A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Fed Leaders Ponder an Expanded Mission - In the past two weeks, the Federal Reserve, long the guardian of the nation's banks, has redefined its role to also become protector and overseer of Wall Street. (READ MORE)
Obama Rewriting Rules for Raising Campaign Money Online - When Christen Braun decided it was time to learn more about the presidential candidates, the 28-year-old high school teacher from suburban Pittsburgh turned to Google -- right where Sen. Barack Obama's campaign was waiting for her. (READ MORE)
U.S. Armor Forces Join Offensive In Baghdad Against Sadr Militia - BAGHDAD, March 27 -- Thousands of supporters of hard-line cleric Moqtada al-Sadr poured into the streets of the Iraqi capital Thursday to protest an ongoing security crackdown against Sadr's militia, as clashes continued in the southern city of Basra... (READ MORE)
Fallout From Tibet Taking Glow Off Olympics - BEIJING, March 27 -- The riots in Tibet two weeks ago have turned into a major challenge to China's leaders, whose decision to use military force and restrict media access has cast a shadow over hopes for an unblemished Olympics this summer. (READ MORE)
42 Democrats Vow a Drawdown in Iraq If They Win Seats - More than three dozen Democratic congressional candidates banded together yesterday to promise that, if elected, they will push for legislation calling for an immediate drawdown of troops in Iraq that would leave only a security force in place to guard the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. (READ MORE)
U.S. Steps Up Unilateral Strikes in Pakistan - The United States has escalated its unilateral strikes against al-Qaeda members and fighters operating in Pakistan's tribal areas, partly because of anxieties that Pakistan's new leaders will insist on scaling back military operations in that country, according to U.S. officials. (READ MORE)
McCain Outlines Foreign Policy - LOS ANGELES, March 26 -- Sen. John McCain on Wednesday promised a collaborative foreign policy that would seek the input of allies abroad and would contrast sharply with the go-it-alone approach of the Bush administration. (READ MORE)
U.S. to Stop Green Card Denials for Dissidents - The U.S. immigration service said yesterday that it will temporarily stop denying green cards to refugees and other legal immigrants tied to groups that sought to topple foreign dictatorships, placing their cases on hold while it determines more "logical, common-sense" rules for judging them. (READ MORE)
Feds: Saddam Financed Lawmakers' Trip - WASHINGTON -- Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. (READ MORE)
Eyewitnesses Recount Terrifying Day in Tibet - BEIJING, March 26 -- In the moment, Canadian backpacker John Kenwood recalled, he was "young and stupid, and it was all adrenaline." He was running, one in a mob of 200 or so, screaming, "Free Tibet!" and chasing riot police down a narrow street in downtown Lhasa in the early afternoon of March 14. (READ MORE)
GPO profits go to bonuses and trips - When the government's main printing agency booked $100 million in unexpected profit, it went on a spending spree: large bonuses to top managers, trips to Paris and Las Vegas, and an official photo of the boss that cost $10,000. (READ MORE)
Shiite protesters denounce PM al-Maliki - BAGHDAD — Tens of thousands of Shiites took to the streets to protest the government's crackdown on militias in Basra as heavy fighting between Iraqi security forces and gunmen erupted for a third day in the southern oil port and Baghdad. (READ MORE)
US charges Puerto Rican governor -SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.S. authorities have announced an indictment charging Puerto Rico's governor with 18 counts in a long-running campaign finance probe. (READ MORE)
Senate to probe bailout by Fed - The Senate Finance Committee said yesterday it is probing the Federal Reserve's bailout of Bear, Stearns & Co. last week, in which the Fed took more than $30 billion of the firm's mortgage holdings of questionable value in exchange for cash, putting taxpayers at risk of losing money in the transaction. (READ MORE)
Charity official held in Iraq trip - A former official of a Michigan-based Islamic charity has been arrested by federal agents on charges of organizing a political junket to Iraq for three members of Congress financed by Saddam Hussein, according to a federal indictment unsealed yesterday in Detroit. (READ MORE)
Bush, Putin to discuss missile defense - President Bush yesterday announced he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia early next month, and said he hopes to move toward an agreement on a missile-defense system in Eastern Europe, amid signs that Russian opposition to the plan is softening. (READ MORE)
Democrats' party divide runs deep - Political tension between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton is inflaming Democrats' emotions as it spills over into the electorate with more voters threatening to defect from the party should their candidate lose the presidential nomination. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Ken Blackwell: A Scout is Reverent - “Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports.” — George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796 The presidential candidates need to speak out while the spotlight is on Pennsylvania. There is an opportunity for voters in Pennsylvania and across America to know where the candidates stand on an important constitutional issue. The City Council of Philadelphia is attacking the Boy Scouts of America, seeking to drive them out of a historic location because the Scouts teach traditional moral values, consistent with the Scout Oath and Scout Law. City Council’s action violates the First Amendment, and the Scouts should fight this in federal court. (READ MORE)
Mike S. Adams: The Chancellor's Dog Ate My Homework - I’m about to hop in my car to drive to Greensboro, North Carolina, to give a speech at UNCG. Hopefully, some of my readers can make it out to UNCG by 7:30 p.m. My speech will be in the Azalea Room in the Elliott University Center. I think that’s the same place a porn star gave a speech on safe sodomy back in 2004. I plan to give my speech on safe Russian roulette. I’m only kidding. But before I leave for my trip to UNC-Gomorrah, I want to share my latest bit of correspondence with the administration here at UNC-Webmasters (hereafter, UNCW). It should provide some insight into this interesting question: Which is the biggest problem in our universities today, a) Administrative Intolerance, or b) Administrative Incompetence? (READ MORE)
Hugh Hewitt: PBIP: The Approach and Outbreak of Polar Bear-Induced Paralysis - In January of 2007, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service published a proposed rule in the Federal Register intending to notify the public and seek their comments on the idea of adding the polar bear to the list of threatened and endangered species. A raft of comments came in, and the government's biologists went off to consider them. The Service returned to the Federal Register a second time, in October of 2007, and requested more comments. The window closed again. More than 670,000 comments have been received urging that the polar bear be listed as a "threatened species." Ask yourself why there was such an outpouring of comments for such an obscure issue. (READ MORE)
Ann Coulter: Hillary: Swiftboated! - Hillary is being "swiftboated"! She claimed that she came under sniper fire when she visited in Bosnia in 1996, but was contradicted by videotape showing her sauntering off the plane and stopping on the tarmac to listen to a little girl read her a poem. Similarly, John Kerry's claim to heroism in Vietnam was contradicted by 264 Swift Boat Veterans who served with him. His claim to having been on a secret mission to Cambodia for President Nixon on Christmas 1968 was contradicted not only by all of his commanders -- who said he would have been court-martialed if he had gone anywhere near Cambodia -- but also the simple fact that Nixon wasn't president on Christmas 1968. In Hillary's defense, she probably deserves a Purple Heart about as much as Kerry did for his service in Vietnam. (READ MORE)
Victor Davis Hanson: A Speech Sen. Obama Could Have Given - Had Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., just said the following words last week in his speech on race in America, his problems with his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, would probably now be over: “You have all heard the racist and anti-American outbursts of my pastor Rev. Wright. They are all inexcusable. His speeches have forced me to re-examine my long association with Trinity United Church of Christ. And so it is with regret that I must now leave that church. “I had heard similar extremist language of Rev. Wright in the past, and now apologize that I did not earlier end my attendance and contributions. Had I long ago expressed my strong objections to Rev. Wright’s views, such opposition might have suggested to him a more moderate path. (READ MORE)
Cal Thomas: 4,000 Patriots - BOSTON - Following Sept. 11, 2001, a day of infamy on which nearly 3,000 died at the hands of terrorists, The New York Times began publishing the names and pictures of the dead. I made a deliberate effort to look at those pictures and to read the names and hometowns of each victim. I wanted to identify with them as much as possible. Now the Times has published more pictures, names and ages, this time of American war dead. They are part of the 4,000 casualties to have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan since those wars began. They - and their families - deserve our gratitude. Some politicians who oppose the war - mostly Democrats, but a few Republicans - offer obligatory and oblique references to "the troops" and their bravery, while undermining their sacrifice and objectives by calling for their immediate withdrawal. That is not a policy, unless one regards surrender and retreat only to fight a bloodier war another day policy. (READ MORE)
Mark Hillman: If Principles Matter, So Does McCain - First, I am a conservative; then, I'm a Republican. Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham and James Dobson hold views much closer to my own and to those of most conservatives than does Sen. John McCain. I have serious, principled disagreements with the Arizona senator on several issues. In the last two contested Republican primaries, my candidate has been Anybody But John McCain. This election isn't about party or personalities, but about principles that will guide our country for the next four years or more. Will our nation trend in a direction that is generally conservative or one that reverses modest gains of the past 28 years and lurches toward cradle-to-grave paternalism? (READ MORE)
Amanda Carpenter: McCain: 'I Hate War' - Republican presidential candidate John McCain said his opposition to a premature withdrawal from Iraq is based on his hatred of war and criticized his Democratic opponents in a major foreign policy address Wednesday. “I do not argue against withdrawal, any more than I argued several years ago for the change in tactics and additional forces that are now succeeding in Iraq, because I am somehow indifferent to war and the suffering it inflicts on too many American families,” McCain told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council after returning from a weeklong trip abroad where he met with foreign leaders. “I hold my position because I hate war, and I know very well and very personally how grievous its wages are. But I know, too, that we must sometimes pay those wages to avoid paying even higher ones later.” (READ MORE)
John McCaslin: This Explains It - Astrologer Dave Bromberg of Chico, Calif., writes to Inside the Beltway to say that the time has come to let the rest of the world in on one of astrology's "juiciest" secrets: that every two years or so Mars and Jupiter are in sign opposition. "When this happens senators will find themselves in direct contradiction in what they say and what they did; governors will have to disclose hidden sexual trysts; mayors will have their intimate text messages come to light," he reveals. "This is what is happening now that Jupiter is in Capricorn and Mars is in Cancer — and it will continue until the 9th of May of this year." Streets of Philly "Want to be in a music video for Hillary?" That's the question posted on Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign Web site, calling interested volunteers to "the streets of Philadelphia" on the afternoon of Saturday, April 5. (READ MORE)
Michael Steele: Bush's Africa Legacy - President Bush showed the world that it isn't words, but actions, that truly make a difference. Millions throughout Africa would agree. Mr. Bush recently completed a historic visit to the African continent; a trip he described as "the most exciting, exhilarating, uplifting trip" of his presidency. During his visit, we saw pictures of the president dancing, celebrating and attending ceremonies with heads of state. But the real story is not about just this one trip; it is about the commitment the president made to Africa and what the United States has been quietly accomplishing throughout the continent over the past eight years under Mr. Bush's leadership. (READ MORE)
Oliver North: 'Duh!' - MIAMI -- I made a major mistake in a hotel room this week. Not the Eliot Spitzer kind of mistake -- but with a television remote. While changing for a late dinner, I tried to tune in to Fox News Channel, but the electronic device took me instead to MTV and some kind of "reality show." For a few minutes as I dressed, I was treated to several attractive young American women discussing their relationships. The most oft repeated sound in this conversation was "Duh!" -- a word that does not appear in my dictionary. But now I know what it means. After conferring with several young people at our New York bureau, I was informed that "Duh!" is simply modern shorthand for "No! Really?" or "You just figured that out?" Well, if that's the case, this week should be giving the masters of the mainstream media plenty of "Duh!" moments about the campaign in Iraq. (READ MORE)
Charles Krauthammer: McCain's "Hundred Year War"? - WASHINGTON -- Asked at a New Hampshire campaign stop about possibly staying in Iraq 50 years, John McCain interrupted -- "Make it a hundred" -- then offered a precise analogy to what he envisioned: "We've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so." Lest anyone think he was talking about prolonged war-fighting rather than maintaining a presence in postwar Iraq, he explained: "That would be fine with me, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed." And lest anyone persist in thinking he was talking about war-fighting, he told his questioner: "It's fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintained a presence in a very volatile part of the world." (READ MORE)
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann: Hillary's List of Lies - The USA Today/Gallup survey clearly explains why Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) is losing. Asked whether the candidates were “honest and trustworthy,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) won with 67 percent, with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) right behind him at 63. Hillary scored only 44 percent, the lowest rating for any candidate for any attribute in the poll. Hillary simply cannot tell the truth. Here's her scorecard: (READ MORE)
Lawhawk: Fitna Finally Arrives - Geert Wilders film, Fitna, which has caused quite the controversy since it was announced, has been released to LiveLeak: The opening scenes are going to be tough to watch as they recount the 9/11 terrorist attacks by the 19 Islamic hijackers, the Madrid bombings, and the words of the jihadi leaders exhorting their followers to conduct still more terrorist attacks with the intention of killing many more. (READ MORE)
A Newt One: Keep The Patriots Rising Momentum Going! - Most of you already know that at Move America Forward we've been defending the defenders for some time and that lately that has meant running up against the Berkeley City Council. The radical "peace" group CodePink has been trying to run the Marine Corps office out of town for some time now and the city council signed on to the effort in full in January. They voted to send a letter to the Marines saying that if they remain in Berkeley, that they do so as "uninvited and unwelcome intruders." We weren't about to stand by while the US military gets uninvited from a US city, so we brought about a thousand of our close fiends to the next council meeting and the council agreed not to send the letter. But don't be fooled: some very offensive provisions are still on the Berkeley books. (READ MORE)
A Soldier's Mind: Earning His Stripes - Recently, in a demonstration, dangerous “mock” terrorists infiltrated a heavily guarded Central Texas base. But one Soldier, was able to save the day and get the job done. That Soldier, SSG Gaven Cox, recently took a break from his fight with leukemia, to “Soldier up” with his 1st Cavalry Division teammates, to participate in the top-secret search and destroy mission. Through Make-A-Wish Foundation of America, Gaven was able to join Troop C, 6th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, to defeat the bad guys. (READ MORE)
Donald Douglas: Iraq Worse Than Vietnam, Says Albright - Via Gateway Pundit, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has declared the Bush adminstration's liberation of Iraq as possibly the worst foreign policy fiasco in American history. Here's the YouTube of Albright's "60 Minutes" interview from 1996, where, in response to the death of over 500,000 Iraqi children during the 1990s-era U.N. sanctions regime, she said "we think the price" of punishing Saddam "is worth it": Here's the report, from the Gainseville Sun, on Albright's speech at the University of Florida: (READ MORE)
Bear Creek Ledger: Weenie Forest Lake H.S. changes their story on Vets for Freedom Cancelled Visit - Now that the Forest Lake High School (in Minnesota) has received a lot of negative attention the school administrators have changed their story on why they canceled the appearance by the Vets for Freedom Heroes Tour. Now, they’re saying it’s because of a concern for security for the students! Previously, they said it was due to complains from a few parents regarding a political statement from these Heroes. Now, the school officials are making up excuses for their bad behavior, worse judgement and poor treatment of our War Heroes which I’m sure is coming from pressure not only throughout the country but from their own town. (READ MORE)
Big Dog: Democrats Did Hussein’s Bidding - There is word today that three Congressional Democrats took a trip to Iraq and it was paid for by Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency. The trip was arranged by Muthanna Al-Hanooti who acted as an intermediary for the Hussein government. Al-Hanooti was arrested for conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, illegally purchasing Iraqi oil (he received oil from Iraq for setting it up) and lying to authorities. The indictment did not name the Democrats involved but the AP reports the dates coincide with dates of a trip taken by Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan (no longer in Congress) and Mike Thompson of California, all of whom opposed the war. (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: Friend or foe? - CNN's analysis of events in Iraq are wonderful example of how to patch up a theory that is rapidly falling to pieces. The theory of course, is that Iran is a poor, misunderstood victim of US aggression in a third country. The facts however, are that Iran is supporting the Madhi Army in Iraq. How to square the circle? Easy. Just read Michael Ware. "Al-Sadr is involved in a very complicated relationship with the Iranians," said CNN Baghdad correspondent Michael Ware. "The Iranians do provide funding and support for his militia, yet at the same time they're trying to rein him in and get him to adopt a certain political agenda, which from time to time he resists." (READ MORE)
Dafydd: Brave Sir Robin vs. the Mosque of England - In recent years, Moslems in the United Kingdom have gotten bolder. Not only do they commit more violent crime against ordinary British citizens, they demand special treatment from the British government ("All animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others"). Yet I am now convinced that the core of the problem in Great Britain is not the Moslems but the Church of England itself. Great Britain has a state religion, and many British subjects look to the established church for moral guidance. The house of God should be an unwavering, unchanging, and uncompromising spiritual core of the people. Even though we humans often cannot meet God's expectations, we're at least supposed to learn through the churches and clergy what He expects of us. (READ MORE)
Uncle Jimbo @ Blackfive: McCain solid as a rock on Jihad - I think my anti-jihad credentials are pretty solid but some perspective before I launch at my own team. We conducted counter-insurgency operations against Islamic extremists, that I participated in, 20 years ago. I knew they were our main growing enemy and I have spent a goodly chunk of my adult life studying and opposing their efforts. It is a Long War in the truest sense of the word and while we may fight and kill the terrorists attacking the free world today we must win by convincing the following generations that death for Allah is not the path to Paradise. John McCain is getting all kinds of unwarranted abuse over what is likely the most common sense statement about our war on them that I have heard. (READ MORE)
Confederate Yankee: The Sadrists' Mistake - The Guardian claimed that the "surge" in Iraq was about to unravel because of strike threats from Sunni militiamen they reported last week, but if you head over to a newly-redesigned Pajamas Media today, you'll see that the threats of a strike were resolved weeks before the Guardian stories ran. The stories were an attempt to grab defeat in the media while the threat of actual defeat on the ground seems ever more fleeting. Yesterday, left-wing surrogate McClatchy Newspapers—they even has the ridiculous "Truth to Power" tagline—attempted to claim defeat from the opposite perspective, noting that some of the Sadrists in Iraq seem to be feeling a bit rambunctious after a long period of relative silence. (READ MORE)
Noah Shachtman: G.I.s Turn Filmmakers in Bad Voodoo's War - Deborah Scranton didn't have to go to war to shoot her latest documentary about Iraq. Instead, she gave hand-held, high-def cameras to soldiers in the "Bad Voodoo" platoon -- and let them handle this "virtual embed" themselves. The result, Bad Voodoo's War, airs Tuesday night on PBS' Frontline. Scranton first used the technique in 2006's The War Tapes, which followed three soldiers from Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion of the 172nd Infantry Regiment during the rise of Anbar province's Sunni insurgency. The result, troops and critics almost universally agree, was the clearest, most honest window into the Iraq conflict ever recorded. (READ MORE)
Don Surber: Parsing the parson - Barack Rodham Obama might have quit his church if Rev. Wright had stayed on. Once again, on the tough issues, Obama votes, “Present.” Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois taped an appearance that will be aired on “The View” on Friday morning, AP reported. Obama’s latest position on the hateful, race-baiting sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright: “Had the reverend not retired, and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn’t have felt comfortable staying at the church.” (READ MORE)
Flopping Aces: Basra Violence Proves Withdrawal Strategy Doesn’t Work - Last year, two polar opposite strategies were tried in Iraq. President Bush changed commanders, changed to a counter-insurgency strategy, and sent an additional 30,000 troops to quell violence in Iraq that had been set ablaze by Al Queda. This change in course reduced violence dramatically, and while the not all of the political objectives have been met yet, most have been, and the outlook for further national reconciliation grows more positive with each passing day. On the other hand, the British forces in the south of Iraq chose to start withdrawing troops. The British people were tired of the war (as is everyone), and there was much political clout to be had by marketing a ‘leave and things will be better’ theory. Well, troop levels dropped, and violence increased. Shortly after Britain announced plans to withdraw the rest of its troops, Muqtada al Sadr ended his cease-fire and sectarian fighting erupted (though a far cry from what it was in 2006). (READ MORE)
Paul Weston: The Face of Moderate Islam in Britain - The Muslim beating handed out to Canon Michael Ainsworth, priest at the St George-in-the-East church of Shadwell, East London earlier this month and last week’s conviction of a Muslim for the rape of a 27 year old woman in nearby Whitechapel during 2005 share a surprisingly common link in the attitudes and associates of The Muslim Council of Britain. In the wake of the faith-hate attack, Inayat Bunglawalah, media secretary for The Muslim Council of Britain, wrote a quite extraordinary article in the Guardian entitled: “Jihad or Alcohol” where he claimed: “An alcohol fuelled attack on a Christian priest in East London has stirred up more Islamophobia.” (READ MORE)
Jules Crittenden: Fitna - Poligazette posts the Dutch Islamo-slam vid, at arm’s length. Gateway, “Let the seething begin ...” And, he reports, it has. Malkin, “Prepare for more March madness,” updating. Weasel Zippers’ review: “Pretty weak,” so weak that Dutch Muslims are cranking down riot worries. I’d suggest they don’t know their co-religionists if they think logic and fact will play a role in any reaction. In other Dutch Islam-related media news, Gateway reports a new animated Motoon will be anatomically correct. I dunno, I like a good Motoon as much as the next guy, but that may be more blasphemous graven imagery than I need to see. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: TSA: Nipple rings a terrorist risk? - A Texas woman had to remove her nipple rings with pliers before being allowed to board a flight in Lubbock, and has now filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Agency for the incident. Mandi Hamlin says she was publicly humiliated, but TSA insists that it followed its procedures, even though their website notes that passengers can opt for a private pat-down as an alternative to removing piercings and other body jewelry: “Hamlin, 37, said she was trying to board a flight from Lubbock to Dallas on Feb. 24 when she was scanned by a Transportation Security Administration agent after passing through a larger metal detector without problems.” (READ MORE)
Allahpundit: Accused Saddam operative: I met with Hillary at the White House; Update: Photo added - The operative in question? Muthanna al-Hanooti, a.k.a. Baghdad Jim McDermott’s travel agent for that Saddam-comped junket to Iraq in 2002. The Sun’s pushing this story hard and it does indeed look bad bad bad … until you read down into the article and discover he didn’t start working for Iraqi intelligence until 1999. The meeting with Hillary happened in 1996. “A Michigan man facing federal criminal charges of illegally working for Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Intelligence Service says he met with Hillary Clinton at the White House in May 1996.” (READ MORE)
Neptunus Lex: Ankle biter - A private citizen who jumps into the political scrum can leave a lot of himself out there when he does so. The things we endorse and the things we oppose can be very revealing. Envious lemon-biters with sociology pee-haitch-dees long used to carrying around an aggrieved quiver full of inflamed entitlements while stroking pet disappointments would be well advised to steer clear. People might see. But you can’t stop them, not all of them. Some of them are compelled to tell you why they will not vote for one or another political candidate. And in doing so, hugely diminish themselves. I give you Doctor Phillip Butler, PhD. Of Sociology. (READ MORE)
McQ: Obama, Big Oil and fun with charts - Since everyone has mostly been wrapped up in the Obama/Wright and Hillary/Bosnia things, we've missed a few actual issue oriented articles that have found their way into the news cycle. One that caught my attention was headlined " Obama Eyes Active Role in Oil Markets" by Jeff Mason of Reuters. And, since I'm a shill for "big oil" I figured I'd take a look and see what Mr. Obama had in mind about his role in "oil markets". Said Mason: “Democrat Barack Obama would take an active role in U.S. oil markets as president, tackling concerns about the dominance of large oil companies and eyeing the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a potential weapon to combat high prices, his top energy adviser said.” The first obvious headshaker is the bit about the SPR and using it to "combat high prices". A) that's not its purpose at all and B) using it and depleting it for that purpose makes us strategically vulnerable to a cut-off or major disruption in supply. "B", of course, is why the SPR exists. So, given just that, you've probably figured out I'm less than impressed with Obama's idea to this point. (READ MORE)
Right Wing Nut House: An Easy Liar - I never would have thought it possible to say but I believe now it is a powerfully good thing that our presidential nominating process is such a long, drawn out affair. How else were we ever going to confirm that Barack Obama is a most accomplished and shameless liar? Obama lies with an ease that bespeaks a comfortable familiarity with the practice. At first, when his lies about his friend Tony Rezko were revealed and then confirmed by the candidate himself, I thought to myself that every politician lies at some point and that Obama telling the press that he barely knew Rezko, that he was one of a thousand contributors, and that he only raised around $50,000 for his campaigns could be written off as a candidate simply blowing smoke about a problematic associate. (It turned out that Rezko was Obama’s most important fundraiser, a patron, and that he raised closer to $275,000 for the candidate.) (READ MORE)
John Hawkins: RNC Chairman Mike Duncan On Why Conservatives Who Want To Sit Out The Election In 2008 Are Making A Big Mistake - Yesterday, I had an opportunity to talk to RNC Chairman Mike Duncan and I asked him about an argument that has been made many times in the blogosphere, especially since John McCain became our nominee. That question and Mike Duncan's answer, which I thought was very good, follows: “Here's an argument that I don't agree with, but that I hear a lot: it goes something like this, ‘The GOP is doing a poor job of representing conservatives. So, what we need to do is deliberately lose in 2008 and then, after a few years of Hillary or Barack in charge, America will be sick of the Left, the GOP will be serious about conservative principles again, and the Party will come back stronger than ever and more representative of conservative views.’ Again, I don't agree with that, but I hear it a lot. What do you say to that?” (READ MORE)
This Ain't Hell: Albright: troops are the problem - From Gateway Pundit, a view of our war against terrorism from Madelaine Albright - who has never seen the war against terror; “‘…The American forces are both the solution and the problem,’ she said. ‘They are like fly paper that attracts everybody who hates us.’” No, you cow, the problem is that you did nothing in the Clinton Administration to stem terrorism. You ignored them when they bombed the World Trade Center in 1993, the Khobar Towers, the African embassies and the USS Cole. When Haitians ran off the US Navy from the pier with machetes. When there was no retaliation for dead Rangers and Delta operators in Mogadishu. Apparently she’s right about one thing - the troops are like flypaper that attract everyone who hates the US - domestic haters like Albright, too. (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped: Liberal Policies, Unintended Consequences, and the Revenge of the Repressed - Recently there was a fair amount of excitement in the Blogosphere surrounding David Mamet's Village Voice article, Why I Am No Longer a 'Brain-Dead Liberal'. Mamet's conversion occurred after a period of reflection when Mamet discovered that there was an insurmountable chasm between his personal experience of the world and his perception of the larger world viewed through the lens of his liberal ideology: “... I recognized that I held those two views of America (politics, government, corporations, the military). One was of a state where everything was magically wrong and must be immediately corrected at any cost; and the other—the world in which I actually functioned day to day—was made up of people, most of whom were reasonably trying to maximize their comfort by getting along with each other (in the workplace, the marketplace, the jury room, on the freeway, even at the school-board meeting).” (READ MORE)
Phyllis Chesler: The New York (Islamic) Times. How Propaganda Works to Ensure The Subordination of Women - How do we cut down on honor murders in the West? According to some people, you do whatever it takes to keep the girls from dishonoring their families so that their families do not have to honor-murder them. According to the New York Times, "home schooling" the girls in America, re-creating a feudal, rural, parallel universe in California in which girls and women are kept hidden and apart, is the sensible, merciful alternative to honor murders in The New World. At a time when Islamists are at full jihadic throttle, The New York Times features a mild and lovely--a truly non-judgmental article about the proliferation of home schooling among Muslim communities in America. (READ MORE)
Meryl Yourish: Terrorists just miss murdering babies - The worst-case scenario—the deaths of dozens of children—just missed becoming a reality today. “Three Qassam rockets were launched from northern Gaza towards Israel on Friday by noon, with one of the rockets narrowly missing a nursery in Kibbutz Nir Am. The rockets were fired several short hours after IDF soldiers killed a Hmas gunmen in an exchange of fire in southern Gaza. The nursery in question is intended for toddlers aged one and half to two. The nurse for the children’s homes, Orna Schwartz, told Ynet of the ordeal: ‘The children were in the yard when the rocket alarm sirens sounded. We rushed to bring them into the bomb shelter and then we heard a loud explosion.’” A near-miss is almost as good as a hit, though. (READ MORE)
Ron Winter: Move America Forward Demands Federal Investigation of Berkeley Council, Police Force in Marine Recruiter Harassment - The pro-troop organization Move America Forward is seeking a federal investigation of the Berkeley, California City Council's efforts to prevent US Marine Corps recruiters from doing their job in that city, and the refusal of the Berkeley police to stop or prevent attacks on pro-troop supporters at the recruiting station. Move America Forward, the nation's largest pro-troop organization, was involved in a peaceful demonstration in Berkeley on February 12 this year, to show support for US Marine recruiters, whose office is besieged daily by anarchists, pro-terrorists and communists who are attempting to shut it down, force it out of the city, and prevent recruits from entering. (READ MORE)
Warner Todd Huston: Sun-Times Blames City Taxpayers, Not City Government, for Chicago Budget Shortfall - The Chicago Sun-Times really pulled a whopper in their March 26th piece about a tax on bottled water that the Chicago City Council passed earlier this year. Chicago levied a 5 cent a bottle tax on each unit of bottled water sold in the city expecting to raise $875,000 a month on the tax. But somehow this windfall to the city has yet to be realized with the tax booty so far only amounting to $554,000. Because of this “below expected” revenue the Sun-Times claimed that this shortfall is “exacerbating a budget crunch” for the city. I’m sorry Sun-Times but a tax shortfall isn’t “exacerbating a budget crunch.” The city itself is doing the “exacerbating” not the taxpayers. The City Council created a never before heard of tax and then spent the money it assumed it’d get. But then it didn’t get it. How can we blame the taxpayers who avoided the tax — legally avoided it, I might add — for any “budget crunch”? (READ MORE)
Kim Zigfeld: The Democrats and their Old Nemesis, Democracy - You may recall, if you are an ardent political junkie, a furor that arose in the American loopy left just as the primary election cycle was getting serious involving the apportionment of electoral votes in California. They decried as a "dirty tricks campaign" a Republican initiative to apportion the nation's most-populous state's presidential electoral votes proportional to the popular vote -- in other words, it wouldn't be winner-take-all. Each candidate would get the same share of the state's electoral votes (it has the most of any state) as he or she had won of the state's popular vote. This would guarantee Republicans a chunk of the state's electoral votes even if they lost, and could have created a major obstacle to the Democrats winning the presidency. Naturally, the Democrats wailed to high heaven that it was unfair. (READ MORE)
The Sniper: No one is more professional than they are. NO ONE. - This morning I had the pleasure of attending the Graduation Ceremony of the Basic Noncommissioned Officer’s Course Stand Alone Common Core 103-08. Wow. What a class act. BNCOC is a two-phase course that trains soldiers the leadership traits and skill sets they will need to succeed. This class had six amazing individuals who graduated, four of whom were injured soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and two who were part of the cadre at WRAMC. (READ MORE)
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