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MARCH 5,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:43 P.M. ET: 

WHA..? – From deadline.com:   "Even though the Robert Wise original music "West Side Story" is about as sacred a cow movie as you are going to find, Fox has unlocked that movie title for a remake specifically because Steven Spielberg is interested in making it. No writer has been set yet and Spielberg hans’t done anything more than register his interest, which traditionally has always been enough to get a studio hot and bothered."  That is a genuinely bad idea.  Never tamper with a classic.  I've never seen a remake of a great movie improve on the original.

OBAMA DOWN AGAIN IN POLLS – From Fox:  "President Obama’s job approval rating hits a record low this week, as a majority of Americans say his administration has mostly failed at growing the economy, creating jobs, improving health care and the country’s image.  That’s according to a Fox News poll released Wednesday.  For the first time in a Fox News poll, fewer than four voters in ten -- 38 percent -- approve of President Obama’s job performance. Fifty-four percent disapprove. Before now Obama’s worst job rating was 40-55 percent in November 2013. Last month 42 percent approved and 53 percent disapproved (February 2014)."  Not surprising.  The ratings are matching the performance.

APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE – From the New York Post:  "A Russia Today anchor quit live on air Wednesday, declaring she cannot work for a station that 'whitewashes the actions of Vladimir Putin.'  Liz Wahl, who works in the network’s Washington DC bureau, said her grandparents came to the United States to escape Soviet oppression.  'And that is why personally I cannot be part of a station funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the action of Putin,' she said, reading from a statement. 'I’m proud to be an American and believe in disseminating the truth. And that is why after this newscast I’m resigning.'"  I hope the offers pour in, and that the first one is from Fox.

I LOVE IT – Jimmy Carter has volunteered to go to Venezuela to wave his hand over the multitudes and solve the country's political ills.  This prompted a response from anti-government bloggers, which contained the following gem, as reported by Frontpage:  "'Please, desist from your trip,' reads an open letter from Venezuelan blogger/journalist Daniel Duquenal. 'You have absolutely no credibility in Venezuela…You have cursed us enough as it is. I can assure you that half of the country has no respect nor credibility for you and the other half (the Castroites) thinks you are a mere fool that they can use and discard as needed.'"  It's about time someone said that to Jimmy.

March 5, 2014      Permalink

PICKUP FOR OUR SIDE? – AT 9:20 A.M. ET:  One of the key states in this year's contest for control of the U.S. Senate is North Carolina.  We have a good chance for a pickup.  From The Washington Examiner:   

Approval ratings continue to drop for Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, who is seeking re-election in the key battleground state of North Carolina, according to a new poll.

The result of the latest Elon University Poll shows that approval of Hagan, now at roughly 33 percent, has declined in four consecutive polls.

"The trend suggests the senator will face a tougher-than-expected re-election battle this November," said Dr. Jason Husser, assistant director of the Elon University Poll.

Further troubling for Hagan is the roughly equivalent disapproval of her job performance by women and men. Thirty-three percent of women and 34 percent of men surveyed approved of Hagan's work.

Hagan has been pummelled for months by negative advertising. Americans For Prosperity, funded in part by the Koch brothers, has alone spent more than $8 million so far on advertising attacking Hagan -- more than the group has funneled to any other race so far this election cycle.

North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis is widely considered to be the Republican best positioned to face Hagan. He has received implicit support from national Republicans but must win a competitive primary race to become the party's nominee.

COMMENT:   This is obviously a ripe situation for us.  But let's see if the Republicans can actually pull it off by nominating a solid candidate who can avoid making a fool of himself.  Our side has lost easily winnable seats in recent years because of weak candidates.

The election is only eight months away.  We can stop Obama's legislative program, block his Supreme Court appointments, and do other good stuff, if we can get control of the Senate.

March 5, 2014       Permalink

LET US REMEMBER – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 8:58 A.M. ET:  This is the anniversary of one of the most famous speeches of the 20th century – Winston Churchill's "iron curtain" speech on March 5, 1946, delivered in Missouri, the home state of then-President Harry Truman. 

Churchill was no longer prime minister, having been ousted from office in the election of 1945.  The term "iron curtain" had actually been used many times before, mostly in private communications between the U.S. and Britain.  But Churchill's speech made it famous, and it defined, for our side, the nature of Soviet control in Eastern Europe.  Here is the most famous passage from that speech:

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow. Athens alone - Greece with its immortal glories - is free to decide its future at an election under British, American and French observation. The Russian-dominated Polish Government has been encouraged to make enormous and wrongful inroads upon Germany, and mass expulsions of millions of Germans on a scale grievous and undreamed-of are now taking place. The Communist parties, which were very small in all these Eastern States of Europe, have been raised to pre-eminence and power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control. Police governments are prevailing in nearly every case, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy.

COMMENT:  Ironic that this anniversary should come at the very time when Moscow is once again trying to impose its imperial will.  (By the way, notice the silence on our college campuses over this.)  The greatness of Churchill's speech lay in his willingness to tell the truth, to articulate, as only he could, the actual situation that the free world faced.  Compare please to leaders today, especially our own.

Where are the Churchills, the Trumans, the Reagans?  We do miss them, don't we?

March 5, 2014       Permalink

WHILE AMERICA SLEEPS – AT 8:42 A.M. ET:   Chuck Hagel, strategist, announced deep cuts in American defense last week.  China has given its reply.  From Bloomberg:

China’s central government will boost defense spending 12.2 percent this year as President Xi Jinping seeks to create a strong military and the navy extends its reach into neighboring waters.

The defense budget is set to rise to 808.23 billion yuan ($131.6 billion), the Ministry of Finance said in a report today. The percentage increase is greater than that of total government expenditure, which will rise 9.5 percent in 2014, according to the report.

Premier Li Keqiang told the opening session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing today that China will continue to enhance border, coastal and air defenses.

“We will comprehensively enhance the revolutionary nature of the Chinese armed forces, further modernize them and upgrade their performance, and continue to raise their deterrence and combat capabilities in the information age,” Li said. China will boost research on national defense and the development of new and high technology weapons, he said.

China’s military modernization is increasing tension in the region as it challenges the guarantee of security provided by the U.S. for more than a half a century to sea lanes that handle the bulk of world trade. Xi has made a strong military a key priority for a revitalized China and said he wants the nation to be a maritime power.

China has also taken an increasingly assertive stance on territorial disputes that have lingered for decades with its neighbors. In November, China declared an air defense identification zone over a swathe of the East China Sea that includes islands disputed with Japan.

COMMENT:  Nations in Asia will take note of China's growing power, and our increasing weakness, and act accordingly.  I wouldn't be shocked if both South Korea and Japan, our two most important allies in the region, start to show "understanding" for China.  Thanks, Barack.  Thanks for coming to save us.

March 5, 2014       Permalink

FASCINATING – AT 8:33 A.M. ET:  Hillary Clinton has made her first statement on the Ukraine, and it's a whopper.  Hillary does nothing without considering the political consequences.  From Fox:

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton compared the recent Russian troop deployment in Crimea to policies implemented by Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany regime.

Speaking at an event benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach, Calif. Tuesday, Clinton drew parallels between what she described as a campaign by Russian President Vladimir Putin to give Russian passports to any Crimea resident with Russian ties and the so-called "Heim ins Reich" resettlement policy practiced by the German dictatorship prior to World War II.

"[This is like] what Hitler did back in the 30s," Clinton said, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram. "All the Germans that were ... the ethnic Germans, the Germans by ancestry who were in places like Czechoslovakia and Romania and other places, Hitler kept saying they’re not being treated right. I must go and protect my people and that’s what’s gotten everybody so nervous."

"Heim ins Reich," which literally means "Home into the Empire," was a policy pursued by Hitler beginning with the Anschluss of Austria and the annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland in 1938. The ultimate aim was to convince ethnic Germans living outside the Third Reich to agitate to be included in a so-called "Greater Germany." In practice, the policy required expelling non-Germans from their traditional homes as the Nazis pushed east and resettling ethnic Germans in their place, as well as transferring whole German communities from parts of eastern Europe for resettlement in Germany. The policy ended with the defeat of the Nazis on the Eastern Front by the Soviet Union in 1945.

COMMENT:  That is very strong stuff, and may well be Hillary's first attempt to distance herself from the marshmallow policies of Barack Obama.  Tough words are not what the Democratic left wants to hear.  I get the feeling that Hillary realizes the votes are in the center, not on the left, and she'd better be seen as a tough, centrist Democrat who can lead the nation strongly.

Not a bad strategy.

March 5,  2014     Permalink

MARCH 4,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 10:20 P.M. ET: 

TEXAS RESULTS – It was primary day in Texas.  Wendy Davis won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.  State Attorney General Greg Abbott won the Republican nod.  Republican Senator John Cornyn was nominated for a third term, easily defeating a Tea Party candidate, Steve Stockman, who failed to attract much enthusiasm.  Both Abbott and Cornyn are favored to win their races in November, but I would take nothing for granted.

GRIM ECONOMY – From CNS:  "The average annual labor force participation rate hit a 35-year-low of 63.2 percent in the United States in 2013, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The last time the average annual labor force participation rate was that low was in in 1978, when it was also 63.2 percent. Jimmy Carter was president then."  Carter and Obama, together again.  Let's hear your requests for their next song.  Oh, and welcome to the recovery.

THAT'LL SHOW THE CRIMINAL CLASS! – From Fox:  "A central Ohio principal says she suspended a 10-year-old boy from school for three days for pretending his finger was a gun and pointing it at another student's head.  The boy's father says he thinks it's the adults who are acting childish after the boy was suspended from Devonshire Alternative Elementary School in Columbus last week.  The fifth-grader said he was 'just playing around.' But district spokesman Jeff Warner tells The Columbus Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1jO1rL7 ) that Devonshire Principal Patricia Price has warned students about pretend gun play numerous times this year, and everyone should know the rules by now."  Gotta watch those dangerous fingers.  Don't you think some appropriate counseling would be a better solution?

NEVER-NEVER LAND – New York City is becoming bizarre.  Last week the city's new socialist mayor Bill DeBlasio, got major heat from parents for throwing several high-performing charter schools out of the space they shared with public schools.  But the fact is that DeBlasio, a charter school opponent, approved arrangements for many other charter schools.  That was too much for other New York officials, even further to the left than the Castro-appeasing, Sandinista-loving DeBlasio.  The speaker of the New York City Council, and the laughably called "public advocate," are launching a lawsuit to remove other charter schools from city property, despite the fact that parents and students love them.  They presumably want to bring true communism to the city, and celebrate the equality of mediocrity.  Who needs them smartaleck scientists anyway?

March 4, 2014       Permalink

IF IT LOOKS LIKE A DUCK, AND WALKS LIKE A DUCK... – AT 10:16 A.M. ET:   This incident has been getting increased attention thanks to some alert bloggers.  It's important, especially given last year's attack at the Boston Marathon.  I want to know the facts.  From the great College Fix website, via Fox: 

Conservative news watchers want more answers on why an Iranian grad student at George Tech nearly burned himself to death making homemade bombs inside his apartment.

The incident happened in early February, but gained new steam over the weekend after Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit and Jim Treacher at The Daily Caller posted items on the explosion, which sent Saamer Akhshabi to the hospital with third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body.

“Sounds suspicious,” Reynolds wrote.

Treacher posited: “Why was he making them? I have no idea, because this only made the local news in Atlanta and there was no follow-up. Nobody’s curious about why this guy was making firebombs in his apartment.”

According to First Coast News, “Atlanta police (say) … lighter fluid and a charred pillow and mattress were found inside the apartment, along with the Molotov cocktail and several plastic bottles filled with gasoline and kerosene.

“Akhshabi was transported to Grady Memorial Hospital,” the report states. “His biography on Georgia Tech’s website says he’s a PhD student in the school’s College of Computing and attended the University of Tehran in his native Iran before coming to Georgia.”

COMMENT:  I doubt that he was making firebombs for a July 4th celebration.  This should be treated as a major story, and good investigative reporters should be on the case.  I don't know how this was missed by the media in the first place.

March 4, 2014       Permalink

OH REALLY? – AT 9:51 A.M. ET:  Ah, when liberals see the light it is a rare but beautiful occasion.  The Columbia Journalism Review is a product of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia, my alma mater and a very liberal one at that.   The Review has now come to a welcome conclusion about Fox News:

Pop quiz: which cable news network is more welcoming of opposing voices? The answer: Fox News.

Oh, some of you may raise a skeptical eyebrow, but a new piece from the Columbia Journalism Review credits Fox News for giving a platform, even when the deck is stacked, for liberals on the right-leaning network.

The feature contains statements from Tamara Holder, one of Fox News’ most prominent liberal voices, and Sally Kohn, who used to be another such voice before she moved to CNN this year. Holder says going on Fox News is good because the network gets great ratings, while Kohn says she doesn’t like “preaching to the choir.”

Which brings us to MSNBC. Fox News has all sorts of Democrats and liberals, including Dennis Kucinich and James Carville, two very reliably liberal individuals. But what about Fox News’s counterpart? Well, the CJR feature says, MSNBC has a few “moderate conservatives” like Joe Scarborough and Michael Steele, and these do not normally lead to big debates of any sort with the hosts.

Meanwhile, on a typical Fox News primetime lineup, you’ll have appearances by Kirsten Powers, Juan Williams, Carville, and Alan Colmes, among others, and there have been occasional shouting matches.

COMMENT:   The opposition hasn't yet figured out the secret of Fox News – that it's a thoroughly professional news organization that provides a balance between conservatives and liberals and – this is the key point – does stories the other guys refuse to do, stories that are personally interesting to most Americans, and speak to their needs. 

Maybe the others will learn, but their ideological bias is so great that I doubt it.

March 4, 2014       Permalink 

MARCH 4th – AT 9:14 A.M. ET:  This is an important day in American history.  March 4th, up through FDR's first term, was the day we inaugurated new presidents.  We changed the date to January 20th with FDR's second inauguration in 1937. 

The date prompts us to recall the presidents who have served since inauguration day was changed to January 20th – Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama.

You know that's not bad.  Yes, there are some clunkers on that list – the pathetic Carter, the ethically challenged Nixon, the unspeakable Obama.  But look at the other side.  There are some very impressive presidents on that list.  I don't know of any other country that has produced leaders of such caliber (faults and all) in such a short period.  All, except Carter and Obama, were united in the belief that America is a force for good, and that our engagement in the world was a profound necessity. 

Will any of them eventually wind up on the lists of "great" presidents.  Well, Roosevelt is already there.  I think Truman qualifies, and certainly Reagan.  Eisenhower, a president whose reputation has risen steadily, probably won't make the list because of the relatively quiet era in which he served, but is now widely seen as a man of substantial intelligence and judgment.  Kennedy's tenure was tragically cut short so no judgment can be made.  Johnson, despised at the time, might come close, but his mishandling of much of the Vietnam War, will keep him off the list.  He was, though, a brilliant legislator. 

The intellectual classes love to knock America and ridicule its leaders.  But I think, on balance, we've done rather well, although one wouldn't know it looking at our situation today.

March 4, 2014       Permalink   

UKRAINE LATEST – AT 8:45 A.M. ET:  Russia continues to build its forces, as Putin justifies use of military action.  From Fox:

KIEV, Ukraine – Dispatching sizable troop reinforcements into Crimea on Monday, Russia consolidated its military control over the southeastern Ukrainian territory and may be preparing for a wider invasion of the country, senior U.S. officials traveling with Secretary of State John Kerry to Kiev, the restive Ukrainian capital, said early Tuesday.

"We still have a very real concern that the Russians have other plans in the Ukraine," said one senior U.S. official, briefing reporters aboard Kerry's official airplane en route from New York to Kiev. "They may be planning other moves."

For the first time since the crisis erupted, senior U.S. officials complained of difficulty tracking Russian troop movements. They said the expected redeployment of Russian security forces following the end of the Olympic Games in Sochi, as well as routine military exercises in the area, had complicated the task of determining how many Russian troops are still pouring into Crimea.

The officials could not immediately dismiss reports that the number of total Russian troops in Crimea may now have reached as high as 16,000, which if true would appear to mark a surge of an additional 10,000 troops into the area within a period of 24 to 36 hours. "It's clearly a large number," an official said.

At the same time, the officials noted reports of Russian aircraft approaching, or even trespassing in, Ukrainian airspace, and Ukrainian jets scrambling to repel them. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power told the U.N. Security Council on Monday that "it is a fact" that Russian jets entered Ukrainian airspace.

The U.S. officials also cited evidence that Ukrainian and Russian forces have each been massing on opposite sides of the isthmus that connects Ukraine to Crimea -- a development that one senior U.S. official said "raises the prospect" that the Kremlin may be preparing to "extend" its invasion to the mainland.

COMMENT:  Putin said yesterday that force was a "last resort" in dealing with what he claimed was an illegal transfer of power within the Ukrainian government, but that it was justified.  He also launched the usual accusation that the West was being hypocritical, citing Western interventions in a number of places. 

I would not underestimate Putin's ability to maneuver.  As a strategist and international politician he is far superior to Obama, although that standard is low.  I would not be surprised if Putin lies low for a time, to lull us, then consolidates control over Crimea and even Ukraine generally.  It's the strategy being pursued by Iran, with great success.  As Lenin said, two steps forward, one step back.

March 4,  2014     Permalink