LIBYA – AT 11:04 A.M. ET:  When you have amateurs in charge, this is what happens.  From the Los Angeles Times:

Reporting from Washington and Benghazi, Libya— A month ago in Libya, troops loyal to Moammar Kadafi were advancing on opposition-held areas, tens of thousands of civilians feared for their lives, and rebel forces appeared in disarray with little prospect of driving Kadafi from power.

After four weeks and hundreds of airstrikes by the U.S. and its NATO allies, in many ways little has changed.

Kadafi's tanks and artillery no longer threaten the de facto rebel capital of Benghazi in eastern Libya, and Kadafi's combat aircraft and helicopter gunships are grounded. But the disorganized rebel forces are still outmatched and outnumbered by Libyan army units, which, along with their leader, show no sign of giving up.

Rather, Kadafi has intensified his counteroffensive in recent days. Human rights groups accused Kadafi's military of using cluster bombs and truck-mounted Grad rockets to bombard residential areas of Misurata, the only city in western Libya still in rebel hands.

"We rushed into this without a plan," said David Barno, a retired Army general who once commanded U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. "Now we're out in the middle, going in circles."

The failure of the international air campaign to force Kadafi's ouster, or even to stop his military from shelling civilians and recapturing rebel-held towns, poses a growing quandary for President Obama and other NATO leaders: What now?

COMMENT:  And they don't have an answer.  Imagine being the government of North Korea and Iran today, looking at the United States.  What would you see?  You'd see weakness and indecision.  This is what gets nations into trouble, and we are in deep trouble.

April 19, 2011       Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 9:40 A.M. ET:

From London's Telegraph:  A group called Muslims Against Crusades has applied for permission to protest outside Westminster Abbey on the day of the royal wedding, Scotland Yard said.

They're right!  These Crusades have got to stop!  Do you know what it's like to see a guy on a horse, in armor and carrying a spear, charging right at you?

April 19, 2011      Permalink

YOUR U.N. AT WORK – SEND IN THOSE DOLLARS – AT 9:08 A.M. ET:  Who cares about revolutions in the Mideast?  Who wants to be distracted by nuclear proliferation?  Terrorism?  What's that?  The U.N. has more important things to do, as Fox reports:

United Nations diplomats on Wednesday will set aside pressing issues of international peace and security to devote an entire day debating the rights of “Mother Earth.”

A bloc of mostly socialist governments lead by Bolivia have put the issue on the General Assembly agenda to discuss the creation of a U.N. treaty that would grant the same rights found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to Mother Nature.

Treaty supporters want the establishment of legal systems to maintain balance between human rights and what they perceive as the inalienable rights of other members of the Earth community -- plants, animals, and terrain.

I'm especially passionate about giving voting rights to terrain.

Communities and environmental activists would be given more legal power to monitor and control industries and development to ensure harmony between humans and nature. Though the United States and other Western governments are supportive of sustainable development, some see the upcoming event, “Harmony with Nature,” as political grandstanding -- an attempt to blame environmental degradation and climate change on capitalism.

Y'think?

“The concept ‘Mother Earth’ is not universally accepted,” said a spokesman from the British Mission to the U.N. about Bolivia’s proposal. “In general, our view is that we should focus on tackling important sustainable development issues through existing channels and processes.”

What?  You mean not everyone agrees that plants should have freedom of the press?  These Brits.  Colonialist exploiters of plants!  Pass it on.

April 19, 2011       Permalink

WHERE OBAMA STANDS – AT 8:45 A.M. ET:  A new Washington Post/ABC News poll actually provides better news for Obama than some other recent surveys, but the numbers will still not provide much happiness at the White House.  It's clear that the president must depend primarily on the Republicans nominating a weak, unexciting candidate, something Republicans are adept at doing:

Deepening economic pessimism has pushed down President Obama’s approval rating to a near record low, but he holds an early advantage over prospective 2012 rivals in part because of widespread dissatisfaction with Republican candidates, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

In the survey, 47 percent approve of the job Obama is doing, down seven points since January. Half of all Americans disapprove of his job performance, with 37 percent saying they “strongly disapprove,” nearly matching the worst level of his presidency.

But...

In hypothetical matchups for the general election, the president runs ahead of all seven potential GOP rivals tested in the new poll.

If the election were held now, Romney and Huckabee would mount the stiffest challenges, trailing Obama by four and six percentage points respectively, among all Americans as well as among registered voters.

Obama has double-digit leads over the other five tested — a dozen points against Trump and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), 15 against Newt Gingrich and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and 17 points over Palin.

Despite his current advantage over the Republican field, Obama remains vulnerable with an approval rating again less than 50 percent. A majority of those younger than 40 give the president positive ratings, but most of those 40 and older disapprove.

COMMENT:  The political facts are taking shape:  Obama is not a popular president, but the GOP doesn't have any candidates currently seen by the voters as compelling.

However, an important caveat:  This poll was taken among a sampling of 1,001 "adults."   Such a sampling tends to tilt Democratic.  A more accurate sample would be "registered voters," and a much more accurate sample would be "likely voters."  So, the real numbers for the president are probably worse than the Washington Post/ABC News poll indicates, but it doesn't change the fact that the GOP contenders are not getting widespread applause.

April 19, 2011       Permalink

DOING WHAT THUGS DO BEST – AT 8:21 A.M. ET:  From Fox:

BEIRUT – Syrian security forces opened fire before dawn on hundreds of anti-government protesters staging a sit-in, shooting live ammunition and tear gas before chasing them through the streets for hours, witnesses said Tuesday.

There were casualties but the exact number was not immediately clear.

"They shot at everything, there was smoke everywhere," an activist in the central city of Homs told The Associated Press by telephone, asking that his name not be used because he feared for his personal safety. "I saw people on the ground, some shot in their feet, some in the stomach."

A few days ago President Bashar Assad of Syria went on TV to announce some "reforms," none of which would loosen his grip on power.  It's pretty clear that the "reforms" satisfied no one. 

The streets were largely deserted by early afternoon, with people staying inside their homes.

Hundreds of people had gathered Monday at Clock Square in the center of Homs, bringing mattresses, food and water to the site for an Egypt-style standoff. They vowed to stay until President Bashar Assad is ousted -- a brazen escalation of the monthlong uprising against the country's authoritarian regime.

Western countries, including the United States, are putting remarkably little pressure on Assad to go – contrast please with the heat we put on Mubarak of Egypt.  This may be because of lessons learned in Egypt and Libya – that we really don't know who the opposition is, and what it will do with Syria if it takes power.  It's the Mideast, after all, where failure is not only an option, it's often the preferred strategy.

April 19, 2011        Permalink