Our thanks go to reader and computer expert John McDaniel, who inspired the design changes to Urgent Agenda being introduced today.

TUESDAY,  OCTOBER 27,  2009

TROUBLE ON THE LEFT - AT 8:34 P.M. ET:  Even the New Republic, a responsible liberal publication, is noticing the political collapse on the left.  The Republican Party may not be winning the Miss Congeniality contest, but the right is resurgent: 

...there are hard-to-ignore signs of a conservative resurgence. A 15,000-person Gallup survey out today shows that 40 percent of Americans now identify themselves as conservative (up from 37 percent at the time of Obama’s election), while only 20 percent regard themselves as liberal (down from 22 percent). Far more independents (35 percent) consider themselves conservative than was the case a year ago (only 29 percent).

These findings would be less compelling if they were not linked to conservative shifts on specific issues--but they are, and the Gallup organization enumerates a considerable list. Among them: increasing opposition to government regulation of business and gun ownership; an uneasy feeling about the influence of labor unions; increasing support for immigration restrictions and government promotion of traditional values; and diminished support for strong action on climate change. The percentage of Americans who believe that government is trying to do too much stands at its highest level (57 percent) in many years. Trust in government is near all-time lows, and Americans believe that 50 cents of every federal tax dollar is wasted--the highest level ever.

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that unified Democratic government has sparked a conservative counter-mobilization. Because we cannot rerun history as a controlled experiment, we will never know whether this could have been avoided had the Obama administration and Congressional Democrats adopted a different strategy. In any case, it’s too late to reverse it.

COMMENT:  Very well said.  But, again, we argue that overconfidence on the right, a refusal to do the daily building of a voter base, or to write an effective program, or to recruit candidates with going heartbeats and pulses, will undo any potential gains.

October 27, 2009   Permalink 

THIS IS ALMOST HILARIOUS - AT 8:10 P.M. ET:  There are few voices more irresponsible on foreign policy than Juan Cole, a professor of something or other at the University of Michigan, and a member in good standing of the left-wing firmament.  He constantly tormented President Bush, and seemed to regard Islamic terrorists as minor inconveniences helped along by the Israel lobby.

Now King Cole is out with his assessment of the Obama foreign policy.  And what does the brilliant scholar say?  Well, he's angry.  Is he angry at Obama?  Of course not.  He's angry at - get this - the mainstream media for not highlighting the great accomplishments of Dear Leader.  This is what our college students are being taught, at least in some select places:

Why can't the administration of President Barack Obama get the word out about its policy successes? President Obama campaigned on an ambitious platform of withdrawing from Iraq, engaging Iran on its nuclear program and persuading the Pakistani government to take on the Taliban and al-Qaida. Despite the charge by critics from both the right and the left in the wake of his winning the Nobel Peace Prize that he has accomplished little so far, in fact he has already set in motion significant change on several of these fronts -- despite the enormous domestic tasks that have inevitably preoccupied his administration. Yet you'd never hear about these successes from the mainstream media.

COMMENT:  Yeah.  Those right-wing nuts at MSNBC and CNN just won't give the man a break.  And The New York Times?  Forget about it.  They're Cheneyites. 

Sure.  And I'm Cary Grant and Angelina Jolie wrapped into one.

Can you believe Cole?  Here we are, in a day when the French are running to the right of us on Iran, and Cole, his Neville Chamberlain locket around his neck, is extolling the virtues of Obama the Wise.

Maybe home schooling your kids, through graduate school, isn't such a bad idea.

October 27, 2009   Permalink

IRAN SAYS YES, BUT, AND BUT, AND BUT - AT 7:18 P.M. ET:  Iran seems to be edging closer to a general, very general acceptance of some kind of restriction on its nuclear program, with all kinds of caveats and if-buts.  Nothing to see here, folks.  Nothing to see:

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A high-ranking Iranian official said Tuesday that even if the country agreed to a United Nations-sponsored plan to ship its enriched uranium abroad for further processing, it would not ship it all at once, Iranian news media reported.

That position, if maintained, could undermine the entire plan. The French government, a party to the deal, has made clear that the uranium must be shipped out all at once before the end of the year.

The French are tougher than we are.  The question is whether Obama, who desperately needs some kind of piece of paper to show to the American public, will cave to Iranian demands.

Iran has said it will formally respond on Friday to the proposal, which is intended to delay the country’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon for about a year and buy time for a broader diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff.

On Tuesday, Alaeddin Borujerdi, the head of the Parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, said that if Iran agrees to ship its uranium abroad, “this must not happen in one go,” and that the fuel must be shipped in installments, according to the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency.

Shipping on the installment plan is unacceptable to sane people.  It's a time waster, a stall tactic, allowing Iran to replace, through production, the very uranium it is shipping abroad.

We'll wait for Friday's Iranian announcement, but don't get out the "peace in our time" signs just yet.

October 27, 2009   Permalink

PUBLIC OPTION DIVIDES SENATE DEMS - AT 6:22 P.M. ET:  The trendies in the Democratic Party may have bitten off more organically grown Belgian endive than they can chew in demanding a public option for health-care "reform."  Some in the party aren't buying, threatening the entire bill.  The New York Times reports:

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats voiced deep disagreements on Tuesday over the idea of a government-run health insurance plan, suggesting that the decision by the majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, to include a public plan in major health care legislation had failed, at least initially, to unite his caucus.

Simply to get the Senate to take up the legislation, Mr. Reid has said he needs 60 votes — effectively all 58 Democrats and the 2 independents who caucus with them. Senator Olympia J. Snowe, the one Republican open to supporting the bill, said Tuesday that she would oppose the legislation because it now includes the public plan.

But while some senators who oppose a public plan said they would be willing to let Mr. Reid bring the legislation to the floor, the continuing apprehension of several others indicated enormous uncertainty.

COMMENT:  The Dems say they are determined to bring some form of health legislation to a vote, and pass it.  But right now the public option is holding things up.  What's shocking is that virtually no other aspect of the 1,500-page bill is even being debated.  There are provisions that go all the way to admission to medical school, and yet there is, essentially, silence. 

One tactic of the left, especially since the 1960s, is to overwhelm the system.  That's what's being done with this huge health bill.  It is simply impossible to have a considered debate on something this huge, and packaged in 1,500 pages.  This is a radical device, and the radicals may get their way.

October 27, 2009   Permalink

HEALTH-CARE WARNING - AT 9:03 A.M. ET:  One of the most stunning aspects to the current debate over health-care "reform" is the callousness of many on the left toward the elderly.  It mirrors their cold attitude toward the unborn.  These are self-appointed protectors of the public good, who believe they know what's best for families, to the degree that they approve of families. 

Betsy McCaughey, former lieutenant governor of New York, is an authority on health policy.  Although often denounced as an eccentric - the usual charge of mental inadequacy made by some leftists toward anyone who dissents from their perfect vision - she's performed invaluable service in pointing out the flaws in proposed legislation.  Now she does it again:

Everyone knows that if you don't pay to maintain and repair your car, you limit its life. The same is true as human beings age. We need medical care to avoid becoming clunkers -- disabled, worn out, parked in wheelchairs or nursing homes.

For nearly a half century, Medicare has enabled seniors to get that care. But ObamaCare is about to change that, by limiting what doctors can provide their aging patients.

The Senate Finance Committee health bill released last week controls doctors by cutting their pay if they give older patients more care than the government deems appropriate. Section 3003(b) (p. 683) punishes doctors who land in the 90th percentile or above on what they provide for seniors on Medicare by withholding 5 percent of their compensation.

This withhold provision forces doctors to choose between treating their patients and avoiding government penalties. HMOs used the same cost-cutting device in the early '90s until it was deemed dangerous to patients and outlawed. Now, lawmakers want to use it against the most vulnerable patients, the elderly. This bill and four others under negotiation also would slash about $500 billion from future Medicare funding.

COMMENT:  This is from the wonderful guys who give us these periodic "anti-war" and "human rights" movements.  Whether one likes or dislikes Medicare, several generations have planned their later years around its provisions - for which they've partially paid in the form of Medicare premiums.

Frankly, I'm not surprised at the behavior of some liberals toward the elderly.  The elderly are more conservative, are often veterans (uhg!), aren't too beautiful, don't vacation in Aspen, and don't necessarily take Obama as a deity.  Who needs 'em?  Oh, and they're generally in America legally.

The GOP should attack the anti-elderly provisions in the proposed legislation, and peel off some of the support that many elderly people have given the Democratic Party, thinking it's looking out for them.

October 27, 2009   Permalink

IS AMERICA BEING DISMANTLED? - AT 5:55 A.M. ET:   The great Tom Sowell, who deserves a Pulitzer Prize for commentary, but won't get it because he's a black conservative, raises the chilling notion that the Obama administration really is out to dismantle what most Americans consider the building blocks of their country.  This is must reading:

Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?

Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers-- that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government liking what they publish?

Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments?

And the list goes on. 

How about a federal agency giving school children material to enlist them on the side of the president? Merely being assigned to sing his praises in class is apparently not enough.

And the heart of the matter:

Barack Obama has not only said that he is out to "change the United States of America," the people he has been associated with for years have expressed in words and deeds their hostility to the values, the principles and the people of this country...

...Among the people appointed as czars by President Obama have been people who have praised enemy dictators like Mao, who have seen the public schools as places to promote sexual practices contrary to the values of most Americans, to a captive audience of children.

Those who say that the Obama administration should have investigated those people more thoroughly before appointing them are missing the point completely. Why should we assume that Barack Obama didn't know what such people were like, when he has been associating with precisely these kinds of people for decades before he reached the White House?

Finally...

Nothing so epitomizes President Obama's own contempt for American values and traditions like trying to ram two bills through Congress in his first year-- each bill more than a thousand pages long-- too fast for either of them to be read, much less discussed. That he succeeded only the first time says that some people are starting to wake up. Whether enough people will wake up in time to keep America from being dismantled, piece by piece, is another question-- and the biggest question for this generation.

COMMENT:  It's safe to say that Tom Sowell won't be getting the NAACP Man of the Year Award.  But he has said what needs saying - that this president is fundamentally different from all the others who preceded him.  One pundit called him the first "post-American" president.  He accepts and embraces the idea of contempt for the very nation he leads.  Sowell is right that those radicals he's hired merely reflect his own background. 

And Sowell is also right when he says that the issue of whether Americans wake up to what's happening is the biggest question for this generation.  There are signs of an awakening, but there are powerful forces rushing in with sleeping pills - the mainstream media, the academic world, the special interests who will make millions from Obama's "progressivism."  It's our job to keep the people awake, and to get them, awakened and angry, to the polls.

October 27, 2009   Permalink  

A WARNING - AT 5:19 A.M. ET:  From AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Al Qaeda's umbrella group in Iraq claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings in the heart of Baghdad that killed at least 155 people, including 24 children trapped in a bus leaving a day care center.

The Al Qaeda branch, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, said in a statement posted on the Internet late Monday that its "martyrs ... targeted the dens of infidelity."

Massive car bombs have been the hallmark of Al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents seeking to overthrow the country's Shiite-dominated government in Iraq.

COMMENT:  We are regularly told that Al Qaeda is really just a small organization, kind of like the Girl Scouts with suicide belts.  But the fact is that radical Islamic organizations are highly active, and are no doubt drawing comfort from the weakness projected by President Obama.  We had a right to expect that Obama would respond to this latest outrage with a statement of support for the Iraqi government and of defiance toward the terrorists. We're still waiting, just as we're waiting for the president's decision on truth strength in Afghanistan.  We seem to do a lot of waiting with this new deity.

October 27, 2009   Permalink

AMERICANS FIGURE IT OUT - AT 4:42 A.M. ET:  Political trends, as measured by Gallup, are ominous for the Dems, as Americans figure out just what the "in" party has been doing since moving in.

PRINCETON, NJ -- Conservatives continue to outnumber moderates and liberals in the American populace in 2009, confirming a finding that Gallup first noted in June. Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36% as moderate, and 20% as liberal. This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group.

Let's face it, Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank can drive anyone with a pulse to the right. 

This is key:

Changes among political independents appear to be the main reason the percentage of conservatives has increased nationally over the past year: the 35% of independents describing their views as conservative in 2009 is up from 29% in 2008. By contrast, among Republicans and Democrats, the percentage who are "conservative" has increased by one point each.

COMMENT:  Winning the independents is critical to any electoral campaign.  So far this year, our side is winning.  There is a great shot at substantially denting the Dem hold on both houses of Congress next year, unless ACORN is counting the votes.  And, of course, that might happen. 

Clearly, the growth in the conservative vote did not come out of the air.  It reflects the rapid disillusionment with The One and his many disciples.  There is nothing on the horizon to end that growth of disillusionment.

October 27, 2009   Permalink   

THE FIELD MARSHAL SPEAKS OUT - AT 4:30 A.M. ET:  Top military strategist John Kerry, known to military historians for his opposition to anything that works, has now given us the benefit of his wisdom on the Afghan war.  Please make sure to take notes.  In ink:

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Senator John Kerry on Monday accused former president George W. Bush's administration of "gross mishandling" of the Afghan war, and of leaving a terrible inheritance to President Barack Obama.

"On day one, this administration assumed responsibility for a war heading from strategic drift to a dangerous decline," Bush's rival in the 2004 US presidential election told the Council of Foreign Relations think-tank in Washington.

"Now it falls to all of us to get this right. You cannot understate the degree to which the Bush administration turned its back on Afghanistan completely," Kerry said.

"Because of the gross mishandling of this war by past civilian leadership, there are no great options for its handling today," said the chairman of the influential Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

COMMENT:  What moves me about Kerry is his commitment to maintaining the morale of American troops.  That's just what they wanted to hear.  You can be sure that on every battle flag flown by our soldiers in Iraq there will soon be printed the fighting motto, "There are no great options." 

Do you feel a tear in the eye, an extra beat of the heart?  How thrilling it is to be living in this era, when inspiring fighters like John Kerry walk across the landscape. 

And remember:  If it rains a little harder in Afghanistan this year, if the winds are a little stronger, the nights a little colder, it's BUSH'S (!!) fault.

October 27,  2009   Permalink

MONDAY,  OCTOBER 26,  2009

VIRGINIA LATEST - AT 7:31 P.M. ET:  New polling in Virginia confirms the GOP optimism we reported earlier today.  (See our 9:02 a.m. post.)  Andrew Malcolm of the L.A. Times's Top of the Ticket blog, reports the trend:

The good news for Republicans is that heading into the last week of the closely-watched Virginia governor's campaign, their candidate, Bob McDonnell, leads his Democratic opponent by 11 points, according to a just-published poll.

Despite energetic campaign efforts by both President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, plus extra spending by the Democratic National Committee, the Washington Post reports this afternoon that McDonnell has a majority of likely-voting Virginians, 55 to 44, over Democrat rival R. Creigh Deeds.

The last time McDonnell and Deeds faced each other on the ballot, in the 2005 attorney general's race, the Republican won by less than 350 votes.

COMMENTS:  The Dems hate the symbolism here.  The current governor, Tim Kaine, is the Democratic national chairman.  The state has been trending Democratic.  It borders Washington, D.C., the seat of Obamaland, and it's key to Democratic hopes of winning back the once-Democratic South.

But you can just imagine how Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi play in traditional parts of Virginia.  Obama won the state last year.  If the GOP wins next Tuesday, and can carry the momentum through next year's midterms, 2012 in Virginia will look very iffy for The One.

October 26, 2009   Permalink

CAVE-IN TO THE LEFT - AT 7:16 P.M. ET:  Senate Majority Leader Harry "Mr. Excitement" Reid, is apparently caving to the leftist ideologues in his party on the health-care "reform" bill.  From the Washington Post:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) announced Monday that he will seek to bring a health-care bill to the Senate floor that includes a government insurance plan, a major reversal from just two weeks ago, when Reid was leaning against the idea.

He also called for the bill to include a version of the so-called public option with an clause that would allow states to decide by 2014 not to participate in the government plan.

"The best way to move forward is a public option with the opt-out provision for states," Reid told reporters, adding that he "clearly" believes that such a bill would have "the support of my caucus."

It also has the support of the White House, which said that President Obama was "pleased that the Senate has decided to include a public option for health coverage, in this case with an allowance for states to opt out."

COMMENT:  The problem here is that Reid could lose the support of Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, who's been counted as the one possible Republican vote, thus far, for a health-care bill.  Snowe said today that she was disappointed by Reid's decision to include a public option. 

This maneuvering could mean that Reid might have to employ the "nuclear option," slamming the bill through the Senate, affecting one sixth of the U.S. economy, with only Democratic votes. 

Nothing like bipartisanship we can believe in.

October 26, 2009   Permalink

THE DYING INDUSTRY - AT 7:04 P.M. ET:  The newspaper industry is dying before our eyes:

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Circulation at newspapers shrank at an accelerated pace in the past six months, driven in part by stiff price increases imposed by publishers scrambling to offset rapidly eroding advertising sales.

Brilliant strategy.  As circulation weakens, raise prices.  That'll bring 'em in.

Average daily circulation at 379 U.S. newspapers plunged 10.6 percent in the April-September period from the same six-month stretch last year, according to figures released Monday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

They all believe it's the internet that has caused this, but it's much more.  The mainstream media has betrayed the public by pursuing, not news, but a party line, recently an Obama party line.  People have noticed.

It's the largest drop recorded so far during the past decade's steady decline in paid readership -- a span that has coincided with an explosion of online news sources that don't charge readers for access. Many newspapers also have been reducing delivery to far-flung locales and increasing prices to get more money out of their remaining sales.

The latest decline outstripped a 7.1 percent decrease in the October 2008-March 2009 period and a 4.6 percent decline in last year's April-September window.

Not every paper is suffering:

As both publications indicated earlier in the month, The Wall Street Journal surpassed USA Today as the top-selling newspaper in the United States. The Journal's average Monday-Friday circulation edged up 0.6 percent to 2.02 million -- making it the only daily newspaper in the top 25 to see an increase.

COMMENT:  Gee, I wonder why.  You don't think it has anything to do with great news coverage and a superb editorial page, do you?  Nah, that couldn't be it.  Must be the good paper they use.

October 26, 2009    Permalink

ONE WEEK AWAY - AND A GOOD CHANCE FOR A SMILE - AT 9:02 A.M. ET:  Elections will be held a week from tomorrow.  There is reason for guarded optimism:

PETERSBURG, Va. -- The Democrats' decade-long push into Virginia -- a national bragging point that they were moving into the once-solid Republican South -- may be coming to an end.

Polls suggest that the Republicans could win the governor's office on Nov. 3 for the first time in more than a decade. One of only two statewide races this year -- the other is the governor's race in New Jersey -- the Virginia contest is being watched as a referendum not only on the Democrats' appeal in the region, but also on the party's agenda next door in Washington.

But remember - the only poll that counts is the one on election day. 

President Barack Obama will campaign in the state on Tuesday to help boost fellow Democrat Creigh Deeds, a state senator from rural western Virginia.

This is after he comes back from a campaign trip to Florida.  See story just below.  Meanwhile, the centrifuges in Iran are spinning.

In a troubling sign for the Democrats, however, White House aides speaking on background already have started taking shots at Deeds as a poor candidate, lest pundits blame Obama for his defeat.

Yeah, that's the old Soviet style.  Watch Deeds get Photoshopped out of all pictures with Obama the minute he loses.

Virginia, increasingly, is seen as a bellwether:

"Virginia is the new Peoria," said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, referring to the Illinois city once used as a sociological test lab because it so closely reflected the average American community.

COMMENT:  The GOP must win the race, and then move on.  No more sitting around celebrating, and settling for mediocre candidates.  The good guys can reverse the impact of the 2008 election, but only with great ideas and great people, and they don't fall out of trees.  Go searching!

October 26, 2009   Permalink

ANOTHER TRIP?  I HOPE HE HAS GOOD LUGGAGE - AT 8:40 A.M. ET:  I know this will shock readers, so please sit down.  There's unusual news this morning:  President Obama is going on a campaign trip.

Yeah, that's right.  Another one.  In that big plane.  On our dime.  And they'll take the limo too.  The one with the DVD player.   The Politico gives us the exciting details:

President Barack Obama's two-day visit to Florida beginning Monday marks his first personal outreach to Democrats there heading into 2010 and indicates how determined his White House is to compete for the state in 2012.

This trip, more than any the president has taken since January, looks like a campaign swing. The itinerary and the events are crafted to accentuate positives – health care and the economy are not on the agenda – and to squeeze the most into his time there.

I love it, I love it, I love it.  Health care and the economy are not on the agenda.  So what is on the agenda?  Getting the White House dog? 

I thought the economy was his big thing, right up there with health care and curing the world.  I must've read the wrong Obama speeches.  You know, he gives some just for practice.

That the president is staying overnight in itself is significant. Obama has only bunked overnight in the same state where he’ll hold an event the following day twice since taking office: in Arizona and California. Unlike Florida, both states geographically make for a tricky day trip. By stretching out his Florida visit over two days, Obama sends a strong signal about the state’s significance, and gets more media coverage.

I'm so excited.  Maybe he'll stay in a Holiday Inn Express and save us some cash.

Do you sometimes get the feeling that Obama doesn't like his job?  Or his new house?  Maybe he'd prefer a nice condo in Washington, near an ice cream shoppe.  Anything to get him back to work.  Although, that has its negatives also.

There are urgent matters at hand, and the president of the United States does not impress us with his sense of the moment.

October 26, 2009   Permalink 

THE FRENCH TAKE THIS MORE SERIOUSLY THAN OBAMA DOES - AT 8:15 A.M. ET:  From London's Telegraph:

Iran's nuclear ambitions have started a "race to confrontation" with Israel and the world's leading powers must break the deadlock before the Jewish state "reacts", according to France's foreign minister Bernard Kouchner.

Bernard Kouchner stressed the urgency of reaching agreement with Iran over its nuclear programme and removing the risk of a pre-emptive strike by Israel.

During an official visit to Lebanon's capital, Beirut, the minister told The Daily Telegraph that time was running out.

Call the White House or send a text message.

"They [the Israelis] will not tolerate an Iranian bomb. We know that, all of us. So that is an additional risk and that is why we must decrease the tension and solve the problem. Hopefully we are going to stop this race to a confrontation," said Mr Kouchner.

"There is the time that Israel will offer us before reacting, because Israel will react as soon as they know clearly that there is a threat."

COMMENT:  Well, it's good to know there are some grown-ups trying to deal with the Iranian bomb.  But we have only months before the Israelis conclude that all hope is lost.  Then they may do what a threatened nation does.

October 26, 2009   Permalink

THE GENEROSITY!  SHOWS WHAT "ENGAGEMENT" CAN DO - AT 7:56 A.M. ET: 

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran's foreign minister said Monday that Tehran may agree to ship part of its stockpile of low enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment in response to a U.N.-drafted plan.

Please note the "part" part.  This is not good.

Manouchehr Mottaki's comments are the first official indication that Iran may at least partly agree to a U.N.-drafted plan to ship much of its uranium to Russia for further enrichment and defuse the long running dispute over the country's nuclear program.

I love the "partly agree."  That's like Hitler partly agreeing not to bomb Britain.

Mottaki said a final decision over the plan will come ''soon.''

Iran is weighing between the U.N.-drafted plan or buying its own enriched uranium abroad and keeping its own supply.

''To supply fuel, we may purchase it like in the past, or we may deliver part of (the low enriched uranium) fuel which we currently don't need,'' Mottaki said. ''A decision will be made in the next few days.''

The U.N. plan envisioned Iran delivering up to 70 percent of its fuel abroad.

COMMENT:  When will this farce be over?  The Iranians are using us, bleeding us, and playing for time.  There is also new evidence that they are guiding some terror activities against us in Afghanistan.

And yet we "engage."  Does Obama believe in this, or is he simply building a case for further action, when he can say, "I did everything I could"?  I'd like to believe the second scenario is true, but we're getting to know this president, and we know that his foreign policy has the spine of a jellyfish.

It would be nice to be able to applaud again.

October 26, 2009   Permalink

GET USED TO SOCIALISM, WAIT YOUR TURN! - AT 7:45 A.M. ET:  Katherine the not-so-great now informs us that vaccination, like prosperity, is just around the corner:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says vaccine for the swine flu virus ''is coming out the door as fast as it comes off the production line.''

Where's this door?  My wife and I were scheduled to get our shots on Wednesday, and they ran out of vaccine.  Is there a suitable substitute, like margarine?

Sebelius said in a nationally broadcast interview Monday that it's unfortunate supplies are not where officials intended them to be at this juncture.

Yeah, yeah, I'd sure say so.  And if this were the BUSH (!!) administration, MSNBC would be blaming Dick Cheney.  I can just hear it:  "No Shot Cheney said today..."

But she also said there eventually will be enough to go around. Sebelius appeared as infections in the United States spread and roughly a thousand people have died.

What's a thousand in the new socialist republic?  You can't play with the big boys - Marx, Engels, even Gorby - unless you reach half a mil.

President Barack Obama has declared a health emergency.

That's nice.  I'm glad he took time out from writing unsigned e-mails to Fox News.

And Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Sunday that Congress would be happy to provide additional support and money on a bipartisan basis, if the need arises.

There are those Republicans, acting patriotic again.  Not trendy.

October 26,  2009   Permalink