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NOVEMBER 13,  2011

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:46 P.M. ET;

OBAMA TALKS TOUGH, OTHERS LAUGH – President Obama told China today that it had to follow international trade rules and stop infringing on US intellectual property.  Notice the difference?  There was little indication that China had any interest in the president's warning.  After all, what is he going to do to a country that holds so much US debt?  It is reported that, as the president spoke at an international economic summit in Hawaii, President Hu of China didn't even look him in the eye.  So much for hope and change.

BUDGET GLOOM IN WASHINGTON – This is a serious countdown.  A week and a half remains before automatic budget cuts, including catastrophic cuts to the defense budget, go into effect if a supercommittee of the Congress cannot agree on new budget reforms.  There is absolute pessimism right now, despite a Republican concession on taxes.  As the deadline approaches, of course, differences can narrow.  But if there is failure, there could be an immediate hit to markets and the economy generally.  And the Pentagon would look into a dangerous abyss.

November 13, 2011    Permalink

RIGHT ON TIME – AT 11:35 A.M. ET:   Does it ever fail?  Whenever a Republican rises to prominence, or threatens to, The New York Times runs a hit piece on him, or her.  (And the her was either Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann.)  And so The Times, having run hit pieces on Herman Cain and Rick Perry, now turns to Mitt Romney. 

This is the same paper, located a subway ride away from Columbia University, that apparently couldn't afford to send a reporter uptown in 2008 to find out why nobody at Columbia remembered Barack Obama, who graduated from the place in 1983.   This is the same paper that did no investigative vetting of Obama, setting the standard for one of the most disgraceful episodes in modern journalistic history.

But it has plenty to say about Romney:

By the green-hued yardsticks of Wall Street, the 1990s buyout of an Illinois medical company by Mitt Romney's private equity firm was a spectacular success.

Romney's company, Bain Capital, sent in a team of 10 turnaround experts from Boston to ferret out waste, motivate executives and study untapped markets.

By the time the Harvard MBA's from Bain were finished, sales at the medical company, Dade International, had more than doubled. The business acquired two of its rivals. And Romney's firm collected $242 million, a return eight times its investment.

But an examination of the Dade deal shows the unintended human costs and messy financial consequences behind the brand of capitalism that Romney practiced for 15 years.

At Bain Capital's direction, Dade quadrupled the money it owed creditors and vendors. It took steps that propelled the business toward bankruptcy. And, in waves of layoffs, it cut loose 1,700 workers in the United States.

Romney's career at Bain Capital, which he owned and ran as chief executive, is a cornerstone of his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination -- a credential, he argues, that showcases the management skills and business acumen America needs to revive a stalled economy. Creating jobs, Romney said, is exactly what he knows how to do.

The White House, though, is already preparing a less flattering portrayal, trying to frame Romney's record at Bain as evidence that he would pursue slash and burn economics and that his business career thrived by enriching the elite at the expense of the working class.

COMMENT:  Should investigative reports like this be done?  Of course.  I have no problem with a serious probe into the background of any presidential candidate.  But each Times piece on a Republican candidate comes out negative.  And in 2008 The Times tried to destroy John McCain with an ultimately false story about an alleged affair McCain had. 

I would certainly like to know more about Mitt Romney's business career.  But I would have also liked to know more about Barack Obama, either from The Times or from some other source.  Even today we know so little about Obama.  Some 450 members of the Columbia class of 1983, Obama's class, were surveyed, and no one remembered him.  He still refuses to release his academic records.   And Percy Sutton, the late, respected African-American borough president of Manhattan, said in the last years of his life that he had known Obama in Obama's youth, and knew that his education at the Harvard Law School was paid for by an Islamic supremacist.  The press buried the story, which never even appeared in Sutton's obituary.

The double standard is one of the factors destroying the credibility of American journalism.  And yet, no one learns, no one changes.  You'd think mainstream news organs would try to improve their product to compete with the new media dominating the internet.  But fear of crossing the political powers-that-be is apparently too strong in our major newsrooms.  The disservice continues.

November 13, 2011       Permalink

AT LEAST THEY'RE DOING IT IN LONDON – AT 10:58 A.M. ET:  I am always amazed at the talent displayed by the American film industry in its quest to exhibit the worst possible taste.  That extends to expressing its political views and trying to impose them on audiences who just want a few hours of entertainment.

Now, the industry that produces one failed "anti-war" movie after another, and gave an Oscar to Jane Fonda, while Fonda's treasonable activities were fresh in the audience's mind, goes a step further to honor a woman who has spent her life promoting absolute evil:

LONDON -- Hollywood's film academy is honoring acting icon Vanessa Redgrave at a star-studded ceremony in London.

Meryl Streep, Ralph Fiennes and James Earl Jones are scheduled to join Sunday's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tribute to Redgrave's 50-year career.

A member of a famous British acting dynasty, Redgrave is also known for her left-wing political activism.

That is a clear understatement.  Her loyalty was to the Soviet Union and she has always sided with those who want to harm America and its allies, especially Israel.

The 74-year-old actress has been nominated for six Oscars and won for her supporting role as an anti-Nazi activist in 1977's "Julia."

In her acceptance speech, she praised the academy for not bowing to "Zionist hoodlums" who had objected to the nomination because of her support for the Palestinian cause.

COMMENT:  There is no doubt that she's a fine actress.  And we should not, in general, judge artists by their political views.  However, we are permitted to make exceptions.  And an exception should have been made this time.  This woman has fronted for regimes that put artists to death.  In an industry that claims it opposes blacklists, she has maintained blacklists of Israeli actors and campaigned against their being employed.  In Vanessa Redgrave's political world, some of the people honoring her would suddenly disappear.  I simply don't know why the Academy would want to honor someone who opposes its basic values. 

But of course, I do know.  Honoring hardened leftists is a Hollywood tradition.  At least they're having the ceremony in London, possibly to avoid the publicity, and embarrassment, in the States.  But it is a disgrace, although no greater a disgrace than what Hollywood has become in recent years. 

I'm sure, in her acceptance speech, Redgrave will ridicule the United States, and receive applause.

November 13, 2011       Permalink 

DID YOU EVER THINK YOU'D SEE THE DAY? – AT 10:27 A.M. ET:  We can count the ways in which Barack Hussein Obama Jr. has weakened this country, and we can only imagine what he has planned for his second term.  Some of the things Obama has done are dangerous, placing this country in a position of subservience.  Consider:

A Russian Soyuz rocket with three astronauts — two Russians, one American — is set to lift off from Kazakhstan on Monday morning, ferrying the men to the International Space Station.

Ordinarily, the launching of a Soyuz, Russia’s workhorse rocket for decades, is a mundane event. But this time the future of the space station — and, indeed, the space programs of Russia and the United States — may be riding on the mission’s success. There are now three crew members living on the space station, and they are scheduled to return to Earth this month; if the three relief astronauts do not arrive before then, the space station will be empty for the first time in more than a decade.

The flight is also the beginning of a new chapter for NASA, which ended its space shuttle program in July and is now turning to foreign governments and commercial enterprises for space transportation. Monday’s launching will be the first trip by astronauts to orbit since the retirement of the shuttles.

COMMENT:  This is just awful.  The title of the article is "NASA Hitches a Ride on a Russian Craft, and Begins a New Dependent Phase," and that is precisely accurate.  The word "dependent" is the painful one.  Why is it that Russia, with all its economic problems, could maintain operational space vehicles and we could not?  And, most important, how will our dependence, at least for a time, on Russian rockets affect our approach to Russian foreign policy, which is distinctly hostile to many American interests?

It is true that we have other space vehicles under development.  But we could have easily kept some shuttles in operation, if only for appearances – and appearances count in international relations.  But I suspect that the kind of people around Obama see nothing wrong with dependence on Russia, just as they see nothing wrong with the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Arab countries.  Why, why, who are we to question other cultures?

We are trying to get Russia's cooperation in a number of critical foreign-policy areas, especially Iran, and they now see us as partly dependent on them.  What a great position to be in.  Thank you, Barack Hussein, and thanks to the multiculturalists who inform your world.

November 13, 2011     Permalink

NOVEMBER 12,  2011

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:19 P.M. ET:

THIS IS RIDICULOUS – President Obama said today that the United States seeks a common response – with Russia – to the Iranian nuclear program.  Wha..?  It has been reported all week that Russia opposes further sanctions on Iran.  Russia is helping Iran build nuclear reactors, and announced that it might actually build more.  Vladimir Putin, no friend of the United States, will probably return to the top spot, both formally and not, in the Russian hierarchy.  Russia got what it wanted from the U.S., the cancellation of our missile shield in Eastern Europe, and we got nothing in return.  And Barack Obama gives us this faculty-lounge talk about a common response.  Someone should remind our in-the-clouds president that American lives are at stake.

REPUBLICANS DEBATE – The Republicans debated foreign policy in South Carolina tonight.  It was sort of broadcast on CBS, but WCBS in New York, the network's flagship station, only carried the first half.  If you wanted to see the second half, you had to do it on a computer.  What great devotion to public service.  The debate itself was uneventful.  There were no disasters, and I thought Mitt Romney still demonstrated that he is the most "presidential" of the candidates.  Rick Perry turned in his best performance, but still couldn't answer detailed questions to our satisfaction.  Neither could Herman Cain.   The most disappointing performance was by Jon Huntsman, who has served as ambassador to China, and sounded more like a Democrat than a Republican.  All theory, no backbone.

CHANGE IN ITALY – Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has resigned, a casualty of the debt crisis that has overtaken his country.  He is a boisterous, larger-than-life figure, and has been a good ally of the United States, something we should remember.  We have few enough of them.  It is widely expected that an economic technician will take over the premiership, at least for a time.  The debt crisis in Europe is far from solved, despite the passing of austerity legislation in both Greece and Italy.  There is clear worry in Washington that continuing convulsions in Europe will affect the U.S. economically, and threaten President Obama's reelection, which is clearly highest on his agenda.

ARAB CONFLICT – Crowds in Damascus attacked the Saudi embassy today and French and Turkish consulates after the Arab League suspended Syria.  Don't you love it when Mideast "friends" fight?  Syria is an ally of Iran, and the Saudis, in particular, loathe the Iranian regime.  Incidents like this might make the Saudis cooperative in possible military action against Iran in response to the Iranian nuclear program. 

November 12, 2011       Permalink

CHILLING – AT 10:14 A.M. ET:  This is another story that has dropped from most front pages, but has the potential to be devastating.  We will follow it.  From Fox:

Weapons smuggled from Libya after the collapse of Muammar Qaddafi's government are flowing through the surrounding region, the president of neighboring Niger said, a development that threatens to destabilize a swath of the continent already struggling against ethnic unrest and a regional branch of Al Qaeda.

"Arms were stolen in Libya and are being disseminated all over the region," Niger's president Mahamadou Issoufou said following a meeting with South African president Jacob Zuma. "Saharan countries are facing terrorist threats, arms and criminal trafficking. The Libya crisis is amplifying those crises."...

...The stretch of desert between Libya and West Africa already ranks among the world's principal smuggling routes, according to officials and locals. It is maintained by militants from the local Tuareg tribe who help to traffic arms, Europe-bound cocaine from Colombia, cigarettes and even household merchandise like diapers, these people say, over the ancient caravan route.

The inflow of missiles "adds a whole level to the arsenal," Peter Pham of the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank, said. "The one area where governments that are trying to assert control of this large, ungoverned space have had the advantage is on air superiority. If that's taken away, it's very difficult to control the ground."

COMMENT:  This is only the beginning.  The theft of surface-to-air "manpads," shoulder-launched missiles, is especially frightening, and can result in an airliner horror, even in the United States.  These are small weapons, easily broken down and smuggled across our southern border.

And Libya itself has become a huge question mark.  As in other Mideast countries, the Arab spring is turning out to have very mixed weather, with the flag of Al Qaeda flying from too many flagpoles in that ragged country. 

Many Americans think the killing of bin Laden made this country safer.  I'm glad he's gone, but I'm afraid we're in greater danger now than at any time since 9-11, with an Iranian nuclear bomb on the way, instability in the Mideast, and a flow of Libyan weapons around the world.

What we definitely don't need in these circumstances is a second Obama administration.  Any dissent on that?

November 12, 2011       Permalink

RE-RUN – AT 9:52 A.M. ET:  Didn't we see these chaps a few days ago?  Believe it or not, there's still another Republican debate tonight, this one on foreign policy.  It will be held in South Carolina and carried by CBS at 8 p.m. ET.  It will, thankfully, only last an hour.

The Republican field is disparaged for having little experience in foreign policy.  That's something of an exaggeration.  Newt Gingrich is thoroughly knowledgeable, served as speaker of the House, and has written widely on foreign policy and history.  Jon Huntsman has been ambassador to China.  Rick Perry has dealt at least with our relations with Mexico.  Michele Bachmann has shown herself to be quite knowledgeable, and Rick Santorum has a thorough knowledge.  Ron Paul has foreign policy views, but they are best left in the shadows.  He is a nutbag on foreign policy, wanting to return to the days of isolationism. 

Of course, this week's big news on the Republican side has been the lingering charges of sexual harassment against Herman Cain, and Rick Perry's blank moment in Wednesday night's debate, when he could not remember the names of all three federal departments he wants to abolish.  Perry has turned that into a joke, appearing on talk shows to laugh about himself.  That is marginally endearing, but would be more effective if he'd done well in previous debates.  The blank moment only reinforced the idea that Perry is not quite ready to be shipped,

The key subjects tonight, the ones to look for, will be policy toward Iran, now exposed before the world by a strong UN report as developing nuclear weapons.  Also look for attitudes toward the Keystone pipeline from Canada, now delayed by the Obama administration, but which many consider vital to this country's drive for energy independence.

And let's also see how a one-hour debate plays.  The problem remains that there are still too many candidates up there.  You cannot have more than three, four at the most, people on the stage for an effective discussion. 

We'll also be watching Newt Gingrich, who's making more progress in the polls than any other prospect.  It's very late in the pre-primary season, and the Republican race is far from settled, although Romney has the edge.

November 12, 2011       Permalink

CRACKDOWN ON SYRIA – AT 9:31 A.M. ET:  It may be only a symbolic measure, but it's symbolic in the right direction.  Even the Arab League, not known for crackdowns on members, is fed up with the brutal Syrian regime:

CAIRO (AP) -- The Arab League voted Saturday to suspend Syria in four days and warned it could face sanctions if it does not end its bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters. The decision was a symbolic blow to a nation that prides itself on being a powerhouse of Arab nationalism.

Qatar Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim said 18 countries agreed to the suspension, which will take effect on Wednesday. Syria, Lebanon and Yemen voted against it, and Iraq abstained. The Arab League also will introduce political and economic sanctions against Syria, he said.

Violence has continued unabated since Syria agreed on Nov. 2 to an Arab-brokered peace deal that called for the Syria to halt violence against protesters, pull tanks and armored vehicles out of cities, release political prisoners and allow journalists and rights groups into the country.

"Syria is a dear country for all of us and it pains us to make this decision," bin Jassim said. "We hope there will be a brave move from Syria to stop the violence and begin a real dialogue toward real reform."

COMMENT:  Let's see if this has any teeth.  Obviously, the thing that stands out in the story is the abstention of Iraq from the vote to suspend Syria.  Iraq is an emerging democracy, we think, thanks to costly American military action.  And yet, Iraq remains close to the Syrian regime.  At least they only abstained, and didn't vote against the action, as did Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.  We are now withdrawing all our troops from Iraq, and we view with apprehension where that country will go without the American presence.  Are we, through our quick withdrawal, which is popular at home, about to turn a victory into a defeat?

November 12, 2011     Permalink