WEDNESDAY,  FEBRUARY 18,  2009

MOMENTOUS - AT 9:19 P.M. ET:  From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to act for the first time to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that scientists blame for the warming of the planet, according to top Obama administration officials.

COMMENT:  Obviously, as the story says, this could be a momentous development.  It could also be catastrophic, especially if the "science" proves wrong or exaggerated.  The costs could be crippling.  The story does not, as usual, contain the opinion of a single dissenter.  Not allowed in polite company.

JINDAL MAKES HIS MOVE - AT 7:23 A.M. ET:  From CBS News:

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate, has suggested his state may not be interested in all of the roughly $4 billion allotted to it in the economic stimulus package to be signed by President Obama today.

"We'll have to review each program, each new dollar to make sure that we understand what are the conditions, what are the strings and see whether it's beneficial for Louisiana to use those dollars," Jindal said, according to CBS affiliate WWLTV.

Jindal is scheduled to give the response to the president’s not-exactly-a-state-of-the-union address next Tuesday.

COMMENT:  Shrewd move by Jindal, which sets him off from other governors, who are grabbing everything they can.  His response to Obama's speech next week may turn out to be a news event itself.

BLEAK OUTLOOK - AT 6:38 P.M. ET:  From The New York Times:

The Federal Reserve cut its economic outlook for 2009 on Wednesday and warned that the United States economy would face an “unusually gradual and prolonged” period of recovery as the country struggles to climb out of a deep global downturn...

...Bleak economic data reflecting a sharpening slide in housing, trade, industrial production, spending and employment rates “more than offset” any potential impact from an economic stimulus plan, the Fed said, forcing it to cut its economic outlook.

COMMENT:  Say what?  Please read that last paragraph again.  In other words, the stimulus plan will be neutralized.  Didn't the administration project this when it formulated the "plan"?  Well now, what do these geniuses intend to do?

DOCTRINE DENIED - AT 2:21 P.M. ET:  From Fox News:

President Obama opposes any move to bring back the so-called Fairness Doctrine, a spokesman told FOXNews.com Wednesday.

The statement is the first definitive stance the administration has taken since an aide told an industry publication last summer that Obama opposes the doctrine -- a long-abolished policy that would require broadcasters to provide opposing viewpoints on controversial issues.

COMMENT:  Okay, but the issue is whether radicals in Congress will attempt to force the issue, or do an end run around the doctrine by introducing other concepts that will have the same effect, like requiring programming to reflect "local interests," or some such.  There are many routes to censorship.  We must insist on a complete rejection of any of these schemes, not only as they involve radio and television, but the internet as well.

HOME DISTRESSED HOME - AT 2:09 P.M ET: 

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion to a program that includes cutting mortgage payments for as many as 9 million struggling homeowners and expanding the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in curbing foreclosures.

The plan will help as many as 5 million homeowners refinance loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie, the president said. Treasury will buy as much as $200 billion of preferred stock in the two mortgage companies, twice as much as previously promised, he said.

COMMENT:  It is much more than anticipated, but Wall Street reacted, once again, with a kind of indifference.  At this hour the Dow is down 10 points, to 7542.

DOW NOW - AT 11:22 A.M. ET:  The Dow is in positive territory, up 18.

BOO TO BURRIS - AT 11:19 A.M. ET:  From Fox News:

Major newspapers, government watchdogs and Illinois lawmakers are all calling for Sen. Roland Burris to resign after he admitted he tried to raise money for ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- the man who appointed him to the Senate despite being accused of seeking favors for the seat.

COMMENT:  The key will be whether black leaders rally 'round him and threaten political retaliation if he's forced out.  Or, they could accept his being sent packing, but then demand that another African-American be appointed, playing the race card to the hilt.  Illinois is a nominally Democratic state, but this Senate seat may be vulnerable in 2010.

MORE CAVING - AT 11:14 A.M. ET:  From the Washington Post:

JAKARTA, Feb. 18 -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday that economic sanctions imposed by the United States and other Western governments had failed to pressure the repressive Burmese government, signaling a potentially major shift in U.S. policy.

COMMENT:  Look, there may be reasons to ease sanctions if they're hurting the people more than the government.  The problem is that virtually every statement made by this administration has signalled weakness.  If you're going to talk about easing sanctions, you've got to spell out what you're going to do to hurt the oppressive government.  No such spelling out took place.  In fact, Clinton's remarks about the Burmese government were mild. 

This administration has a certain contempt for democracy, consistent with the doctrinaire left's contempt for it.  Our worries grow every day. 

ALWAYS FOR THE COMMON PEOPLE, THE COMMON PEOPLE - AT 8:10 A.M. ET:  From the Harvard Crimson:

Harvard is quietly planning to lay off some subcontracted custodians in an effort to reduce operating costs, drawing consternation from union organizers who represent University workers.

The moves come as Harvard seeks to reduce costs through clerical staff buyouts, which officials hinted could be followed by layoffs as the University grapples with a dramatic reduction in the value of its endowment.

COMMENT:  Is this hilarious, or what?  These are the "intellectuals" who are endlessly telling us about their deep devotion to the "workers" and the "people."  And who goes first?  The janitors and the secretaries. 

I've got a better idea.  As one scholar suggested to us in a recent e-mail, why not eliminate all departments whose names end with the word "studies"?  That would save money, and save minds at the same time.

HILLARY'S TRAVELS

Posted at 8:03 a.m. ET

More on the Obama foreign policy, which becomes more troubling by the hour.  Hillary Clinton is in Asia, and will deal with the North Korean problem.  The great John Bolton comments on her effort thus far, and doesn't like what he sees.  Bolton also had the courage to break with the Bush administration on the issue:

Every incoming administration is entitled to a few weeks of touting its superiority, but the bumper stickers need to disappear when overseas travel begins, replaced by real policy, not slogans. Otherwise, observers would conclude that the president, and perhaps his secretary of State, are still running for office, rather than realizing they are already there.

Truth:  They're still running for office.

Clinton accurately called North Korea's nuclear program "the most acute challenge to stability in northeast Asia," and she established the objective that the North "completely and verifiably eliminate" its nuclear weapons activities. This familiar formulation implicitly -- and very unfortunately -- accepts that North Korea can keep a nuclear program as long as it is "peaceful." Whatever else it may be, this deal is not "smart." Leaving Pyongyang with any nuclear capability simply invites future abuse and a recurrence of the very problem we need to "eliminate."

Nice to have a little clarity of thought, right?

Equally unfortunately, Clinton made no reference to the global scope of North Korea's threat, notably in the tumultuous Middle East, where the North's contribution to nuclear and ballistic missile proliferation has long stoked regional tensions...

...The secretary's comments at a subsequent news teleconference only compounded the speech's lack of strategic breadth.

Finally...

Clinton emphasized that she was prepared for "active listening" on her trip. One hopes that she will be particularly active in listening to South Korea and Japan, where the North's repeated acts of duplicity have sunk in far more profoundly than at the State Department. Although there seems to be little reason to hope that the Obama administration will actually offer "change" on North Korea policy, perhaps Clinton will at least return from Asia sobered by the depth of the North's regional and global threat.

Clinton's performance thus far on her Asian trip is muddled.  She exhibits no strength of purpose.  She is representing a president who seems to have little use for America's allies, but much use for its enemies.  As we watch this new administration, we can't help but thinking that we're going back to the left-wing mentality of the late sixties, where democracies were suspect and dictatorships had to be "understood."  That mentality began the long decline of American foreign policy that was stopped by Ronald Reagan.  I wish we had another Reagan now.

February 18,  2009.        Permalink          

FINALLY GOT AROUND TO IT - AT 7:22 A.M. ET:  During the campaign, Mr. Obama described Afghanistan as the right war.  But he seems to feel that the president of that country is of little importance to winning.  He described President Karzai as a man with a bunker mentality.  President Obama seems to reserve his harshest criticism for America's friends.  It now turns out that Obama didn't even speak to Karzai until yesterday, although American troops are fighting and dying in Karzai's country.  From Fox News:

KABUL -- Presidents Hamid Karzai and Barack Obama spoke on the phone for the first time exactly four weeks after Obama's inauguration, Karzai's office said Wednesday.

The two presidents spoke about security issues and Afghanistan's presidential elections in August, Karzai's office said. Obama called the Afghan leader Tuesday, the same day Obama announced he was deploying an additional 17,000 U.S. forces to Afghanistan to bolster the 33,000 already in the country.

COMMENT:  So, the president decides to send 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, and finally gets around to speaking with President Karzai.  How enthusiastic do you think Mr. Karzai will be now about Obama.  A few days earlier we learned that Obama returned to Britain a bust of Winston Churchill that had been displayed in the Oval Office by President Bush, although Britain never requested it. 

Great moves, Mr. President.  With friends like you, some of our allies don't need enemies.  We recall that your first phone call to a foreign leader when you took office was to President Abbas of a non-country called "Palestine," at that your first interview, in which you groveled to the Muslim world, was with an Arab news outlet, not an American one.  Precisely whose side are you on?

BYE BYE, AT 4:18 A.M. ET:  General Motors has announced that it will phase out its Saturn brand by 2012, and indicated that it may phase out Pontiac as a separate division.

COMMENT:  When you stop listening to customers, this is what happens.

TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY 17,  2009

WHAT WORLD ARE THEY LIVING IN? - AT 7:24 P.M. ET:  From Britain's Guardian:

Syria expects the US to send an ambassador to Damascus soon to make good on Barack Obama's offer to engage in dialogue with countries the Bush administration shunned, President Bashar al-Assad told the Guardian today.

Little problem here.  From the Jerusalem Post:

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said...Syria was not forthcoming regarding debris found in a site reportedly destroyed by IAF warplanes in 2007. He said samples from the site were not conclusive and called for greater cooperation from the Syrian authorities.

Another little problem, from Jane's Defence News:

Satellite images from several commercial sources gathered from 2005 to 2008 have shed light on activity at the chemical weapons facility identified as Al Safir in northwest Syria. Imagery obtained by DigitalGlobe's WorldView-1 satellite indicates that the site contains not only a number of the defining features of a chemical weapons facility, but that significant levels of construction have taken place at the facility's production plant and adjacent missile base.

COMMENT:  We'll soon find out the degree to which the Obama foreign-policy team is made up of suckers. Why do I think I already know the answer?

BURRIS BLOWS IT - AT 6:01 P.M. ET:  From The New York Times:

PEORIA, Ill. – A few months before Senator Roland W. Burris was appointed by former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich to the United States senate, Mr. Burris tried, without success, to raise money from his friends for the governor at the behest of the governor’s brother, Mr. Burris has acknowledged for the first time.

COMMENT:  News reports say that even the Democrats are disgusted with Burris and want him gone.  The problem, of course, is race.  If he resigns, will the new Illinois governor be forced to appoint another African-American to show that race wasn't involved in forcing Burris out?  It gets ugly. 

BULLETIN AT 4:01 P.M. ET:  At the close, preliminary figures show the Dow is down 298 points, to 7553.

BULLETIN AT 3:57 P.M. ET:  The president has signed the stimulus package.  The stock market felt so stimulated that it went into another dive.

SEE THE USA IN YOUR RESTRUCTURED VEHICLE - AT 3:54 P.M. ET:

Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s chief spokesman said the administration can’t rule out a restructuring through bankruptcy for struggling automakers, while adding the industry is “tremendously important” to the economy.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration won’t “prejudge” the next steps for General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC until the automakers present their own plans under terms of a government aid package.

COMMENT:  Oh, swell.  Just the kind of encouragement we need to get buyers into showrooms for American cars.  People will worry about whether they can get spare parts, service, trade-in value.  With friends like these...

CONGRESS MORE POPULAR - AT 3:27 P.M. ET: 

Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Congress’s approval rating rose 12 percentage points in the last month to 31 percent, the highest level in two years, according to a new poll by Gallup Inc.

The popularity of the Democratic-controlled Congress has more than doubled since July 2008 when only 14 percent of those polled approved of the job lawmakers were doing, according to Gallup.

The jump in Congress’s approval rating was spurred by support from Democrats. In the new poll, 43 percent Democrats gave Congress positive reviews, compared with 19 percent of Republicans and 29 percent of independents.

COMMENT:  As the 16th president said, you can fool some of the people all of the time.

INCREASED DIVE - AT 9:55 A.M. ET:  The Dow is down 274 points, to 7576.  It is approaching the psychological figure of 7500.

DOW DIVE - AT 9:43 A.M. ET:  The Dow opened down 212 points, to 7639.

DEFENSE ANYONE?

Posted at 9:35 a.m. ET:

Defense gadfly and Washington Times columnist Frank Gaffney is disturbed by what he sees as a weak defense policy by the Obama administration, and he worries about its implications:

President Barack Obama proposes a set of changes with respect to American security policies and programs that will....transform the "world's only superpower" into a nuclear impotent, with possibly catastrophic consequences.

Nothing like waking us up in the morning.

Such a transformation would be the more extraordinary for it coming against the backdrop of others' buildups of their nuclear arsenals. Every other declared nuclear weapon state is modernizing its stockpile and the most dangerous wannabees - North Korea and Iran - are building up their offensive missile capabilities and acquiring as quickly as possible the arms to go atop them.

Our deterrent is at risk:

We have allowed a steady decline in investment in the science-based Stockpile Stewardship Program that promised to assure the safety, effectiveness and reliability of our nuclear weapons in the absence of below-ground tests.

And...

Not surprisingly, the nuclear laboratory directors' certifications about the status of our weapons are increasingly qualified by warnings of uncertainties about how long the present situation can be sustained.

Now we begin to see the catastrophic consequences.  The quality of our deterrent is what has kept the peace.

Today, we have fewer than the 2,200 fielded nuclear arms we are permitted to have under the U.S.-Russian Treaty of Moscow signed by Presidents Bush and Putin in 2002.

Now, President Obama wants to cut that number down to roughly 500 deployed weapons. His Office of Management and Budget contemplates no modernization of these forces and no upgrading of the capability to produce or refurbish them.

It takes an expert like Gaffney to point this out.  There is no concern in the mainstream media.

In addition, the Obama administration apparently believes that the remaining strategic weapons - presumably on submarines - would have to be taken off what it wrongly claims is "hair-trigger" alert status.

And...

The cumulative effect of these actions would be to render the U.S. nuclear arsenal, to quote President Reagan, "impotent and obsolete." That was, of course, not something he ever contemplated having the United States do unilaterally. In fact, even though our 40th president is increasingly invoked by the anti-nuclear crowd (whose latest campaign is called "Global Zero" and seeks the hopelessly unrealistic goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons) because of his avowed antipathy towards such arms, arguably no one did more than he to build up America's deterrent.

Obama's goals may produce the reverse effect:

The tragic irony is that the Obama administration's goal of global denuclearization is likely to be made more remote, not less, as America's deterrent becomes ever less certain. Our adversaries stand to benefit geostrategically from building up their nuclear arsenals as ours vanishes. Long-time allies will surely feel constrained to acquire their own nuclear forces if our "umbrella" ceases to assure them protection. In short, more proliferation, not less, is in prospect.

Finally...

In these ways, Barack Obama risks standing the time-tested Reagan philosophy of "peace through strength" on its head in favor of a posture shown to be a formula for war - sometimes on a global, cataclysmic scale: the failed pursuit of peace through U.S. weakness.

Actually, that philosophy - peace through strength - goes back much further than Reagan, to Harry Truman.  At one time it was called "power for peace." 

The Obama defense program that Gaffney describes is consistent with Obama's past.  It can produce disaster, if not immediately for us, than for many of our allies.  It can also tempt friendly nations to become less friendly, and to make deals with our enemies, for their own survival.

Obviously, there is still time for correction.  But for those of us who were concerned that Barack Obama would be another Jimmy Carter, our worst fears may come true.

February 17,  2009.      Permalink          

DRIVE, THEY SAID - AT 8:40 A.M. ET: 

Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC, already relying on government aid to survive, take their case to the U.S. Treasury today that they can undo past mistakes and justify more U.S. aid to return to profit.

GM, with a pledge for $13.4 billion in loans, may seek support beyond an $18 billion request made Dec. 2 because of worsening economic conditions, people familiar with the automaker’s plan said. Chrysler has said it needs at least $3 billion in addition to $4 billion it received last month.

COMMENT:  There are reports that the White House has already agreed to lend GM $4-billion more.  I suspect the tolerance of the American people for this will have its limits.  The crunch could come soon.  The economy is worsening, and the auto companies are trying to sell cars to a public wary of buying from corporations that may go bankrupt. 

COVERT ACTION - AT 8:23 A.M. ET:  From London's Telegraph:

Israel has launched a covert war against Iran as an alternative to direct military strikes against Tehran's nuclear programme, US intelligence sources have revealed.

It is using hitmen, sabotage, front companies and double agents to disrupt the regime's illicit weapons project, the experts say.

The most dramatic element of the "decapitation" programme is the planned assassination of top figures involved in Iran's atomic operations.
Despite fears in Israel and the US that Iran is approaching the point of no return in its ability to build atom bomb, Israeli officials are aware of the change in mood in Washington since President Barack Obama took office.

They privately acknowledge the new US administration is unlikely to sanction an air attack on Iran's nuclear installations and Mr Obama's offer to extend a hand of peace to Tehran puts any direct military action beyond reach for now.

COMMENT:  The story, by respected reporter Phil Sherwell, says that the U.S. is cooperating in these covert operations.  I certainly hope so. 

WHO ARE WE TO QUESTION CULTURAL DIFFERENCE? - AT 7:55 A.M. ET:  From The Buffalo News:

Orchard Park police are investigating a particularly gruesome killing, the beheading of a woman, after her husband — an influential member of the local Muslim community — reported her death to police Thursday.

Police identified the victim as Aasiya Z. Hassan, 37. Detectives have charged her husband, Muzzammil Hassan, 44, with second-degree murder.

Sadly, there's also this, from the New York Daily News:

An Afghan diplomat was charged Friday with beating his wife "like a dog" for more than 15 hours in their Queens home, prosecutors said.
Mohammed Fagirad, 30, a vice consul at the Afghanistan Consulate, brutalized his wife inside their Flushing home from about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday until nearly midnight, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

COMMENT:  Thank goodness for law enforcement.  The authorities take these cases seriously.  But notice the lack of outrage, or even interest, by so-called "women's" groups or "civil liberties" groups.  Some of these groups have become despicable.  They're nothing more than front operations for off-the-cliff ideologies, and they're drunk on "multiculturalism."

LIVING IN THE PAST - AT 7:32 A.M. ET:   From Bloomberg:

Some Democrats in Congress don't want to let George W. Bush leave town.

They want to continue investigating alleged wrongdoing by former administration officials like Karl Rove just as President Barack Obama is urging them to turn the page.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats have a long bill of particulars. They want to force Bush-era officials to testify about the firing of nine U.S. attorneys and alleged politicization of law enforcement. They want to press inquiries into Bush's program of warrantless wiretaps and into allegations that suspected terrorists were tortured in U.S. custody or turned over to other countries for such mistreatment.

COMMENT:  You'd think a party with the ethical problems of the Democrats would leave this alone.  But, again, the extremists want their way.  They want to criminalize policy.

THE LEFT DEMANDS - AT 7:20 A.M. ET:  From The Washington Post:

As President Obama prepares to sign a $787 billion economic stimulus package today amid gales of Republican criticism of its cost, he is also facing quieter misgivings from liberal Democrats who say the bill does not go far enough -- and who are already looking ahead to future legislation that they hope will do more.

COMMENT:  This will be one of the defining issues of this administration - whether the president can resist the demands of the radical left.  The radical left will never be satisfied, and its foreign-policy views are chilling.  This left wants to remake America in its own image, though it actually has very little support.  It can do enormous damage, even as a minority movement - witness the way it influenced American opinion about Vietnam, helping to produce a catastrophe.

THAT'S ALL HE DID? - AT 7:12 A.M. ET:  From The New York Times:

TOKYO — Japan’s finance minister resigned Tuesday after widespread criticism of embarrassing behavior at the weekend Group of 7 meeting in Rome.

The minister, Shoichi Nakagawa, raised eyebrows for slurred speech, muddled answers and appearing to fall asleep at a news conference in Rome on Saturday.

COMMENT:  Hey, Shoichi, you're livin' in the wrong country.  They force you out for a little merriment?  Why, in America you could be finance minister (secretary of the treasury) even though you didn't pay your taxes.  We're just so much more understanding here.  And if you fly to Mexico we can get you into the country illegally.  Why stay where they don't respect you?

TRUTH TELLING AT 7:02 P.M. ET: 

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Seoul will call North Korea a ''direct and serious threat'' in its upcoming defense report, an official said Tuesday, amid spiking tensions on the divided peninsula over Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs.

The South's biyearly report on defense for 2008 will likely further strain ties between the two countries, whose relations have dipped to their lowest level in a decade since President Lee Myung-bak took office in February last year with a pledge to get tough with Pyongyang.

COMMENT:  The question is whether our South Korean ally will be supported by the United States in its tough stand, or undercut?  The record of this administration in its first month in dealing with our allies is not good.  Hillary Clinton, now in the region, has warned North Korea not to test a new missile, but the warning was vague.  Watch this one to see if American allies will be treated as friends or liabilities.