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I appeared on Silvio Canto Jr.'s excellent talk show from Dallas yesterday.  It's here.

FEBRUARY 8,  2011

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS – AT 8:59 P.M. ET:  Al Gore sure has standards.  First, he hitches his wagon to the falling star of global warming.  Then Tipper leaves him.  Now Keith Olbermann, known for his wildly irresponsible rants at MSNBC, which eased him out, is embraced by the former vice president:

Former MSNBC "Countdown" host Keith Olbermann confirmed at a news conference Tuesday he will host a new nightly prime time news and commentary show on Current TV.

The network, which counts former vice president and Internet creator Al Gore as one of its founders, did not say when the show would begin, except "later in 2011."

Olbermann is believed to have a noncompete clause in his exit agreement with MSNBC that keeps him off television for several months. Which should give fans just enough time to find his new network.

"Nothing is more vital to a free America than a free media, and nothing is more vital to my concept of a free media than news produced independently of corporate interference," Olbermann said.

Olbermann will be executive producer of his program. He'll also become the network's chief news officer.
In a conference call, Gore said, "I can assure you everyone at Current is extremely excited and honored that Keith Olbermann has selected Current TV as the new home of his independent voice."

COMMENT:  My, how the mighty have fallen.  This move will increase Current TV's viewership from six to eight.

February 8, 2011       Permalink

A DISTURBING REPUBLICAN FAILURE – AT 8:18 P.M. ET:  This does not bode well for Republicans in the House.  From Fox News:

House Republicans on Tuesday night failed to extend for nine months three key surveillance tools that are part of the nation's post-Sept. 11 anti-terror law in a misstep for the new GOP leadership.

The Republicans brought the bill to the floor Tuesday under a procedure requiring a two-thirds majority for passage. But with 26 Republicans joining Democrats in opposing the extension of the USA Patriot Act provisions, the vote was 277-148, seven short of what was needed for passage.

The bill would have extended until Dec. 8 provisions dealing with roving wiretaps, FBI access to business records and surveillance of non-U.S. "lone wolf" terrorist suspects. The provisions expire on Feb. 28 without House and Senate actions.

Democrats immediately seized on the snafu. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., predicted this could be a sign of things to come when Republicans are divided.

"I think they are clearly going to have difficulty," he told Fox News. Hoyer noted that in his opinion, Republicans had two responses -- one from Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and one from Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.

COMMENT:  Disturbing, to say the least.  Even the Obama White House, not exactly a right-wing bastion, is in favor of extending the provisions of the Patriot Act.  True, some lawmakers have raised Constitutional concerns, but rejection of an extension is not a way to deal with those concerns.  The national security of Americans is involved here, and American lives, to be specific. 

There is still time for Congress to act responsibly before the provisions expire on February 28th.  Do so.

February 8, 2011      Permalink 

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 2:41 P.M. ET:

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama finally has kicked the habit, Michelle Obama said Tuesday.  "Yes, he has," the first lady told reporters at the White House when asked whether her husband had finally done what millions of Americans can't seem to do and quit smoking. "It's been almost a year."She said she didn't know exactly when he quit "because he never smoked a lot" and she never saw him light up.

She never saw him light up?  Really?  Would you buy a used car from this woman? 

February 8, 2011       Permalink

ANOTHER EGYPTIAN HEADACHE – AT 9:50 A.M. ET:  Just when we thought it was safe to have a revolution in Egypt, some nasty journalist brings us back to reality.  The reality in this case is that we may have a technological Iran problem along the ancient Nile.  From NBC News:

With Egypt in revolt and the country’s future uncertain, concern is growing over whether a new government in the Arab world’s most militarily and industrially advanced country could accelerate an arms race in one of the world’s most volatile regions.

At the heart of the concern is intelligence indicating that Egypt has quietly carried out research and development on weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, chemical, biological and missile technology.

The research and development has continued virtually without pause over the past three decades, according to interviews with U.S. officials and a review of intelligence and other government documents by NBC News.
Specifically, the intelligence indicates that Egypt has carried out experiments in plutonium reprocessing and uranium enrichment, helped jump-start Saddam Hussein’s missile and chemical weapons programs in Iraq, and worked with Kim Jong Il on North Korea’s missile program.

“If we found another country doing what they’ve done, we would have been all over them,” said a former U.S. intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

COMMENT:  This has to be a matter of the highest concern.  This research can not only be used to build Egyptian weapons of mass destruction, but, as the story indicates, can be passed to other countries and groups, especially if the Muslim Brotherhood infiltrates inside the Egyptian government. 

More gray hair.

February 8, 2011      Permalink

THE BOTTOM LINE IN FOREIGN POLICY – AT 8:59 A.M. ET:   The Washington Times has a fine editorial outlining the damage that Barack Obama has done to this nation's credibility in the conduct of his looney-tunes foreign policy: 

Osama bin Laden warned Arab regimes that the United States always abandons its friends when the going gets tough. President Obama is proving bin Laden was right.

Get this, and savor it:

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews admits he feels “ashamed as an American” for the way Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak is being treated. “We’re not handling it the way Americans should handle matters like this,” he said Friday. “I don’t feel right about it. And Barack Obama, as much I support him in many ways, there is a transactional quality to the guy that is chilling.” Mr. Matthews explained that in relationship politics, “You treat your friends a certain way. You’re loyal to them. And when they’re wrong, you try to be with them, you try to stick with them.”

Chris Matthews said that?  CHRIS MATTHEWS?  The guy who got a tingle up his leg in 2008 when he heard Obama speak?

Lyndon Johnson once said, during Vietnam, that if he'd lost Walter Cronkite, he'd lost America.  Is Obama now saying that if he's lost Chris Matthews, he's lost the entire lunatic fringe?

On Saturday, former Vice President Dick Cheney reminded us that Mr. Mubarak is a reliable U.S. ally. His government received billions in U.S. aid over the last 30 years and consistently lived up to expectations...

...Mr. Mubarak‘s government has been stalwart in the war on terrorism. In the 1990s, Egypt was one of the front-line states combating the rising wave of Islamic radicalism...

...One of the most dependable, pro-American members of the Mubarak regime is recently appointed Vice President Omar Suleiman, who since 1993 has been director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Service. Mr. Suleiman has a long-standing relationship with the United States dating back to his training at the U.S. Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg and has worked closely with the CIA on critical issues such as the increasing radicalization of Hamas in Gaza and blunting Iranian influence operations in the region. He holds a dim view of Islamist parties – particularly the Muslim Brotherhood – and wants to keep his country on the path of Westernization and modernization.

The problem is, some elements in Obama's base, and probably Obama himself, believe that the United States is the bad guy in the Muslim world.  The Muslim Brotherhood?  Why, they simply have an alternative cultural perspective.  You actually hear talk like that.

What if the hardline Muslim Brotherhood actually takes power? The State Department simply shrugs that the brotherhood is “a fact of life in Egypt.” Unfortunately, no matter what government succeeds Mr. Mubarak’s administration, Egypt and the rest of America’s beleaguered allies will know one thing: They can’t trust Barack Obama.

COMMENT:  No they can't.  No doubt Obama will ask for further concessions from the Israelis to get the "peace process" back on track.  If you were the prime minister of Israel, what would you do?  Would you put your faith in a man who has a large bus parked outside the White House, under which he throws former friends?

February 8, 2011      Permalink

AUTOMOTIVE NEWS – AT 8:32 A.M. ET:  Have you ever wondered what happened to those stories about unintended acceleration by Toyota vehicles?  We were led to believe by the painstream media that if we entered a Toyota Camry we were surely going to our end. 

Well, apparently the "defect" has been studied, and guess what?  From The Los Angeles Times:

An investigation into sudden acceleration in Toyota and Lexus vehicles by the nation's space agency is expected to report Tuesday that no significant electronic defects have been found, though the issue requires continued monitoring, according to automotive electronics and safety experts.

The NASA report was commissioned by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after thousands of owners complained that their Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles accelerated unexpectedly, causing dozens of deaths.

I wonder how many of the "thousands" had dreams of cash settlements in exchange for shutting up?

The study was launched in March in the wake of three congressional investigations. It is scheduled to be made public at a press conference in Washington.

Although NASA and NHTSA have closely guarded the contents of the study, automotive safety experts say a dramatic finding is unlikely — saying that if NASA engineers had found a defect, the government probably would have asked Toyota to issue a public notice and recall.

"If they had found something already, we would have heard about it," said Jim Mucciola, an automotive electronics consultant in Detroit and a member of an electronics compatibility committee on the Society of Automotive Engineers. "So far, it has been very quiet."

COMMENT:  At one time the Audi automobile was essentially destroyed in America – it has since made a comeback – by reports of "unintended acceleration," which were eventually disproved. 

These "tragedies" take on a life of their own, and are fodder for people who hate car makers or who believe they can make some quick money.  True, there have been validated reports of unintended acceleration when car mats get jammed under the accelerator pedal, but actually jamming on the brake will usually override that.  If not, throwing the car into neutral or just turning off the ignition should do the trick.  When I hear claims by experienced drivers that they traveled miles on a highway with a car out of control, I really do wonder. 

One of our readers, who has a fine background in the automotive field, tells us that he knows of only one confirmed case of true unintended acceleration, and that it occurred in a vehicle in the White House motor pool whose computer was affected by powerful communications equipment installed in the car.  The problem was quickly fixed. 

February 8, 2011      Permalink

ANOTHER NAIL IN THE DEMOCRATIC COFFIN – AT 8:19 A.M. ET:  The Democratic Leadership Council, home to centrist Democrats since the Clinton era, is going out of business, as The Politico reports:

The centrist Democratic Leadership Council, which fought and largely won a battle for the soul of the Democratic party in the 1990s, is on the verge of bankruptcy and is closing its doors, its founder, Al From, confirmed Monday.

The group’s decision to “suspend operations” marks the conclusion of a long slide from its peak of relevance in the Clinton era, and perhaps the beginning a battle over its legacy, as the organization’s founders and allies argue that it has been a victim of its own success – and its liberal critics are already dancing on its grave.

“A taproot of contemporary centrist ferment is no longer in business,” said Will Marshall, who co-founded the DLC and its allied think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute. PPI, which Marshall still runs, spun off from the DLC in 2009 and is one of a small handful of self-styled moderate groups seeking the DLC’s mantle as the true home for moderate Democrats.

The DLC more closely represented the Democratic Party as it was during the time of its greatness, a time of decades ago when "national defense" Democrats led the party.  The demise of DLC, for whatever reason, symbolizes once more that the Democratic Party is moving further and further leftward, and toward the sneering elitism of the Nancy Pelosi crowd.

There are those who say that the DLC is no longer needed, since President Obama is moving toward the center.  I'll believe that when I actually see it.

What we hope is that the increasingly leftist Democratic Party will soon be consigned to permanent minority status, incapable of inflicting much harm.  On to 2012.

February 8, 2011     Permalink

FEBRUARY 7,  2011

JUST WHAT WE NEED – AT 8:59 P.M. ET:  The chaos in Egypt is providing a cynical opportunity for Al Jazeera, the news organization sponsored by the emir of Qatar.  Al Jazeera wants to expand its English-language "service" to the United States.  The New York Times dutifully reports:

Al Jazeera stands to benefit greatly from its protest coverage, a fact not lost on the network, which has been placing advertisements in major American newspapers. The live reports strengthen the network’s already tight grip on its Arabic-language viewing public, while bolstering its argument that cable and satellite distributors in the United States should make the English version available to American viewers.

A sense of mission — and of opportunity — permeates the Al Jazeera compound on the outskirts of Doha, where on Friday the televised cries of antigovernment protesters resounded through the hallways at all hours along with the ringing of cellphones and the shouts of news anchors. Staff members were well aware they faced stiff challenges — from opponents who wish Al Jazeera off the air and skeptics who doubt the objectivity of a network backed by the emir of Qatar.

Yeah, I'd have a problem with their objectivity.  Jimmah Carter recently announced that he watches Al Jazeera, which should convince anyone above the mental age of ten that there might be something dubious about their coverage.

Since its inception in 2006, Al Jazeera English has been fighting for access to American viewers. Distributors have been unwilling to carry the service, but Mr. Anstey, the managing director, said in an interview that renewed talks with the major distributors were now under way. “There’s a growing call for Al Jazeera. That’s clear,” he said.

I'm sure they're beatin' the drums in Berkeley.

There remains a deep suspicion of Al Jazeera’s motives, however, particularly with regard to its recent protest coverage. In an essay that appeared on The Huffington Post, Marc Ginsberg, a former United States ambassador to Morocco and a former contributor to Fox News, accused Al Jazeera of acting “more and more like a ‘Wizard of Oz’ type instrument for social upheaval in the region — whether or not it brings to power Salafi extremists is immaterial to its mission.”

COMMENT:  Observers I respect, like John Fund of The Wall Street Journal, report that Al Jazeera has improved – they once employed a spy for Saddam Hussein – but I still think they have quite a way to go.  Also, Americans would certainly feel uneasy about a news organization financed by a despot.  We're not too big on emirs here. 

I'd imagine that some systems in the U.S. will start to carry Al Jazeera, and it will be watched by the same crowd that watches the BBC on public television, and thinks it's getting the news because the accents are so neat.  But I wouldn't want democracy's future dependent on Al Jazeera's reporting.

February 7, 2011       Permalink

QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 7:52 P.M. ET:  A few days ago, British Prime Minister David Cameron severely criticized the cult of multiculturalism, which has allowed Islamic extremists to live comfortably in Britain while polite society looks the other way to avoid "offending" Islam.  The left unleashed a flood of abuse against Cameron.  The Jerusalem Post comments:

If Cameron’s speech was fair, then, what explains the broadside against him?

WHILE BRITAIN’S hard Right has deteriorated toward crude fascism, large swathes of the Left seem to have adopted a policy of cultural masochism that advocates what Christopher Hitchens has called a “one-way multiculturalism.”

Amidst a hypersensitive desire not to offend, coupled with an embarrassing, terribly self-defeating willingness to relinquish Western values, all manner of antisocial practices – such as the wearing of veils, forced marriages, even genital mutilation – are rationalized, and sometimes validated, in the name of religion, even when none of these practices is necessarily dictated by the Koran. Even honor killings, in some marginal circles, can be regarded as something less than murder because of an ostensible religious imperative. At the same time, the demand that Muslims respect British cultural norms is sometimes presented as an untenable intrusion.

Cameron was trying to articulate a sensible middle ground. The attack on him from some on the Left represents the kind of response that has thus far prevented the formation of a broad non-partisan coalition in Britain, dedicated to reasserting the values at the heart of the country’s illustrious history of democracy and liberalism.

This does not bode well, and demographics are only further complicating the cultural conundrum. The Muslim population in the UK will almost double to 5.5 million – or 10 percent of the national total – within 20 years, according to a recent Pew Research Center forecast. The Islamists’ threat itself may be crude, but fighting it entails adopting intricate cultural and political distinctions, bolstered by the firm conviction that Western ideals of freedom and liberty truly are superior. The climate of response to David Cameron’s speech suggests that many in Britain are not convinced.

COMMENT:  Wonderfully stated, with considerable application to the United States, especially our pampered, overfed universities. 

As Charles Krauthammer pointed out, Barack Obama would never have the courage to denounce the one-way multiculturalism that is practiced here, especially in our coastal liberal enclaves.  But just as Britain, under Mr. Cameron, will be expected to hoist British values, we must defend American values and never again elect a president, like Obama or Carter, who is ashamed of them.

February 7, 2011      Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 8:51 A.M. ET:

WASHINGTON —  Michelle Obama, the first lady and a healthy-eating advocate, has her sights set on a new target: the nation’s restaurants.   A team of advisers to Mrs. Obama has been holding private talks over the past year with the National Restaurant Association, a trade group, in a bid to get restaurants to adopt her goals of smaller portions and children’s meals that include healthy offerings like carrots, apple slices and milk instead of French fries and soda, according to White House and industry officials.

Think of the good side.  It keeps her out of foreign policy. 

February 7, 2011      Permalink

POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE – AT 8:39 A.M. ET:  The Democratic debacle, which started on election day, continues.  Many don't realize, with so much attention paid to congressional races, how much damage is being done to Democrats at the state level.  The Los Angeles Times, quite a liberal paper, has a devastating report: 

Reporting from Atlanta — For Democrats, Ashley Bell was the kind of comer that a party builds a future on: A young African American lawyer, he served as president of the College Democrats of America, advised presidential candidate John Edwards and spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

But after his party's midterm beat-down in November, Bell, a commissioner in northern Georgia's Hall County, jumped ship. He joined the Republicans.

Bell, 30, said he had serious issues with the healthcare law and believed that conservative "blue dog" Democrats in Congress who shared his values had been bullied into voting for it.

Bell's defection is one of dozens by state and local Democratic officials in the Deep South in recent months that underscore Republicans' continued consolidation of power in the region — a process that started with presidential politics but increasingly affects government down to the level of dogcatcher.

"I think the midterms showed you really can't be a conservative and be a member of the Democratic Party," Bell said.

Since the midterm election, 24 state senators and representatives have made the switch in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Texas.

In some cases, the ramifications have been profound: In Louisiana, defecting Democrats gave Republicans a majority in the state House for the first time since Reconstruction; in Alabama, they delivered the GOP a House supermajority. Republicans have 65 votes to the Democrats' 39, enough to pass constitutional amendments over Democratic opposition.

COMMENT:  Parties are built at the state level.  The South is truly rising again...for the party of Abraham Lincoln.

February 7, 2011       Permalink

MARINES TO MIDEAST? – AT 8:30 A.M. ET:  Business Insider has a report on deployment of more U.S. Marines to the Egyptian area:

A senior member of the US Marine corps is telling people "multiple platoons" are deploying to Egypt, a source tells us.

There is a system within the US Marines that alerts the immediate families of high-ranking marines when their marine will soon be deployed to an emergency situation where they will not be able to talk to their spouses or families.

That alert just went out, says our source.

This senior Marine told our source that the Pentagon will deploy "multiple platoons" to Egypt over the next few days and that the official reason will be ‘to assist in the evacuation of US citizens."

Our source was told that "the chances they were going over there went from 70% yesterday to 100% today."
We're keeping these people anonymous because both would get in trouble for sharing this information with the press.

COMMENT:  It's entirely legitimate to have assets in place to evacuate Americans, although Americans who want to leave seem to be getting out with no great difficulty.  The Marines, of course, might have other functions if Egypt falls apart.  This is just a preliminary advisory.

February 7, 2011      Permalink

EGYPT UPDATE – AT 8:02 A.M. ET:  Things are remarkably calm in Egypt.  Even Anderson Cooper is coming home.  The regime, which we certainly don't look upon with love, seems to be surviving, giving hope that an orderly transition to democracy can occur:

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- As protesters maintained a human chain at Cairo's Tahrir Square on Monday -- giving no indication of budging until President Hosni Mubarak steps down -- the country's new Cabinet is set to have its first meeting, according to state-run TV.

Meanwhile, as some signs of normalcy spread in shops and banks, the Egyptian finance minister said Monday that the country will auction as much as 15 billion Egyptian pounds (about $2.5 billion) in treasury bills. Samir Radwan also said the stock market could open on Wednesday.

And...

The 14th day of protests comes after Egypt's vice president, Omar Suleiman, met with representatives of key opposition groups Sunday and offered concessions -- including some that, if enacted, could bring dramatic change to the country.

Among the ideas agreed to by the two sides at the meeting, according to a report on state-run television, was a future end to the military emergency law that has been in place since President Hosni Mubarak came to power in 1981...

...The two sides also discussed steps to ensure free media and communication, and plans to form a series of committees that would oversee changes aimed at bringing about a representative government.

COMMENT:  We get the sense that many of the international celebrity reporters will soon depart.  Then we'll find out what the future really holds.  We produced a fledgling democracy in Iraq (at great cost), but we saw how hard it was to introduce democracy to a culture that had no democratic norms.  The situation in Iraq is still uncertain. 

The same problem exists in Egypt.  Will there be a truly free election?  Even more important, will there be freedom after the election?  And just as important as that, will any new Egyptian government be friendly to the U.S., and maintain the Israel-Egypt peace treaty?

But don't worry.  Barack Obama is on the case, with vast years of experience at handling crises (choke). 

February 7, 2011      Permalink

THE VIRTUE OF SILENCE – AT 7:51 A.M. ET:  Did you ever entertain the thought that Mr. Obama should occasionally avail himself of the right to shut up?

In his interview with Bill O'Reilly before yesterday's Super Bowl game, the president rambled from point to point, saying nothing much, but too often sounding foolish.

For example, regarding the Muslim Brotherhood, a fierce, anti-American, fundamentalist organization that gave birth to Al Qaeda, we got this:

"The Muslim Brotherhood is one faction in Egypt. They don't have majority support in Egypt, but they are well organized and there are strains of their ideology that are against the U.S., there's no doubt about it," Obama said. "But here's the thing that we have to understand, there are a whole bunch of secular folks in Egypt, there are a whole bunch of educators and civil society in Egypt that wants to come to the fore as well. So it's important for us not to say that our own only two options are either the Muslim Brotherhood or a suppressed people."

Yeah, that guy Hitler, he's just one fella.  Doesn't have much support.

Letting the Muslim Brotherhood into the Egyptian government is like letting a rattlesnake into your living room, with the hope it stays in a corner.  This fascistic organization has its tentacles all over the world, and has no interest in democracy.  It wants to impose Sharia law, but Mr. Obama seems unconcerned.

And those Japanese ships approaching Pearl Harbor are filled with tourists.

The president also downplayed talk that he's moved to the center, claiming he's the same guy he always was.  That's frightening enough, but it was the perception that he'd moved centrist that gave him a recent boost in the polls.  That boost is easing back, now that the truth is coming out.

Oh, do we need candidate Reagan now.

February 7, 2011     Permalink