TUESDAY,  DECEMBER 30,  2008

OBAMA COOL TO HOT ROD MOVE - AT 8:30 P.M. ET:  CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama said Tuesday it is disappointing that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich ignored warnings from Senate Democrats about appointing a successor to his Senate seat.

COMMENT:  That's the correct position.  Obama was careful to praise the nominee, saying this:

"Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat," Obama said in a statement. "I agree with their decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Gov. Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it."

Rough political combat coming up.  Stand by.

WELL, YOU KNOW - AT 6:07 P.M. ET:  From an AP story on Caroline Kennedy:

Bloggers have torn into President John F. Kennedy's Harvard- and Columbia-educated daughter for such remarks as: "You know, I think, really, um, this is sort of a unique moment, both in our, you know, in our country's history and in, you know, my own life, and, um, you know, we are facing, you know, unbelievable challenges."

COMMENT:  Ask not what the English language can do for you, ask what you can do for the English language.

JUICY, JUICY, JUICY - AT 6:01 P.M. ET -  RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A Washington lobbyist sued The New York Times for $27 million Tuesday over an article that she says gave the false impression she had an affair with Sen. John McCain in 1999.  The newspaper stood by the story.

Vicki L. Iseman filed the defamation suit in U.S. District Court in Richmond. It also names as defendants the Times' executive editor, its Washington bureau chief and four reporters.

COMMENT:  I see a settlement coming, but I'd love to see this play out in court.

GIVING CREDIT - AT 4:39 P.M. ET:  As expected, Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois appointed African-American Roland Burris, a former state attorney general, to the U.S. Senate, replacing Barack Obama.  But, in act of statesmanship, the Democratic leadership of the Senate said that the Senate would refuse to seat him:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Democrats said Tuesday they would refuse to seat the man Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has picked to succeed President-elect Barack Obama, saying that the taint of scandal would follow the new senator to Washington.

"Anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and his deputy, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, said in a statement.

COMMENT:  The Senate can reject an elected or appointed member-to-be.  This is a gutsy move on the leadership's part, but follows its earlier declaration warning Hot Rod not to try to make the appointment.  However, the racial issue is touchy.  The news conference at which the governor made his announcement also featured Congressman Bobby Rush of Chicago, an African-American, endorsing the appointment.  Rush's presence was significant, as Barack Obama once tried unsuccessfully to oust Rush from his congressional seat by running against him in a Democratic primary.  This appointment can be seen as a challenge to Obama - either endorse Burris or risk the wrath of Chicago blacks.  The president elect has thus far not commented on Hot Rod's hot move.   

WEIRD, REALLY WEIRD - AT 2:58 P.M. ET:  We are awaiting a news conference called by Governor Rod Blagojevich, the embattled, ethically challenged governor of Illinois.  According to multiple news sources, Hot Rod will announce his choice to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate.  The governor has the power to appoint in Illinois.  The choice will apparently be Roland Burris, the African-American former attorney general of the state.

COMMENT:  Unbelievable.  First, what decent man would, first of all, take an appointment from a sleazeball governor?   Second, Dem leaders in the U.S. Senate have said they would reject any appointment by Hot Rod, and the Senate has the power to refuse to seat an appointed or elected member.  Third, by appointing an African-American, the governor is injecting the emotion of racial politics.  How will black leaders react?  Fourth, it's an insult to the president-elect, who surely doesn't want to be involved in this.  Yet, if he expresses approval, he's giving a pass to the governor.  If he expresses disapproval, he can anger fellow African-Americans.  This is change only Hot Rod can believe in.

STUCK IN "PARK" - AT 9:35 A.M. ET:  NEW YORK (Reuters) - The auto sector is expected to be the most financially troubled industry in the United States next year, taking the top spot from the homebuilding group, according to a survey of restructuring and bankruptcy professionals released on Monday.

COMMENT:  Just when we're lending money to GM and Chrysler. 

PULL THE PLUG, PULL THE PLUG - AT 9:14 A.M. ET: 

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) — Caroline Kennedy's second act as a Senate hopeful didn't get much better reviews from New York's press than her first.

A New York Daily News columnist said "the wheels of the bandwagon are coming off." New York Post State Editor Fred Dicker already put her on his list of 2008 losers. And The New York Times said "she seemed less like a candidate than an idea of one: eloquent but vague, largely undefined and seemingly determined to remain that way."

COMMENT:  These are the worst reviews I've seen for a Democratic candidate in recent times.  How in the world can Governor David Paterson appoint Caroline to the Senate, succeeding Hillary Clinton, after she's been such a flop?  It's sad, because Caroline has a fine personal reputation here in New York, but it's clear that she's not ready for the majors. 

FROM THE LEFT?  REALLY?

Posted at 8:46 a.m. ET

How often do we praise a leftist group here?  I don't know if it's ever happened.  But there's a remarkable story out of the Netherlands about a leftist political party that has come to its senses about multiculturalism.  There are occasional moments when some Europeans actually forge ahead of us in confronting the threat of radical Islam, because they are more immediately threatened, and this appears to be one of those moments.  From the International Herald Tribune: 

AMSTERDAM: Two years ago, the Dutch could quietly congratulate themselves on having brought what seemed to be a fair measure of consensus and reason to the meanest intersection in their national political life: the one where integration of Muslim immigrants crossed Dutch identity.

But a funny thing happened to the Dutch on the way to paradise.

Two weeks ago, the country's biggest left-wing political grouping, the Labor Party, which has responsibility for integration as a member of the coalition government led by the Christian Democrats, issued a position paper calling for the end of the failed model of Dutch "tolerance."

And...

If judged on the standard scale of caution in dealing with cultural clashes and Muslims' obligations to their new homes in Europe, the language of the Dutch position paper and Lilianne Ploumen, Labor's chairperson, was exceptional.

The paper said: "The mistake we can never repeat is stifling criticism of cultures and religions for reasons of tolerance."

Government and politicians had too long failed to acknowledge the feelings of "loss and estrangement" felt by Dutch society facing parallel communities that disregard its language, laws and customs.

Newcomers, according to Ploumen, must avoid "self-designated victimization."

Well, some clarity of thought, and common sense, from the old country.  Of course, this means no invitations for Ms. Ploumen to deliver commencement addresses at American colleges.

She asserted, "the grip of the homeland has to disappear" for these immigrants who, news reports indicate, also retain their original nationality at a rate of about 80 percent once becoming Dutch citizens.

Instead of reflexively offering tolerance with the expectation that things would work out in the long run, she said, the government strategy should be "bringing our values into confrontation with people who think otherwise."

Send this woman's statement to the Daily Kos, and watch her come out a right-wing, nativist, Bush-loving, Zionist pig.

There was more: punishment for trouble-making young people has to become so effective such that when they emerge from jail they are not automatically big shots, Ploumen said.

For Ploumen, talking to the local media, "The street is mine, too. I don't want to walk away if they're standing in my path.

"Without a strategy to deal with these issues, all discussion about creating opportunities and acceptance of diversity will be blocked by suspicion and negative experience."

And that comes from the heart of the traditional, democratic European left, where placing the onus of compatibility on immigrants never found such comfort before.

Now this is change we can believe in.

Indeed, Ploumen says, "Integration calls on the greatest effort from the new Dutch. Let go of where you come from; choose the Netherlands unconditionally." Immigrants must "take responsibility for this country" and cherish and protect its Dutch essence.

Not clear enough? Ploumen insists, "The success of the integration process is hindered by the disproportionate number of non-natives involved in criminality and trouble-making, by men who refuse to shake hands with women, by burqas and separate courses for women on citizenship.

"We have to stop the existence of parallel societies within our society."

You can hear leftists fainting all over the world as those words come out.

Why is this being said now?  Well, political advantage may be one reason.  But there's another:

A kinder, gentler explanation (that comes, remarkably, from Frits Bolkestein, the former Liberal Party leader, European commissioner, and no friend of the socialists, who began writing in 1991 about the enormous challenge posed to Europe by Muslim immigration):

"The multi-cultis just aren't making the running anymore. It's a brave step towards a new normalcy in this country. "

Now if we can get some of that new thinking to penetrate the skulls of our "intellectual" elites, maybe we can make some progress.  President-elect Obama, study what's happening in the Netherlands. 

December 30, 2008.      Permalink          

GAZA - DAY FOUR - AT 7:31 A.M. ET:  New York - Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip will push on as long as needed until it ''destroys completely'' the ruling Hamas militant group, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations said Monday. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev also played down international criticism of the offensive and ruled out a return to the terms of a recent cease-fire with Hamas that collapsed in violence over the weekend.

COMMENT:  Destroying Hamas would be a major step toward peace and progress in the region.  The question is whether Israel has the internal will to do it, in the face of the usual mounting criticism.  The same tut tutters who denounce the Israeli attacks were silent when thousands of Hamas rockets were sent into southern Israel.  The New York Times, of course, is blaming both sides.

HEALTH UNCARE - BRITAIN

Posted at 7:14 a.m. ET

With the age of Obama about to begin, and the incoming president pledging universal health coverage, cautionary tales are in order.  Surely we want every citizen to be cared for, but how it's done is critically important.  This story is from Britain, which boasts a national health system.  But the tales of horror keep coming.  Is this what we want?

Clearly suffering, Stewart Fleming was clutching a note from his doctor saying he must be seen IMMEDIATELY.

But the railway signalman, 37, was left to die as a deadly virus ravaged his body and one by one his organs collapsed.

He was not admitted until six hours after arriving at the Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham, Kent, by which time it was too late.

This was not a wrong, snap decision by a hospital.  This was a problem with a bureaucratic culture.  His wife comments:

"I can't stop thinking that the last hours of his life were wasted. They were spent waiting around for help.

"His doctor obviously realised the severity of his condition. His life might have been saved if the hospital had given him something to fight the infection sooner."

She adds:

"I was told we had to go through the normal process, even with the letter from the doctor. We got to A&E before 5.30pm. He was finally called through to be examined at 11pm.

And what was the reaction of the people who run the hospital?  Get this:

A spokesman for the Medway NHS Foundation Trust said it was “saddened to hear of the death of Stewart Fleming”.

The spokesman added: "Mr Fleming came to Medway Maritime Hospital's Emergency Department on a day when it was experiencing long waits due to a high number of admissions.

"The situation was not unique to Medway - hospitals across the country were all experiencing a rise in demand for their services at the time.”

Do these people know the meaning of the term "emergency"?  Do they understand the concept of "priority"?  Can they read a physician's note?  Do they have any sensitivity?

I've noticed that the socialist left maintains a remarkable indifference to human life.  The ideology always comes first, and in this case the ideology requires government health care, no matter what the result.  We do, of course, have needless tragedies in the United States, even with private health care.  But the situation in Britain is dire.  We've reported on it here before.  It is not change we can believe in.

December 30, 2008.       Permalink          

MONDAY,  DECEMBER 29,  2008

DIGGING THAT HOLE DEEPER - AT 7:18 P.M. ET:  Does Caroline Kennedy understand what politics is about?  The question is being asked as she seems to be sinking in her bid to be appointed to succeed Hillary Clinton in the Senate.  Now she's snapping at reporters, as this quote from a piece in London's Telegraph notes:

At one point Miss Kennedy, being asked to describe the moment she decided she wanted the Senate seat, asked the reporters: "Have you guys ever thought about writing for, like, a woman's magazine or something?" One of them responded: "What do you have against women's magazines?" Miss Kennedy shot back: "Nothing at all, but I thought you were the crack political team here."

Another reporter asked "Would you have sought this if there hadn't been an appointment open, if it had been an election?", Miss Kennedy said: "I think we covered that." The reporter pressed: "What's the answer, then, if we covered it?"

Geez.

OUTRAGEOUS CNN HEADLINE - AT 6:53 P.M. ET:  This headline appears at the CNN website:  World rallies around Palestinians amid Gaza offensive

COMMENT:  Unfortunately, this is all too typical of leftist CNN.  There is nothing to justify the headline.  There are some demonstrations by Muslims and their allies in some countries, but that's about it.  I monitored CNN today and found the same bias - an almost obsessive attention to small demonstrations, as if they represent "the world."  The world, of course, doesn't do anything.

LETTER TO LEDEEN

Posted at 1:59 p.m. ET

The distinguished foreign-policy analyst, Michael Ledeen, maintains a close connection to the American military.  We quoted from his son, Gabe, a Marine officer, just recently.

Mr. Ledeen has received a sterling letter from a soldier in Afghanistan.  I want to share it with you because it reflects the moral considerations of an obviously thoughtful man:

I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in the last ten months, contemplating the necessity of my being here. Some days it feels as though nothing we do will make a difference. That this country is doomed to remain in poverty and violence and there is nothing anyone can do to change its irrevocable course. That no amount of American blood or treasure will ever deter or change the minds of those who have decided that America is a great evil, enforcing its will upon the world. That America is the cause of their hatred. That we Soldiers were sent to fight on ‘bad intelligence’ or for the wrong reasons. That we are in Afghanistan for vengeance and Iraq for oil. That if we just left, these countries would return to a blissful peace, free from American oppression. And through many nights, in a pitch black that is only possible hundreds of miles from electricity, I have questioned the mission. I have questioned if Afghanistan is worth it. I have questioned whether or not my being here has made a difference.

Today I received my answer. Today a suicide bomber drove his truck into a crowd of children at a checkpoint. At last count, over 20 children were killed instantly when his car detonated. As of 30 minutes ago frantic mothers and fathers were still calling the American base to see if their child was at our hospital. We could only say ‘no, no children were brought to the hospital. None of the children’s bodies were recovered, none survived the blast.’…In Saving Private Ryan, Tom Hanks reflects on the Soldiers he’s lost. Comparing each one lost under his command to a dozen saved by his command. Today dozens of young, innocent, unspoiled lives were lost. There is no other way to describe it other than a massacre.

In the last ten months we have stopped seventeen suicide bombers. Either killed or captured before they could reach their targets. These suicide bombers have come from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Dubai, Chechnya and Germany. These were terrorists that were going to find a target. Somewhere. They chose Afghanistan...I can’t estimate how many children have been saved by us being here, but I can say without a doubt that it is at least one. And in that I have my answer. I am a Father and a Husband. I am a Son and I am a Brother. I know I am loved and I know the sadness it would bring if I were lost. But I am also a Soldier. I have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves and I will uphold this oath. Today it was the children in Khost Province, Afghanistan. Last week, Mumbai. Five years ago, London. Seven years ago, New York, Arlington and Pennsylvania. My answers are simple: we do make a difference, blood and treasure has been well spent, the darkest shadows of America can’t compare to the evil that lurks in this world, this is not a war of vengeance, this is a war of good and evil, their hatred is bred and taught, America is not the cause and terror will follow us no matter where we are.

Wonderful, wonderful.

Michael Ledeen adds:

All those killers in Afghanistan, the ones who murdered the schoolchildren, were fighting to create–or recreate–a society in which everyone is dominated by a harsh code of behavior, justified by the divinely decreed necessity of restraining man’s sinful inclinations. That society was, and if they win will be, a brutal tyranny. That it is justified in the name of Islam does not impress me any more than when it was justified by an appeal to race, or Marx, or Hutu supremacy. It is the same old war, and I remain convinced that this concept should underlie American policy in the world. We are obliged to combat tyrants, like it or not. For they will always feel obliged to attack us.

My friend the Soldier in Afghanistan figured it all out in a nanosecond. Let’s hope our leaders finally get it.

Just as important, let's hope our journalists finally get it.

December 29, 2008.      Permalink               

MORE CHANGE WE CAN'T BELIEVE IN - AT 9:42 A.M. ET:  USA Today reports that Adolphus Towns, the incoming chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, the top oversight committee in Congress, attended only 12 of the committee's 74 meetings in the last two-year session.

COMMENT:  This is disgraceful.  How about reforming the reform committee?

THE HILLARY DOLLAR - AT 9:32 A.M. ET:  From The New York Post:  SOME of those who are owed $6.3 million by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign are annoyed at the senator's grandstanding. Clinton received a $2,300 contribution from Caroline Kennedy, but returned it after Kennedy very publicly endorsed Barack Obama. "I don't see anything wrong with Caroline Kennedy's money," said one source. "Returning it was just an act of spite."

COMMENT:  How juicy!  Spite.  Revenge.  Knifings.  Look, maybe Hillary can arrange a bailout.  I mean, $6.3-million.  That's loose change.

BEST QUOTE OF THE DAY, THUS FAR - AT 7:51 A.M. ET:  From Bill Kristol, in The New York Times:

Bah, humbug. Those of us who dislike finger-wagging nanny-state-nagging liberalism relish the prospect of President Barack Obama sneaking a cigarette on the second floor of the White House while rereading Harry V. Jaffa’s great work on Lincoln, “Crisis of the House Divided,” then taking a break to stroll over to take a look at the White House’s copy of Emanuel Leutze’s painting “Washington Crossing the Delaware,” then going back to the family quarters to tell his kids to get back to memorizing some patriotic poetry, all of this interrupted occasionally by calls from Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. Ray Odierno — his Ulysses Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman — to discuss progress in the wars we’re fighting, or from Rick Warren to discuss their joint efforts to fight AIDS in Africa and to reduce the number of abortions in the U.S.

Now that’s a presidency I can believe in.

Leave us hope.

GAZA UPDATE - AT 7:34 A.M. ET:  From The Jerusalem Post:  Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah attacked Arab nations - particularly Egypt and Jordan - in a televised speech Sunday and accused them of cooperation with Israel in its offensive in the Gaza Strip.  "There are some who speak of Arab silence, but this is wrong. There is full Arab cooperation, especially by those who have signed so-called peace agreements with Israel," Nasrallah said.

COMMENT:  The splits in the Arab world, among the dear, brotherly, leaders, are becoming clearer. 

NEXT COMMENT:  There are the usual charges that Israel is using "disproportionate" force.  I'm baffled by such remarks.  The one thing you don't want in war is a fair fight.  It isn't a game.  Imagine if, after Pearl Harbor, the United States had simply sought to bomb a Japanese naval base, and left it at that?  You know, proportional force.  The proper force is the amount needed to win, quickly and decisively.
     

HANSON PREDICTS

Posted at 7:22 a.m. ET

We're not much for predictions around here, but Victor Davis Hanson has written a witty column about what to expect next July, once The One has been in power for a time.  Ah, the progress.  Ah, the goodness.  Ah, the purification of our moral soul:

By July, we will come to feel that 2009 will be one of the most upbeat years in our history, as what used to be the news media begins to get behind America and report on all the mysteriously wonderful things that are suddenly taking place.

We celebrate.  We give thanks.

All the campaign talk of the Great Depression, a Vietnam-like war, and our shredded Constitution will now thankfully subside as the Obama administration assumes office and solves problems with conciliation, dialogue, and multilateral wisdom, rather than shrillness, unilateralism, preemption, and my-way-or-the-highway dogmatism.

What a guy, this Barack.  Does it all in six months.

Indeed, almost supernaturally crises will be solved with the departure of the hated Bush: no more flooding streets from cracked water mains that were a result of a President's neglect of infrastructure, and no more spontaneous crashes of Mississippi River bridges due to diversions of critical federal aid from cash-strapped states to Iraq. And when the temperatures rise or drop, the wind howls, the clouds burst forth or go away, the snow melts or piles up, it will be, well, nature that caused the havoc, not the current occupant of the White House who failed to sign Kyoto.

See, we told you.  It was all BUSH.  Anderson Cooper says so.

Some military action abroad could be necessary--and necessarily reported on as measured and reluctant, rather than cowboyish and gratuitous. European whining will be a result of miscommunications or the Euros' unfair caricatures of Americans, not Bush's alienation of allies...

...If an administration official quits, goes on 60 Minutes, and writes a nasty tell-all book about Obama's insensitivity and his government's directionless ennui, he will be a heretic, a whiner, a turncoat, not a truth teller or brave maverick who blew the whistle in need of a bestseller hyped from NPR to the New York Times.

What a world this will be.  I can't wait for perfection.  I want to take notes.

So all that will change for now will be the sudden absence of shrill complaints that we live in an America without a Constitution. Static, same-old, same-old government policy will, of course, be said to have altered radically ("hoped and changed"), but it will also be refashioned in the media as "sober" and "judicious", as the administration moves "in circumspect fashion" to probe and explore "complex" and often "paradoxical" matters of national security that "indeed at the end of the day have no easy answers."

We have to remember, in July, to check back and see how much of Hanson's column comes true.  I'll bet it will be a great deal.

"Diversity" and "progressive" themes will replace Bush's hokey old-time patriotism, as we return to a more nuanced and sophisticated love of country that at last "came home."

To Harvard, to Yale, to Georgetown.

Jimmy Carter will once again be weird old jet-setting Jimmy Carter, a meddler, a spoiler, a PR junkie on the verge of senility rather than the principled Nobel laureate of the Carter Center.

Let us hope for that one.

Those inside the big house change, the commandments on the barn wall subtly are crossed out and updated, but the farm for us animals stays about the same.

Amen.

December 29, 2008.      Permalink