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JANUARY 17,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 8:44 P.M. ET: 

MAJOR SOCIAL NEWS – From the Daily Caller:  "One of former President Bill Clinton’s favorite restaurants has eliminated its Friday buffet due to Obamacare.  'We regret we had to make this decision but unfortunately we face new expenses as a result of the Healthcare reform and the Friday Buffet, though wonderful, was not profitable and required extra staff which we can no longer sustain' a notice at the Georgetown Italian restaurant’s website reads."  The restaurant is Filomena.  I wonder if Obama will order the EPA to shut it down.

MILESTONE – From The L.A. Times:  "In a historic step for Hollywood, Paramount Pictures has become the first major studio to stop releasing movies on film in the United States.  Paramount recently notified theater owners that the Will Ferrell comedy 'Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,' which opened in December, would be the last movie that would it would release on 35-millimeter film.  The studio’s Oscar-nominated film 'The Wolf of Wall Street' from director Martin Scorsese is the first major studio film that was released all digitally, according to theater industry executives who were briefed on the plans but not authorized to speak about them."  And eventually what's left of the feature-film industry may realize that it's what's on the film or disk that counts, not the raw materials.

WHY, HOW COOL! – From London's Daily Mail:  "The Sun's activity is at its lowest for 100 years, scientists have warned.  They say the conditions are eerily similar to those before the Maunder Minimum, a time in 1645 when a mini ice age hit, Freezing London's River Thames.  Researcher believe the solar lull could cause major changes, and say there is a 20% chance it could lead to 'major changes' in temperatures."  Al Gore will announce tomorrow that the Sun has been turned off by global warming.  Pass it on.

MORE ECONOMIC WORRIES – From Breitbart:  "The number of Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) receiving food stamps zoomed from 1.7 million to 3.9 million between Fiscal Year 2007 and Fiscal Year 2010. In that same period, food stamp recipients in total grew from 26 million to nearly 40 million.  One reason for the catastrophic growth in the number of ABAWDs is Barack Obama’s 2009 stimulus bill, which opened the door for states to waive the work provision required of ABAWDs. That work provision mandated that to continue receiving food stamps, after three months of being unemployed ABAWDs must work or perform some type of work activity 20 hours per week."  And just what does that tell you about social behavior?

January 17, 2014       Permalink

THE OBAMA MILITARY LEADERSHIP – AT 9:38 A.M. ET:  The Obama administration has fired a number of admirals and generals who apparently don't understand that a new world order is being envisioned at the Chicago White House.  This is what we're getting.  From the Washington Times: 

The Obama administration’s ballyhooed military “pivot” to Asia is running into some frank talk from the top U.S. commander in the Pacific.

Three years after the Pentagon said it was de-emphasizing Europe in favor of the Asia-Pacific region, Navy Adm. Samuel J. Locklear III said this week that U.S. dominance has weakened in the shadow of a more aggressive China.

“Our historic dominance that most of us in this room have enjoyed is diminishing, no question,” Adm. Locklear, chief of U.S. Pacific Command, said Wednesday at a naval conference in Virginia.

Although Adm. Locklear said it is obvious that Chinese military power is growing, he suggested that it is unclear whether China will seek to be a hard adversary to the U.S. in the long term, so Washington should be working overtime on steering Beijing toward a cooperative security posture.

“China is going to rise, we all know that,” Adm. Locklear said, as reported by Defense News, which included several quotes from his speech at the annual Surface Navy Association meeting.

“[But] how are they behaving? That is really the question,” the admiral said, adding that the Pacific Command’s goal is for China “to be a net provider of security, not a net user of security.”

COMMENT:  Yessiree, let's make nice to China, hoping, as we're hoping with Iran, that it will turn around in the face of American weakness and Obama's "outreach," and become a good neighbor.  Just like Russia. 

The writer Max Boot, one of the good guys, argues that the pendulum will swing back the other way, and that America will become stronger again, and involved.  I do hope so, but I wonder how a nation so damaged by the Obamans can spring back in time to avoid permanent damage. 

January 17, 2014       Permalink

THE SOCHI THREAT – CONTINUED – AT 9:17 A.M. ET:  We began discussing this yesterday, the serious threat of terror facing the Olympics, in Sochi, Russia, which begin in three weeks.  More, from the great Bill Gertz at the Washington Times: 

U.S. national security and law enforcement agencies monitoring security at the Sochi Olympics say the southern Russian city faces a high risk of an Islamist terrorism attack. One message from a security analyst to those considering attending the Winter Games: Don’t go.

The Olympics are scheduled for Feb. 6-23 in Sochi, the port city on the western shore of the Black Sea and about 25 miles north of the Russian border with Georgia.

The Islamist threat, however, emanates from separatist terrorists based in the nearby North Caucasus region, which includes the ethnic enclave of Chechnya.

Two recent suicide bombings in the Russian city of Volgograd, about 400 miles north of Sochi, are being viewed as a “taste” of bad things to come in Sochi. The Dec. 29 blast at a rail station and the Dec. 30 explosion on a bus killed a total of 34 people and injured scores.

And...

Russia has mobilized tens of thousands of troops and security officials in an effort to secure the Games. Moscow has created a 1,500-mile security cordon around Sochi in a bid to prevent infiltration by terrorists.

But U.S. officials said the lack of infrastructure in Sochi, specifically roadways, has made the city vulnerable to a mass attack that could disrupt the Games.

Sochi’s 1,384 miles of roads are not interconnected, making detours difficult in the aftermath of a car bombing or even a vehicular accident.

And...

The 11 hospitals in the region all are on difficult-to-access routes.

The State Department issued a travel alert Friday warning Americans attending the games to “remain attentive” to threats.

COMMENT:  I wonder how you "remain attentive" to threats.  Do you scream if you see a guy next to you on a bus with a bulge under his jacket? 

The concern is justified.  For once I'm rooting for the Russian security guys.

January 17, 2014       Permalink

AND A MAJOR SENATE LOSS – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  Members of the Senate and House come and go, and most of them are not particularly missed when they leave.  But the Senate is about to lose one of its finest members.    From Fox: 

Sen. Tom Coburn, one of Washington’s leading and most fiscally conservative lawmakers, announced Thursday he would be stepping down at the end of the year.

The Republican from Oklahoma had previously announced he would not seek reelection but his latest comments have him leaving Congress two years sooner than he previously planned.

Coburn has been suffering from a recurrence of prostate cancer and hinted about his departure during an interview with reporters last week.

“Serving as Oklahoma’s senator has been, and continues to be, one of the great privileges and blessings of my life," said Coburn, 65. "But after much prayer and consideration, I have decided that I will leave my Senate seat at the end of this Congress."

Known as a conservative maverick during his three terms in the U.S. House in the 1990s, Coburn continued that role after being elected to the Senate in 2004. He is a fierce critic of what he described as excessive government spending, and has vocal about opposing the earmarking of special projects, which was highlighted in his annual “Wastebook” report.

And...

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell reacted to the news by describing Coburn as "one of the most intelligent, principled, and decent men in modern Senate history" in a statement.

"Tom is a legend in his own time, an extraordinary man and a deeply serious lawmaker who has made an immense difference to his country and to this body. We will miss him terribly when he leaves the Senate, and we will stand with him every step of the way as he wages this latest of many tough battles that he has fought, and won," the statement read.

COMMENT:  I applaud McConnell's statement.  Tom Coburn, a physician by training, is a principled, thoughtful conservative who brings intelligence, research and a keen mind to every issue he confronts.  I heard him speak about a year ago in New York, where we don't get too many speeches from Oklahoma senators.  He was superb.  I particularly was taken by the incisiveness of his comments about abortion.  Although he is pro-life, he argued that this was an issue that will be decided, not by court decisions or laws, but in the human heart.  He was right.  I wish we had more public servants on both sides of the aisle who understood, as Tom Coburn does, the limits of government.

January 17, 2014        Permalink

ED FOR THE COMMONWEALTH – AT 8:48 A.M. ET:  Former Republican National Chairman Ed Gillespie has formally announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate from Virginia.  It will be tough, but we're for him.  From The Politico:

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie officially launched his Senate challenge to Virginia Sen. Mark Warner on Thursday, arguing that he’s the best choice to improve the state’s economy.

In a YouTube video announcement, Gillespie, who also served as a counselor to former President George W. Bush, said he’s running because “the American dream is being undermined by policies that move us away from constitutional principles of limited government and personal liberty.”

And...

Warner is a popular senator in a state that’s been trending blue on the presidential level and that elected Democrat Terry McAuliffe governor in November, and taking him on will be no easy task.

But a Gillespie aide told POLITICO Thursday morning that there’s a “big opportunity” to hit Warner on issues such as Obamacare and the stimulus package and on other instances in which the moderate senator voted with President Barack Obama — a strategy that was already apparent in Gillespie’s announcement video.

COMMENT:  Virginia has been seen as safe for Warner, a former governor who is regarded as a moderate Democrat.  And Warner can count on the California-style blind Democratic vote in northern Virginia, which has swung the state left.

But Gillespie is a shrewd political operator who is not the type to take on a race he doesn't think he can win.  He's the underdog, but I look forward to this being one of the most spirited races in the country.

Gillespie's first challenge:  Virginia Republicans pick their statewide candidates in a convention, not a primary.  The convention brings out the most rigid elements in the party.  If Gillespie is forced to dance to their tune, he may be DOA.  But I suspect he's already negotiated his path privately.

January 17,  2014     Permalink

JANUARY 16,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 9:19 P.M. ET: 

DOWN AGAIN – After making some tentative gains, President Obama has slipped into the thirties again in the Gallup Poll.  The latest figures show 39% approval of the president versus 53% disapproval.  The last time Obama was in this territory was in mid-2011.

GOOD RIDDANCE – One of the worst members of Congress is leaving.  From USA Today:  "Democratic Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia says he will not seek re-election to Congress after 12 terms.  'It's time to close this chapter of my life and move on to the next challenge,' Moran said in a statement released Wednesday.  Moran is the third Democrat to announce his retirement this week, following California's George Miller and New York's Bill Owens. Virginia's 8th District is in a Democratic stronghold and Moran's retirement will no doubt spark a lively primary since the congressman has been in office since 1991."  Moran is a particularly despicable individual who got into physical fights with people, made bigoted remarks based on religion, and is otherwise thoroughly obnoxious.  However, he represents a blindly Democratic northern Virginia district, so his replacement will probably be another Democratic liberal.

MUST BE SOME GRADUATION PARTY – From The Times of Israel:  "The Hamas government in Gaza celebrated the graduation on Monday of paramilitary camps geared at training high-school children 'to follow in the footsteps of the suicide martyrs.'  The camps, titled 'the pioneers of liberation,' are run by Hamas’s ministries of education and interior. Some 13,000 students in grades 10-12 participated in the one-week training camps this year, compared to 5,000 last year when the program was launched, Israeli sources with knowledge of the program said."  What do you give a graduate?  I'd love to know.  I wouldn't want to make a cultural mistake.

IT'S ABOUT TIME – Republicans are showing some pulse in the fight to replace Obamacare.  From The Hill:  "Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday predicted that House Republicans would unveil — and possibly vote on — a plan to replace the healthcare law in 2014, fulfilling a long-delayed promise to voters.  An alternative to ObamaCare will be 'one of the big issue' the House GOP will discuss at its annual policy retreat at the end of the month, Boehner said."  It's got to be a very solid plan with widespread appeal, and it's got to be a plan that can be explained quickly and simply.  It could win the election.

January 16, 2014       Permalink

OUTRAGEOUS – AT 10:39 A.M. ET:  In the immortal words of that great philosopher, Jerry Lewis – bad looks you can change, stupid is forever.  From the Daily Caller:

United Nations climate chief Christiana Figueres said that democracy is a poor political system for fighting global warming. Communist China, she says, is the best model.

China may be the world’s top emitter of carbon dioxide and struggling with major pollution problems of their own, but the country is “doing it right” when it comes to fighting global warming says Figueres.

“They actually want to breathe air that they don’t have to look at,” she said. “They’re not doing this because they want to save the planet. They’re doing it because it’s in their national interest.”

Figueres added that the deep partisan divide in the U.S. Congress is “very detrimental” to passing any sort of legislation to fight global warming. The Chinese Communist Party, on the other hand, can push key policies and reforms all on its own. The country’s national legislature largely enforces the decisions made by the party’s Central Committee and other executive offices.

Communism was responsible for the deaths of about 94 million people in China, the Soviet Union, North Korea, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe in the 20th Century. China alone was responsible for 65 million of those deaths under communist rule.

COMMENT:  Ah, the totalitarian temptation.  It's always so tempting to dream of the shortcuts available through dictatorial systems.  And I think that dream is very much present in our universities and media.  But totalitarianism always leads to the same things, misery and death.  And getting out of totalitarianism is always much harder than getting in.

Ms. Figueres is an ignorant clown and should be removed from her position.  It is disgraceful that a UN official should be endorsing dictatorship over democracy.   I wonder if our State Department will show any interest in this.  Don't hold your breath.

January 16, 2014       Permalink

NO, THE NEW YORK TIMES WAS NOT RIGHT ON BENGHAZI – AT 9:29 A.M. ET:  A Democratic-controlled committee in the Senate has issued a report on Benghazi that courageously contradicts the "narrative" put out by the Administration and the Administration's house organ, The New York Times.  From Fox: 

A comprehensive report by the Senate Intelligence Committee definitively declared that individuals tied to Al Qaeda groups were involved in the Benghazi attack, challenging recent claims that the terror network was not a factor.

The report was released Monday, nearly one year after then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, under congressional questioning over the nature of the attack, shouted at lawmakers: “What difference, at this point, does it make?”

The administration initially claimed the attack sprung out of a protest, but has since given a more complicated assessment. Still, administration officials all along have downplayed Al Qaeda involvement, recently seizing on a New York Times report that supported those claims.

While the report does not implicate Al Qaeda “core” -- the leadership believed to be in the Pakistan region -- it does blame some of the most influential Al Qaeda branches, including Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

“Individuals affiliated with terrorist groups, including AQIM, Ansar al-Sharia, AQAP, and the Mohammad Jamal Network, participated in the September 11, 2012, attacks,” the report said. The militant Ansar al-Sharia was, separately, labeled by the State Department as a terror group last week, in part over its alleged involvement in the Benghazi strike.

The Senate committee report stressed that the intelligence still suggests the attack was not “highly coordinated,” but rather “opportunistic” – possibly put in place in “short order” after protests over an anti-Islam film elsewhere in the region.

“It remains unclear if any group or person exercised overall command and control of the attacks,” the report said. The report, though, reiterated that there was no protest in Benghazi before the attack.

The Senate panel report also dove extensively into what went wrong at the U.S. mission in Benghazi before the attack. The committee determined the attack was “preventable” and the administration failed to respond to “ample” warnings that security was deteriorating before Sept. 11, 2012.

COMMENT:  The White House can hardly claim that a report by a Democratic-controlled committee is partisan.  How this will impact Hillary Clinton, if she runs, cannot be calculated right now.  The presidential campaign is two years away.  We don't even know if Hillary will actually run. 

But this report is devastating in that it points out the incompetence and deception of the Obama Administration, even if it does so in cautious language.  This relates to the post just below.  Obama now has to explain himself to his own party.

January 16, 2014       Permalink

CONFRONTING A REVOLT – AT 9:03 A.M. ET:  President Obama appeared before a group of Democratic senators to counter a revolt in his own party over his wobbly Iran policy.  When a president has to do that, he's in trouble.  From The Politico:

President Barack Obama hosted Senate Democrats at White House on Wednesday in an effort to synchronize legislative and political strategies — and talk about the divisive issue of Iran sanctions.

The White House has notably split with more than a dozen Democratic senators including Chuck Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey on whether a new round of economic penalties are needed as the U.S. attempts to negotiate a long-term deal to wind down Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

On Wednesday evening, Obama delivered a “strong message” that the Senate must continue to hold off on new sanctions while negotiations continue and a six-month interim agreement is implemented, a source briefed on the meeting said. The source added that the back and forth on Iran was “not contentious.”

COMMENT:  No, it wasn't contentious.  Meetings with a president rarely are.  People show respect for the office, if not for the occupant. 

But the real story here is why the meeting had to be held at all:  Even Democrats are becoming disillusioned with Obama's foreign policy, which has been a colossal failure everywhere.  The recent gains by Al Qaeda in Iraq have added to the disillusionment.

Added to the problem are pathetic statements coming out of the White House, like the statement by one aide who said that Democrats who want to impose new sanctions on Iran are warmongers.  No apology has been given. 

Naturally, some are attributing the Congressional suspicion of our Iran policy to the "Israel lobby."  But that just isn't washing.  There is legitimate and serious worry, across the political spectrum, about an administration that seems to punish our friends and reward our enemies. 

I'm guessing that Congress, in the end, will grant Obama's wish and hold off on new sanctions during this six-month period.  But I have no confidence that Obama will come out with any agreement with Iran that protects us.

January 16, 2014       Permalink

CREEPY – AT 8:36 A.M. ET:  The winter Olympics start in Sochi, Russia, within three weeks.  There is substantial concern about a terrorist attack.  Some Islamist groups have already pledged to disrupt these "Putin Olympics."  The latest, via NBC: 

MOSCOW, Russia -- Three Russian servicemen and four gunmen were killed in a shootout in southern Russia on Wednesday during a sweep for militants ahead of next month's Sochi Winter Olympics.

Russia's National Anti-terrorism Committee (NAC) said the dead gunmen included a man accused of carrying out a car bomb attack in the city of Pyatigorsk late last year which killed three people.

Russia is on high alert following two suicide bombings in southern Russia last month that fueled security concerns before the Olympics, which Islamist militants waging an insurgency in the North Caucasus have threatened to attack.

President Vladimir Putin has staked a lot of personal and political prestige on the success of the Games, which open on February 7, and has put security forces on combat alert in Sochi.

COMMENT:  We have to be constructively worried.  That means superlative security arrangements for American athletes and visitors. 

I assume the man in the White House is also concerned, although why should I assume it, after Benghazi?  But our best security people should be heavily involved, with the safety of our people not left in Russian hands.  I'd like to see some investigative reporting on this.

January 16,  2014     Permalink