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MAY 31,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:46 P.M. ET: 

FASCINATING – From CNN:  "(CNN) – Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has won another straw poll, boosting his national profile and elevating his name among potential 2016 presidential contenders.  The firebrand freshman senator and tea party favorite was among a handful of 2016 hopefuls speaking at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans this week.  Cruz finished in first place in the annual conference's presidential straw poll at 30.33%. Dr. Ben Carson, a Fox News commentator and conservative activist, finished in second with 29.38% while Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, was third with 10.43%."  Cruz is brilliant, a bit uncontrolled, but he's learning.  He and Rand Paul are sometimes paired as "libertarians," but Cruz's foreign-policy views are better, more Reaganesque, than Paul's.  Dr. Ben Carson is rising in popularity.  He would be a fine vice-presidential candidate.

LAST U.S. POW RELEASED – From WaPo:  "Taliban fighters released the sole remaining American military hostage Saturday morning to a team of U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan, who quickly hustled him onto a helicopter. Once airborne, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl scribbled the letter 'SF?' on a paper plate, seeking confirmation that he was with Special Operations forces. 'Yes!' one of the troops hollered back above the din of the aircraft’s blades, according to a defense official who described Bergdahl’s first moments of freedom. 'We’ve been looking for you for a long time.'"  This story is far from over.  It turns out that Bergdahl's release came only after the U.S., in secret negotiations with the Taliban, agreed to release five prisoners from Guantanamo.  Many in Congress are up in arms about the deal, fearing the five released fanatics pose a serious danger to Americans.  More on this in the next few days.

LOUISIANA HAYRIDE – Republicans, finally understanding they can only win elections by uniting behind a candidate, are moving toward selecting one to oppose vulnerable Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu in November.  From The Hill:  "The Louisiana Republican Party took the rare step of endorsing Rep. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) out of several GOP candidates vying to unseat Sen. Mary Landrieu (D).  The state party announced it would be throwing its full support and resources behind the three-term lawmaker, as they geared up for a top GOP target in the midterm elections.  Roger Villere, head of the state GOP, noted Saturday that such an early endorsement is an 'extraordinary move' for the group. The last time the party decided to endorse a candidate when several Republicans were still in the running was when it backed then-Rep. Bobby Jindal ahead of his successful gubernatorial bid."  A good precedent.  Bobby is terrific.  Good luck to Bill Cassidy.  Landrieu hails from a respected Louisiana political family.  She's vulnerable, but she fights.

May 31,  2014     Permalink

GREAT MOMENTS IN EDUCATION – AT 11:51 A.M. ET:  You know, we have some very strange people teaching in our colleges and universities.  From Fox: 

Responding to charges a professor engaged in Mideast politics on the taxpayer dime, San Francisco State University officials offered bland reassurances that the school investigates "any allegations that a member of the University community misused state funds."

According to a California Public Records Act inquiry requested by the nonprofit group AMCHA Initiative, "Professor Rabab Abdulhadi received more than $7,000 from SFSU to fly to Jordan, the West Bank and Israel to meet with members of known terrorist organizations."

Abdulhadi did not respond to email and telephone requests for comments. In a recording, she said the trip was aimed at "collaborating with academic institutions, especially with academic institutions in Palestine."

Abdulhadi was scheduled to present a paper at a Jan. 11 - 14 Conference of the Center for American Studies and Research at the American University in Lebanon.

After receiving university approval to attend at the school's expense, Abdulhadi sent an email to the SFSU Risk Management Office advising that her "name was dropped from the Beirut conference."

Despite that change, she made the Mideast trip, along with SFSU ethnic studies professor Joanne Barker and Jaime Veve, who is Abdulhadi's husband.

COMMENT:  San Francisco State is one of the most leftist of American universities.  This report is not shocking.  I think it's unlikely any action will be taken against the "professor."

By the way, some people who've looked at the subject estimate that as many as 80% of the professors in American Mideast Studies departments get their financing from Sharia governments.  I doubt it students are told this.  The Saudis, in particular, have infiltrated American universities, especially in California.  Ah, multiculturalism.

May 31, 2014       Permalink

SENATE LATEST – AT 11:04 A.M. ET:   There's some new polling from Rasmussen that gives us grounds for guarded optimism about this fall's Senate races.  The races are critical because Republicans have a chance to retake the U.S. Senate. 

Kentucky Senate:   

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell now holds a seven-point lead over Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes in Kentucky’s U.S. Senate race following last week’s state party primaries.  McConnell earns 48% support to Grimes’ 41% in the latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Kentucky Voters. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate in the race, and seven percent (7%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)  The two were tied with 42% support each in late January in Rasmussen Reports’ first look at the then-hypothetical race.

Kentucky has been seen as one of the two states where Republicans can lose a Senate seat, the other being Georgia.  But Mitch McConnell took the danger seriously, and is working hard to build up his support.  His effort appears to be paying off.  I suspect he'll pull this out and may turn out to be Senate majority leader

Arkansas Senate: 

Republican challenger Tom Cotton still holds a narrow lead over incumbent Democrat Mark Pryor in Arkansas’ U.S. Senate race.

The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide survey of Likely Arkansas Voters finds Cotton, a U.S. congressman, with 47% support to Pryor’s 43%. Four percent (4%) like some other candidate in the race, while six percent (6%) remain undecided.

Not in the bag by any means, but a better result than we've been seeing recently in Arkansas.  Tom Cotton is a superb guy, although he hasn't shown himself, thus far, to be a master of statewide campaigning.  But he learns every day.  I have confidence he can squeeze through, a pickup for Republicans.

In Georgia, where there is danger of retiring Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss being replaced by Democrat Michelle Nunn, Nunn still leads possible Republican contenders by a few points.  However, the GOP hasn't picked its candidate yet.  When that happens, and if the party can achieve reasonable unity, this can turn into a real horse race. 

Fortunately, the Republican National Committee has become more effective in the last few years, and is not content to lose like gentlemen.  The word "win" has actually entered their vocabulary.  Applause. 

May 31, 2014       Permalink

WHEN YOU'RE IN TROUBLE – AT 10:32 A.M. ET:  An old American saying has it that "patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels."  Add to that "climate change."  President Obama, now having accepted membership in the Church of the Global Warming, is going all in.  It's clear he's about to issue some drastic executive orders in the name of saving the planet.  This comes at a time when serious questions are being asked about the accuracy of much of the "climate change" information we're getting.  From Bloomberg: 

President Barack Obama said the curbs on carbon emissions to combat climate change that his administration plans to unveil next week will also help address a growing threat to the nation’s health.

“We don’t have to choose between the health of our economy and the health of our children,” he said in his weekly address, which was recorded yesterday at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington. “As president, and as a parent, I refuse to condemn our children to a planet that’s beyond fixing.”

The Environmental Protection Agency is scheduled to announce a plan to limit carbon emissions from U.S. power plants on June 2. The two-tired regulation will seek reductions in greenhouse gases of as much as 25 percent over 15 years, according to people familiar with the proposal.

Obama’s address is part of an attempt by the White House to frame the coming debate over the new rules in personal terms, casting climate change as an issue that directly impacts Americans’ daily lives.

The costs of climate change, Obama said, “can be measured in lost lives and livelihoods, lost homes and businesses; and higher prices for food, insurance, and rebuilding.”

Obama recorded the address after meeting with children who are being treated at the hospital for asthma, which is aggravated by air pollution. As part of the campaign to build support for the rules, which are to be unveiled by the EPA, he plans to talk about the initiative during a conference call with the American Lung Association and other public health groups.

When in doubt in politics, trot out the children.  Whenever a politician says he's doing something "for the kids," hide your kids and get them out of town.

Among some recent stories is this, from the Daily Caller: 

This may come as a shocker to some, but scientists are not always right — especially when under intense public pressure for answers.

Researchers with the IUCN Polar Bear Specialist Group (PBSG) recently admitted to experienced zoologist and polar bear specialist Susan Crockford that the estimate given for the total number of polar bars in the Arctic was “simply a qualified guess given to satisfy public demand.”

Crockford has been critical of official polar bear population estimates because they fail to include five large subpopulations of polar bears.

And this, from WaPo: 

As of the start of this hurricane season, the span will be 3,142 days since the last U.S. major hurricane landfall. The previous longest span is about 2½ years shorter! While this is a relief for coastal residents and businesses, it inevitably increases complacency. The longer you go between events, the less likely you are to fully respect the next one and heed warnings.

And yet, this is what the weatherman-in-chief said yesterday, from The Hill:   

President Obama warned Friday that storms like Hurricane Sandy will become more frequent as climate change intensifies.

While being briefed by emergency response officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters, Obama urged the public to prepare now for this year's hurricane season.

"The changes we’re seeing in our climate means that, unfortunately, storms like Sandy could end up being more common and more devastating," Obama said.

COMMENT:  Confused?  You should be.  Wait 'til hundreds of billions are taken out of the American economy, based on a theory that is filled with contradictions.  But hey, who are we to question our betters, who went to the right schools and know the right people and invest in the right things?

May 31,  2014     Permalink

MAY 30,  2014

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:51 P.M. ET:

NO DIETICIAN IN CHIEF – President Obama said in an interview that Michelle Obama will not be running for public office.  Thus this nation is once again denied what its founders truly yearned for – a nutritionist as chief of state.  We'll survive, but it will be hard.  Pass the fries.

NEW MOUTHPIECE – Eric Shinseki wasn't the only resignation to be announced in Washington today.  White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is resigning, to be replaced by his deputy, with the journalistically correct name of Josh Earnest.  (As opposed to Fred Deceitful, who could have gotten the job.)  I know little about Earnest except that he has a longtime association with Barack Obama as a staff member.

NECESSARY – The White House is adding a crisis-control expert to the counsel's office.  From the Daily Caller:  "Jennifer O’Connor, a former partner at WilmerHale who has helped both the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Health and Human Services navigate legal crises, is slated to join the White House Counsel’s Office Friday, the Legal Times reports.  O’Connor served in the Clinton administration during his first term."  I look forward to better, clearer explanations for the administration's disasters.

REVOLUTION IN SACRAMENTO – From CBS:  "SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — New regulations passed by the Sacramento City Council will require taxi drivers in Sacramento to speak English.  The City Council passed new rules requiring drivers have proof of basic English skills, as well as making sure cars are eight years old or newer and that drivers wear professional clothing. The last requirement is a change from the proposed ordinance that required them to be hygienically clean."  I am not making this up.

May 30, 2014     Permalink

BULLETIN – AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  ERIC SHINSEKI HAS RESIGNED AS SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

THE PANNING CONTINUES – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 10:54 A.M. ET:   Rarely have I seen a foreign-policy speech by an American president panned as universally as has been Obama's speech earlier this week at West Point.   Superb British commentator Nile Gardiner now weighs in with that typically British zest, and gives us our quote of the day.  From The Hill: 

The president's West Point speech was short on policy but big on grandiose platitudes and self-congratulatory statements that will do nothing to reassure America's allies in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. It was a distinctly lightweight address on issues of tremendous gravity, with a direct impact on U.S. interests. From Tokyo to London, America's partners are looking to Washington for leadership, but getting feel-good Twitter sound bites instead.

Obama came across as the anti-Reagan, a figure content to lead from behind rather than project confident, assertive U.S. leadership — hardly the right signal to send to America's increasingly emboldened enemies and strategic competitors. President Reagan understood the importance of building America's defenses, squaring up to America's foes, and standing with friends and allies. Obama has had every opportunity to learn from Reagan's success, but has sadly chosen instead to pursue a path of American decline and disengagement from the world.

COMMENT:  An absolutely accurate portrayal of foreign policy under Obama.  He's Jimmy Carter all over again.  And, I think, Americans are starting to sense it.  Sadly, Obama still has a base of support on the left that thinks his foreign policy is just fine, in part because the left applauds American decline.  After all, isn't America the real problem?  I'm afraid Obama's views fit very well with those of his base, a base he helped create.

May 30, 2014       Permalink

SHINSEKI FIGHTS BACK – AT 9:28 A.M. ET:  The secretary of veterans affairs has taken action, but has not offered his resignation.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki fought for his job Friday, apologizing to the veterans and the nation for a breach of integrity at the agency and announcing a set of reforms including the firing of senior leaders at the Phoenix medical facility.

Speaking to a friendly audience at the Coalition for Homeless Veterans, he spent most of his speech touting his accomplishments in cutting veterans homelessness by 24 percent during a tough economic time in which homelessness usually surges.

At the end of the remarks, Shinseki said he wanted to address the “elephant in the room.”

After the release of a VA inspectors general report earlier this week, he said the country now knows that the VA has systemic problems with providing care for its veterans.

“That breach of integrity is irresponsible and unacceptable to me,” he said. “Leadership and integrity problems can and must be fixed — and now.”

He then announced the firing of senior leaders at the Phoenix medical facility and the elimination of any VA bonuses for the year. He also called on Congress to pass a bill that would make it easier to fire VA employees.

COMMENT:  Look, Shinseki is personally a fine man with a distinguished military record, including being severely wounded in Vietnam.   A Japanese American, he rose to the post of Army chief of staff. 

But leadership requires full accountability, and in his present position he has clearly been unsuccessful.  Firing the underlings is appropriate, but he must at least offer his resignation.  He must take "full responsibility," to use the military phraseology, and he has not done so.

To say that problems must be fixed now is a bit much for a man who has been on the job five years.  The "now" was then. 

Shinseki is something of a darling of the left, having been the most senior military officer to raise questions about our invasion of Iraq.  He is to be commended for his integrity at risking his career for principle, and his position did probably cost him his job as chief of staff.  But each assignment is different, and just as Truman fired MacArthur over the latter's inappropriate conduct during the Korean War, Obama must now either dismiss Shinseki or at least ask him to retire honorably.  It's sad, but necessary.

UPDATE:  Just in, from CNN:  "President Barack Obama will have a closed-door meeting with Shinseki in the Oval Office at 10:15 this morning. Earlier, Obama said he would have a 'serious conversation' with Shinseki about whether he's the right person to address the crisis. The comment, made during an interview taped Thursday for 'Live! With Kelly and Michael,' was played today on ABC's 'Good Morning America.'"

May 30, 2014       Permalink

HILLARY SPEAKS – AT 9:07 A.M. ET:    We now have a preview of Hillary Clinton's Benghazi defense, which will be presented in her about-to-be-published book.  It is not so much defense as offense, in which she actually defends the use of the now-famous video as an instigating factor in the Benghazi incident.  From The Politico: 

Hillary Clinton offers a detailed account of the deadly attack on the American embassy in Benghazi — and a pointed rebuttal to Republican critics who’ve laced into her over the incident — in a much-anticipated chapter of her forthcoming book, “Hard Choices,” obtained by POLITICO.

“Those who exploit this tragedy over and over as a political tool minimize the sacrifice of those who served our country,” Clinton writes in the gripping chapter, “Benghazi: Under Attack.”

Read that carefully.  That's the language of Bill Clinton.

Casting doubt on the motivations of congressional Republicans who have continued to investigate the attacks, including with an upcoming House select committee, Clinton continues: “I will not be a part of a political slugfest on the backs of dead Americans. It’s just plain wrong, and it’s unworthy of our great country. Those who insist on politicizing the tragedy will have to do so without me.”

The arrogance is breathtaking.  "I will not be a part of..."  Someone should remind the secretary that she served at our pleasure, and that questioning her actions and judgment is part of the democratic political process.  It's not up to her to decide whether to participate. 

The 34-page chapter is Clinton’s most complete account to date of the attack and its aftermath. Her tone is less defensive than defiant: Clinton takes responsibility for the “horror” of the loss of life in Benghazi, but puts it in the context of “the heartbreaking human stakes of every decision we make” — and she accuses adversaries of manipulating a tragedy for partisan gain.

She'll get plenty of support from her amen corner in the American media, but I'm not so sure this defiance will fly.  In fact, her timing isn't very good.  The House, under the brilliant Trey Gowdy, is about to investigate Benghazi.  If facts turn up that contradict Clinton's claims in her book, the book can easily become the butt of jokes.

But the book will be widely publicized, and many of the "interviews" with Clinton will be butterballs.  I can't wait for Diane Sawyer to ask the softies.  Our side must respond with thoughtful replies, and with facts.  The facts are not on Clinton's side.

May 30, 2014        Permalink

RUSSIAN MOVEMENT? – AT 8:24 A.M. ET:  There are reports of some Russian troop movements away from Russia's border with Ukraine, but I'd be awfully careful about this.  From Fox: 

U.S. defense officials say that Russia has pulled a large number of forces away from the Ukraine border, a withdrawal that the U.S. has been demanding for weeks and a move that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called "promising."

Although defense officials were not authorized to speak about the precise numbers, a senior defense official traveling with Defense Secretary Hagel told The Washington Post that approximately seven Russian battalions remain of those that were deployed to the east and south of Ukraine, amounting to a couple of thousand troops.

U.S. officials had previously estimated as many as 40,000 Russian forces had been aligned along the border with a restive eastern Ukraine that has been wracked with violence between government security forces and pro-Russian separatists.

Hagel didn't provide any details to reporters traveling with him en route to an Asian defense conference in Singapore at the start of a 12-day overseas trip which will include a meeting with NATO defense ministers in Brussels next week. However, he called the withdrawal promising.

"They are not where they need to be and won't be until all of their troops that they positioned along that border a couple of months ago are gone," Hagel told The Associated Press.

"We do know that thousands of Russian troops have been pulled back and are moving away. But we also know that there are still thousands of Russian troops still there that have not yet moved," Hagel said.

COMMENT:  Whatever Putin does will be done in Russia's and his own interest, not ours.  Unless there's a full withdrawal, this initial step is meaningless

Ukraine now has a new president, described as pro-Western.  Putin knows that, for the sake of appearances, he has to "negotiate" with this new guy, at least for a time.   But in terms of power, Putin holds the cards.  Watch him chip away at the eastern provinces of Ukraine, and bring them into the Russian orbit.  Who's resisting him?

May 30,  2014     Permalink