Please note that you can leave a comment on any of our posts at our Facebook page.  Subscribers can also comment at length at our Angel's Corner Forum.

FEBRUARY 4,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:21 P.M. ET:

ON HER WAY TO THE WHITE HOUSE – From The Hill:  "Activist Sandra Fluke (D) has filed paperwork to seek the California Democratic Party's endorsement for Rep. Henry Waxman's (D-Calif.) seat, a sign she's taking concrete steps toward a possible run for Waxman's district following his retirement.  Fluke sent in paperwork last Friday to the local party committee ahead of this Sunday's meeting, according to San Fernando Valley Democratic Party Chairwoman Agi Kessler."  You'll recall that Fluke made a bit of a splash last year when she led a campaign to have the federal government pay for her birth-control pills.  She was a law student at the time.  Aside from that, she doesn't appear to have delved into any other aspect of public affairs, like, say, foreign policy.  The Dems are kooky enough to select her.   She's chic and "now."  Wisdom and experience are not being sought.

SOCHI EMBARASSMENT – From CBS:  "We all know how the old saying goes when you travel: 'Don’t drink the water.'  Well in Sochi, Russia, you had better not TOUCH the water, either.  When Chicago Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair, who is covering the Winter Olympics for the newspaper, arrived at her hotel, she was informed that there was a problem with the water and it had been shut off.  Then hotel staff delivered an ominous warning: 'Do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.'  Her tweet about the situation has gone viral."  The Olympics are off to a great start.  I hope the torch doesn't burn down the city.

ANYONE REMEMBER CHRISTMAS? – From the New York Daily News:  "New York City is moving to close school for two Muslim holidays and the Lunar New Year — but Mayor de Blasio isn’t so sure about the Hindu festival Diwali.  Appearing on WNYC’s 'Brian Lehrer Show' on Monday, the mayor said he hadn’t taken a position on whether Diwali, the festival of lights celebrated in India and other South Asian countries, should be a day off from school."  Pretty soon there'll be more days off than on in New York City.  I remember when the city had a school system. 

OUR SECURITY SERVICES AT WORK – From WaPo:  "The message broadcast in several states last winter was equal parts alarming and absurd:  'Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living. . . . Do not attempt to approach or apprehend these bodies, as they are considered extremely dangerous.'  The reported zombie invasion was not something out of the 'The Walking Dead.' It was the federal Emergency Alert System under control of hackers — who exploited weaknesses that are disturbingly common in many critical systems throughout government, according to a Senate cybersecurity report set for release Tuesday."  This is all so silly.  The report was actually accurate.  The bodies rising were just Chicago voters going to the polls. 

February 4, 2014       Permalink

GOOD NEWS FROM SYRIA? – AT 11:58 A.M. ET:  Unlikely, I know, but Britain's first-class defense reporter, Con Coughlin, has found a strange kind of good news from that horror show.  From Britain's Telegraph: 

Following the collapse of the Geneva peace talks on Syria, where the rival factions could not even agree on a ceasefire to allow humanitarian assistance to trapped civilians, there is one small scrap of good news from the battlefield: civil war has broken out between al-Qaeda and other Islamist extremists.

Speaking from his hideout somewhere on the Afghan-Pakistan border, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has disavowed one of the leading jihadist groups in Syria, the Islamic State of Syria and al-Sham (ISIS), claiming its wanton campaign of violence threatens to damage the al-Qaeda brand.
This accusation might seem a bit rich coming from the leader of an organisation who himself regularly authorises suicide bomb attacks against innocent civilians, quite apart from his role in masterminding the September 11 attacks.

But the barbarous campaign waged by ISIS jihadists in Syria, which has included mass executions of captured fighters and the imposition of Sharia law on captured villages, has proved too much for even a bloodthirsty terrorist like Zawahiri. In a statement posted on an al-Qaeda website at the weekend, the al-Qaeda frontman condemned ISIS as a renegade band that was responsible for waging war against fellow Muslims through its campaign of car bombings, mass killings and the widespread torture of its own citizens.

The tactics employed by ISIS to fulfil its goal of establishing an Islamic state in Sunni areas of northern Syria and western Iraq have already caused outrage among other jihadi fighters, and prompted fierce fighting between rival factions.

COMMENT:  Let them be divided.  I guess there are serious questions among terror groups as to how many murders are respectable. 

But let's not strain to find good news.  In the last few days we've learned of a substantial number of European Islamists fighting in Syria.  They can easily return to their own countries and create chaos.   And if they can do it in Europe, they can do it in America.  We've also had reports of Hezbollah operatives in the U.S. making use of combat-trained jihadists just back from Syria.

Indeed, the answer to those neo-isolationists who say these overseas conflicts aren't our business is that these conflicts breed embittered, fanatical veterans, sworn to glorify Islam.  And making nice with Islam has never seemed to make a difference.

February 4, 2014       Permalink

VERDICT ON OBAMA – AT 11:18 A.M. ET:  Second terms are tough, but this tough?  A new poll shows Obama edging a bit upward in one category, but in sad shape overall.  From CNN:

Washington (CNN) – President Barack Obama's approval rating has edged up a bit since the end of last year, according to a new national poll.

But a CNN/ORC International survey also indicates the number of Americans who hope that his policies will succeed has dropped 12 points since last year and a majority now predicts that his policies will fail.

According to the survey, which was released Monday, 45% of the public gives Obama a thumbs-up on the job he's doing as President.

That's up from 41% in November and December, when the President was at or near all-time lows in polls from CNN and other organizations. The President's disapproval rating now stands at 50%, down from 56% at the end of last year.

"Leaving aside partisan demographics, Obama gets his biggest support from people who live in big cities, who give him a 56% approval rating," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Three groups tie for the lowest rating for Obama in the current poll - rural Americans, senior citizens, and whites. The President scores only a 36% rating among each of those groups."

COMMENT:  How sad.  What a divided nation we are.  It didn't have to be that way.  Had Obama understood the nature of his office, and not had such an ego, combined with a chip on his shoulder, he might have brought greater unity.  I'm afraid it's too late.  He doesn't have the size to be president.  Neither did Jimmy Carter, to whom Obama is often compared.  And some around him, like his attorney general, are not helpful.

Nor is it helpful for the president, in a Super Bowl-timed interview with Bill O'Reilly, to blame Fox News for his troubles.  The Fox News audience averages less than one percent of the American population.  What's the excuse for the other 99%?

February 4,  2014     Permalink

OUR NEW FRIENDS – AT 9:04 A.M. ET:   It is sickening to see the European businessmen lined up in Tehran to do business.  Do they know who they're trading with?  And it also sickens me to see American leftist groups lined up to support Obama's soft policy toward Iran.  It's the same old story – the informal linkage between the Western left and Islamism.  Both despise America.

And what is going on in Iran to arouse our revulsion?  From The Washington Times:

The number of executions carried out by Iranian authorities — often hanging dubiously convicted citizens from construction cranes in public — has risen sharply since President Hassan Rouhani took office in August, a surge most likely because of a secret power struggle within Iran’s notoriously veiled political system.

Away from positive news coverage of the Obama administration’s push for nuclear detente with Iran, the Islamic republic is executing about 66 people per month, 19 more per month than during the 2-year period before Mr. Rouhani took office, according to an analysis of figures compiled by nonpartisan groups including Amnesty International, the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center and various Iranian opposition activists in Washington.

Critics of the nuclear deal are citing the executions as evidence that Mr. Rouhani is far from the moderate reformer that many portrayed him to be upon his ascension to the presidency.

But U.S. intelligence sources, human rights advocates and high-level sources on Capitol Hill caution against jumping to that conclusion. In interviews with The Washington Times, several sources said reasons for the surge in executions are complex.

“There are indications that the Iranian regime is executing more people now compared to just a year ago,” one U.S. intelligence official told The Times on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about sensitive issues. “But it’s difficult to identify any overarching political strategy behind Tehran’s actions.”

COMMENT:  I love those "human rights advocates" and "intelligence sources" who caution us about being oh so judgmental.  Many "human rights" organizations today are nothing more than the grandchildren of the old Soviet-sponsored "peace" groups.  They have noble names, and that's all.

As far as "intelligence sources" are concerned, I'm not sure I'd want to stake my children's lives on the capability of intelligence agencies.  They are often politicized, and sing the piper's song.  One of the original purposes of the CIA was to provide a central clearing house for intelligence, with no political agenda.  We've seen how that's worked out.

February 4, 2014      Permalink

HOW LOW WE'VE SUNK – AT 8:43 A.M. ET:  This is actually a serious news story, based on a serious poll.  From The Hill:

Former President Bill Clinton is the “liar” the public is most able to forgive nearly two decades after his affair with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky, according to a new poll.

According to a CBS-Vanity Fair poll, 43 percent of people said they are most able to forgive Clinton among a list of other famous people who have lied to the public.

The survey asks “which liar are you most able to forgive," listing Clinton along with cyclist Lance Armstrong, former President Richard Nixon and Bernie Madoff, who defrauded his investment clients out of billions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme.

Madoff, who is serving 150 years in prison, ranked lowest, with 3 percent who said he is most forgivable. Twelve percent chose Nixon, while 22 percent chose Armstrong, who admitted to using performance-enhancement drugs during his career.

Another 11 percent picked none of the four public figures.

COMMENT:  We sincerely congratulate former President Clinton on this honor, and hope that an appropriate plaque can be designed – MOST EASILY FORGIVEN LIAR – to be hung in a distinguished place in his office. 

He can show it to all the interns.

February 4,  2014      Permalink

FEBRUARY 3,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:48 P.M. ET: 

NOT BAD FOR AN OLD MARXIST – From the New York Post:  "JOHANNESBURG — The executors of Nelson Mandela’s estate say he left behind about $4.1 million and that the will’s beneficiaries include his family, members of his staff, schools that he attended and the African National Congress, the liberation movement during white rule that now governs South Africa."  And I'll bet not one of the beneficiaries will question whether some of the cash came from "dirty capitalist" sources.

WENDY'S WAYS – Wendy Davis, until recently the Dems' great hope for the governorship of Texas, is having a tough time with her carefully cultivated image as brave Wendy, come to save us.  First, we learned that she had some previously unreported "assistance" along the way.  (Does the term "Sugar daddy" come to mind?)  Now we find that Wendy, when using other people's money, has very expensive tastes.  From NRO:  "The gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Wendy Davis filed its January semiannual finance report with the Texas Ethics Commission, detailing how much donors have given the campaign and how it’s being spent.  She may have once been 'living in a tiny trailer' – at least for four months – but Wendy Davis’s campaign ensures she sleeps in better places these days.  When in New York, she stayed at the Sofitel, running up $1,545.55 in charges from October 22 to 24.   When in San Francisco from August 17 to 19, she stayed at the Fairmont Hotel, running up $1,015.27 in charges."  She'd be great with the budget of Texas, wouldn't she?

A FEW TECHNICAL PROBLEMS – From Fox:  "Thousands of people who tried to sign up for a health plan via the federal health-care exchange website, Healthcare.gov, have seen their appeals to fix site issues go unanswered.  The Washington Post, citing internal government data, reports that approximately 22,000 Americans have filed appeals to try and get site errors corrected. The complaints range from being denied coverage altogether to being overcharged for coverage to being steered into the wrong program.  So far, months after the site launched October 1, the appeals have been untouched. What's more, the Post reports, people who have tried to call the marketplace directly for assistance, have been told that the Healthcare.gov computer system is not yet allowing workers to correct enrollment records.  In theory, error appeals can be filed through the site itself, by phone, or by mail. However, only the mail appeal is currently available. But according to the Post, the appeal by mail process only goes as far as scanning the seven-page forms and transferring them to a computer system, where they currently sit unread and uncorrected."  We're talking about life-and-death issues here.  Note the deep concern on the part of the Obama press.

HIS INSPIRATION – From Breitbart:  "President Barack Obama's home state, which has been governed by Democrats throughout his national political career, has slipped in the rankings and now has the third-worst unemployment rate in the nation. Though the jobless rate was the same in December 2013 (8.6%) as in December 2012, the state's labor force declined by a staggering 80,000 workers, according to Michael Lucci of the Illinois Policy Institute."  But the Republican-run states nearby, Wisconsin and Indiana, are doing well.  Is there a lesson there?

February 3, 2014       Permalink

THE GAME – AT 8:14 A.M. ET:   It is over.  The Seattle Seahawks devoured the favored Denver Broncos to win the Super Bowl. 

Various wireless reports inform me that the result has thrown Seattle into deep crisis.  As you know, it is a leftist city made up largely of Maoists from San Francisco seeking cheaper housing.  It has a socialist on its city council.  I do not wish to live there.

I understand that the socialists are traumatized by their city's "victory."  That is a word they hate, a word they associate with oppression by capitalist societies and the warmongering ruling classes.  They wish they hadn't won.  They are comfortable being losers.  Losers are the good people.  A petition is being circulated by the Lenin Lions, a local booster group, to declare both Super Bowl teams winners, in the spirit of multiculturalism and inter-city equality, and to suppress nationalist cravings.

There is also deep upset in Seattle because the intelligentsia has discovered that the team's name is the Seahawks.  If that isn't militarism, I don't know what is.  City nurturers (they don't call them fathers) are demanding a probe into how that name was adopted.  They want it changed to the Seattle Peace Pigeons.   And they don't want players to have numbers any longer.  Numbers suggest elitist rankings.  They want every player to wear the number "0." 

I've already seen e-mails from some prominent Seattle leftists demanding that the cheerleaders wear burkas.  I can't wait for the group photo.

February 3, 2014       Permalink

HACKS AT WORK – AT 8:04 A.M. ET:   You'd think the Obama administration, with its base in the seaminess of Chicago politics, would try to demonstrate some sensitivity in its appointments.  Just last week we were treated to the spectacle of President Obama's nominee to be ambassador to Norway.  He appeared for his confirmation hearing...and demonstrated that he knew nothing about Norway.  But he had raised many dollars for the Obama campaign. 

The Department of Homeland Security is an extremely important division of the government.  Its task is to protect us, to preserve lives, to keep the homeland safe.  And look at its latest pride and joy.  From the Washington Times:

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson’s newest appointee to his inner circle, chief of staff Christian Marrone, rose to Washington power player via the streets of Pennsylvania’s pay-to-play politics.

Mr. Marrone acknowledged in court that as a Pennsylvania legislative aide he oversaw the private renovation of his politician boss’s mansion — all while drawing paychecks from taxpayers, according to court records reviewed by The Washington Times.

Mr. Marrone was never charged, but prosecutors estimated that he spent 80 percent of his first year and a half in his state job doing the private work of state Sen. Vince Fumo, the records show.

The job afforded him a steady salary right out of college and the opportunity to court and eventually marry Mr. Fumo’s daughter. It also allowed him to help land his father a patronage job in the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission that lasted 10 years, records show.

Ultimately, father and son were ensnared as cooperating witnesses in corruption trials, testifying about pay-to-play schemes and diversion of tax dollars.

Christian Marrone agreed to become a central witness in the 2008 federal trial that sent his father-in-law, Mr. Fumo, to prison for four years on 137 corruption charges.

In court, Mr. Marrone blamed the culture of south Philadelphia politics for his actions, saying he was young and didn’t know any better at the time. But he also acknowledged that he was so concerned about the activities in Mr. Fumo’s office that he kept a stockpile of documents for his own “protection” because he expected one day to land in court.

COMMENT:  Couldn't they have gotten anyone better for Homeland Security?  And what does this say about the department's new head, Jeh Johnson? 

Apparently, the White House doesn't take the department seriously.  It's being used as a political dumping ground.  Feel safer?

February 3, 2014       Permalink

MR. CREDIBILITY – AT 7:53 A.M. ET:  The Obama White House, that bastion of American strength and freedom, assures us that the Syrians won't get away with the pretty obvious cheating they're engaged in regarding their chemical weapons.  From The Wall Street Journal:

The White House said Sunday it would “make sure” the Syrian regime complies with an accord to give up its chemical arsenal, insisting the deal can still be salvaged despite implementation delays and missed deadlines.

“It’s not falling apart, but we would like to see it proceed much more quickly than it is,” White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Mr. McDonough said the U.S. isn’t dependent on Russia to bring Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime into compliance. Moscow is the regime’s main arms supplier and key international backer.

“We’re going to make sure that the Syrians live up to their obligations. They have an obligation to the international community to do exactly what they said they’d do,” Mr. McDonough said.

Mr. McDonough stopped short of saying what the U.S. would do if the Assad regime doesn’t change course. “I’m not going to get into any ‘or whats’ here,” he said.

Of course not.  That's because his boss, President Obama, really doesn't intend to do much of anything.  That's been the pattern.

Secretary of State John Kerry has raised U.S. concerns about the Assad regime’s conduct with international counterparts during a trip to Europe this weekend. “We’ll keep pushing on that,” Mr. McDonough said.

COMMENT:  Yeah, you push, fella.  We're being laughed at all over the world as a paper tiger.  Some in the "international community" may have disliked George W. Bush, but they took him seriously.  They knew he meant what he said, at least in his first term.  Obama avoided military action in Syria, even after it was proved that Syria had used chemical weapons. 

No one wants to see U.S. troops committed to Syria's civil war.  But an international military coalition could have been built, and Syria's ports could have been blockaded.  Now the Syrians are cheating on their agreement to dismantle and destroy their chemical weapons.  And we're pledging to "get tough."  Right.  Ask the North Korean nuclear program chiefs just how tough we are.

February 3, 2014       Permalink

ADVENTURES OF A YES-WOMAN – AT 7:48 A.M. ET:  Hillary Clinton has now put her weight behind President Obama's opposition to any new sanctions on Iran.  From The Politico:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made clear she supports President Barack Obama’s call to allow the current negotiations over ending Iran’s nuclear development and that new sanctions being debated by Congress should be shelved while those talks take place, according to a late-January letter she wrote obtained by POLITICO.

Clinton made her views clear in a Jan. 26 missive sent to her former Senate colleague, Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan. It’s the first time that Clinton’s perspective on the current discussions have been laid out in detail.

Levin wrote to Clinton 10 days earlier, asking for her guidance as former Secretary of State on what effect new sanctions would have on the efforts to reach a comprehensive deal with Tehran.

“I share the opinion of you and many of your colleagues that these sanctions and the carefully constructed global consensus behind them are responsible for driving Tehran to the negotiating table. It was because sanctions worked that we are starting implementation of the Joint Plan of Action, an important step – though still only a first step – toward a comprehensive solution,” Clinton wrote in the letter.

“Now that serious negotiations are finally under way, we should do everything we can to test whether they can advance a permanent solution. As President Obama said, we must give diplomacy a chance to succeed, while keeping all options on the table,” she wrote.

COMMENT:   Look, she had to say it.  What choice did she have?  Until Obama is off the stage, Hillary has to be the loyal soldier.  However, by endorsing Obama's policy, she becomes a part owner.  If it fails, Republicans will rightly go after her.  And, after all, she was Obama's secretary of state. 

Her wording, though, gives her some wiggle room.  She endorses sanctions, hoping the public will forget that the administration she served actually opposed the toughest of them.  She wants to keep "all options" on the table, making her sound tough...even though she knows Obama is determined to avoid the use of force. 

She's perfecting a balancing act, loyalty balanced with a careful independence.  It's a tough act.  It may not play if America loses this round, or more Americans are lost.

February 3,  2014     Permalink