Archive for December, 2009
Napolitano’s TSA: Grab Those Evil Rich White Women, They’re Threatening
Sunday, December 27th, 2009
Good grief.
UPDATED:
Amy Alkon has more [Read the whole thing.] She says:
Clearly, in TSA-think, the way to remedy this is not to do better on catching the obvious terrorists; it’s to make Granny Johnson diaper up before getting on a plane, because she’ll no longer be able to get up in the final hour of flight to use the restroom. Or keep a personal item in her lap. Or bring more than one carry-on. And never mind that all of these new measures would have done zippo to stop this particular member of the “religion of peace,” had his explosive underpanties been wired by people a little less incompetent.
Obama Keeps Congress In The Dark On War On Terror
Sunday, December 27th, 2009Oh, that’s right. There’s no longer a War On Terror.
UPDATED: Via Tom Elia remember “man-caused disasters?. Says Napolitano to Der Spiegel online:
In my speech, although I did not use the word “terrorism,” I referred to “man-caused” disasters. That is perhaps only a nuance, but it demonstrates that we want to move away from the politics of fear toward a policy of being prepared for all risks that can occur.
And:
Napolitano: Our policies will be guided by authoritative information. We also have assets at our disposal now that we did not have prior to 9/11. For example, we are much better able to keep track of travellers coming into the US than we were before. The third thing is to work with our international partners and allies to make sure that we are getting information and sharing information in an appropriate and real-time fashion.
So, this Man-Caused Disaster would be prevented by the way Napolitano would keep track of travelers. Right. UPDATED AGAIN: Jonah Goldberg says Napolitano should go.
Back to the story.
From the Politico:
Hoekstra said the Pentagon has prepared a new report on recidivism among Guantanamo detainees and is keeping the report classified despite repeated Congressional requests to make it public.
While Hoekstra and King were briefed by the White House about the Detroit incident, the pair were also chafing yesterday at what they said was the Obama Administration’s tight control on information about the Detroit incident. As with the shooting at Ft. Hood in November, the White House has ordered federal agencies not to provide briefings or answer inquiries from members of Congress, leaving all such contacts to be handled by the White House.
“I don’t think I ever saw that throughout President Bush’s time in the White House. I could call directly to the director of the CIA or the [National Counterterrorism Center] and get whatever briefings I wanted,” Hoekstra said. He called the briefing limits “totally inappropriate,” but said the White House maintained the orders were needed because of the ongoing criminal investigation.
So the terrorists released from Guantanamo Bay are causing more problems. They are going back home, committing more terrorism and the White House wants to keep that information from everyone.
Just another day in the life of the most transparent, ethical Presidency ever.
Americans, You’re On Your Own: Obama Golfs, Napolitano Duffs, The Press Carries Water
Sunday, December 27th, 2009
The Obama administration reacted to the terrorist attack on Christmas day with its usual aplomb: that is, they are tone deaf and in denial yet again.
President Obama has blithely continued his vacation, which even displeases liberals:
Some things are too important to delegate to a subordinate, or manage through a blackberry.
It’s December 27th, and people are getting ready to travel for New Years Day. They’re going to get patted down, sniffed and searched. They will not be able to get up for the last hour of their flight. And God knows what else.
They will be inconvenienced, in a way that I’m sure every sane human being on the face of the Earth hoped that Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab had been.
And even if it were only for appearances – even if it were simply to make people know the Commander-In-Chief was in front of whatever buttons and levers are at his disposal to act and react to threats to this nation – the President should have been inconvenienced as well.
And the underlings are saying crazy, unbelievable baloney:
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says investigators did not have enough information to keep a terror suspect from boarding a flight bound for Detroit and that the system worked as it should have.
The bomber was banned from Britain. I don’t think the security worked as it should.
Just in case you’re a little unnerved about the governments non-response response, the press is here to sooth you. Marc Ambimber does it best:
There is a reason why Obama hasn’t given a public statement. It’s strategy.
Here’s the theory: a two-bit mook is sent by Al Qaeda to do a dastardly deed. He winds up neutering himself. Literally.
Authorities respond appropriately; the President (as this president is want to to) presides over the federal response. His senior aides speak for him, letting reporters know that he’s videoconferencing regularly, that he’s ordering a review of terrorist watch lists, that he’s discoursing with his Secretary of Homeland Security.
But an in-person Obama statement isn’t needed; Indeed, a message expressing command, control, outrage and anger might elevate the importance of the deed, would generate panic (because Obama usually DOESN’T talk about the specifics of cases like this, and so him deciding to do so would cue the American people to respond in a way that exacerbates the situation.
Ooooh, strategy…. Sounds so official and mysterious and important…or the President doesn’t think terrorism is a big deal and really, he preferred to go golfing. Or that.
This reaction demonstrates more weakness. Being a President is as much symbolism as it is substance. I would like to remind our political betters, the nuanced ones, on the left that all of America rallied behind President Bush for his handling of 9/11. They liked tough words. They liked tough action.
Americans are more terrorism-savvy now, but this sort of thing alarms everyone. This is another confirmation that we are, in fact, at war. Ignoring the war while on the fourth tee does not mean that it is not happening.
The President and his underlings look ineffectual or worse, uncaring. The American people won’t get the relentless pictures portraying an indifferent Bush after Katrina because the press still loves Obama. But the American people are wise to that too as the approval ratings show.
Worst of all, this weakness emboldens America’s enemies. They know President Obama doesn’t have the stomach for war. They know he’s trying to appease Muslims. But again, his condescension reins. This war was never with Muslims generally (America saved countless Muslims in Iraq and they know it), it was with terrorists (rich terrorists) and the states that support them specifically. But the left conflated this reality and fed the bile which fed the enemy propaganda machine.
So, is the President willing to back-pedal yet again? If his golfing is any indication, no. His administration has decided to pretend. The moment is already lost.
Americans are left with a fear greater than fear of terrorists: That America lacks leadership and experience. No suicidal jihadist provokes as much fear as a weak President.
Americans, you’re on your own.
Detroit, Michigan: A Warning
Sunday, December 27th, 2009One of my more popular blog posts told my story of going back to Michigan for a family reunion (they all live near Flint) and feeling bereft at the bleak reality there. People wrote their stories–stories of grief and loss explaining why they felt compelled to leave the once-great, now failing state.
I went back to Michigan last year, and the mood and the environment seemed marginally better. Maybe I just was more immune to the shock. I don’t know.
The winner in Michigan? Environmentalists. When people leave and houses are burned down and whole cities fail, Mother Nature survives. That’s right. That environment man is killing? Well, she’s amazingly resilient. And brutal. And untamed. The winner isn’t people. Socialistic policies never help the people.
Following is a video of Steven Crowder’s best work yet. Please watch the whole thing. It is excellent.
More On President Obama’s Executive Order
Saturday, December 26th, 2009
Just go read this post.
The story continues to develop. For background you can listen to my podcast here and Steve Schippert’s here.
TSA: It’s Called Profiling, Do It–UPDATED
Saturday, December 26th, 2009
So, the TSA’s brilliant plan is to torture (in the liberal use of the word) all passengers to give us more of an illusion of safety. We weren’t safe before. Any moron would know that. And most people flying get that which is why they think about their own safety when boarding a plane. People take mental note now, of passengers, and go on with life–ready to act if necessary.
The solution to the terrorist problem is profiling. And then, actually use the profile.*
That’s right. Profiling. If a psychotic band of Christian, blond, blue-eyed teenage girls joined a death cult intent on killing people with laser beams blasting from their bras, guess what? I’d say search every blond teenage girl and leave the rest of the passengers stuck with airline travel alone.
As it is, this terror candidate was fairly obvious profile-wise. The UK Telegraph notes:
How can a Muslim student, whose name appears on a US law enforcement database, be granted a visa to travel to America, allegedly acquire an explosive device from Yemen, a country awash with al-Qaeda terrorists, and avoid detection from the world’s most sophisticated spy agencies?
Gee, why didn’t he make it easier and plaster a sign on his chest? But the thing is, TSA agents can’t be politically incorrect. Oh no! That might offend the sensibilities of middle eastern, Muslim garbed students everywhere. So granny gets X-rayed and searched and Abdullah, wearing Yemeni suicide bomber underwear makes it through he screening process unscathed.
After the Ft. Hood Muslim terrorist shooter basically trumpeted his intentions and was ignored by the military, I’d say it’s time to reevaluate our assessment of threat assessments.
It’s not enough to be on a watch list if no one is watching. It’s not enough to understand the terrorist profile if no one uses the profiling for fear of being called a bigot.
The enemy will get more subtle. Michael Haltman says:
Abdul Mutallab was charged today with trying to blow up an aircraft, and with willfully putting a destructive device onboard. The chemical that he had taped to his lower exteemities is PETN, also know as pentaerythritol. This chemical is reported to be one of the most powerful explosives, typically used in such devices as land mines.
In a test for future airport screening, the chemical was not picked up by magnetometers, and he was not forced to undergo a full body scan. The liquid that was used to attempt and ignite the chemical was below the ounce limit that would have prohibited it from be carried onboard.
I wonder how many old ladies or mothers were forced to do a full body scan. Why? Why the charade? We all know who is perpetrating these attacks. We cannot be blind to other possibilities. Still, for now, young Muslim, educated men seem to be the weapon of choice.
It’s called profiling. Do it.
*Please note that I get that this is an international flight. Still, shouldn’t America bear some responsibility for who we let fly into our country. We cannot rely on foreigners to value our lives like we value our lives. Also, this guy was a posterboy for terrorism. Obvious.
UPDATED:
And Donald Douglas skewers the left for their predictable, mindless response to this attack:
But even in the absence of evidence of al Qaeda’s ties to the Abdul Mutallab, we know the nature of al Qaeda’s threat has been transformed significantly since September 11, 2001. Audrey Kurth Cronin, an expert on international terrorism, and the author of “How al-Qaida Ends: The Decline and Demise of Terrorist Groups,” has noted recently that al Qaeda today is a fractured organization with a decentralized leadership. The group is more of an idea than an actual entity. As such, there’s little doubt of the seriousness of the threat, since follow-on organizations will likely take up the initative where Osama bin Laden left off. Indeed, Kurth Cronin suggests that while al Qaeda’s capabilities have been significantly weakened, and Western leaders have indeed suffered from an over-emphasis on leadership decapitation, “Even in its diminished state, al Qaeda and its franchises remain armed and dangerous.”
Read the whole thing.
UPDATED AGAIN:
Kathleen has a new site KathleenMcKinley.com and also a link to the CNN interview with one of the people who subdued the terrorist. But really, I can’t help but noticing Fredrika Whitfield’s belt. Really, Fredrika? I mean if the First Lady jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you jump, too?
Things To Read This Christmas
Friday, December 25th, 2009For the heathens.
For the Texans.
For the hopeful/hopeless? A matter of perspective.
For the exceptional.
For those who love the truth. Fight the liars.
For those who love a good fight.
For those who want hope, THIS! Benefit of libs not having kids and killing the economy.
For those who don’t know who to trust.
For those who are sick of the nanny state.
For those who want to give. I won the award for microblogging, i.e. Twitter, last year. Nominate a patriot. I love the Sam Adams Alliance.
For Jews and those who now love them.
For everyone: This post is why I love bloggers and the intellectual heft on the Right.
Have a wonderful day!
Wishful Thinking
Thursday, December 24th, 2009Some thoughts during this season of joy and peace and sometimes, delusional thinking. I’ve read this post by Red State’s Dan Perrin a couple times. He is optimistic about Health Care Reform going down.
This joyous theory is predicated on one untenable idea: that Democrats actually have principles they believe in besides their own power. Um. That’s refreshingly idealistic but wrong.
Democrats will pass this bill because it’s not about actually helping people or controlling costs or whatever tact they take at any given time. It’s about 1. giving President a “win” and 2. consolidating power in the government.
And by the way, notice to you idiots running Insurance companies: You do realize that you become the government’s prostitute, right? They will pimp you out for the price they choose. Right now, it seems like a good idea. You’ll notice how quickly banks wanted to get out from under Uncle Sam’s shackles. But this “sweet” deal is going to sour, ultimately. Why? Because everything the government touches turns to shit.
So, while it would be an absolute thrilling delight to find out that all the maneuvering kills the health care bill, I still say it’s passing. The Dems will roll. They have to. They want to.
It’s historic, man.
Podcast: Griffith & Blue Dogs, Liberals, And President Obama Selling Out American Security–UPDATED
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009Ray McKinney of the PAC That Dog Won’t Hunt talked about Rep. Parker Griffith who switched from Democrat to Republican yesterday. What about the rest of the other Blue Dogs?
Then, my childhood friend Glynn Washington joins me from Oakland, California to discuss liberal politics from a liberal perspective and also his new project with public radio: Snap Judgment.
Finally, constitutional scholar Clyde Middleton of the Patriot Room talks about President Obama’s executive order reversing a policy in place since Ronald Reagan and what it means. For more, read the joint piece he and Steve Schippert wrote at Threatswatch.org. More here and here. UPDATED: Andy McCarthy asks:
Why would we elevate an international police force above American law? Why would we immunize an international police force from the limitations that constrain the FBI and other American law-enforcement agencies? Why is it suddenly necessary to have, within the Justice Department, a repository for stashing government files which, therefore, will be beyond the ability of Congress, American law-enforcement, the media, and the American people to scrutinize?
Jay McKinney of ThatDogWontHunt.org talks Blue Dogs, Glynn Washington of Snap Judgment! on Public Radio explains liberalism and Clyde Middleton of the Patriot Room talks about President Obama’s Executive Order and the implications for Americans being accused of international crimes.
Download MP3
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When Melissa isn’t on the radio, you can find her at melissaclouthier.com and on Twitter. Her username is MelissaTweets.
Sarah Palin Spoke The Truth About Death Panels: Of Course The Government Will Ration And Deny Care
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
How will the government “save” money? 1. Ration 2. Pay less for what they do cover 3. Increase taxes
As to the whole “Death Panel” deal, and Jim DeMint’s finding that the Senate legislation includes a provision forcing future Senates to never get rid of, um, Death Panels, I mean, rationing boards. You know that pointy headed group who will decide the fates of 300 million Americans? Yeah, them.
Anyway, here’s what Sarah Palin said:
Last weekend while you were preparing for the holidays with your family, Harry Reid’s Senate was making shady backroom deals to ram through the Democrat health care take-over. The Senate ended debate on this bill without even reading it. That and midnight weekend votes seem to be standard operating procedures in D.C. No one is certain of what’s in the bill, but Senator Jim DeMint spotted one shocking revelation regarding the section in the bill describing the Independent Medicare Advisory Board (now called the Independent Payment Advisory Board), which is a panel of bureaucrats charged with cutting health care costs on the backs of patients – also known as rationing. Apparently Reid and friends have changed the rules of the Senate so that the section of the bill dealing with this board can’t be repealed or amended without a 2/3 supermajority vote. Senator DeMint said:
“This is a rule change. It’s a pretty big deal. We will be passing a new law and at the same time creating a senate rule that makes it out of order to amend or even repeal the law. I’m not even sure that it’s constitutional, but if it is, it most certainly is a senate rule. I don’t see why the majority party wouldn’t put this in every bill. If you like your law, you most certainly would want it to have force for future senates. I mean, we want to bind future congresses. This goes to the fundamental purpose of senate rules: to prevent a tyrannical majority from trampling the rights of the minority or of future congresses.”
In other words, Democrats are protecting this rationing “death panel” from future change with a procedural hurdle. You have to ask why they’re so concerned about protecting this particular provision. Could it be because bureaucratic rationing is one important way Democrats want to “bend the cost curve” and keep health care spending down?The Congressional Budget Office seems to think that such rationing has something to do with cost. In a letter to Harry Reid last week, CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf noted (with a number of caveats) that the bill’s calculations call for a reduction in Medicare’s spending rate by about 2 percent in the next two decades, but then he writes the kicker:
“It is unclear whether such a reduction in the growth rate could be achieved, and if so, whether it would be accomplished through greater efficiencies in the delivery of health care or would reduce access to care or diminish the quality of care.”
Though Nancy Pelosi and friends have tried to call “death panels” the “lie of the year,” this type of rationing – what the CBO calls “reduc[ed] access to care” and “diminish[ed] quality of care” – is precisely what I meant when I used that metaphor.
This health care bill is one of the most far-reaching and expensive expansions of the role of government into our lives. We’re talking about putting one-seventh of our economy under the government’s thumb. We’re also talking about something as intimate to our personal well-being as medical care.
This bill is so unpopular that people on the right and the left hate it. So why go through with it? The Senate is planning to vote on this on Christmas Eve. Why the rush? Though we will begin paying for this bill immediately, we will see no benefits for years. (That’s the trick that allowed the CBO to state that the bill won’t grow the deficit for the next ten years.)
The administration’s promises of transparency and bipartisanship have been broken one by one. This entire process has been defined by midnight votes on weekends, closed-door meetings with industry lobbyists, and payoffs to politicians willing to sell their principles for sweetheart deals. Is it any wonder that Americans are so disillusioned with their leaders in Washington?
This is about politics, not health care. Americans don’t want this bill. Americans don’t like this bill. Washington has stopped listening to us. But we’re paying attention, and 2010 is coming.
- Sarah Palin
I don’t think people quite grasp how right Sarah Palin is about this bureaucratic board. In each insurance company, a case manager can be influenced and advocate on behalf of the patient. With iron-clad bureaucratic recommendations, there will be no negotiation, no risk-taking. There will be no incentive to make the customer happy. None.
And people will die. Far more than the 30K or so number that libs cite, when decrying how many uninsured people die. No, this will be state-sponsored withholding, denying and sitting by while people die. It’s not that people couldn’t be helped, it’s that they don’t fall under arbitrary criterion.
Health care recommendations will be politicized and facts will have little to do with it: Witness mammogram recommendations. This issue is very important to me personally. I have a child who survives because the doctors tried. They made a judgment call. The insurance company pays for it. But in Europe, my son would not be alive. In some countries, a baby born before 26 weeks is allowed to die. These tiny babies take resources, you know. And it’s not fair to everyone else.
So, don’t listen to libs talk about the people who die because of lack of care. These are the same people who show no regard for helpless life. They routinely use utilitarian arguments. They will do so with health care. Sacrifice will be for the “greater good”.
Sarah Palin is right.
