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MAY 24,  2013

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 7:20 P.M. ET:

SINISTER – Am I glad the IRS is protecting us!  Everyone knows that among the most suspicious of characters are those who...adopt children.  Oh yeah.  We know all about them.  And I'm sure that's why, as it was revealed today, some 70% of adoptive families have had at least a partial tax audit for 2012, as opposed to approximately one percent of the rest of taxpayers.  And 90% of those claiming an adoption tax credit were flagged for further review.  On guard for America.

PINKOS – Much buzz on the internet today over who invited Medea Benjamin, the far-left clown who runs Code Pink, into the president's speech yesterday.  It was a presidential address at a federal installation, and security was tight.  Obviously, someone let Benjamin in, and she proceeded to heckle the president.   The fact is, though, that Code Pink hecklers manage to get into many events, including addresses to Congress by foreign leaders.  They have tickets, despite their long America-hating record.  In the case of Congressional events, speculation is that some fringe members of Congress, especially in the California delegation, accommodate the Code Pinkers.  In the president's case, I don't know.  Was it an enemy of the president?  Or was it the administration itself, knowing that a left-wing heckler doesn't do the president any harm among mainstream Americans.  A top official of Code Pink, Jodi Evans, is also a major fundraiser for Obama. 

IMMIGRATION – With all the attention on the scandals, we've averted our eyes from an important immigration bill being worked up in the Senate by the so-called "gang of eight," a bipartisan group of senators.  However, it may be much ado about nothing.  Immigration is hot-button, and even a major Democratic senator is saying that the current proposal doesn't have enough support to pass the Dem-controlled  Senate.  It surely doesn't have enough to pass the GOP-run House.  Republicans, though, must be especially careful with this issue.  One of the top GOP priorities is attracting Hispanic voters, which can only be done with a thoughtful, non-hostile approach to immigration reform, while maintaining conservative principles.  Tough act.

UNIONS TURNING ON OBAMACARE – From Breitbart:   "Some labor unions that enthusiastically backed President Barack Obama's health care overhaul are now frustrated and angry, fearful that it will jeopardize benefits for millions of their members.  Union leaders warn that unless the problem is fixed, there could be consequences for Democrats facing re-election next year.  'It makes an untruth out of what the president said – that if you like your insurance, you could keep it,' said Joe Hansen, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. 'That is not going to be true for millions of workers now.'"  When will unions realize that the modern Democratic Party doesn't give a hoot about them, except at election time?  This is no longer "the party of the people."

May 24, 2013      Permalink

NOT SO FAST, BARACK – AT 11:10 A.M. ET:  Obama's timing wasn't all that great, but there he was yesterday giving a speech about scaling back counterterrorism, approaching it the way we did before 9-11, as an unfortunate law-enforcement problem.

Coming a month after Boston, and a day after a brutal terror attack in London, we may be forgiven for choking a bit.  Republicans are choking a lot:

President Obama drew sharp criticism from Republican senators Thursday for urging the repeal of the 2001 law that effectively authorized the war on terror.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., claimed the president was assuming Al Qaeda is "on the run," calling that mindset "really incredible."

The president addressed the law, known as the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), toward the end of an hour-long speech largely devoted to explaining and defending his administration's lethal drone program. He even referenced the fact that America is at war in defending the legality of the drone strikes.

But Obama made clear that his ultimate goal is to update, and then repeal, the use of force law, saying he wants to fight terrorism without keeping the country on a "perpetual war-time footing."

We are not on a war-time footing.  That is nonsense.  The military has been at war.  The nation is not at war.  How much inconvenience have you suffered?  Shortages?  Restrictions?  Our pain threshold is so low in this generation that having a bag inspected at an airport is a crisis.

In World War II we had 15 million men and women under arms, as against a population of about 130 million.  Today we have 1.4 million under arms, with a population of about 310 million.  We have one tenth the number of citizens under arms, and yet our population is two and a half times as large.  Are we at war?

"The AUMF is now nearly twelve years old. The Afghan War is coming to an end..."

The hell it is.  We're pulling out.  The war goes on.  What a crock.

"Core Al Qaeda is a shell of its former self," Obama said. "Unless we discipline our thinking our definitions, our actions, we may be drawn into more wars we don't need to fight, or continue to grant presidents unbound powers more suited for traditional armed conflicts between nation states.

"So I look forward to engaging Congress and the American people in efforts to refine, and ultimately repeal, the AUMF's mandate. And I will not sign laws designed to expand this mandate further," he said. "Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end. That's what history advises. That's what our democracy demands."

It does?  Where is that written?

The resolution was passed by Congress three days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. It authorized the military and president to use all necessary force to go after those responsible, and prevent future acts of terror. It remains in effect.

COMMENT:  Obama's remarks are not surprising.  They follow the thinking of his new secretary of state, the delusional John Kerry, who, even after 9-11, argued that terrorism was a law-enforcement problem.  (Next time we're attacked, let's send the meter maids.)

Obama boasted that we haven't had a large-scale attack on American soil since he came to office, a profoundly selfish remark.  In fact, after September 11, 2001, we didn't have a successful large-scale attack on American soil during the remaining seven years of the Bush presidency. 

Al Qaeda may have changed, but it will strike again.  Obama's comments remind me of those made by some during the "phony war" period, the seeming lull in Europe between the Nazi invasion of Poland in September, 1939, and the Nazi thrust westward in the spring of 1940. 

Obama would have been well advised to discuss the probability that terror groups will get more and more powerful weapons.  He did not.  Apparently, the number of casualties in Boston was insufficient to wake him up.

May 24, 2013        Permalink 

A TREND – AT 10:06 A.M. ET:   New York State sheriffs have joined a federal lawsuit challenging aspects of New York's new, sweeping "gun control" laws.  This seems to be a trend.  Sheriffs in Colorado recently announced opposition to that state's new gun laws. 

Sheriffs are often elected, as opposed to police chiefs, who are often politically appointed.  The New York sheriffs make some excellent points that should be studied before other states go crazy and start enacting absurd, ineffective laws that will do nothing to reduce gun violence.  From Fox:

ALBANY, N.Y. – County sheriffs have asked to join the federal lawsuit challenging New York's tough new gun restrictions, calling some provisions vague and impossible to enforce fairly.

The New York State Sheriffs' Association and five individual sheriffs are asking U.S. District Judge William Skretny to add their position to the record. They support gun rights advocates seeking to block enforcement of new bullet limits for magazines and the tighter definition of assault weapons.

The sheriffs agree with the New York affiliate of the National Rifle Association that the law, passed after the Newtown, Conn., school shooting, is unconstitutional because it will prevent citizens from keeping commonly used firearms for home defense.

"The Supreme Court has confirmed that the Second Amendment protects arms typically possessed by law-abiding citizens, and identified that the right of self-defense is 'core' protected conduct that is at its zenith in the home," the sheriffs' brief said. "At a minimum, laws that criminalize the most common rifle in America today - a rifle that is often selected precisely for its self-defense capabilities - impinge upon that core right. The same is true of laws banning standard-capacity magazines."

COMMENT:  I recently was required to register my Smith & Wesson .22LR rifle, which I use for target shooting at a well-patrolled range.  I had to register it because it had one "military-style" feature, which adds nothing to the firepower of the rifle. 

As I registered, I imagined all the gun-toting criminals out there, eager to register to be sure they complied with the law.

Look, as I've written before, I have no problem with Constitutional, effective steps to reduce gun violence.  I even favor mandatory training for gun buyers, and including mental-health histories in the background-check program.  I favor professionally certified armed guards at schools.  But laws designed to polish the images of lawmakers are usually bad laws.  The New York law is laughable.  Meanwhile, vulnerable schools go unguarded. 

May 24, 2013        Permalink

THE FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD – AT 9:47 A.M. ET:  Does the name "Eric Holder" ring a bell?  From NBC News, which itself is surprising: 

Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a “possible co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday.

The disclosure of the attorney general’s role came as President Barack Obama, in a major speech on his counterterrorism policy, said Holder had agreed to review Justice Department guidelines governing investigations that involve journalists.

"I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable," Obama said. "Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs."

I'm sure Obama was brimming with sincerity.

Rosen, who has not been charged in the case, was nonetheless the target of a search warrant that enabled Justice Department investigators to secretly seize his private emails after an FBI agent said he had "asked, solicited and encouraged … (a source) to disclose sensitive United States internal documents and intelligence information."

Obama's comments follow a firestorm of criticism that has erupted over disclosures that in separate investigations of leaks of classified information, the Justice Department had obtained private emails that Rosen exchanged with a source and the phone records of Associated Press reporters.

COMMENT:  Eric Holder makes John Mitchell, Nixon's attorney general, look like a saint.  Holder is running a politicized Justice Department and it is time for him to "spend more time with his family."  Instead, he is asked by Obama to investigate himself.  Ah, the Chicago style has its advantages for those in power.

As Speaker Boehner said yesterday, It's "drip, drip drip."  Each day brings more revelations.

So many scandals, so little time.

May 24, 2013       Permalink

ANOTHER EUROPEAN FARCE – AT 8:50 A.M. ET:  It is amazing to me how many "sophisticated" Americans, especially those housed in our colleges and universities, look to Europe for guidance on how to live and run countries. 

One European country that is particularly admired by our betters is Sweden, not that the sophisticated classes know very much about that country.  They just think they know, and they love their Volvos, apparently unaware that Volvo hasn't been Swedish-owned in years.

Swedish diplomats run around the world extolling how wonderful their country is, how progressive, how enlightened...despite the fact that Sweden sold steel to the Nazis and remained neutral during the Cold War, letting the Americans and some NATO nations defend Western freedom. 

Consider what is happening in Sweden right now:

Youth gang riots in the Swedish capital Stockholm have entered fifth straight night. Hundreds of mostly immigrant teenagers tore through the suburbs, smashing windows and burning cars in the country’s worst outbreak of violence in years.

At least six vehicles were torched throughout the city late on Thursday while the police called for reinforcements from other Swedish cities bracing for further unrest.

Firefighters were putting out flames that engulfed several cars and a school in immigrant-dominated areas of Stockholm.

And...

Community leaders insist that a main reason for the violence is the high rate of unemployment in immigrant communities, particularly in the suburb of Husby near central Stockholm, one of the worst affected by the nighttime violence, Peter Oliver reported.

Although Sweden’s unemployment rate is below the EU average, joblessness among those under 25 has reached nearly 25 percent. The RT crew in Stockholm noted that a majority of those taking part in the violence are young.

“In Sweden you’ve got welfare, access to the educational system – up to university level, you got access to public transport, libraries, healthcare – to everything. And still they feel that they [immigrants] need to riot through stones and Molotov cocktails. It’s ridiculous and a bad excuse,” Swedish Democrats MP Kent Ekeroth told RT.

“Police can put down these riots in five minutes – if the politicians were to allow them,” Ekeroth added.

And...

The claims of social exclusion in immigrant-dominated suburbs have been partly conceded by Sweden’s Integration Minister Erik Ullenhag, who said the ministry is aware of “discrimination in these areas.”  But the riots “don’t improve the image of these areas, where there is a lot of positive stuff going on,” he added.

Yeah, riots are unpopular with those not rioting.

And...

For years, Sweden – one of Europe’s most tranquil countries, famous for its attractive immigration policies and generous welfare system – has been accepting an influx of immigrants, which now make up about 15 per cent of its population. These migrants have failed to integrate into Swedish society, and are only in the country to enjoy the country’s social benefits system, Swedish journalist Ingrid Carlqvist told RT.

“The problem is not from the Swedish government or from the Swedish people,” the editor in chief of Dispatch International said. “The last 20 years or so, we have seen so many immigrants coming to Sweden that really don’t like Sweden. They do not want to integrate, they do not want to live in [Swedish] society: Working, paying taxes and so on.”

And...

As rioting continues to rip through Stockholm, some claim the violence has clearly been orchestrated for ulterior motives, Lars Hedegaard, Editor-in-Chief of Swedish newspaper Dispatch International said to RT.

“Some people would like to gain recognition as stakeholder in society. In other words, there are people who would like to be in a negotiating position… that they can make things happen and go away. That they have power in local communities and should be reckoned with,” he explained.

“These riots in the country that are spreading and continuing for a long time that the [multiculturalism] success was a fiction, they never succeeded,” Hedegaard said.

COMMENT:  If you read the story you'll find that the writer does handstands to avoid using the term "Muslim," until he quotes a politician using it...and immediately describes the politician as a non-Swedish far rightist.  That's the way the journalism game is played.

Multiculturalism has become a bad joke, a code term for the old anti-American, anti-capitalist left.  But you may be sure that, within days, the socialist religionists in Sweden will form a commission to look into the "grievances" of the "youths." 

And this summer, well-heeled American "students" will spend their junior year abroad, learning to admire the wonders of European civilization, not realizing that they're dancing on a rotting corpse.

It reminds me of a famous photo of students from Barnard College showing disappointment when they learned that their summer trip to study in Nazi Germany had been canceled because of conditions in Europe.

Some mentalities never change. 

May 24,  2013     Permalink

MAY 23,  2013

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:54 P.M. ET:

OH GEEZ – Talk about an administration with a tin ear.  From The Politico:  "President Obama on Thursday nominated Victoria Nuland, a State Department official involved in the editing of the administration's talking points on Benghazi, to be the next assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs."  The Obamans don't really get it, do they?

BYE-BYE – Lois Lerner, head of IRS's division handling tax-exempt organizations, has been placed on administrative leave, with pay, a day after invoking the Fifth Amendment in testimony before a House committee probing the IRS scandals.  Lerner was reportedly asked to resign, but refused, forcing the Service to place her on leave instead.  Another wonderful day in the neighborhood.

AL GORE WILL BE THERE – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting an extremely active hurricane season this year, with the possibility of the U.S. being hit by as many as six major hurricanes.  I don't know which will be worse, the hurricanes, or the windbags afterward who will attribute any disaster to global warming.  Some politicians who tried to link the Oklahoma tornadoes to global warming were chastised in the press, so maybe we'll see some maturity, at long last.

OUTRAGE – Major Nidal Hassan, the accused shooter in the Fort Hood massacre, is still drawing his Army pay, while the Pentagon still refuses to designate his victims as having suffered combat-related wounds, which would give them both the Purple Heart and additional benefits, which could be applied to their expensive rehabilitation.  I guess the administration really means it when they say we aren't fighting a global war on terror.

May 23, 2013       Permalink

NUTS – AT 10:21 A.M. ET:  When ignorance passes as intellect we are not well served.  One of the major problems of the Obama administration is poor personnel policies.  There are so many inadequate appointments.  So many closed minds passing themselves off as great philosophers.  Consider this, from The Hill: 

New Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz doesn’t want to spend his tenure battling over climate science.

“Let me make it very clear that there is no ambiguity in terms of the scientific basis calling for a prudent response on climate change,” Moniz told Energy Department employees shortly after his swearing-in.

“I am not interested in debating what is not debatable,” Moniz said in his remarks at the Tuesday ceremony. “There is plenty to debate as we try and move forward on our climate agenda.”

The comment was part of much wider-ranging remarks on Moniz’s overall agenda.

He also addressed the Energy Department’s missions around power grid resilience, oversight of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, nonproliferation, scientific research and more.

Moniz is stepping into the Cabinet job at a time when President Obama has vowed new executive-level actions on climate.

Moniz, in a separate speech Tuesday, vowed to focus heavily on energy efficiency initiatives, which he called a vital tool in addressing greenhouse gas emissions.

COMMENT:  We are struck by the breathtaking anti-intellectualism of those remarks.  Moniz is part of that group that refers to anyone with questions about "climate science" as flat-Earthers.  In fact, he's the flat-Earther.  When you say that the global-warming issue is "not debatable," you close your mind to new data and new research.

Of course, that is exactly what this administration wants.  To the Obamans, global warming is not really a matter of science, but a matter of politics, and a new kind of religion.  When scientists caution that there hasn't been any global warning in 15 years or so, the Obamans just ignore the caution.  Theirs is a political mission, not a scientific one.  Their mission is to change the way we live because that's what they want.  They consider themselves our betters, lecturing to the peasants.

In the end, they're not really that bright.

May 23, 2013       Permalink 

LET US NOT AVERT OUR EYES – AT 9:55 A.M. ET:  It is easy, when confronted with multiple administration scandals, to take our eyes off critical, continuing problems that can produce catastrophic consequences.  From Reuters: 

BRUSSELS - Iran's expansion of sensitive nuclear activity breaks United Nations resolutions and increases concerns about whether its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, the European Union said on Thursday.

A UN nuclear agency report released on Wednesday showed Iran was expanding nuclear activities, in clear violation of resolutions of both the UN Security Council and of the board of the world body's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the EU said.

It "further aggravates existing concerns on the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program," a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

Critics say Iran is trying to achieve the capability to make atomic arms. Iran denies this, saying it needs nuclear power for energy generation and medical purposes.

The EU spokesman said Iran had continued to refuse to cooperate with the IAEA in its efforts to resolve outstanding issues, including those pointing to possible military dimensions to the Iranian nuclear program.

COMMENT:  The question is how many months we have before Iran reaches the point of no return, when it will have both the knowledge and the nuclear materials to build an atomic bomb.

We learn from other sources that intelligence analysts don't believe Iran has reached that point yet, but may well reach it later this year.  Then what will Obama do?

He'll commission a study, and John Kerry will confer.

May 23, 2013       Permalink

A "PERFECT STORM" – AT 9:23 A.M. ET:   Many are not aware of the serious roiling of international markets last night and today.  This comes as many market observers are warning that the rallies of recent months are unsustainable, and built more on emotion than fact.  From CNBC:

A perfect storm of yen strength, a spike in Japanese government bond yields and new evidence of weakness in China's economy were behind a major sell-off Thursday in Japan's equity markets, said experts.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 closed down 7.3 percent in a session that saw it rise 2 percent in early trade only to reverse direction and fall sharply. The broader Topix finished 6.8 percent lower.

"Almost everything went wrong during the day - the bond market had a bit of a crash, China PMI data, and the yen is stronger. The market is really overheated, all it's looking for is a trigger," Nicholas Smith, Japan strategist at CLSA told CNBC.

Following the sell-off in U.S. Treasurys overnight, Japan government bond (JGB) prices dived, forcing the yield on the 10-year JGB to 1 percent earlier in the day - the highest level in a year - spooking investors.

COMMENT:  We'll be watching this.  One of the few bright lights in Obama's economy has been the stock market.  But it is probably due for a correction, which could result in bad news and probable job losses.

We don't know yet what impact the Obama scandals will have on the economy, if any.  Already a sense of drift has overcome the image of Obama's second term.  A kind of vacuum.  A president distracted by trying to keep the ship afloat.  Not good for confidence.

This economy is still wobbly.  It will have a major impact on the 2014 elections.  Those campaigns will begin in a matter of months.

May 23, 2013       Permalink

LONDON – AT 8:43 A.M. ET:  Some truth-tellin' after yesterday's unspeakable murder of a British soldier by Islamist extremists in London.  From the Washington Post:

LONDON — A day after two alleged Islamic extremists brutally killed a British soldier, Prime Minister David Cameron vowed that his nation would not succumb to fear and promised a vigorous investigation into what appears to be this city’s first terrorist attack since the coordinated transit system bombings in 2005.

Amid reports that at least one of the alleged assailants had sought to travel to Somalia to support an al-Qaeda affiliate, Cameron said there would be reviews of British security services’ management of any information that had been received about either suspect in recent years. But he put the blame for the attack square on the “sickening individuals” who carried it out.

“The people who did this were trying to divide us,” Cameron said. “They should know that something like this will only bring us together and make us stronger. “

Startling amateur video of the assailants, bloodied and ranting, was circulated on the Internet after they allegedly struck their victim with a car and hacked him to death in the southeast London neighborhood of Woolwich.

Roughly 20 minutes after the attack, police intervened and shot the two men, who were being held at two separate London hospitals on Thursday.

The Times of London reported that the two attackers were British citizens of Nigerian background who had converted to a radical form of Islam. Britain’s Press Association said that while the men appeared to have links to Nigeria, they were not thought to have ties to terror groups based in that country.

And...

The BBC on Thursday identified one of the suspects as Michael Adebolajo, 28, and described him as having been raised in a devout Christian family but converting to Islam after leaving college in 2001.

COMMENT:  That last point is important.  We are constantly told that attacks like this are carried out by "lone wolves."  But a lone wolf is a rarity.  The Army officer who carried out the Fort Hood massacre, disgustingly described by the Obama administration as an act of "workplace violence," left an e-mail trail showing that he was a disciple of a radical Muslim activist.  The BBC report clearly indicates that one of the suspects was under substantial Islamic influence. 

I am impressed by the vigor of the British response.  There was no attempt to whitewash anything.  There was muscularity in the words of the prime minister.  He was Churchillian rather than Obaman.

The London attack reminds us of Boston, where the murderers were clearly photographed standing around, waiting for their bombs to go off, waiting for the slaughter and the maiming.

All those "lone wolves."  They all seem to do the same thing.

May 23,  2013     Permalink