Monthly Archives: March 2009

National Insecurity

Strategy & the G.W.O.T.*

Getting beyond the daily concern over the immediate details of the Islamoterror War, it is instructive to back up, and take a look at “the big picture” of the Great War on Terror (* GWOT) in a historical and strategic sense.

The Chief humbly offers this posting from the Gates of Vienna blog as being a worth while offering towards doing this.

Islamic Jihad vs. the Western Way of War

I [written by a noted Norwegian blogger posting as Fjordman] had a conversation recently with a good friend of mine regarding the situation in Western Europe, with rapidly rising ethnic and religious tensions caused by mass immigration. Historically, the usual situation is that Muslims keep the lands they have taken possession of. There are a few exceptions, for instance with the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula, but this took centuries. If this pattern still holds up, the situation does admittedly look bleak.

The problem is that the circumstances this time around are very special. We are dealing with the unprecedented situation where a militarily inferior group is allowed by the authorities in technologically stronger countries to settle in their lands and harass the local population. Muslims haven’t actually defeated us in warfare. Do the old rules then apply? Nobody knows for certain. It is difficult to predict the future, apart from the fact that there will be a lot of turbulence here in the coming years and decades.

In my book Defeating Eurabia I quoted the American scholar Daniel Pipes, who believes that the decisive events in Europe have yet to take place, perhaps within the next decade or so. As Pipes puts it, the situation is historically unprecedented: “No large territory has ever shifted from one civilization to another by virtue of a collapsed population, faith, and identity; nor has a people risen on so grand a scale to reclaim its patrimony. The novelty and magnitude of Europe’s predicament make it difficult to understand, tempting to overlook, and nearly impossible to predict. Europe marches us all into terra incognita.”

I write about European history in order to gain inspiration from our past so that we can face the future with self-confidence. While reading about our artistic and scientific contributions to world culture is inspiring, we should not leave out our military traditions. They, too, constitute a part of our heritage, and we may soon need to revive some of those traditions.

Go to the original full posting for a lot of details and further analysis…if you have a serious interest in what we REALLY have to consider in dealing with this continuing “long war”.

As an additional historical note, Gates of Vienna takes it’s name from commemorating the successful defense of Vienna against the Islamic Ottoman Empire in 1683, which should reinforce for the reader the idea that fighting against Islamic aggression is nothing new, and continues to this day.

This fact remains, in spite of “politically correct” changes in terminology from B.O., Napolitano, et al,and their ilk referring to “overseas contingency operations” and such like, refusing to admit that there IS a continuing (if asymmetric) war declared on us by an Islamic militancy rejuvenated by petrodollars.

They (and we) ignore this cardinal fact at our peril.

Constitution Watch

ObamaCorps: Sieg Heil to the Chief!

1 Comment

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…call it for what it is…

Expanded Americorps has an authoritarian feel

With almost no public attention, both chambers of Congress in the past week advanced an alarming expansion of the Americorps national service plan, with the number of federally funded community service job increasing from 75,000 to 250,000 at a cost of $5.7 billion. Lurking behind the feel-good rhetoric spouted by the measure’s advocates is a bill that on closer inspection reveals multiple provisions that together create a strong odor of creepy authoritarianism. The House passed the measure overwhelmingly, while only 14 senators had the sense and courage to vote against it on a key procedural motion. Every legislator who either voted for this bill or didn’t vote at all has some serious explaining to do.

…It anticipates the possibility of requiring “all individuals in the United States” to perform such service – including elementary school students. The bill also summons up unsettling memories of World War II-era paramilitary groups by saying the new program should “combine the best practices of civilian service with the best aspects of military service,” while establishing “campuses” that serve as “operational headquarters,” complete with “superintendents” and “uniforms” for all participants. It allows for the elimination of all age restrictions in order to involve Americans at all stages of life. And it calls for creation of “a permanent cadre” in a “National Community Civilian Corps.”

But that’s not all. The bill also calls for “youth engagement zones” in which “service learning” is “a mandatory part of the curriculum in all of the secondary schools served by the local educational agency.” This updated form of voluntary community service is also to be “integrated into the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula” at all levels of schooling. Sounds like a government curriculum for government approved “service learning,” which is nothing less than indoctrination. Now, ask yourself if congressmen who voted for this monstrosity had a clue what they were voting for. If not, they’re guilty of dereliction of duty. If yes, the implications are truly frightening.

Some further analysis of the mark-up and amendments to the bill as it slimed its way through the House was posted at the E3 Gazette, with linkages to the specific changes made as the Donk Congs and others unitedly shat it into existence:

HR 1388…is “Arbeit Macht Frei” too strong?

Check out the links on this one…read and weep!

SOUTH DAKOTA UPDATE NOTE:
Sen. John Thune was one of (sadly) only 14 Republicans who voted against this.
Donkey Party Rep.Stephanie Sandlin, and Senator Tim Johnson supported it.

Uncategorized

For what it’s worth:

Keep Your Powder Dry

The shot heard round the world
Led to freedom ringing clear
We’ve kept the fire burning bright
For two hundred plus years
Now the tide has turned against us
Our freedom is being sold
Where is the courage we once had
The patriots so bold?
A once great country gasps her last
She withers in the field
While government as cancer grows
Lady Liberty does yield
So is this it? oh shall we quit?
Should freedom fade away?
Is this the final curtain call
Has freedom seen its day?
HELL NO I say as I rise up
My rifle in my hand
I’ll not lose my liberty
I’ll not lose my land
So stand with me brave patriots
Against the rushing tide
No longer shall we silent stand
No longer will we hide
No longer will their words hold sway
No longer will they steal
The freedom God has given us
No longer will we yield
We stand atop the parapets
Our trumpets blowing loud
To spread the truth of Freedoms Call
Throughout the gathering crowd
Grab your coat, pick up your gun
Take up the battle cry
Be ready for the coming war
And keep your powder dry

Kender MacGowan
3-18-2009

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New Plan, Bad Plan

Geithner rescue package ‘robbery of the American people’

The US government plan to free beleaguered banks of up to $1 trillion (£690bn) of toxic assets will expose American taxpayers to too much risk, leading economist Joseph Stiglitz has cautioned.

The Nobel Prize-winning economist, speaking a day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by almost 7pc in support of the novel public-private partnership (PPIP), said that the plan is “very flawed” and “amounts to robbery of the American people.”

Professor Stiglitz on Tuesday led a list of well-known economists and high-profile industry figures who have said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s toxic asset plan may not be as successful as it first seems.

Based on the record, why should anything BUT this be expected?

Uncategorized

Administration Potomac Fever Continues

George Will in the WaPo summarizes a lot that’s going on right now in Baghdad on the Potomac….and, with apology to the late Warren Zevon, “It Ain’t That Pretty at All”!

The Toxic Assets We Elected

With the braying of 328 yahoos — members of the House of Representatives who voted for retroactive and punitive use of the tax code to confiscate the legal earnings of a small, unpopular group — still reverberating, the Obama administration yesterday invited private-sector investors to become business partners with the capricious and increasingly anti-constitutional government. This latest plan to unfreeze the financial system came almost half a year after Congress shoveled $700 billion into the Troubled Assets Relief Program, $325 billion of which has been spent without purchasing any toxic assets.

After listing a number of weirdly reversed situations (like China lecturing us on maintaining a stable capitalistic system!), Will concludes with:

This is but a partial list of recent lawlessness, situational constitutionalism and institutional derangement. Such political malfeasance is pertinent to the financial meltdown as the administration, desperately seeking confidence, tries to stabilize the economy by vastly enlarging government’s role in it. [Emphasis added.]

As noted above, it ain’t that pretty at all.

Constitution Watch

B.O. Moves to Tighten the Ratchet of Power

U.S. Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms

The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document.

The government at present has the authority to seize only banks.

Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president’s Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document.[Emphasis added]

B.O. and company are nothing if not consistent. The overarching theme of the administration thus far has been an unrelenting series of policies and edicts aimed at increasing the arbitrary power of the executive at the expense of anyone or anything that could possibly get in their way, and to hell with the trivialities of observing the Constitution.

What adds the true touch of surrealistic quality is the accompaniment of B.O.’s best Alfred E. Neuman “What, me worry?” grin, and giggles while being interviewed on 60 Minutes (among other venues), about the continuing monetary soap opera.

Unfortunately, the joke’s on us, since we’ll get to pay for it all, one way or another.

Constitution Watch

See Ya In the “Re-education” Camp!

‘Fusion Centers’ Expand Criteria to Identify Militia Members
Do you like Ron Paul or oppose abortion? You may be a member of a militia, according to a new report by a government information collection agency.

If you’re an anti-abortion activist, or if you display political paraphernalia supporting a third-party candidate or a certain Republican member of Congress, if you possess subversive(sic) literature, you very well might be a member of a domestic paramilitary group.

That’s according to “The Modern Militia Movement,” a report by the Missouri Information Analysis Center (MIAC), a government collective that identifies the warning signs of potential domestic terrorists for law enforcement communities.

“Due to the current economical and political situation, a lush environment for militia activity has been created,” the Feb. 20 report reads. “Unemployment rates are high, as well as costs of living expenses. Additionally, President Elect Barrack [sic] Obama is seen as tight on gun control and many extremists fear that he will enact firearms confiscations.”

This is so chilling that even the ACLU has responded with shock. It is effectively setting up rules of law-enforcement engagement that issue a license to at least harass political opposition to the ascension of the B.O. regime.

By the way, although the scary implementation is taking place with the B.O. administration, the legal framework that established the opportunity for this abuse goes back to the pseudo Conservative Bush presidency.

A curse on both parties’ houses in this case!

Dang! Wonder where I can get a Ron Paul sticker?

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Donks Unsure about B.O. Budget

A couple of items suggest that this may be the case:

Sen. Bill Nelson on Obama Budget: Need to ‘Rework This Whole Thing’

Sen. Bill Nelson, a member of the Senate Budget Committee, said the Obama budget will have to be revised in light of the latest Congressional Budget Office projections.

The Florida Democrat said in an interview on Fox News Channel this morning that “we’re going to have to go back and rework this whole thing, and that’s going to be done this week in the Budget Committee.” He later added that “Kent Conrad, our chairman of the Budget Committee, is definitely going to have to be Merlin.” CBO numbers released Friday show federal deficits over the next decade will exceed President Barack Obama’s projections by $2.3 trillion.

Well, B.O.’s so popular, he can take it directly to the people the way Reagan did, right?

Wrong:

Congress isn’t feeling much heat from Obama’s ‘army’

President Barack Obama’s army of canvassers fanned out across the nation over the weekend to drum up support for his $3.55 trillion budget, but they had no noticeable impact on members of Congress, who on Monday said they were largely unaware of the effort.

“News to me,” said Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, a House Budget Committee member, of the canvassing. Later, his staff said that his office had heard from about 100 voters.

So much for B.O.’s vaunted net corps.

Constitution Watch

Congress: “We don’t need no steenkin’ Constitution!”

House passes bill taxing fat AIG and other bonuses

Denouncing a “squandering of the people’s money,” lawmakers voted decisively Thursday to impose a 90 percent tax on millions of dollars in employee bonuses paid by troubled insurance giant AIG and other bailed-out companies.

In some cases the bonuses might be taxed 100 percent leaving the recipients with nothing.

So, what’s wrong with this picture?

From TechLawJournal.com

Bill of Attainder

Definition: A legislative act that singles out an individual or group for punishment without a trial.

The Constitution of the United States, Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 provides that: “No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law will be passed.

“The Bill of Attainder Clause was intended not as a narrow, technical (and therefore soon to be outmoded) prohibition, but rather as an implementation of the separation of powers, a general safeguard against legislative exercise of the judicial function or more simply – trial by legislature.” U.S. v. Brown, 381 U.S. 437, 440 (1965).

“These clauses of the Constitution are not of the broad, general nature of the Due Process Clause, but refer to rather precise legal terms which had a meaning under English law at the time the Constitution was adopted. A bill of attainder was a legislative act that singled out one or more persons and imposed punishment on them, without benefit of trial. Such actions were regarded as odious by the framers of the Constitution because it was the traditional role of a court, judging an individual case, to impose punishment.” William H. Rehnquist, The Supreme Court, page 166.

“Bills of attainder, ex post facto laws, and laws impairing the obligations of contracts, are contrary to the first principles of the social compact, and to every principle of sound legislation. … The sober people of America are weary of the fluctuating policy which has directed the public councils. They have seen with regret and indignation that sudden changes and legislative interferences, in cases affecting personal rights, become jobs in the hands of enterprising and influential speculators, and snares to the more-industrious and less-informed part of the community.” James Madison, Federalist Number 44, 1788.

The Constitutional standard is clear…what’s not understandible to the Chief is the brazen disregard of that standard by a majority of the legislative lawmakers lawbreakers.

The House, and (probably soon the Senate) has pretty effectively demonstrated either their total ignorance of the Constitution (that they are allegedly sworn to uphold) or their total lack of concern for it’s provisions in the midst of their overwhelming desire to indulge in a legislative tantrum to impress the voters that they’re looking out for the little guy. The Chief isn’t sure which, if either of these, is worse than the other.  Either one is a poor commentary on the current state of our national legislooters.

Hey, I don’t like the bonus deal either…but let’s be real about this: if we really want to punish those evil executives – LET THEIR COMPANIES GO BANKRUPT! If the government didn’t give out the bailout money to start with, this whole situation would be non-existent. THAT would be a market system at work, not the fascistic pattern of government-corporate incestuous politics, favors, special interests, insider deals, etc. that has evolved over the last century

This is NOT a partisan issue. Many GOP’ers are just as bad as a lot of the Donkey Party denizens. On the other hand, there are some on both sides of the aisle (not enough these days!) that are still capable of reading the Constitution.

The Chief sends kudos to those who are still trying to uphold the Constitution, and would invoke the curses of heaven and hell upon the heads of the others.

F.E.T.E.

Uncategorized

Change to Believe In: Sticking it to Vets

    UPDATE

:
Insurance Change for Veterans Is Scrapped

Under withering criticism from veterans and Congress, President Obama on Wednesday abandoned a proposal that would have required veterans to use their private health insurance to pay for the treatment of combat-related injuries.

DISCLOSURE: The Chief is a 26-year veteran of the Navy and Naval Reserve, without any service-incurred medical problems, so PERSONALLY I have no dog in this fight, except for very strong feelings on what’s fitting and proper for the government when dealing with those who have put their lives and blood on the line in the service of the country.

When the government is dominated by the left both in the White House and on The Hill, one supposes that this sort of thing is what has to be expected, given the gut-level enmity that the hard left traditionally carries for virtually all things military.

What makes this idea even more diagnostic of this attitude is that the Workmen’s Compensation laws extend medical coverage for civilian employment related injuries, but here’s B.O. and his henchmen acting to limit coverage for service-incurred medical problems. Any employer that tried to pull something like this would have severe legal repercussions (at the least!), but apparently this is just fine coming from the Olympian heights of the B.O. administration.

At the same time this is happening, there continues unrelenting opposition from the left side to any form of means testing Ponzi-scheme government “entitlements” like Social (In)Security and Medicare.

(And save the empty rhetoric…any claim that the Obamanation Abomination is anything but hard left is laughable.)

Obama mulls making vets foot bill for service injuries

The Obama administration is considering making veterans use private insurance to pay for treatment of combat and service-related injuries. The plan would be an about-face on what veterans believe is a long-standing pledge to pay for health care costs that result from their military service.

But in a White House meeting Monday, veterans groups apparently failed to persuade President Obama to take the plan off the table.

“Veterans of all generations agree that this proposal is bad for the country and bad for veterans,” said Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “If the president and the OMB [Office of Management and Budget] want to cut costs, they can start at AIG, not the VA.”

American Legion Strongly Opposed to President’s Plan to Charge Wounded Heroes for Treatment

The leader of the nation’s largest veterans organization says he is “deeply disappointed and concerned” after a meeting with President Obama today to discuss a proposal to force private insurance companies to pay for the treatment of military veterans who have suffered service-connected disabilities and injuries. The Obama administration recently revealed a plan to require private insurance carriers to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in such cases.

“It became apparent during our discussion today that the President intends to move forward with this unreasonable plan,” said Commander David K. Rehbein of The American Legion. “He says he is looking to generate $540-million by this method, but refused to hear arguments about the moral and government-avowed obligations that would be compromised by it.”

The Commander, clearly angered as he emerged from the session said, “This reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate ‘ to care for him who shall have borne the battle’ given that the United States government sent members of the armed forces into harm’s way, and not private insurance companies. I say again that The American Legion does not and will not support any plan that seeks to bill a veteran for treatment of a service connected disability at the very agency that was created to treat the unique need of America’s veterans!”

When the B.O. is unwilling to give veterans the same priority in coverage that civilian employees get, clearly the B.O. administration is showing it’s true colors and the level of (dis)respect that it has for the military, and by extension, those who have and do serve in it.

Culture Wars, SD Politics

South Dakota: Free Indeed!

Are things perfect here? No – not by a long shot…but then again, compared to some other places…not too shabby at all!

Freedom in the 50 States: Index of Personal and Economic Freedom

index-of-freedom-header1.jpg

This paper presents the first-ever comprehensive ranking of the American states on their public policies affecting individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. We develop and justify our ratings and aggregation procedure on explicitly normative criteria, defining individual freedom as the ability to dispose of one’s own life, liberty, and justly acquired property however one sees fit, so long as one does not coercively infringe on other individuals’ ability to do the same.

This study improves on prior attempts to score economic freedom for American states in three primary ways: 1) it includes measures of social and personal freedoms such as peaceable citizens’ rights to educate their own children, own and carry firearms, and be free from unreasonable search and seizure; 2) it includes far more variables, even on economic policies alone, than prior studies, and there are no missing data on any variable; 3) we adopt new, more accurate measurements of key variables, particularly state fiscal policies.

We find that the freest states in the country are New Hampshire, Colorado, and South Dakota, which together achieve a virtual tie for first place. All three states feature low taxes and government spending and middling levels of regulation and paternalism. New York is the least free by a considerable margin, followed by New Jersey, Rhode Island, California and Maryland. (Emphases added)

The Chief knew there were a number of reasons why he liked living in South Dakota. Many of them relate to the topics covered in this analysis. Check it out.

If you’re a South Dakota liberal, let not your heart be troubled…Minnesota is right next door and Eastbound I-90 will take you there easily.  Don’t let the door hit you in the — on the way out!

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Another B.O. Appointee with Problem?

Obama appointee on leave after FBI raid, arrests

An employee of the D.C. Office of the Chief Technology Officer and a private contractor were charged with corruption Thursday after an FBI raid at the former office of one of President Obama’s appointees, Vivek Kundra.

Kundra is on leave from his White House job until further details of the case become known, a White House source tells the Associated Press.

Kundra has not been linked to Thursday’s raid.

…yet.

As the raid took place, Kundra was giving a speech at FOSE – an annual government technology expo – about changing the way the government purchases materials from vendors.

You couldn’t make this stuff up!

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Got a health plan? You’re rich!

Under this scheme, apparently the Donks think that anyone who has a medical plan is (voila!) rich!

Didn’t B.O. himself promise to only increase taxes on the rich? If this tax scheme is put in place, then lots more of us MUST be richer than we thought, otherwise we wouldn’t be getting a tax increase, right?

(HA HA! Joke’s on us!)

Workers’ Health Benefits Eyed for Taxation

With President Obama’s plan to tax the rich to pay for health care facing deep skepticism on Capitol Hill, key lawmakers are pressing a different way to raise money: taxing the health benefits workers receive from their employers.

Since companies began offering group health insurance on a large scale during World War II, the value of that benefit has never been counted as income, reducing workers’ taxable earnings by an average of $9,000 a year for family coverage.

In recent weeks, however, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the tax-writing Finance Committee, has repeatedly advocated changing tax laws to include employer benefits, arguing that it makes sense to fund the health-care changes by sucking cash out of the existing system. Meanwhile, 13 other senators — from both sides of the aisle — have signed on to a plan for universal coverage that includes a tax on employer-provided benefits.

They’ll never stop. F.E.T.E.

Uncategorized

Signs of the Times: Obamaville Settlements

Sacramento tent city is just one of dozens in an ailing America

A revival of a part of the not-so-good old days of the Depression of the 1930’s. “It ain’t that pretty at all!”

Across America, from Washington State to Nevada, Georgia and even Florida, homeless advocacy groups and city agencies are reporting the biggest rise in homeless encampments in a generation, as the US economy takes a spectacular plunge….

The economic figures behind her call for community action have been relentless. The recession, which began as a crisis of homeowners unable to pay their mortgages but has spread to every part of the economy, took away 650,000 Americans’ jobs for a record third straight month in February as unemployment climbed to a 25-year peak of 8.1 per cent. Around 12.5 million people are looking for work – more than the population of the state of Pennsylvania. No one is immune: the jobless rate for college graduates has hit its highest point.

The result is a proliferation of tent cities, such as the one in Sacramento. While it is the best-known shantytown in America – thanks mostly to an Oprah Winfrey special on the “new faces of the homeless” last month – it is only one of dozens. California, with its milder weather, has always attracted its fair share of people living on the streets. But the Golden State is being hit hard by the recession. In February it had the highest number of repossession filings – 80,775 – of anywhere in the US, up 51 per cent in a year according to the website RealtyTrac. Auction sale notices almost tripled to 18,831.

The outcome of the various bail-out and stimulus porkulus efforts may alleviate the situation in the short term, but reality will once again raise its ugly head and rub our noses in the harsh reality that we cannot, on an individual or national level, continually live beyond our means. The inevitable inescapable correction will be worse, the longer it is staved off.

National Insecurity

Donk Border Folly

The Donkey Party is feelin’ its oats these days, so some of they’ve decided it’s time to open up the borders, and destroy effective enforcement in an area that is a hot spot in the massively escalating cross-border drug wars.

Justice Dept. Investigates Arizona Sheriff for Enforcing Immigration Law

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona following requests by congressional Democrats and allegations by liberal activists that the department has violated the civil rights of illegal aliens.

Reps. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and Robert Scott (D-Va.) requested the investigation, and activists groups such as National Day Laborer Organizer Network and ACORN launched petition drives and rallies in support of the probe.

The investigation focuses on Sheriff Joe Arpaio and dozens of officers under his command who were trained through the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Agreements of Cooperation in Communities to Enhance Safety and Security (ACCESS), which partners federal and local law enforcement to enforce immigration laws. (The Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division is known popularly as ICE.)

What a concept. Enforce the law (for a change), and become subject to a DoJ investigation hit team.

This would be laughable if it wasn’t so ridiculous. Apparently Sheriff Joe isn’t supposed to enforce the immigration laws down there…too many illegal Mexicans are getting busted, which, to the moonbats in DoJ and their Donk Cong instigators is prima facie evidence of some form of discrimination.

Hmmmmm. (Think! Think!) Oh yeah! Illegal Mexicans (and some other Latinos/Latinas) are coming across the border in large numbers, committing (felonious) crimes in large numbers, and getting busted…in appropriately large numbers. ¡No problemo!

Maybe if they weren’t doing the crimes, they wouldn’t be doing the time. What a concept! Apparently one that the A.G. Napolitano and her ‘crats can’t wrap their minds (if they haven’t totally lost them) around.

National Insecurity

Why We Need GITMO

Officials: Afghanistan Taliban leader was at Gitmo

The Taliban’s new top operations officer in southern Afghanistan had been a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the latest example of a freed detainee who took a militant leadership role and a potential complication for the Obama administration’s efforts to close the prison. U.S. authorities handed over the detainee to the Afghan government, which in turn released him, according to Pentagon and CIA officials….

The officials, who spoke anonymously because they are not authorized to release the information, said Rasoul has joined a growing faction of former Guantanamo prisoners who have rejoined militant groups and taken action against U.S. interests. Pentagon officials have said that as many as 60 former detainees have resurfaced on foreign battlefields.

What to do with GITMO & its denizens?

B.O. should frankly admit the first response to shut it down was wrong. Don’t hold your breath.

What to do with the occupants? Simple. Declare them formal POW’s under Geneva Convention rules, and hold them as POW’s until the entire terror war is OVER and WON. No tribunals except for proven war crimes and atrocities. No civilian courts, lawyers, habeas corpus, etc. It was good enough for German, Italian, and others we captured in WW-II, so why should the Islamoterrs expect anything better?

Uncategorized

Hunting Hunters in UK Results in Killing

Save the animals: kill the hunters? (Still under investigation.)

Hunt supporter killed by gyrocopter after confronting animal rights activists

Trevor Morse, 48, broke off from following the Warwickshire hunt on Monday morning to drive to an airfield where two alleged anti-hunt protesters who had been following and monitoring them were re-fuelling.

It is believed he wanted to challenge them over their behaviour and allegations they were swooping down aggressively and frightening the horses.

Mr Morse was hit by the mini-helicopter and died instantly. It is thought he was decapitated by its blades.

As two men were continuing to be questioned on suspicion of murder, hunting leaders called for calm as tensions in the already hate-fuelled relationship between hunt supporters and protesters rose further.

Fortunately something like this could never happen here, across the pond, could it?

Uncategorized

Channelling JFK, Lincoln, or not?

Barack Obama rejects accusation that he is taking on too much too soon

Barack Obama has rejected the charge that he is taking on too much too soon, by comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D Roosevelt and John F Kennedy. The new president’s response ran the risk of reviving the criticism sometimes heard during his campaign and inauguration that he was prematurely ranking himself among the great American politicians.

Who is the real B.O.?  Backers are starting to wonder, too.

Even supporters are questioning whether or not the president would be better advised to concentrate all or most of his fire on reviving the economy, and in particular, finalising the details of saving the banking sector.

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor and an early of support of Mr Obama, has criticised the government for a “muddled message”. David Brooks, a sympathetic if conservative columnist for the New York Times said that “Democrats apparently think that dealing with the crisis is a part-time job, which leaves the afternoons free to work on long-range plans to reform education, health care, energy and a dozen smaller things”.

The Chief submits that the pattern forming here is clear…B.O. has become a legend in his own mind.

National Insecurity

B.O.’s Lack of Situational Awareness

Taliban say Obama’s call on moderates “illogical”

OK. The problem here is that B.O. has a mindset that it’s possible to sit down with sociopathic leaders and make a reasonable accomodation with them.  “Moderate” Taliban? That’s fully as realistic as it would have been looking for tolerant SS Einsatzgruppen in 1943.

Unlike B.O., the Chief is perfectly willing to take the Taliban at their word…to the effect that there is no such thing as “Moderate Taliban”.

Afghanistan’s Taliban on Tuesday turned down as illogical U.S. President Barack Obama’s bid to reach out to moderate elements of the insurgents, saying the exit of foreign troops was the only solution for ending the war.

Obama, in an interview with the New York Times, expressed an openness to adapting tactics in Afghanistan that had been used in Iraq to reach out to moderate elements there.

“This does not require any response or reaction for this is illogical,” Qari Mohammad Yousuf, a purported spokesman for the insurgent group, told Reuters when asked if its top leader Mullah Mohammad Omar would make any comment about Obama’s proposal.

“The Taliban are united, have one leader, one aim, one policy…I do not know why they are talking about moderate Taliban and what it means?, If it means those who are not fighting and are sitting in their homes, then talking to them is meaningless. This really is surprising the Taliban.”

Fortunately for the U.S., it looks like said sociopaths aren’t buying into negotiation. With a bit of luck we MAY be spared the spectacle of a “peace in our time” proclamation with a “paper bearing signatures” of Mullah Omar, as happened in the 30’s with Chamberlain erroneously thinking he could negotiate a meaningful agreement with “Herr Hitler”. as well as the disastrous consequences of THAT earlier manifestation of situational UNawareness.

National Insecurity

Another B.O. Appointee Bounces

Couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy!

Freeman hits ‘Israel lobby’ on way out

President Barack Obama’s controversial pick for a top intelligence post blasted the “Israel lobby” on his way out the door Tuesday, intensifying a debate on the role Israel’s allies played in the latest failed Obama appointment.

Charles W. Freeman Jr.’s abrupt withdrawal from his appointment as chairman of the National Intelligence Council came after he drew fire on a number of fronts – including questions about his financial ties to China and Saudi Arabia.

The last thing we need is a top Intel policy geek in the tank for the Saudis and the ChiComs…two of the more significant players with definite reasons of their own not to hold the U.S. or its interests in favor.

Uncategorized

Cow Tax Blowin’ in the Wind

Thune, Schumer Introduce “Cow Tax” Prevention Bill

Interesting situation.

First, it’s totally stupid that this even needs to be dealt with, but it shows that some of the ‘crats of EPA need to find a real job. Proposing taxes (oh, yeah – “fees”…right) on livestock produced gas? What would be next, regulating Jay Bush’s product line (of canned beans) to reduce potential “pollution”? But I digress.

Hopefully this will go through without much problem…it’s starting off with that rarest of birds…real bipartisan sponsorship, with Sen. Thune and Sen. Schumer (Donk – NY) getting the ball rolling. The Chief can’t imagine much Donk support for this coming out of states like Iowa, Missouri, Michigan, North Dakota, or even Minnesota (well, then again, if Franken takes the seat…).

U.S. Senators John Thune and Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) today introduced a bill (S.527) that will once and for all prevent the government from imposing an onerous “cow tax” on farmers across the country. Late last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) discussed regulating greenhouse gases in its Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking under the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, which could include requiring farmers to purchase expensive permits. Although the EPA did not propose moving forward with the permits, Thune and Schumer are taking preventive action to protect America’s farmers. The “tax” would cost South Dakota farmers an estimated $367 million — or $175 per dairy cow, $87.50 per beef cow, and $20 per hog — fees that could put already struggling family farms on the brink of closure.

It’s highly unusual for the Chief to agree, and to grant some kudos to Sen. Schumer…IMHO he’s such a moonbat on so many issues…but in this case he is on the side of reason:

“Times are hard for families across New York State, and they are particularly hard for our farmers. The idea of a imposing a cow tax on our farmers and adding one more crushing burden is absurd,” Schumer said. “This bill will put an end to this inane `cow tax’ once and for all.”

“Inane”…yeah, that’s about right…

Below is the text of a letter from the American Farm Bureau Federation to Senator Thune and Senator Schumer supporting this legislation:
Continue reading →

Constitution Watch

DC Vote in Trouble

Marvel of marvels! This is apparently such a flagrant violation of the pesky language of the Constitution that apparently even the Donks (at least some of them) can’t swallow it.

Democrats Pull D.C. Voting Rights Act

The patently unconstitutional bill to give the District of Columbia a voting representative in the House of Representatives was pulled off the House calendar because — according to one House Republican leadership source — they feared that the so-called Blue Dog Democrats would not support it.

The bill was patently unconstitutional because under Article 1, Section 2, only states have representatives, and D.C. isn’t a state. (That idea is reinforced by the XXIII Amendment, under which D.C. voters are allowed to vote in presidential elections, and thus appoint electors to the Electoral College, “…equal to the whole number of Senators and Representatives in Congress to which the District would be entitled if it were a State….”)

The Blue Dogs, a group of supposedly conservative Dems who have usually marched to Speaker Pelosi’s drum, were fearful that the National Rifle Association would “score” — i.e., use the vote to determine its annual rating of gun-friendly (and unfriendly) members the vote on the rule to bring the matter to the House floor.

That same source told HUMAN EVENTS that the rule would have precluded consideration of an amendment — similar to that approved in the Senate last week — to preserve D.C. residents’ gun rights.

The gun rights aspect of this makes the whole situation even sweeter. Looks like Queen SanFran Nan soesn;t have quite the hold she thought she did over all things on the Donk side of the House.

Glowbull Warming

Glowbull Warming Updates – cont’d

First, an item concerning the Grand Poo-bah of Glowbull Warming himself:

A scientist forces Al Gore to back down

For years, Al Gore has predicted that man’s sins of carbon dioxide will bring calamity and apocalypse. He cited an increase in natural disasters.

Gore quietly dropped the contention that the increase is connected to manmade global warming this week after being called on it by Roger A. Pielke Jr., a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado.

“Gore is pulling a dramatic slide from his ever-evolving global warming presentation,” reported Andrew Revkin on a blog for the New York Times.

What? AlGor making a bogus presentation so blatently incorrect that it even exceeded his loose standard of scientific validity?

…his climate slide show contained a startling graph showing a ceiling-high spike in disasters in recent years. “The data came from the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (also called CRED) at the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels.”

The slide has since disappeared from the show, Revkin wrote.

This was not happenstance. Pielke called Gore on his assertions. The link between manmade activity and natural disasters has not been established. CRED, the source cited by Gore, even said so.

If AlGor is so concerned about man-made CO2, maybe he can make his own contribution to solving his “problem” by not exhaling.

You’ve gotta love the big glowbull warming protest in D.C., in the middle of a major snowstorm, where NASA’s James Hanson’s propaganda line is getting so far out there that HIS creds are starting to get frayed around the edges even in the formerly slavishly adoring MSM.

Will D.C. global warming protest be the end of NASA’s climate chief?

Change is coming to Washington, D.C. tomorrow — or, at least, more warnings of climate change. On March 2, D.C. will be the site of a snowstorm and the largest public protest of global warming in history. Irony aside, the protest might also help usher in the public unraveling of NASA’s chief climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen.

Hansen, best known for his alarming testimonies on climate change, has drawn fresh criticism from colleagues and lawmakers alike after endorsing tomorrow’s Capitol Climate Action protest. Calling for “mass civil disobedience,” the protest aims to draw attention to global warming and remove all coal-burning power plants from America.

In an article with FOXNews, one of Hansen’s former supervisors, Dr. John Theon, remarked of Hansen’s involvement: “Oh my goodness. I’m not surprised. The fact that Jim Hansen has gone off the deep end here is sad because he’s a good fellow.” Theon is well-known in the scientific community for questioning Hansen’s integrity, claiming that the man abused his position and violated NASA’s position on climate forecasting.

Hansen has also been the target of several notable global warming skeptics, including “Red Hot Lies” author Chris Horner: “He’s providing ample cause to question his employment on the taxpayer dime,” Horner told FOXNews.com.

IMHO Horner is among the worst of the bad…a scientist who cooks the (data) books to make a political point. Lysenko would be proud.

Uncategorized

B.O. Administration Bails Out of UN Conference

Jewish groups praise US for decision to boycott Durban II

The way things have developed, it’s not often that the Chief can whole-heartedly agree with a policy decision from the new administration.

This is one of those exceptional cases.

Jewish groups have joined in praising the US decision to withdraw from a UN-sponsored conference on racism, and say they hope that European countries will follow suit. Widely called “Durban II,” the conference is scheduled for April in Geneva.

In a statement issued by the Anti-Defamation League, its national chairman, Glen S. Lewy, said, “We applaud the administration for refusing to participate in a process that would in any way brand Israel as a racist country.”

Moishe Smith, president of B’nai B’rith International, said that while the group was “never pleased to walk away from international discussions in critical areas like racism, we credit the Obama administration for its good faith effort.”

US President Barack Obama was originally inclined to participate in the World Conference Against Racism, set to open on April 20, and even sent a delegation to Geneva for the preparations. But the US rescinded its involvement when the delegation determined that the conference’s proposed draft resolutions would be blatantly anti-Israel and were unable to change the content.

This is a good move…and shows that we will not be willing to toady to the influences of unabashed anti-semitic strains that are running through much of the UN these days out of the Islamic world and others who are sympathetic to this sort of thing for various political or other reasons.

Frankly, given the tone of SecState Hillary lately fregarding the middle-east, this is a pleasantly unexpected surprise.