I think this one from Dry Bones says it all.

After all, Obama's analogy only works if the following things were true in 1933.

• Jews controlled 97% of Europe while Germans controlled 3%.
  
• Jews were regularly murdering innocent German women and children in terror attacks.
  
• German policy was to avoid the killings of innocent Jewish civilians.
  
• Jewish acts of terror were blamed on German intransigence by the international community.
  
• Germany made repeated concessions to Jewish demands, while the Jews refused to live up to any agreement made with the Germans.
  

Of course, none of those conditions applied in Germany in 1933 -- but every single one of them has been the status quo for decades in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. So either Barack Obama is woefully ignorant of history, perniciously hateful of Jews, or simply finds it convenient to belittle the Holocaust by drawing an inapt moral equivalence between the innocent victims of the Holocaust and murderous aggressors in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Or perhaps all three.

Posted by: Greg at 12:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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That's the only way to look at this one.

When companies accepted government bailouts, they were forbidden to send executives on junkets to resorts for conferences. There was talk about responsible use of taxpayer money

Government agencies, even ones that are insolvent in an age when we are running the largest deficits in US history, can still spend loads of taxpayer cash for such trips, though.

A Social Security Administration motivational management conference held at a high-end Valley resort last week cost $700,000, the SSA told the ABC15 Investigators.

Costs for the conference at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa included airfare, hotel entertainment, dancers, motivational speakers, and food, an administration official said.

A spokesperson from the SSA's regional office said the conference was essential, that teleconferencing was not an option, and that all 675 managers needed to meet in person.

The SSA provided ABC15 with a list of courses provided at the conference, which included "Techniques to Empower You," "Mentoring the Generations," and "Emotional Intelligence."

But the information provided by the SSA did not mention an after-hours casino trip, family members staying at the hotel, or the 20-minute dance party ABC15 observed.

Just one more example of the Obama regime wanting to control you life while exempting government.

Posted by: Greg at 04:13 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Kay Bailey Hutchison is going all-out to make the 2010 gubernatorial primary a race. And her fundraising numbers certainly bear that out.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison had publicly vanished from the governor's race during the past several months, but burst back on the scene Monday with an announcement that she has $12.5 million for a campaign to knock Gov. Rick Perry out of office.

Hutchison said she will formally announce as a candidate next month. She described the $6.7 million she raised during the first half of this year as a record for a Texas politician.

“This is a huge victory,” Hutchison said.

Perry has announced that he raised $4.2 million in the final nine days of June and had $9.3 million in the bank.

Given the Texas Democrats' notoriously shallow bench, it is unlikely that any Democrat could even come close to either of these two Republicans. That means the GOP primary will be the election. Her's hoping that Texas Republicans make the correct choice by sending Rick Perry packing and nominating Kay to be our next governor.

Which, of course, will sets the stage for the election of Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams as our United States Senator.

Posted by: Greg at 04:11 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you hadn't been following the John Ensign story, this bit in Gail Collins' NY Times column would no doubt conjure up images of GOP senators and congressmen -- and a couple of pastors -- holding a massive Roman orgy.

But lately, the Ensign saga has become more and more fascinating. Every social conservative in Washington seems to have been involved.

Yeah, but HOW they were involved is the real key here.

They weren't sleeping with Ensign or his mistress.

They were urging their friend and colleague to break off the affair. They were encouraging him to reconcile with his wife. They were suggesting ways for him to mitigate the harm done to the family of his mistress and his own family. Indeed, it appears that they were trying to get him right with God.

In other words, they were acting like CHRISTIANS.

Remember -- one part of Christian teaching is that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Another is that we are all called to repent of our sins and strive to live a better life. And as I've read the revelations of the last couple of days, that's what I see members and spiritual advisers of a Christian group in Washington pushing Ensign towards -- repentance and reformation.

As more details come out about John Ensign, I am beginning to move towards a belief that he may need to resign. But that said, I'm rather proud of the decisions and actions of those who tried to get Ensign back on the straight and narrow path. After all, it is what they ought to have done consistent with their faith.

On the other hand, I'm rather ashamed of Gail Collins and her tawdry innuendo that appears designed to deceive rather than inform her readers.

Posted by: Greg at 12:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Let's see -- Arlen Specter is a Democrat who ran jumped ship to the GOP early in his career because it was the only way for him to get elected to public office. He recently jumped ship back to the Democrats (after decades as a Republican) when it became apparent that he was going to lose the GOP primary to someone who more closely represented the GOP platform. In other words, opportunistic party-switching is one of the defining characteristics of Specter's career.

So of course, having just switched to the Democrat Party this year so he can run for office as a Democrat, he is now accusing his opponent of having become a Democrat in 2006 just so he could run for office as a Democrat!

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter called his fellow Democrat, Rep. Joe Sestak, a "flagrant hypocrite" and accused his rival of registering as a Democrat "just in time to run for Congress."

Sestak has said that he will challenge Specter, who has the backing of President Obama and party leaders, for the Democratic Senate nomination next year. Specter, a longtime Republican, switched his party registration to Democrat this year.

On Thursday, Specter's campaign sought to bring into question Sestak's roots to the Democratic Party. Specter's campaign sent out a list of Sestak's voting history in Delaware County, which the senator's campaign said showed that Sestak registered as an Independent in 1971, didn't vote in any primary elections from 1971-2005 and that he officially registered as a Democrat in February of 2006. Sestak was elected as a Democrat to the House in 2006.

Sestak's response? That as a military officer he remained a registered independent because he believes that military officers should not be a member of any political party. Having grown up on military bases as the son of a military officer, I've a number of officers who took precisely that position and acted upon it. It is a position I find principled and admirable, even if I would argue that voting in a primary does not undermine the non-artisan nature of the military. I'm therefore not offended at all by Sestak's voter registration history.

I am, on the other hand, quite offended by Specter's hypocrisy in accusing ANYONE of manipulating party registration just to find a convenient banner under which to seek office.

Posted by: Greg at 04:13 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You know, by stories about Sanford and Ensign and their affairs, speculation about Sarah Palin's resignation, and the Michael Jackson saga -- here's what the news media HASN'T been telling you about the conduct of the Democrat majority in Washington.

** Rep. John Conyers' (D-MI) wife Monica was convicted on bribery charges. An associate also implicated Rep. Conyers and Senator Stabenow (D-MI) in the crimes. The state-run media hasn't touched this.

** The jury in Rep. Jefferson's (D-LA)criminal case saw tape this week of him accepting bribes and were handed photos of his frozen cold cash this week.

** Mr. John Harris pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud this week. He pledged to cooporate with prosecutors in the investigation of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) in exchange for the lenient sentence.

** Criminal accusations against Senator Dodd (D-Conn.)continue. Dodd has not been straightforward about the value of his 10-acre waterfront home in Ireland. Since 2002 he listed the value of the home at $250,000. In February his office changed that to $127,000. In March, Dodd told The Hartford Current he paid $177,000 for the home. In May he told Newsweek he paid $207,000. Acording to the senator's most recent financial disclosure form, the cottage is actually worth $658,000.

** Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) has come under scrutiny as more defense contractors associated with him are being investigated. This time the names include Mountaintop Technologies which received $10 million in earmarks and Kuchera Industries which got $9 million in earmarks in 2008. The Pennsylvania representative allegedly used his seniority and position on the U.S. House Appropriations committee to secure the earmarks that he passed on to companies with whom he had relationships. Donations from executives of Mountaintop to Murtha's campaigns amounted to $40,200 while employees of Kuchera kicked in $89,000.

** Several members of the Congressional Black Caucus (Dems) are under investigation for taking an illegal trip to Cuba where these members sucked up to Fidel Castro.

** The House ethics committee opened an inquiry into whether Caribbean trips taken by Representative Charles Rangel violated House gift rules.

** Sen. Inouye (D-Hawaii) acts on behalf of a constituent, who turns out to be in large part himself (a troubled bank in which his ownership share makes up ‘the bulk of his personal wealth’), via Instapundit. The media is silent.

** The House so far has ignored Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. of Illinois over his reported effort to persuade ousted Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to appoint him to fill President Obama's former Senate seat.

** And, there's also Speaker Pelosi who lied about her knowlege of waterboarding and then charged the CIA with lying.

Of course, why would you want to know about those things -- after all, Democrats brought Hope'N'Change to America, and anything that interferes with implementing the agenda of Barack Obama is unpatriotic, so we just have to let Democrat corruption slide.

Posted by: Greg at 03:29 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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And why are we paying this much money for her staff?

The salaries for staffers in the Office of First Lady are also on the newest list. The highest paid is Chief of Staff Susan Sher, who gets the top $172,200. Here are the rest:

$140,000
Frye, Jocelyn C. (DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$113,000
Rogers, Desiree G. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND WHITE HOUSE SOCIAL SECRETARY)

$102,000
Johnston, Camille Y. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS FOR THE FIRST LADY)
Winter, Melissa E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT AND DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

$90,000
Medina, David S. (DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

$84,000
Lelyveld, Catherine M. (DIRECTOR AND PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)

$75,000
Starkey, Frances M. (DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND ADVANCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$70,000
Sanders, Trooper (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND PROJECTS FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$65,000
Burnough, Erinn J. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)
Reinstein, Joseph B. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY SOCIAL SECRETARY)

$62,000
Goodman, Jennifer R. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF SCHEDULING AND EVENTS COORDINATOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)

$60,000
Fitts, Alan O. (DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF ADVANCE AND TRIP DIRECTOR FOR THE FIRST LADY)
Lewis, Dana M. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT AND PERSONAL AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)

$52,500
Mustaphi, Semonti M. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AND DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY TO THE FIRST LADY)

$50,000
Jarvis, Kristen E. (SPECIAL ASSISTANT FOR SCHEDULING AND TRAVELING AIDE TO THE FIRST LADY)

$45,000
Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)
Tubman, Samantha (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR,SOCIAL OFFICE)

$40,000
Boswell, Joseph J. (EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CHIEF OF STAFF TO THE FIRST LADY)

$36,000
Armbruster, Sally M. (STAFF ASSISTANT TO THE SOCIAL SECRETARY)
Bookey, Natalie (STAFF ASSISTANT)
Jackson, Deilia A. (DEPUTY ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF CORRESPONDENCE FOR THE FIRST LADY)

Now I realize that the total expenditure of $1.6 million is a drop in the bucket as far as Barack Obama's trillion dollar deficits are concerned, but for an unelected spouse of an elected official to have such a taxpayer-supported staff reeks of royalty. And yes, I know that Mrs. Obama is not the first to have such a staff, but that makes it no more acceptable.

Of course, the Obama Regime refuses to tell us how much we taxpayers are spending to take Michelle and the kids on vacation trips and date nights (heck, even on ice cream runs -- personal rather than official travel) despite promises of openness and transparency, so I suppose we should be thankful for even being permitted this much insight into the excess expenditures of government.

Posted by: Greg at 09:53 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post points out this inconvenient truth about the need to "fatten the beast" in the Era of Hope'N'Change.

You cannot run a progressive government of the kind Obama favors by collecting only 18 percent of the gross domestic product in taxes, which has been the norm over the past 40 years. Nor can you increase the tax take to 24.5 percent of GDP -- which is what Obama proposes to be spending in 2019 -- simply by making the rich pay more.

And if you can't limit those tax increases to the super-rich making over $250,000. . . $200,000. . . $100,000 a year, then taxes are going to need to be raised somewhere. The only place left, of course, is the middle class -- you know, those of us making over $40,000 a year. The people who Obama swore would not see their taxes increased to pay for his programs.

Is this the Change you've been Hoping for?

More At Hot Air

Posted by: Greg at 02:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Like everyone else, I'm still stunned by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's surprise resignation announcement yesterday.

Not because I'm a saddened supporter -- I'm not. I think she was a good pick for VP, and a potential star for the future, but I don't think she is what the GOP needs right now. Rather, because the entire thing is so unexpected and inexplicable.

And as I began, like others (some of which appeared to be nothing more than a liberal echo chamber-- ), musing upon the possible reasons for this resignation, I was left quite confused. Is Palin doomed, I wondered?

Until I realized a possible reason for the resignation that requires looking beyond the immediate political landscape.

Sarah Palin is NOT running for President in 2012. She is going to run for Senator in 2010 -- and bide her time in that office until 2016 or 2020.

Think about it for a minute. Alaska's current GOP senator is not terribly popular in Alaska, and Sarah Palin could easily beat her in a primary -- and is popular enough in Alaska to win the general election handily. But to run as a sitting governor would be difficult for her -- first because she would be taking on an incumbent of her own party, and second because of the string of frivolous ethics complaints filed against her by her political enemies. But out of office, she is not taking time away from her job as governor and she can't be accused of using state resources to advance her candidacy.

Now secure in the US Senate for six years, the following become possible.

1. Palin develops a national record in Washington -- and racks up lots of political IOUs -- campaigning for the 2012 GOP ticket and assorted candidates around the country in 2012.
   
2. In the event that the GOP ticket loses in 2012, she is positioned as a successful Governor and Senator in 2016, when she would be the front-runner for the GOP nomination in a year when the GOP is quite likely to win the presidency after 8 years of Obama.
   
3. In the event the GOP ticket wins in 2012, Palin is a likely Cabinet pick -- perhaps Secretary of Energy, due to her experience with the field in Alaska. She then bides her time until 2020 -- when she will still be in her mid-50s and have a formidable resume among her GOP rivals.
   

Remember -- it took Ronald Reagan 12 years from the time he first looked at the presidency (196 to the time he won in 1980. Palin has a book deal, and she can fire up a crowd with her speeches -- and doesn't need a teleprompter, unlike a certain politician I could name.

My biggest hope, though, is that Mark Steyn is wrong about what Palin's move yesterday means -- namely, the definitive end of the age when an ordinary American can aspire to rise to the upper ranks of America's leadership because of the nature of contemporary politics and its impact upon the lives of those who "play the game".

National office will dwindle down to the unhealthily singleminded (Clinton, Obama), the timeserving emirs of Incumbistan (Biden, McCain) and dynastic heirs (Bush). Our loss.

This Independence Day, I hope America is better than that, and that we have not entered a day of elite government by narcissists, careerists, and dynasts -- for if we have, then yesterday's announcement signaled the death of the principles of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, which would mean that it was effectively the obituary of our nation.

I'll open the comments on this one.

Posted by: Greg at 03:20 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Whether you agree with Richard Cohen on the topic of today's column (I do, but not necessarily for the reasons he gives), you have to agree with this observation on the nature of Obama.

Barack Obama is pretty much a perfect package -- smart, articulate, handsome, charming. The only thing he lacks is a bottom line: What, precisely, does he find unacceptable? It's hard to know. His political career has been so brief we don't yet know where he makes his stand -- this far and no further.

A pity that Cohen and the rest of the media didn't offer this observation during the 2008 campaign. It might just have alerted the American public to the fact that they were being asked to buy a pig in a poke. Instead, it was left to those of us on the GOP side of the aisle to offer such observations -- which were then immediately dismissed as partisan at best and racist at worst.

Unfortunately for America, we still are not quite sure what Obama's principles rally are and where he will make a stand for them -- an intolerable place for a nation like the United States to find itself.

Posted by: Greg at 02:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A major national organization has invited the president to speak. This organization was a major supporter during the presidential campaign. Look how they got jerked around.

The NAACP invites the president to speak to the group July 16, the last day of its six-day convention at the Hilton in New York.

The White House's response: Absolutely, he's coming.

Then the Secret Service comes and says, "No," the Hilton is not suitable.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says, "Why don't I give you Yankee Stadium?" It would be the president's biggest event since his inauguration.

A couple of days later comes the answer from someone in Obama's operation: We don't want to project that kind of image. We want something bigger than the Hilton, but not as big as Yankee Stadium.

The NAACP people have to bust their ass to come up with another place - and they do, finally, finding an armory in Harlem. There's no air conditioning, however, and we are talking New York in July here. The governor steps in and says he'll provide temporary air conditioning.

The White House then says, "OK, but we want to change the time - 2 p.m. for the president's speech is not acceptable anymore. We want 5 o'clock."

Unfortunately, the new White House demand conflicts with the black-tie dinner that the NAACP holds on the last day of the convention and would create a logistical nightmare.. Their message to the White House -- the speech is at 2:00, we hope he shows.

And to imagine that this is how the Obama Regime treats the president's supporters -- what do the rest of us have to expect?

Posted by: Greg at 05:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Just so you know -- Barack Obama is going to make sure that he and his family get the best of health care, even if you won't be allowed to do so.

President Obama struggled to explain today whether his health care reform proposals would force normal Americans to make sacrifices that wealthier, more powerful people — like the president himself — wouldn’t face.
Obama on how to drive down health care costs while providing adequate coverage.

The probing questions came from two skeptical neurologists during ABC News’ special on health care reform, “Questions for the President: Prescription for America,” anchored from the White House by Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson.

Dr. Orrin Devinsky, a neurologist and researcher at the New York University Langone Medical Center, said that elites often propose health care solutions that limit options for the general public, secure in the knowledge that if they or their loves ones get sick, they will be able to afford the best care available, even if itÂ’s not provided by insurance.

Devinsky asked the president pointedly if he would be willing to promise that he wouldnÂ’t seek such extraordinary help for his wife or daughters if they became sick and the public plan heÂ’s proposing limited the tests or treatment they can get.

The president refused to make such a pledge, though he allowed that if “it’s my family member, if it’s my wife, if it’s my children, if it’s my grandmother, I always want them to get the very best care.

On the other hand, YOU spouse, your kids, and your grandparents may not get that care under ObamaCare. So we'll still have the inequities in the health care system -- and a multi-trillion dollar bill to go with them.

Let's just call him what he is -- an elitist bastard who is more than willing to be generous with other people's money, while refusing to make the same sacrifices he demands of the rest of us. Seems to me this is a much more serious hypocrisy than any committed by Mark Sanford.

Posted by: Greg at 02:39 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Rarely have I come across so devastating a comment about a obsessive Trig Trutherism.

Rarely in human history has a gay man been that obsessed with a married womanÂ’s vagina.

Just a part of a great analysis of the fickle pundit by The New Ledger's Christopher Badeaux. It is certainly a must read.

Posted by: Greg at 02:47 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Democracy riots in Iran. Nuke-laden cargo ships in North Korea. War on Terror.

So what does Barry Hussein do? He stages a photo-op with the girls!

All of which leads me to offer a little hint of things to come.

Great Obama Quotes From History:

"It’s 3 a.m. The phone just rang. Michelle — do you know where the nearest 24-hour Dairy Queen is?'

"Hillary — could you pick up a couple of Peanut Buster Parfaits on your way over from Foggy Bottom? Kim Jong-il just launched a couple of nukes at Hawaii."

"Comrade Fidel, I can’t accept those Cuban cigars — Michelle doesn’t let me smoke anymore. Could you bring some Cuban frozen custard instead?"

"General, I'll let you know my decision on an appropriate military response once I finish my Blizzard."

Comments Open -- Add your own quotes -- Play nice

Posted by: Greg at 03:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Besides trillions on an insurance plan that still won't cover 2/3 of uninsured Americans, there is another detail in the ObamaCare plan sponsored by Senator Teddy the Hutt (D-Dead mistress in his sunken Oldsmobile) that should lead every American to oppose it.

This legislation -- the Affordable Health Choices Act that's being drafted by Sen. Edward Kennedy's staff and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee -- will push Americans into stingy insurance plans with tight, HMO-style controls. It specifically exempts members of Congress (along with federal employees; the exemptions are in section 3116).

I call BULLSHIT! If this mandatory system isn't good enough for our elected representatives and the federal employees who subsist on our tax dollars, then it isn't good enough for the rest of the American people. Either require that all federal elected officials, their appointees, and other federal employees be subject to ObamaCare BEFORE the rest of the American public to show the effectiveness and efficiency of the new plan -- thereby boosting public confidence in it -- or don't pass it at all. After all, WE, THE PEOPLE are the sovereigns in this country, and those who are our servants should not get better than we do using our tax dollars while we are denied the same choices they have.

H/T Bookworm Room

Posted by: Greg at 04:14 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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You know, now that it is the state of his birth rather than the state that Sarah Palin governs that is in the line of fire.

North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.

The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers), would be launched from North Korea's Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast, said the Yomiuri daily, Japan's top-selling newspaper. It cited an analysis by the Japanese Defense Ministry and intelligence gathered by U.S. reconnaissance satellites.

The missile launch could come between July 4 and 8, the paper said.

While the newspaper speculated the Taepodong-2 could fly over Japan and toward Hawaii, it said the missile would not be able to hit Hawaii's main islands, which are about 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) from the Korean peninsula.

Now the missile's range is 500 miles short of reaching Hawaii -- but it isn't a stretch to see that this is part of a strategy of extending the NorK's ballistic missile range so that it could take out a large chunk of the US Pacific fleet. Will we maybe see some missile defense money allocated that way -- and perhaps a restoration of those funds for missile defense in Alaska that would protect much of the rest of the US mainland?

Posted by: Greg at 04:23 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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More HopeNChange that looks an awful lot like what went before.

In a disturbing article in The Times on Wednesday, James Risen and Eric Lichtblau said that Congressional investigations suggest that the National Security Agency continues to routinely collect Americans’ telephone calls and e-mail messages — perhaps by the millions.

These sweeps seem unconnected to specific terrorism investigations, and the communications are entirely domestic. The law does not allow fishing trips through Americans’ communications and only permits the government to read e-mails or listen to phone calls in which one party is “reasonably believed” to be outside the United States.

During the Bush years, we heard the Left claim that this violated the Constitution.

We heard repeated calls for impeachment from the Left.

And a Democrat back-bencher named Barack Obama said that such things must end.

Well, he's had the power to end such spying for months -- and hasn't.

So where are the calls for impeachment from those who demanded that sanction against George W. Bush?

Posted by: Greg at 02:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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With an executive order giving benefits to the unmarried same-sex partners of Federal employees -- but not to similarly situated opposite-sex partners.

President Barack Obama, whose gay and lesbian supporters have grown frustrated with his slow movement on their priorities, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees, a White House official said.

Obama planned to announce his decision Wednesday in the Oval Office, the official said. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because Obama had not signed a presidential memorandum putting his plan into place.

The decision is a political nod to a reliably Democratic voting bloc that has become impatient with the White House in recent weeks.

Fairness? Equality? No, just a payoff to another Democrat voting bloc -- and one that he has broken every single promise to in his time in office -- even though it means violating the clear intent of the federal DOMA to accomplish it.

Posted by: Greg at 03:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Remember -- this is a corrupt Democrat who was embraced by his party after his crimes were exposed.

Opening statements are scheduled in the trial of a former Louisiana congressman charged with bribery after federal agents found $90,000 in cash in his freezer.

The case is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. Tuesday in federal court in Alexandria, Va.

William Jefferson is accused of soliciting bribes, racketeering, money laundering and other crimes. Jefferson represented parts of New Orleans until losing re-election last year.

Prosecutors say he received more than $500,000 and sought millions more for using his influence to broker business deals in Africa.

Don't expect wall-to-wall coverage of this trial. After all, Jefferson is a Democrat, and we all know that they are as pure as the driven snow.

UPDATE: NewsBusters notes that nowhere does the article ever identify Jefferson as a Democrat. Isn't that an important bit of information?

Posted by: Greg at 02:09 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Now IÂ’ve got no use for idiots like Hal Turner, even when such folks are right on a particular issue. And while he is correct in opposing Connecticut efforts to force the Catholic Church to register as a lobbying organization for daring to oppose legislation that would have directly interfered with the authority of Catholic bishops over Catholic parishes. Such a move is clearly unconstitutional, and Turner is right to join with advocates of religious freedom and church-state separation in opposing both efforts. But he certainly strayed over the line with a part of his opposition, and it is appropriate for the state to act against him in this instance.

Internet radio host Hal Turner — accused of inciting Catholics to "take up arms" and singling out two Connecticut lawmakers and a state ethics official on a website — was taken into custody in New Jersey late Wednesday after state Capitol police in Connecticut obtained a warrant for his arrest.

Turner, who has been identified as a white supremacist and anti-Semite by several anti-racism groups, hosts an Internet radio program with an associated blog. On Tuesday, the blog included a post that promised to release the home addresses of state Rep. Michael Lawlor, state Sen. Andrew McDonald and Thomas Jones of the State Ethics Office.

"Mr. Turner's comments are above and beyond the threshold of free speech," Capitol Police Chief Michael J. Fallon said in an e-mail announcing the warrant. "He is inciting others through his website to commit acts of violence and has created fear and alarm. He should be held accountable for his conduct."

What, exactly, did he say to cross that line? He wrote the following “commentary” on the issue.

While filing a lawsuit is quaint and the "decent" way to handle things, we at TRN believe that being decent to a group of tyrannical scumbags is the wrong approach. It's too soft.

Thankfully, the Founding Fathers gave us the tools necessary to resolve tyranny: The Second Amendment.

TRN advocates Catholics in Connecticut take up arms and put down this tyranny by force. To that end, THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT ON "THE HAL TURNER SHOW" we will be releasing the home addresses of the Senator and Assemblyman who introduced Bill 1098 as well as the home address of Thomas K. Jones from the OSE.

After all, if they are so proud of what they're doing, they shouldn't mind if everyone knows where they live.

It is our intent to foment direct action against these individuals personally. These beastly government officials should be made an example of as a warning to others in government: Obey the Constitution or die.

If any state attorney, police department or court thinks they're going to get uppity with us about this; I suspect we have enough bullets to put them down too.

The state pushed; it is about to get pushed back. Elected and other government officials sometimes need to be put in their place. They serve; they do not rule. They need to learn their place or be put there by force.

Now I’ll be honest – I don’t object to the disclosure of the home addresses of public officials – they are usually matters of public record, anyway. And while I regularly point out that the Second Amendment is in the Constitution to allow Americans to defend our rights against overreaching government, I make a point of NOT suggesting that any particular individual be made an example of when I do so. Recognizing the purpose of the amendment is one thing; suggesting that it be applied against particular individuals is something else entirely and constitutes a threat of violence. Hal Turner clearly went a bridge too far – and I fully support his prosecution.

Posted by: Greg at 10:03 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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The headline is as follows.

Why, oh why, did they have to use this picture with the article? After all, it does look like he is doing the Viagra shuffle so he can play “hide the canolli” with his companion.

Of course, the real article is much less entertaining – just another Biden backtrack from a Biden gaffe.

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The Left is in an uproar that Manuel Miranda is one of those on the Right leading the charge against Sonia SotomayorÂ’s SCOTUS nomination. They have resurrected the scandal that cost him his old job as a Senate staffer.

ThereÂ’s a bit more to Manuel Miranda than that, however. Miranda, as longtime Congressional insiders will recall, was the GOP Senate staffer who was nailed in 2004 for hacking into the computers of Senate Dems and downloading thousands of documents relating to the strategies of Dem Senators on judicial nominations.

Miranda’s scheme — widely referred to as “Memogate” — was a big deal. A Senate probe found that many of the swiped files had been systematically downloaded “from folders belonging to Democratic staff,” with some leaked to friendly reporters. Miranda resigned, and a Washington Post editorial denounced his “political spying operation” that indicated “how low the nominations process has sunk.”

Now let’s be honest here – what Miranda did in this case was not hacking. Files were left on a publicly accessible server open to all staffers on the committee, and he accessed them. While one can certainly question the ethics of those actions (and I’d argue they were a mighty dark gray, ethically speaking), let’s not forget what information he uncovered – information that the Obama knee-pad brigade in the media are loathe to bring up – including evidence that the Democrats sought to keep Miguel Estrada from being confirmed as a judge because he was Hispanic. In other words, a Hispanic whistleblower who disclosed actual racism deployed against a well-qualified Hispanic judicial nominee is being attacked by the Left for having acted to disclose that unAmerican activity on the part of racist Senate Democrats

Comments Open -- Play Nice

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After all, the right to petition the government is a fundamental one under the First Amendment. When you publish names and addresses of individuals who do so and encourage “uncomfortable talks” (read that harassment), then you are engaged in a conspiracy to violate the civil rights of those petitioners.

A group called WhoSigned.org says it will publicize the names of people signing petitions for Referendum 71, which seeks a public vote to overturn a new expansion of Washington's same-sex partnerships.

WhoSigned.org says it's partnering with the gay rights group KnowThyNeighbor.org to put the names online.

In a statement Monday, WhoSigned.org says it expects people who see the names online to contact the signers for what may be uncomfortable talks about gay rights.

This is rather reminiscent of the actions of Kluxers and other racists who opposed the exercise of constitutional rights by blacks and their supporters. What next – bombings and arson against petition signers if harsh words, intimidation, and economic coercion don’t work?

I’d encourage folks in Washington state (including my parents) to remember that the purpose of the Second Amendment is to protect one’s ability to exercise one’s other rights. Whoever decides to initiate those “uncomfortable talks” ought to be prepared to be ventilated by those who refuse to be intimidated.

H/T Malkin, GayPatriot

Comments Open -- Play Nice

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That in a nation in which the President of the United States has a long personal and professional relationship with a domestic terrorist, his minions have crawled out of the woodwork to accuse everyone who shares Scott RoederÂ’s opposition to abortion as somehow complicit in the murder of George Tiller.

Take this crap as an example.

By mid-afternoon, authorities reportedly had someone in custody in connection with the murder of Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller at his church on Sunday morning.

So far, we know very little about the suspect, other than that he's a man in his 50s and was driving a blue Ford when they stopped him outside Gardner.

However, the motive for the crime we can all surmise in light of the vitriolic campaign that has been waged against Tiller for more than two decades by anti-abortion groups.

And if we're right about that, then we already know the identities of his accomplices.

They include every one who has ever called Tiller's late term abortion clinic a murder mill.

Who ever called Tiller "Tiller the Killer."

The groups who spent decades fomenting hate toward a man who simply believed that he was serving a purpose by being one of the few doctors in the country performing late-term abortions.

Hate. Not heated opposition. Not strong disagreement.

But blind hatred.

Blind hatred? Hardly. Rather, those of us who have expressed our contempt for Tiller and the work he has performed in his human slaughterhouse have dared to speak truth to power by labeling Tiller’s “purpose” as what it what it was – the killing of our fellow human beings. We have done so because we see clearly and refuse to obscure the truth by cloaking his deeds with pretty words. To label one whose daily work was the killing of the most vulnerable among us as “Tiller the Killer” is not only not hatred or incitement or complicity – it is truth in advertising. I will not apologize for speaking and writing what is the indisputable truth – and daring to write and speak that truth does not make me culpable in Tiller’s murder, which I have unequivocally condemned.

As for the individual who killed George Tiller, I condemn his actions every bit as much as I condemned (and still condemn) George Tiller’s misdeeds. Scott Roeder is no hero, and is every bit as warped a human being as his victim was. Vigilante justice is not the answer to the evil that is abortion – and those who, like Roeder, resort to it are certainly every bit the enemy of the pro-life movement as those of Tiller’s ilk. Indeed, I’d have to go further and argue that they are even greater enemies of the innocents who are killed daily in the slaughterhouses operated by the nation’s abortionists than are the abortionists themselves.

Which is why I am shocked and disgusted to read the information in this article.

Those who know Roeder said he believed that killing abortion doctors was an act of justifiable homicide.

"I know that he believed in justifiable homicide," said Regina Dinwiddie, a Kansas City anti-abortion activist who made headlines in 1995 when she was ordered by a federal judge to stop using a bullhorn within 500 feet of any abortion clinic. "I know he very strongly believed that abortion was murder and that you ought to defend the little ones, both born and unborn."

Given other activities detailed in the article, it seems to me that folks who did know Roeder ought to have been calling the police about him on a regular basis – and given his past conviction for bomb-making as a part of the Freeman movement, his activities would have likely caused him to be arrested and taken off the streets. I’m also shocked to hear of the magazine Prayer and Action News – despite nearly a quarter century of involvement in various aspects of the pro-life movement, I’ve never heard of this publication, but now that I’ve heard of it, I unequivocally condemn the publication and those behind it. The entire notion that killing abortionists is justifiable homicide is an obscenity.

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Commenting on a recent NYTimes article, Merv from PrairiePundit neatly encapsulates the definition of an oft-used political term.

Wedge issue--one where Democrats don't have good talking points

That certainly beats the definition -- quite convoluted -- at Wikipedia. And it does neatly summarize how the term is used in political analysis today -- an issue which is illegitimate to raise in a campaign due to the fact that it favors the GOP because the people support it and the Democrat leadership opposes it.

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The silence is deafening, as John Hawkins points out at RWN.

(moonbat on) If Barack Obama had ever served in the military, maybe he wouldn't be so callous about sending American troops to their deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq. How many funerals of the men he has sent to their deaths has Barack Obama attended? Guess he's too busy stealing the Iraqis oil and trying to start a war with Pakistan. Oh, and why hasn't he caught Osama Bin Laden yet? Maybe he's too busy giving speeches to his adoring fans in the media, who never challenge him on anything he does in foreign policy.

And it just gets better and better. That's why John is one of the best and brightest we have in the blogosphere today.

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It is time for serious consideration of impeachment.

In a move aimed at healing the rifts of American foreign policy decisions, President Obama will make a trip to Europe next month, including a trip to Dresden, Germany. The trip will consist of several stops and the President will meet with the President of France and the Chancellor of Germany. Also slated are several policy speeches.

Perhaps the most controversial is a planned speech in which President Obama will formally apologize for American 'war crimes' during the Second World War. This would be particularly comforting to Europeans, who have long condemned American foreign policy actions, especially regarding civilians.

This speech will also be welcome in Germany, who had over 12,000,000 of its citizens killed during the war. Mayor Johann Krupp of Augensburg in Saxony stated to DW that the speech will "help my great-uncle's soul rest. He burned to death during the Dresden bombings."

Oh.

My.

God!

Not only were the policies pursued in winning WWII correct, the entire subsequent development of the notion of a kinder, gentler form of warfare has been a moral cul-de-sac that requires the US to endanger its own troops while encouraging the enemy to hide behind and among civilians – while doing nothing to materially increase the security of the United States. And what’s more, those who think that the US somehow owes an apology to – of all nations – GERMANY over our actions during the Second World War neglects to consider that the United States spent incredible amounts of money to rebuild our vanquished foe AND provided American troops as the bulk of Germany’s defense for the next few decades as the Russian Bear stood ready to gobble up the western half of that nation during the Cold War.

And as for you, Mayor Krupp, I’d lay odds that your great-uncle was a fervent supporter of the Nazi regime and its policies – in which case I’m sure his soul is suffering the same sort of fiery torment that his body did as we liberated your nation from itself.

Speaking as an American, I can only label this latest course of action by the Ob-amateurs in the White House to be a disgrace of historical proportions. Indeed, it makes me wish we had a parliamentary system so that We the People could vote him out of office immediately for his attempt to draw a moral equivalence between the Allies and the Axis powers.

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After all, a man with good judgment would never have picked this inept imbecile to stand a heartbeat away from the presidency.

President Obama is so "distracted by his vice president's indiscipline" that he has been forced to rebuke privately Vice President Joe Biden, according to a new book by Newsweek journalist Richard Wolffe, who interviewed Obama a dozen times.

"He can't keep his mouth shut," Wolffe quotes a "senior Obama aide" as saying of the gaffe-prone Biden in "Renegade: The Making of a President," set for release June 2.

As evidence, Wolffe reports that during the presidential transition period, Biden insulted Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama's closest friends and confidantes. Jarrett had been considered Obama's top choice to fill his vacated Senate seat in Illinois, but took herself out of the running just hours after Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich allegedly told a wiretapped conference call he would not heed any Obama recommendation without a payoff.

"Soon after Jarrett pulled out of consideration for the Senate seat, the senior transition team met to discuss Cabinet picks," Wolffe writes.

"Biden tried to compliment Jarrett after one contribution. 'You should be in the Senate,' he quipped. After the meeting, as everyone returned to their offices, Obama stopped Biden to warn him not to say anything like that again. 'It's not funny,' he told him."

And God only knows that Joe Biden has made Dan Quayle look like a rocket scientist. What possessed Obama to pick the moron for the Vice Presidency s beyond ..

I just wonder – has the jockeying for the number 2 slot in 2012 already begun?

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This time my hero so neatly encapsulates the reason that the John Edwards scandal was not nearly so hot in press as the Mark Foley and Larry Craig scandals were.

After Obama had been nominated and Edwards was history, a few press grandees conceded that yes, maybe there was a legitimate story there, but such a sordid tale was never going to tickle the fancy of their refined sensibilities. Oddly enough, this consideration never seems to come into play with, say, Mark Foley, the Florida Republican hounded from public life after some overly tender emails to one of the more fetching Congressional pages, or Larry Craig, the Republican senator caught playing some ill-advised footsie with an undercover cop in the Minneapolis airport men’s room. Admittedly, these sex scandals are less “sordid” than Senator Edwards’: for one thing, there’s no sex in them—just some unrequited cyber-billets- doux in Foley’s case, and a bit of club-footed George Michael stall-divider semaphore in Larry Craig’s. British Tories at least have the consolation of the career-detonating sex scandal; Republicans have to make do with the career-detonating no-sex scandal.

Remember. Mark Foley wrote some weird emails to a teenager. Larry Craig may or may not have sought companionship in an airport bathroom. John Edwards trotted out his dying wife as a campaign prop at the same time he was boffing a pretty skuzzy campaign contractor and funneling campaign cash into her bank account to pay for their child.

Put differently, Foley acted creepy and Craig stupid as they inched across some moral boundaries. Edwards, on the other hand, blew across any number of moral, ethical, and legal lines like a turbocharged rocket sled. Somehow, though, the media was only interested in getting the Republicans while giving the Democrat a free pass. But maybe it wasn’t the politics, as Steyn suggests, but instead the fact that the Foley and Craig scandals were PG-12 and the Edwards scandal was NC-17 – and the latter certainly wasn’t fit for a family newspaper.

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Barack Obama speaks the truth – but somehow I don’t think he means this statement in the sense that it is actually true.

President Barack Obama plans to say in his speech Thursday that the U.S. lost its way in fighting terrorism over the last eight years by failing to trust its institutions and values, according to an administration official.

How do I think this statement is true? Simply put, too many people abandoned trust in government and the values of patriotism during a time when we were at war yet kept safe by our leaders and our military. Because the president and his senior aides concentrated on keeping America safe, those who don’t really believe in American values and institutions were able to use those values and institutions to undermine the war effort by claiming that success constituted proof there was no real threat to America – and that world opinion should matter more than American safety. The result? America became so lost and confused that we elected the most anti-American Congress in my lifetime and the most under-qualified president in our nation’s history on a platform that consisted mainly of a call to undo the policies that have kept our nation safe since 9/11.

That is, of course, what I’d like Dick Cheney to have said in his reply to Barack Obama – along with announcing his candidacy for president in 2012. But I’ll settle for accepting that Obama is right -- America is truly lost since he was elected.

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But then again, some folks are simply pathetic losers. Russ Feingold proves he is one of them.

Republicans are trying to pass legislation in the next few weeks to kick off the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of Ronald ReaganÂ’s birth, and the only hurdle appears to be Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), who is refusing to let the Senate vote on the bill.

Seems that Feingold has a somewhat more controversial resolution creating panels to study the treatment of German and Italian Americans and Jewish refugees during World War II. That he wants passed. Knowing his proposal canÂ’t stand alone, heÂ’d prefer to insult the memory of an American president by delaying the proper commemoration of his birth.

Why, I wonder, doesnÂ’t Feingold seek to attach his resolution to the appropriation for maintaining some historical site connected to FDR, who implemented the policies that the Senator wants studied? Seems like that would be more appropriate.

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As a child he was a hero to me.

As an adult he has become an object of scorn.

But regardless, Teddy Kennedy is a human being, and I join with his friends and family in rejoicing at this news.

Sen. Edward KennedyÂ’s brain cancer is in remission, and the Massachusetts Democrat is expected back in the Senate after the Memorial Day recess, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

As much as I would love to see him out of the Senate, IÂ’d rather that neither death nor ill health were the vehicles by which that happened. May the remission be complete and extended.

UPDATE: Harry Reid is an idiot -- the story is apparently baseless. Heartbreaking, and needlessly cruel. So my prayers continue for a miracle to touch Senator Kennedy's life.

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And have no doubt – that is precisely what he is seeking. After all, if you are going to make the decision to prosecute for the reasons given by Lanny Davis, then there is no other way to view the matter than as a political show trial.

I have changed my mind about the need to indict former Vice President Dick Cheney for complicity in illegal torture.

His insistence on putting himself on multiple TV programs and conservative radio talk shows, not only defending torture but offering the defense that it worked, has changed my mind. Not only that - he went on to attack Mr. Obama as weakening the United States in the war on terrorism because Mr. Obama immediately announced that torture would no longer be allowed.

Dem's fighting words. They are also, in my view, reckless and irresponsible. They seem to be laying down a marker that in case, God forbid, there is a terrorist attack, Mr. Cheney can be the first to blame it on Mr. Obama's policies and say, "I told you so."

For all the words that follow attempting to somehow justify trying Cheney – and only Cheney – it still comes back to Cheney’s daring to dissent from the Obama orthodoxy on enhanced interrogation and how to deal with detained jihadis. Such temerity cannot be allowed to stand in the eyes of Lanny Davis, and merits the use of the full weight of the federal government to destroy one of those whose experience renders him among the best qualified to judge the policies of the new administration.

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So much for the strength of the Democrats.

Nearly half of Nevadans have had enough of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as the powerful Democrat heads into his re-election campaign, a new Las Vegas Review-Journal poll finds.

About a third of the state's voters would re-elect Reid if the 2010 election were held today, according to the poll, but 45 percent say they would definitely vote to replace him. Seventeen percent would consider another candidate.

The findings are echoed by another poll question about Reid's popularity that finds the four-term incumbent to be a polarizing figure in his home state.

Half of Nevada voters had an unfavorable view of Reid, while 38 percent had a favorable view and 11 percent a neutral opinion.

Imagine that – the top Democrat in the Senate is being repudiated by a plurality of voters in his home state, even without knowing for sure who his opponent(s) will be. That, my friends, betrays a serious weakness of both the man and his party.

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Remember the Clinton Administration? You know, when there was a spike in the number of audits of conservative groups and administration opponents – often at the apparent instigation of Democrat public officials both inside and outside of the executive branch. Well, President Obama has raised the specter of such shenanigans again in a thoroughly inappropriate way, as noted by ol’ Insty himself, Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds.

At his Arizona State University commencement speech last Wednesday, Mr. Obama noted that ASU had refused to grant him an honorary degree, citing his lack of experience, and the controversy this had caused. He then demonstrated ASU's point by remarking, "I really thought this was much ado about nothing, but I do think we all learned an important lesson. I learned never again to pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA brackets. . . . President [Michael] Crowe and the Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS."

I’d like to believe that Barack Obama was only joking when he made this unfortunate quip. But we’ve already seen the administration turn the dogs on those who have dared to oppose Obama’s plans and policies, to the point of officially questioning the patriotism who have other views on the stimulus package or the Chrysler bailout. Is it too hard to imagine a series of tax audits of White House “enemies” – especially after the favorable treatment given to the tax scofflaws nominated to office by Obama?

Many of us questioned ObamaÂ’s readiness to be AmericaÂ’s Chief Executive during last yearÂ’s campaign. This is just the sort of move that serves to reinforce those questions.

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The last time I checked, the primary process was all about selecting the best candidate for office. It only works if those involved are free to support the candidate of their choice – provided they do, in fact, get behind the eventual nominee of the party. That’s why the tactic adopted by Brian Moran in the Democrat primary for governor in Virginia is a potentially damaging one to the entire process.

Virginia gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran is hammering his Democratic primary rival Terry McAuliffe for backing Hillary Clinton instead of Barack Obama throughout much of the presidential race.

The Moran campaign is hoping a new 60-second radio ad running on black radio stations in Virginia will remind African-American voters — likely to be a crucial voting block in the June 9 Democratic primary — of McAuliffe's full-throated support for Clinton.

"Terry McAuliffe may have a lot of big money for his campaign, but don't let that hide the truth," the ad's narrator says. "The truth is, Terry McAuliffe led the campaign that ran the '3 a.m.' attack ad against Barack Obama. McAuliffe worked to put up the ads that questioned Obama's ability to be president."

Frankly, I know of no one who questioned ObamaÂ’s ABILITY to be president. On the other hand, a lot of folks on the Democrat side had serious questions about his READINESS to be president based upon his relative lack of experience. It is interesting to note that McAuliffe became a strong supporter of Obama after Hillary Clinton got out of the race for the nomination. In that, he proved to be a loyal Democrat.

Of course, if Moran wants to argue that those who didn’t support Obama from the beginning are not good Democrats, that’s fine. It will serve the GOP well in the general election, when the Republicans seek to woo those who are more moderate and inclined to hear the GOP message – and those who are already becoming disaffected with Obama’s policies.

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Must we now offer every child and Beanie baby collector the opportunity to own a replica of ObamaÂ’s pooch?

CHICAGO — The presidential popularity of the Obamas' new puppy Bo is complete. The company that makes Beanie Babies has released a shaggy black and white version of the dog named "Bo" — and he's selling fast.

The company has previously run into trouble taking inspiration from the Obama family. The company released two dolls resembling the Obama children as part of its Ty Girlz collection but retired the names "Marvelous Malia" and "Sweet Sasha" after Michelle Obama said using her daughters' names was inappropriate.

The dolls were renamed "Marvelous Mariah" and "Sweet Sydney."

Less than a dozen "Bo" Beanie Babies were sent to the educational toy shop Learning Express in the Chicago suburb of St. Charles, and he sold out quickly, owner Aalap Shah said Wednesday.

"We were fortunate enough to receive a small shipment of 'Bo'," Shah said. "He sold out within a few hours. He was very popular. We can't wait to get some more in."

Oh come on!

Gag me with a squeaky toy!

Enough with the Obama overload.

Barack Obama is president.

He isnÂ’t king, and he isnÂ’t a god.

Do we really need to create little Obama idols at every opportunity? After all, I thought Barney was cute, but I didn’t feel the need for paraphernalia related to him – and my only reaction to Millie’s Book was that I was pleased the money went to charity. But this is simply one more aspect of Obama over-exposure.

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More corruption from the camp of Jack Murtha, whose corruption has been a national scandal for decades even as he has been embraced by leading Democrats.

Rep. John Murtha's opponent in the 2008 election claims the Pennsylvania congressman's chief of staff has threatened to have him recalled to active duty and court-martialed for campaigning while in the military, which is in violation of military code.

Bill Russell, an Iraq war veteran who served with the Army, told FOXNews.com that Murtha's chief of staff, John Hugya, made the threat on two occasions -- first to his former commanding officer and then to his face in March.

"It's a terrible, terrible threat to make," said Russell, a Republican who lost to the Democratic powerhouse in November but plans to challenge him again in 2010. Asked if Murtha is trying to bully him out of a rematch, Russell said: "It was a direct intent to intimidate."

Russell was on active duty for a three-month period -- from April to July -- of his campaign for Congress last year. But he said he did not campaign during that period, as Hugya was suggesting, and so did not violate military code that prohibits doing so.

Abscam. Earmarks. Steering contracts to donors and family members. Threatening to subvert the military justice system to punish political opponents. What would Democrats do if a Republican were to engage in such a long record of misconduct? Why wonÂ’t they respond similarly to such actions by one of their own? And when will the people of his district send such a corrupt figure into a disgraced retirement?

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I don’t like it – but not for the reason that everyone else seems to object.

NRSC chairman John Cornyn made the endorsement official this morning, casting Crist as the most electable candidate to hold the seat for the GOP.

"While I believe Marco Rubio has a very bright future within the Republican Party, Charlie Crist is the best candidate in 2010 to ensure that we maintain the checks and balances that Floridians deserve in the United States Senate," Cornyn said in a statement.
"Governor Crist is a dedicated public servant and a dynamic leader, and the National Republican Senatorial Committee will provide our full support to ensure that he is elected the next United States Senator from Florida.”

The committeeÂ’s decision will make it tougher for former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio to raise money against Crist, given that the party has given the governor its stamp of approval. Rubio has won support from Florida conservatives and has a base in the Cuban-American community, but will need to raise a significant amount of money to credibly compete against Crist in the primary.

Now I’ll be honest – I like Rubio more than I like Crist. Rubio is popular and has the Cuban-American demographic going for him, not to mention more conservative. Crist, despite his unquestioned popularity with Florida voters, will be dogged by a certain rumor about him (irrelevant to his qualification for office, in my opinion) that has been given more public play in a current documentary. The real problem for me, though, is the fact that I believe that the GOP base should be picking the candidate, not the inside the Beltway crowd.

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I like Gary Sinise. Like his style, and I like his politics. However, I donÂ’t know that I am ready to support him for this particular office in 2012.

Nicolle Wallace, a top adviser to George W. Bush and John McCainÂ’s presidential campaign, is adding a few names to the list of Republicans who might lead the GOP out of the wilderness.
Top among them? Actor Gary Sinise.
Wallace, writing on The Daily Beast, said she first heard the idea from a fellow Republican.
“The natural strengths that an actor brings to politics would come in handy to anyone going up against Obama in 2012,” she wrote. “We will need an effective communicator who can stand toe to toe with Obama’s eloquence.”
Sinise, also a musician, performs for U.S. troops and often champions veterans' causes.

The only thing he would be lacking would be the sort of experience that would actually qualify him to be president. Good grief – his resume is even thinner than Obama’s in 2008.

On the other hand, he might make a great candidate for Governor or Senator somewhere.

I prefer one of Wallace’s other names – General David Petraeus.

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