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MAY 24,  2011

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 9:41 P.M. ET:

...the email sent recently by Kathy Witterick and David Stocker of Toronto, Canada to announce the birth of their baby, Storm, was missing one important piece of information. "We've decided not to share Storm's sex for now--a tribute to freedom and choice in place of limitation, a stand up to what the world could become in Storm's lifetime (a more progressive place? ...)," it said.

I would also imagine they're not sending out the results of the parents' most recent psychiatric exam.

May 24, 2011       Permalink

BARACK IN BRITAIN – AT 9:30 P.M. ET:  Mr. Obama is in London.  The British have made preparations, and they have included the assigning of a codename to the American president:

More than one person has wanted to call Barack Obama a 'smart alec', and now British police will get the chance to do so without getting reprimanded.

That's because Scotland Yard has tapped the codename 'Chalaque' to refer to the U.S. president for security reasons during his upcoming state visit to the United Kingdom May 24-26.

Indarjit Singh, a Punjabi speaker in the UK who is director of the Network of Sikh Organisations, told the Sunday Times the word 'is sometimes used when we want to denigrate someone who we think is too clever for their own good'.

Yeah, I can see that.  Then there's this:

The president and the orchestra at Buckingham Palace this evening were a bit out of synch.

When the president toasted the Queen the orchestra misunderstood a pause and what seemed to be a cue from the president for “God Save the Queen” to begin playing.

“Ladies and gentlemen please stand with me and raise your glasses as I propose a toast,” the president said, putting down his note cards and grabbing his glass. “To her majesty the Queen.”

The president paused, the guests stood, and the orchestra prepared to play.

But the president wasn’t done speaking.

“The vitality –“ the president said before the orchestra began.

Then the familiar tune – you might know it better as “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” – started up.

The president kept going: “ -- of the special relationship between our peoples and for the words of Shakespeare to this blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,” the president said as the awkward moment played out.

The Queen looked ahead as the UK anthem played.

“To the Queen,” the president finally said.

He lifted his glass to her, she smiled a bit uncomfortably.

But because the song was playing, no one drank from his or her glass, including the president, who put his glass down on the table.

Then once the song was over, everyone raised a glass.

COMMENT:  One of the reasons for the president's trip is to repair a relationship with Britain that has been strained since Mr. Obama took office.  His coldness to Britain, and to other American allies, has been one of the most disturbing aspect of Obama's presidency.  After all, he just got finished insulting the Israeli prime minister, snubbed the French president on a visit to Normandy, spent, I think, a couple of hours in Canada, our largest trading partner...but bowed down to a Saudi king.

Maybe things will go better after the toast.  There is work to be done and trust to be rebuilt.

May 24, 2011     Permalink

THE POOR, STARVING CHILDREN OF GAZA – NOT – AT 9:32 A.M. ET:   We are constantly being bombarded by leftist nonsense about the "desperate" situation in Gaza.  I don't know.  This, from the great Muslim journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, in the Jerusalem Post, doesn't look much like desperation to me:

The biggest Palestinian shopping mall is scheduled to open in the Gaza Strip in mid-June.

This will be the second shopping mall to open in the Gaza Strip in a year. Last July, Palestinians opened a two-story mall that includes a supermarket, international clothing stores, a food court, beauty products, a children’s playground and a restaurant.

The modern three-story complex is the first of its kind in the Palestinian territories, said Ehab al-Issawi, executive director of the Al-Hayat Tureed Company that owns the mall...

...Issawi explained that the first floor would house a huge supermarket that would consist of various departments offering food and household items as well as stationery.

The second floor would have many clothes and gift shops, while the third floor would become home to a large restaurant, a modern coffee shop, a cinema and entertainment sites for children.

COMMENT:  Who is this mall for?  Israeli tourists?  Left-wing European journalists visiting Gaza to describe the horrible conditions? 

A new flotilla of "peace activists" is set to leave Turkey soon to bring "humanitarian" supplies to Gaza.  Better they should bring themselves, go to the mall, make some purchases, and help these people build a legitimate economy.  But that's exactly what these "peace activists" don't want.  Their "narrative" requires a culture of victimization, whether true or not.

May 24, 2011      Permalink

UNDER THE RADAR – AT 9:06 A.M. ET:  A remarkable, and disturbing, event in Pakistan came in under the radar last week, but its implications are just beginning to be understood.  This is important, from Financial Times:

The brazen attack on a Pakistani naval air base has sent shockwaves through the nuclear-armed country, raising concerns about the military’s ability to protect sophisticated weaponry.

The ease with which six Taliban militants stormed the PNS Mehran base in Karachi, close to the city’s busy commercial airport, and destroyed two newly US-supplied P-3C Orion maritime surveillance aircraft has unnerved Pakistan’s military establishment...

...Pakistan’s security establishment insists that the nuclear arsenal is carefully guarded.

Some analysts, however, argue that nuclear material used in the earlier phases of weapons production is more vulnerable.

“There is more concern about the plutonium and highly enriched uranium in production facilities and laboratories, which involve considerably more people and facilities that aren’t as protected as well as military bases,” said David Albright at the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington.

“You [would worry that militants] could try to seize a reactor in order to have a very visible suicide mission where they could threaten to damage the reactor or cause a massive radiation release.”

COMMENT:  Or, they could steal nuclear material.  Please remember that building a nuclear weapon is an engineering project, not a scientific project.  The science is well known.  What militant groups need is the materials and the expertise at assembly.  Pakistan has both, and Pakistan is growing increasingly unstable. 

We simply don't take this seriously enough.  We speak of WMD, weapons of mass destruction, as if it's an abstraction.  The nuclear weapon, though, does exactly what it's supposed to do.  If two were floated into American harbors in the holds of vessels, on the same day, and set off by suicide crews, the resulting devastation would be greater than any we have experienced in our history.  We could lose, in one moment, more people than we have lost in all American wars put together. 

That is the nuclear nightmare.  And now, with Iran apparently supplying missiles to Venezuela, that nightmare can grow in our own backyard.

May 24, 2011       Permalink

A RUDY SURPRISE? – AT 8:50 A.M. ET:  Byron York, at Washington Examiner, has a story that is spreading very rapidly around the internet.  He is not the only source for this.  Rudy Giuliani may shake things up by joining the Republican race for president:

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, whose presidential campaign fizzled in 2008, is leaning toward another race for the White House, according to a close associate. New York Republican Rep. Peter King, who has known Giuliani for more than 40 years, says the former mayor "is very close to saying he's going to run."

"If he were to make the decision today, he would run," says King.

Speaking at a dinner with reporters in Washington, King, who was an enthusiastic Giuliani supporter in 2008, said the former mayor has been quietly lining up support and exploring strategy. Giuliani has also examined the mistakes his campaign made in '08, when he did not seriously compete in a contest until the Florida primary, by which time he was hopelessly behind in the race.

It's unclear what effect a Giuliani candidacy would have on the primary campaign. There is an ongoing conversation among Republican political insiders about supposed voter unhappiness with the GOP field, and after Indiana governor Mitch Daniels' decision not to run, pundits and strategists have focused on hopes that New Jersey governor Chris Christie or House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan might be coaxed into running. Others have mentioned the name of former Florida governor Jeb Bush. Few observers have looked to Giuliani as a possible savior of the Republican Party.

Yet there are some indicators to encourage the former mayor. In a new poll of New Hampshire Republicans released Monday by television station WMUR, Giuliani tied for third, well behind frontrunner Mitt Romney but ahead of Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin, Daniels, Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, and Herman Cain. When WMUR asked New Hampshire GOP primary voters which candidate is the strongest leader, Giuliani placed second to Romney, although a distant second. If Giuliani were to run, he would likely focus his efforts on the Granite State.

COMMENT:  I'm a Giuliani fan, but I must tell you that I think Rudy's time is past.  He's 9-11, and it's ten years out from 9-11.  Rudy was a great mayor, but has a hard time with strategy that extends beyond security and crime-fighting.  His 2008 race for the nomination was abysmal.  He has the image of great mayor, not president.  He also has a messy family life, with a son who is apparently estranged.

Further, Rudy is a man who is admired, not liked.  Despite his legendary reputation, the public didn't warm to him his last time out as a presidential contender.

And yet, you never know.  Rudy is a strong leader, and with the right guidance might overcome his deficits.  I hope he gets in.  Let's look him over again.  He can be especially potent if we face a national-security crisis in 2012.

May 24, 2011      Permalink 

BULLETIN:  NEW DATE FOR END OF WORLD – AT 8:38 A.M. ET:  Please mark your calendars this time, and let's get it right.  We have a new date for the end of the world.

A Christian radio host who predicted the apocalypse would come last Saturday, now says he made a mistake and it will occur on October 21.

California preacher Harold Camping said the Rapture will come five months to the day after May 21, his original prophecy.

The 89-year-old said he felt so bad his prediction didn't come true on Saturday, he sought refuge in a motel with his wife.

Camping made the statement to the press at the Oakland headquarters of his media empire, Family Radio International.

He also predicted the apocalypse would happen in 1994, but blamed the world's survival then on a mathematical error.

Camping had stated there was no way the Rapture would not start on Saturday at 6.p.m, and told the San Francisco Chronicle he was "flabbergasted" his doomsday prophecy didn't come about.

Camping preached some 200 million Christians would be saved and those left behind would die in a series of plagues until Earth was destroyed in a fireball on Oct. 21.

While his latest prediction was mostly met with online ridicule, some believers took it quite seriously. One man in New York spent his life savings on advertisements warning of the coming doom.

Camping's media empire has assets of more than $100 million and had $18 million in donations in 2009.

COMMENT:  People like this give true religious leaders a bad name.  The guy is running a lucrative business and depends on the vulnerable to send in cash.  Given our free-speech traditions, I'm not sure he can be shut down, but maybe there's some law that can be used against a religious scam.  I mean, the guy got $18-million in 2009 for predicting the end of the world.  I guess people felt they wouldn't need their money any longer.

On second thought, don't mark your calendar.  Go out and have a good time on October 21st.

May 24, 2011     Permalink

MAY 23,  2011

THE DISGRACE CONTINUES – AT 10:08 P.M. ET:  Of the many foreign-policy blunders of this administration, one of the worst was joining the farce known as the UN Human Rights Council, a ludicrous joke run by some of the world's worst governments. 

(CNSNews.com) – This year’s election for the U.N. Human Rights Council has, once again, produced a body that has fewer “free” countries – 21 of a total of 47 – and has more than one-third of the seats held by members of the Islamic bloc.

Among the 15 countries to win seats on the Geneva-based HRC on Friday was Congo, which joins 11 other countries ranked “not free” by the democracy advocacy group, Freedom House, based on an annual assessment of political freedoms and civil liberties.

Nonetheless, rights advocates did find some cause for cheer: In the only two regional groups to see any contest, Latin America and Eastern Europe, countries ranked “free” by Freedom House defeated candidates scoring a “partly free” grade.

COMMENT:  The United States should withdraw from this ridiculous body.  The fact that more than a third of the seats are held by the Islamic bloc, those great islands of democracy, should finally convince us that nothing honest will get done.  Joining the HRC was another one of Obama's silly ideas to show our devotion to the UN and "reach out" to countries that didn't like George Bush.  The outreach has failed completely, as has most of Obama's foreign policy.  Name a victory we have achieved?

May 23, 2011      Permalink

REMEMBER – HIGH GAS PRICES ARE GOOD FOR YOU – AT 9:55 P.M. ET:   It's really shameful that you mere citizens out there don't understand that these high gasoline prices are really good for you.  They make you a better person, a purer person.  Well, you may not understand it, but the president does.  From NRO:

A new report from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform details a disturbing “pattern of evidence” indicating that not only are the Obama administration’s energy policies responsible for higher oil and gas prices, but that the administration’s energy policy, in fact, is higher gas prices.

The report’s findings are the result of an extensive committee review of public records, policy analysis, statements and e-mails from administration officials, and reveal “a pattern of actions [that] shows the Administration is, in fact, pursuing an agenda to raise the price Americans pay for energy,” according to a copy of the report obtained by National Review Online.

“What President Obama failed to accomplish through the so-called ‘cap and trade’ program, his administration is attempting to accomplish through regulatory roadblocks, energy tax increases, and other targeted efforts to prohibit development of domestic energy resources,” the report concludes.

COMMENT:  This is absolutely scandalous.  The arrogance of it all!  A group of self-appointed philosophers believe they know what's best for your family, and will demand that you pay for it.  In the midst of the worst economic decline since the Great Depression, the administration is pursuing policies that raise prices dramatically on something we must have to live – energy.  Read the article for the full indictment.

May 23, 2011       Permalink

SNIPPET OF THE DAY – AT 10:09 A.M. ET: 

From MSNBC:  In an interview with NBC's Brian Williams, former President Jimmy Carter, who has been a target of the right through the years, lauded his own post-presidency, telling Williams, "I feel that my role as a former president is probably superior to that of other presidents."  Carter, who is out with a new book defending his legacy, backed up his assertion by saying the Carter Center goes where the United States government does not, "to fill the vacuums in the world."

Carter's problem, like Obama's, is a surplus of ego and a deficit of wisdom.

May 23, 2011       Permalink

SMART AMERICANS – AT 9:18 A.M. ET:  Why are Americans so often smarter and more aware than their leaders, especially the leaders we have now?  Americans have been following reports of the "Arab spring," and apparently don't think it's very spring-like.  From The Hill:

Sixty-one percent of likely voters believe the democratic uprisings in the Arab world that President Obama embraced in a major speech Thursday will make things more difficult for the United States, according to a new poll conducted for The Hill.

Just 20 percent of respondents said the turmoil would benefit the United States, while more than 3 in 5 said the unrest would make things more difficult. The remaining 19 percent were unsure.

The voters are correct.  We are already seeing Egypt turning away from the United States, with Obama clueless.

The national survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted on the evening of May 19, hours after Obama made his major foreign policy address at the State Department and pledged that, “It will be the policy of the United States to promote reform across the region, and to support transitions to democracy.”

The pessimistic view of the impact of the new Arab world upon the United States underscores the challenges Obama faces in navigating the nation’s response to Mideast unrest and its role in the Israel-Palestinian peace process. Other polls have shown mixed voter support for the American missions in Libya and Afghanistan.

COMMENT:  We face enormous problems in the Mideast, with Islamist elements ready to fill the power vacuum created by the "Arab spring."  Most revolutions don't end well.  That will probably be especially true in the Arab world, which has little democratic tradition or sense of modernity. 

I can't wait for Obama to propose a multi-billion-dollar aid package to an Islamist Egypt.  Get out the fire extinguishers.

May 23, 2011       Permalink

WHAT A REALITY SHOW! – AT 9:02 A.M. ET:  Are these women auditioning for a show on American television?  From The Australian: 

THE three widows of Osama bin Laden are turning on each other in custody, with two older Saudi women blaming a much younger Yemeni wife for leading American intelligence to their hideout.

Everyone knows about those Yemeni women.

"It's vicious," said a Pakistani official briefed on the interrogation of the widows. "The older wives think the younger one tipped off the Americans or was tracked when she came to join him."

The al-Qa'ida leader was living with three wives when he was killed in Abbottabad three weeks ago. Until US investigators discovered his hiding place, it was not known whether bin Laden and his family were alive. Some reports suggested that they had been killed in the US bombing of Afghanistan.

Although the compound where bin Laden hid for five years was large, the three wives were all cooped up in the same house. The older two lived on the second floor and the youngest one on the top. Their husband alternated between them. Pakistani officials who have been debriefing the women portray life in the compound as an Islamic version of Desperate Housewives.

"It's a well-known fact that when you have two older wives and then this young one comes along half their age, they don't like it," said one.

The wives even dispute who tried to protect their husband in the raid. The youngest was reported to have attempted to save him, sustaining a bullet wound to her calf. But the older wives say they were the ones who rushed to shield him.

I told you.  American TV.  Which wife will be voted out of the compound?  When she goes, Barbara Walters will be there to interview her.

And I can just hear the Emmy speech:  "I want to thank my late husband, Osama bin Laden, for inspiring me and my fellow wives..."

Book deal coming.

May 23, 2011      Permalink

SPAIN GOES RIGHT – AT 8:51 A.M. ET:  Ever since the 2004 terrorist train attacks in Madrid, Spain has been ruled by a leftist government of minimal ability and international stature.  Its prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, is considered cold to the United States.  He replaced José María Alfredo Aznar López, a great man and a friend of America.

Now the Spanish people are apparently expressing some remorse.  Zapatero's left-wing crowd has suffered a staggering electoral defeat.  From CNBC:

Spain's ruling Socialists suffered a crushing defeat to conservatives in local and regional elections Sunday, yielding power even in traditional strongholds against a backdrop of staggering unemployment and unprecedented sit-ins by Spaniards furious with what they see as politicians who don't care about their plight.

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said the result was due punishment of his government for the state of the economy — the jobless rate is a eurozone high of 21.3 percent. But he said he had no plans to move up general elections, which must be held by March of next year, and pledged to press on with job-creating reforms despite the loud outcry of opposition to his party.

The win for the conservative opposition Popular Party puts it in even a stronger position to win the general elections and return to power after eight years of Socialist rule.

COMMENT:  We would welcome back the conservative opposition, which has a responsible foreign policy.  Spain is a mess, and it's time for a change.  When the conservatives take power again it would continue a rightward trend in Europe that, while not entirely consistent, is better than the socialist alternative.

May 23, 2011       Permalink

THE DEFINITION OF TACKY – AT 8:21 A.M. ET:   Oh dear, Oh dear.  You can take the guy out of Chicago politics, but you can't take Chicago politics out of the guy.  The president is on a trip this morning.  I'm convinced he's absolutely sincere.  Aren't you?  (choke)  From The New York Times: 

DUBLIN — President Obama arrived in Ireland on Monday to make a familiar pilgrimage for an American president: returning to a country that lays claim to being one of his ancestral homes.

Landing here under blustery dark skies that soon gave way to sunshine, Mr. Obama set off to find his inner Irishman with plans to travel to Moneygall, the farming hamlet where his great-great-great-grandfather lived before immigrating to the United States in 1850.

In going to Ireland’s emerald hinterland, Mr. Obama was retracing the steps of Presidents Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton, though this product of Kenya and Kansas only learned of his Irish roots in 2007, after an inquisitive churchman tracked down his family’s records.

COMMENT:  I guess it's O'Bama from now on.  So he only learned of his "Irish roots" in 2007, did he?  I suspect that is, as they say in Ireland, blarney. 

The president is campaigning.  He is always campaigning.  Many politicians from large cities east of the Mississippi have traditionally taken the "three I" tour – Ireland, Italy, and Israel – to shore up their support among local ethnic voters.  Obama is in Ireland.  I'm sure he'll hit Italy.  Given the mess he made of things with the Israeli prime minister last week, I'd imagine an Israel trip isn't on the itinerary, no matter how many frequent flyer miles Mr. Obama has built up. 

This current trip takes the prize for cynicism.  I can just see teary-eyed souls in all the Irish pubs in America sitting around watching the news on TV saying, "He's one of us."  Not.  Not.

May 23, 2011     Permalink